Digital project management: rapid

changes define new working environments

Te Wu

Introduction Te Wu is based at
Management, Montclair
In recent years, with the progressive advancement of technology and the adoption of digital State University, Montclair,
tools, such as Web and mobile apps, project management activities are becoming New Jersey, USA.
increasingly digitized. More project professionals are starting to use digital tools, such as
social media, to manage projects and produce project deliverables. The recent pandemic
has further accelerated this trend of digitalization. The abrupt reduction and, in many cases,
elimination of colocated teams in much of the project worked has fueled another trend of
working remotely and virtually. According to a recent survey of 120 project professionals
conducted by PMO Advisory, a consultancy, working remotely increased by nearly 61%,
and there is no shortage of digital tools. The convergence of these two trends is giving rise
to a new and evolving concept of “digital project management” (DPM).
Projects are important mechanisms for renewal. Organizations invest in projects to achieve
change, whether it is to develop new products and services or build more effective
business processes to achieve value. According to Williamson and Wu (2019), a project is
“a time-limited, purpose-driven, and often unique endeavor intended to create an outcome,
service, product, or deliverable.” Projects include enhancing existing products and creating
new services, improving organizations through process transformation, launching a new
marketing campaign to improve market penetration, organizing events such as conferences
or sporting games and integrating organizations after mergers and acquisitions. What
makes projects more challenging than many traditional management endeavors are
constraints, including scope of work, time, resources and budget. Traditionally, the way
project managers perform work has evolved along with general advances in business
technology. But there tends to be more emphasis on high-context interactions and
colocated teams for high-intensity projects, especially as projects apply adaptive methods
of implementation. Yet, technology is also enabling people to work virtually and interact via
technology, giving rise to DPM.

Digital project management

The concept of DPM is new and evolving. In this article, DPM is defined as the
combination of traditional project management and the full adoption of digital tools and
technologies in the management of projects. DPM has the advantage of accessibility,
as many of the tools and their outputs, such as reports, are available online. For
example, these include the adoption of social media for project wide communication
management; effectiveness such as collaboration tools for real-time co-editing of
documents; and other benefits from the digital world, such as improved security and
archives and restoration of vital information.

DOI 10.1108/JBS-03-2021-0047 VOL. 43 NO. 5 2022, pp. 323-331, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 0275-6668 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j PAGE 323
 The term “digital” can be quite broad, and it involves a mix of the following aspects of
digitalization:
䊏 focusing on projects with digital deliverables, including websites to mobile apps, and
content creation, such as training or research and rich media marketing campaigns;
䊏 managing and performing project activities using internet and Web technologies for
project activities such as communication, collaboration and problem-solving; and
䊏 working virtually or remotely. Although virtual teams and DPM started at different points,
there is now a convergence of these two concepts, as digital tools enable remote teams
which, by necessity, adopt digital tools for managing work.
But the concept of “digital” can be broader, and DPM is more than just adoption of digital
tools and working on digital deliverables. Strategically, DPM is the incorporation of
digitalization in organization strategies and culture shifts toward the full adoption of working
digitally.
The pandemic suddenly ended the handling of projects using notebook and pen, flip charts
and stickers, colored pencils and the cubicle panels where much of the world worked. It is
also becoming obsolete to save Microsoft Excel sheets and files in a folder on a personal
computer. Instead, much of the work is saved in team environments where others can
collaborate. According to the Pew Research Center, almost 90% of Americans use the
internet, with about 77% having smartphones in their pockets. Most individuals now can
access, develop and manage digital products better than in the past. Enormous audiences
and digital skills are the two main factors that most profitable businesses are leveraging.
With corporations and businesses increasingly turning their attention toward the digital
world and customers turning their emphasis toward digital platforms, more digital project
managers are in place (Lowe, 2018). They are expected to have a good knowledge base of
the digital market and the available technological tools tailored to the demands of their
clients and projects. They may emerge from different fields such as programming, online
marketing, user interface or just from an enthusiasm for the digital industry. With this
experience, they can have a good grasp of customer demands, how to go about the project
and how feasible it is for the project team to deliver it.
A digital project manager understands how their projects differ from traditional techniques
in that they focus on using Web and other digital technologies in managing projects,
including monitoring progress and communicating with stakeholders. A digital project
manager organizes projects using online technology. When they work with customers or
lead a team that develops digital products, they are responsible for ensuring that their
projects are delivered effectively. Even though digital project managers can apply their
skills to any type of project, it is far more common and appropriate for them to manage
projects with digital deliverables such as websites, software, digital content and other
digital products.
One essential skill for digital project managers is the need to be excellent communicators
who can reflect the overall goals of the project while at the same time work at a level of detail

“Organizations invest in projects to achieve change, whether

it is to develop new products and services or build more
effective business processes to achieve value.”

