Project Management 2.0[1] (sometimes mistakenly called Social Project Management[2]) is one branch of evolution of project management practices, which was enabled by the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies. Such applications include: blogs, wikis, collaborative software, etc. Because of Web 2.0 technologies, small distributed & virtual teams can work together much more efficiently by utilizing the new-generation, usually low or no-cost Web-based project management tools.[3] These tools challenge the traditional view of the project manager, as Project Management 2.0 represents a dramatic increase in the ability for distributed teams' collaboration.
While traditional project management structures focused on the paradigm of the project manager as controller,[4] Project management 2.0 stresses the concept of distributed collaboration, and the project manager as a leader.[5] Project management 2.0 advocates open communication. While traditional project management often was driven by formal reporting and hierarchical structures, project management 2.0 stresses the need for access to information for the whole team. This has led to one of the many criticisms of Project Management 2.0 - that it cannot scale to large projects. However, for distributed teams performing agile development, which are often emergent structures, the use of rich collaborative software may enable the development of collective intelligence
Common comparisons of traditional project management vs. project management 2.0 are listed in the table below.
Traditional Project Management | Project Management 2.0 |
---|---|
Centralization of control | Decentralization of control |
Top-down planning | Bottom-up planning |
Authoritarian environment | Collaborative environment |
Implied structure | Emergent structures |
Limited/Restricted Access to the plan | Organized/Unlimited Access to the plan |
Local Access to information | Global/Live Access to information |
Limited Communications within team | Unlimited Communications within team |
Separate projects | Holistic approach |
Overly complex tools | Easy to use tools |
Rigidity of tools | Flexibility of tools |