PAGE 324 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j VOL. 43 NO. 5 2022

 “Agile emphasis is on customer interactions, smaller and
faster turnaround with multiple iterations, and embrace of
change.”

in creating specific plans. Digital project managers should also maintain open
communications and be transparent about goals and objectives, especially with
contentious decisions, allowing stakeholders to understand their roles and the progress of
projects. Through these actions, digital project managers can earn trust and their right to
lead and work to solve difficult problems. According to the Project Management Institute,
the role of a digital project manager can not only promote and coordinate but also take
personal leadership, ensure the strategic development of projects, influence customer
perceptions and ensure that projects are structured to deliver the desired results.
The role of digital project managers is likely to be dynamic and shifting as they require certain
skills that are in themselves evolving. In addition to the traditional project management skills of
both technical and soft skills, digital project managers must possess a strong understanding
of technology with the ability to analyze data, create scenarios and simulations and generate
insights and even programming skills to create customized reports. These innovations,
enabled by technology, can improve transparency, issue and risk management, project
communication and decision-making. As technology itself is a rapidly changing world, the
ability to adapt to a continually changing environment is important.

Roles and responsibilities of digital project managers

Similar to traditional project managers, digital project managers must ensure that the
intended goals of projects are delivered within the agreed-upon success metrics. Both
share similar functions, including general job functions and responsibilities in project
management, motivating and managing team members and partners to execute projects
on schedule, staying within reach and on budget, facilitating project meetings, coordinating
resources and developing and tracking milestones and projects as well as future customer
experiences. The basic distinction is the amount of time invested working on Web-enabled
projects and tools (Randstad, 2017). For those project managers who play more strategic
roles, performance goals may outlast the project deliverables with a view toward achieving
organizational goals and objectives.
But often, as change champions in most organizations, digital project managers also have
the responsibility of changing the culture of organizations to embrace the new tools, new
forms of collaborating, new approaches to problem-solving, new styles of leadership and
new ways of doing work. Digital project managers keep the flow of information, enable
knowledge transfer and establish expectations and goals, so that everyone knows their role
and the progress of the project. The specifics of project management documents, such as
project plans, may be essentially the same compared with traditional project management,
but the ways of developing those documents and analyzing project performance can be
vastly different. Digital project managers are likely to wear several different hats in a day
and play an important role in designing and planning digital projects.
The role of the digital project manager is not significantly different from that of the regular
project manager, but with differences in “how” to approach those tasks. Although no two
jobs are the same, most project managers share the same core tasks, such as:
䊏 estimating the craft of project and plans;
䊏 setting up and managing progress;

VOL. 43 NO. 5 2022 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j PAGE 325

 䊏 preparing and tracking project timelines, scope and budgets;
䊏 managing the workload and morale of teams;
䊏 providing regular status reports for projects;
䊏 organizing and leading meetings;
䊏 facilitating communication; and
䊏 managing interactions among stakeholders.

Most project managers recognize the need to bring order to the possible chaos of the
project. The project manager will work with, customers and team members and also with
other stakeholders. How digital project managers work with stakeholders, for example,
leveraging the power of digital tools in Web conferencing to share ideas or using real-time
collaborative tools such as Google Docs and Sheets to create the next version of the project
plan, changes the way we work.

Managing projects during crisis

When the world first started to limit work in person in offices around the world in March
2020, PMO Advisory, a project management consulting and training firm headquartered in
New Jersey, conducted a survey to understand the impact on project management. The
survey, sent in April 2020, targeted project management professionals. A total of 122
responses was received from 18 countries, even though a majority, or 78%, were from the
USA. Of the 27 questions in the survey, the two most relevant to this article are:
Q1. What is the distribution of the project team before and after the start of pandemic?
Q2. What is the impact on project performance?
Table 1 below shows the results of the first question. Before the sudden closure of offices to
enable social distancing, almost 50% of project teams were colocated. Colocation is
generally viewed as the best practice for high performance teams, especially when using
an agile approach to managing projects. Almost 40% of the project work has multiple sites.
These teams often have multiple clusters, and some have offices around the world. As
these clusters are working geographically apart from other clusters, remote teams are
already in place. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, only 15% of the teams are purely distributed
and virtual with people working remotely. In conversations with project management
professional colleagues, the author learned that many started to spend considerable time
from home offices. Based on these anecdotal discussions, the 15% appears low.
The results of the office closures are drastic, as shown in the “After” column. Colocation
dropped from 47% to 15% almost overnight. Multiple site teams also faced similar drops,
shifting from 39% to 9%. Not surprisingly, distributed and virtual teams where people can
work remotely jumped from 15% to 76%. This sudden increase in virtual teams created a
huge demand for digital technology to connect team members and allow them to stay
productive.

Table 1 Team location before and after the pandemic shutdown

Team location Before (%) After (%) Change (%)

Colocation – most essential project team members located in one place 47 15 32
Multiple sites – most essential project team members are located in a few dedicated places 39 9 30
Distributed and virtual with no permanent project site and people working remotely 15 76 61

PAGE 326 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j VOL. 43 NO. 5 2022

A second question relevant to this study is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on project
performance. Table 2 below highlights five project approaches:

1. Predictive or traditional project approaches emphasize upfront planning allowing

project managers to plan and anticipate work progress and allocation of resources. The
upside is that this planning is logical and agrees with most classic literature on
management. The downside is that the predictive approach can be significantly slower
and can make it harder to manage change.

2. Pure adaptive or agile project approaches turns the basic planning upside down.
Instead of focusing on developing a highly detailed and predictive plan, agile emphasis
is on customer interactions, smaller and faster turnaround with multiple iterations and
embrace of change. For the past two decades, much of the software industry has
adopted agile project management, contributing to the growth of DPM.
3. The structured hybrid approach is an unofficial name for a variety of methods that attempt to
combine the best of predictive and adaptive approaches. Many leading organizations tailor
project approaches to be suitable for their organizations. The word “structured” refers to
clear methodologies combined with sound processes, tools, metrics and training.
4. The unstructured hybrid approach is similar to the above, except it may be quickly
assembled without sound processes, tools, metrics and training.

5. Ad hoc, often known as the “garbage can model,” is a loose structure fulfilling the
principle of “getting it done.” There are no formal methods and processes, but for
smaller or less complex projects, it can be more efficient.
The impact on project performance, surprisingly, is only slightly negative as shown in
Table 2. In fact, only the predictive or traditional project approach shows a significant
decline in performance, whereas all other approaches are either neutral or slightly positive.
This finding is significant because DPM is commonly applied to agile projects.
Although DPM can be applied to all project management approaches, there is a noticeable
divide. These projects are more likely to adopt some form of agile as the approach for
project management for a number of reasons including:
䊏 DPMs are more likely to work on projects with digital deliverables which can often be
divided into components that enable iterative or modular development approaches as
embraced by agile methodologies.
䊏 DPM embraces Web tools that enable faster and more timely communications. By the
very nature of the tool’s capabilities, DPM tends to be nimbler and more flexible
hallmarks of agile methodologies.
䊏 As DPM becomes more mainstream and organization’s leadership begins to adopt this
more agile mode of thinking and managing, even more projects are likely to embrace
agile approaches to project execution.

Table 2 Impact on project performance during 2020, organized by project approach

Project approach Negative No impact Positive Overall Impact

Predictive or traditional 21 13 12 9 Negative

Adaptive or agile 7 0 10 3 Slightly positive
Hybrid – structured 8 13 9 1 Negligible
Hybrid – unstructured 3 5 5 2 Negligible
Ad hoc 1 1 1 0 Neutral
Total 40 32 37 3 Slightly negative

VOL. 43 NO. 5 2022 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j PAGE 327

 DPM can be applied to traditional project management methods too. There is no major
incompatibility between using Web tools and planning and organizing projects predictively.
Predictive methods rely on advanced planning, whereas agile management places greater
emphasis on teamwork, customer collaboration and flexibility. DPM has excellent tools that
can be used for thoroughly planning, tackling change and encouraging teams to develop
robust plans. For example, Microsoft Project has a cloud-based version that works well for
both predictive methods such as the software development life cycle with phases that
include requirement, design, development, implementation, testing, deployment and agile
project management.
Although predictive methods emphasize advanced planning of project domains such as
time, scope and cost, agile management prioritizes teamwork, client cooperation and
flexibility. This is a sequential method that gives more attention to integrating feedback from
clients and constant releases with each iteration of a project. The fundamental idea
underpinning agile management embraces emerging variations and changes. When
combined with greater customer interaction and a faster cycle of development and release,
the agile approach is nimbler and more flexible.

Challenges and benefits of working remotely, virtually and digitally

The pandemic lockdown accelerated the development in working remotely, using
digital technology and meeting team members virtually. Inevitably, there is now more
focus on the benefits and challenges of working remotely and digitally. Working
remotely can be attractive to individuals and organizations. For example, for
individuals, there can be a significant amount of time saved without the daily commute
and taking care of family members during the day. In an article published in January
2020, two months before the shutdown, the average commute time in the USA was
27 min each way (Fanning, 2020). Remote workers are more likely to have flexible
arrangements with employers to allow them to provide some level of care to family
members during working hours.
For projects and organizations, there are both strategic and tactical benefits. When
organizations are unshackled from geography, they can compete for talent almost
anywhere. Compensation may also be adjusted by local conditions, enabling hiring from
lower cost regions. Organizations can also reduce operating expenses by reducing office
space and facilities. By providing flexibility to employees, companies have seen a
significant reduction in employee turnover (Owl Labs, 2017).
But working remotely has its share of challenges for individuals, project teams and
organizations as well. These include finding potential productivity issues, having
distractions at home, sapping motivation and finding time to unplug:
䊏 Poor productivity: This is a common and difficult problem, and there is no easy way to
solve it. One way is to avoid multitasking, avoid distraction and create near term
deadlines for your tasks. But there are many challenges with work attitude and habits.
Digital project managers should act as managers as well as coaches to diagnose the
root causes of the issues and develop solutions.

“When organizations are unshackled from geography, they

can compete for talent almost anywhere.”

PAGE 328 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j VOL. 43 NO. 5 2022

 “What may have taken years earlier and possibly decades to
push the workforce to adopt digital tools and technology
has now occurred literally overnight for many people across
the world.”

䊏 Home distractions: Working from home with children present can easily reduce
productivity, especially if there are other environmental factors. One way to address
this problem is to create a workspace away from distractions and retain a caregiver for
children.
䊏 Poor motivation: There is a persistent concern with virtual workers staying motivated,
especially when there is no direct supervision or surveillance. When virtual workers do
not feel the presence of other team members and the supervisor, they may be
lackadaisical toward assigned tasks. For digital project managers, it may be important
to assign more difficult tasks to keep team members engaged. When they are able to
overcome difficulties and deliver good results, project managers should reward them
accordingly to enhance motivation.
䊏 Relax and unplug: Even though most people have some aversion with disconnecting
from computing devices such as smart phones, it is one way that many people have
learned to relax and unplug from work. With remote workers, work and non-work
activities and environment tend to blend into each other and reduce breaks that are
more common at offices. The best way to address this is by meeting the deadline for
each day and then unplugging.
At a project level, the possible constraints include effectiveness working collaboratively,
managing tasks and performance, clarifying goals, working across different geographies
and time zones, tackling cultural and language hurdles and developing and maintaining
trust with team members:
䊏 Virtual collaboration: One of the biggest challenges in virtual work is working on
complex projects in which colocation increases collaboration. When team members are
in different geographic locations, especially in different time zones, collaboration in real
time can be more difficult. There are multiple solutions, such as Google Docs and
Sheets. Also, digital tools such as Slack, Skype and Zoom can alleviate some of the
challenges. But none of these can truly replace the effectiveness of working in the same
space, solving problems together.
䊏 Managing project tasks and performance: A common project management issue is
the ability to coordinate work and track progress. Working remotely across different
geographies increases this challenge. In theory, project managers can evaluate
progress on outputs, but that often requires a great amount of knowledge at a
detailed level before they are able to evaluate performance and productivity. There
are useful tools such as Serene and Trello that can help with task assignments and
monitor progress. However, for large and complex projects, monitoring team
productivity continues to be a major problem for DPM and even traditional project
management.
䊏 Clarifying goals: Managers frequently fail to communicate their desires to a virtual team
if communication is an issue. Teams, on the other hand, fail to articulate the uncertainty
surrounding their positions and obligations. Conflicts may arise from misunderstanding
a project’s main deliverables. There is no easy solution other than working harder to
clarify goals.

VOL. 43 NO. 5 2022 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j PAGE 329

 䊏 Working across different geographic and time zones: A major advantage of virtual work
is that organizations have the opportunity to recruit talent from different continents. But
groups of people working in different time zones can hinder productivity. A good
practice is to develop an integrated calendar for each team member, allowing them to
see everyone’s availability at any time and know when people are off due to holidays or
vacations.
䊏 Tackling cultural and language hurdles: When project team members are distributed
across different countries and around the world, there will be a mixture of languages
and cultures. Although diversity offers strategic strengths, it also introduces tactical
challenges. There are many ways to tackle these issues. For example, for culture,
sensitivity training can be valuable. On communication, multiple modes may address
cultural divides. This creates redundancies in communication, and when consistently
applied, multiple communications provide reinforcement. It is important to give team
members time to ask questions. By seeking active feedback to close the
communication loop, project managers have greater confidence in communication
effectiveness.
䊏 Building and maintaining trust: Trust is more difficult to develop when people are
remote as there are reduced interactions. In some situations, it is possible that remote
members never meet face to face, which reduces social contact and negatively affects
the development of trust. Some ways to overcome these include taking time to
introduce team members, so they get to know each other, being responsive and
consistent, encouraging transparency, especially when communicating negative news,
using digital collaboration tools, creating mutual objectives, securing small wins and
practicing servant leadership.

Despite the challenges of working remotely and virtual teams, the benefits remain
powerful. The pandemic is over in many places, but it is unlikely that project work will
snap back to pre-pandemic practices. There are many reasons and chief among them
is that after working remotely for over a year and possibly longer, people and
organizations develop new work habits. As organizations review the new leases on
office space, especially in expensive cities, they may think twice about retaining the
same space. During the pandemic, technology advanced quickly, but what is more
Keywords:
Virtual team, impressive is the adoption of digital tools and applications. What may have taken years
Project management, earlier and possibly decades to push the workforce to adopt digital tools and
Project manager, technology has now occurred literally overnight for many people across the world. In a
Digitalization, recent study by McKinsey, a consultancy, 20% to 25% of workforces in advanced
COVID-19,
Pandemic,
economies could work from home from three to five days a week, representing a jump
Digital project management, of four to five times more remote work than before the pandemic (McKinsey, 2021). For
Digital project manager, project management, there is no going back. The push for DPM is likely to remain
Remote team strong for the foreseeable future.

References
Fanning, C. (2020), “This is the average commute time in every US State”, Reader Digest, available at:
www.rd.com/article/average-commute-time-in-every-state/
Lowe, M. (2018), “What it means to be a digital project manager”, available at: www.wrike.com/blog/
digital-project-manager/
McKinsey (2021), “The future of work after COVID-19”, McKinsey Global Institute Report February 18,
2021, available at: www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-after-covid-
19#
Owl Labs (2017), “State of remote work”, available at: https://resources.owllabs.com/state-of-remote-
work/2017

PAGE 330 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j VOL. 43 NO. 5 2022

Randstad (2017), “Project manager vs digital project manager. . . what is the difference?”, available at:
www.randstad.co.nz/hr-news/performance-management/project-manager-vs-digital-project-manager-
what-is-the-difference/
Williamson, B. and Wu, T. (2019), The Sensible Guide to Key Terminologies in Project Management,
iExperi Press, Montclair, NJ. Glossary.

Further reading
PMI (2018), “The project manager of the future: developing digital-age project management skills to
thrive in disruptive times”, Project Management Institute, available at: www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/
documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/digital-pm-skills.pdf?v=234f58d6-0d0b-4451-
bc3f-19f7ddbb92da&sc_lang_temp=en

Corresponding author
Te Wu can be contacted at: [email protected]

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: [email protected]

VOL. 43 NO. 5 2022 j JOURNAL OF BUSINESS STRATEGY j PAGE 331

Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction
prohibited without permission.