June 22, 2025
Quick Insights to Start Your Week
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Welcome to this weekās Project Management huddle ā your go-to source for the latest trends, industry insights, and tools shaping the industry. Letās dive in! š„
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2025 Project Management Salary Guide: Where the Role Is Headedāand What It Will Pay
Key Takeaways & Advice:
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Know Your Value: Youāve spent your career advocating for projects and teams; you can absolutely advocate for yourself. Understand that negotiation is expected in professional settings.
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Track Achievements: Document tangible accomplishments, KPIs, project milestones, team wins, and specific changes youāve implemented (even small ones). Create a log or portfolio to have concrete evidence of your contributions during negotiations or when seeking raises/promotions.
- Data is Power in Negotiation:
- Use multiple sources for market data (Glassdoor, LinkedIn, PMI calculator, DPMās own report).
- Be specific and backed by numbers; know what youāre currently earning (
X) and what the expected range should be (Y-Z). - Practice negotiation scenarios out loud to build confidence.
- Understand Your Non-Negotiables & Wants:
- List non-salary items that matter (e.g., more PTO, WFH flexibility, stock options) before negotiations.
- Know exactly what you want and your bottom line, so you can negotiate confidently with less regret.
- Be Willing to Negotiate for Non-Salary Items: If salary negotiation hits a dead end or falls short, donāt give up ā focus on other benefits:
- Ask for more vacation time, remote work flexibility, signing bonuses, etc., even if it means compromising slightly elsewhere.
- Negotiate benefits from day one.
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Donāt Let Fear Stop You: If a request is denied (for raise or promotion), ask for clear feedback and a specific timeline to revisit the conversation. Rejection doesnāt mean failure; it might be an opportunity to reassess and plan better for next time.
- Embrace Change & Focus on Fit:
- Project management roles wonāt disappear due to AI, but they will likely become more complex.
- Focus on your unique value and soft skills (stakeholder communication, collaboration) while becoming an expert in leveraging AI effectively.
- Identify what truly energizes you about the role ā the work itself or external factors like company culture? Use this understanding to guide job searches even if salary isnāt increasing.
- Prepare for Difficult Conversations: List out your personal priorities and boundaries before any negotiation. Be clear on what you wonāt compromise on (values, balance) versus what might be negotiable.
Key Statistics & Insights:
- AI is expected to change project management roles but not replace human connection or soft skills.
- Project managers need to adapt by mastering both soft skills and technical ones related to data security with new tech like AI/dashboards.
Four Common Change Models: Your Workplace Toolkit
Change management isnāt just about executing projects; it involves understanding how people adapt emotionally and structurally. As a project manager, focusing solely on delivery misses crucial aspects if thereās no dedicated change manager.
While some models outline the emotional journey (like Kubler-Ross or Bridges), others provide structured processes for leading change (Lewin or Kotter). Understanding these four foundational approaches is vital:
- Kubler-Ross Change Curve: Excellent for recognizing individual feelings but requires critical review as it evolved from grief counseling. Best for understanding personal reactions.
- Bridges Transition Model: Similar emotional focus, emphasizing the journey to acceptance and new beginnings. Particularly useful for large-scale operational changes.
Bridges: Emotional Navigation
This model highlights denial (āquestioning the changeā), loss/anger (feeling isolated or worried), and reintegration/new beginning. Itās crucial because people take different times to accept change; some may never fully embrace it without support, potentially requiring role adjustments. This approach works well for managing large-scale changes like operational restructuring.
Lewin: The Process Framework
Lewin focuses purely on the change process ā unfreeze (break old habits), change (āfreezeā in new state), and refreeze (stabilize). Itās a simple model showing that support is vital during behavioral shifts to ensure people are carried along with the change. Best for continuous improvement and incremental changes.
Kotter: The Eight-Step Approach
Kotter provides a comprehensive, structured framework driving organizational change through vision, commitment, leadership, etc., acknowledging personal reflection as part of its success. Itās more suited to significant transformations where strong top-down commitment is feasible, rather than small-scale projects needing this level of detail.
Practical Change Management in Projects
As project leaders or mentors, you can leverage these models:
- Personal Mentoring: Offer support for individual emotional journeys (Kubler-Ross/Bridges) or career transitions during organizational change.
- Providing Clarity: Help colleagues understand the āchangeā aspect and offer guidance on next steps.
- Facilitating Connections & Skills Development: Use your project leadership access to connect teams with needed experts, or help individuals identify skills for their future roles.
Remember: adapt these models to your specific workplace context. These arenāt rigid blueprints but flexible tools ensuring smoother transitions through any change initiative (https://rebelsguidetopm.com/4-common-change-models/).
The Most Dangerous Mistake in AI Projects: Overpromising Results
The most common cause of AI project failure is not technical shortcomings but unrealistic expectations. Setting achievable goals without dampening enthusiasm requires careful management for AI project success.
AI projects often fail due to overpromising results, a pattern seen across industries. Initial hype and excitement during planning can lead to ambitious promises that arenāt met in reality. This cycle, where inflated claims are made early on only to face disappointment later, is common even among experienced teams and well-funded organizations.
This trend mirrors past AI cycles of inflated expectations followed by periods of disillusionment (āAI wintersā). Examples include Walmartās shelved inventory robots, Oliveās abandoned healthcare vision, and Teslaās decade-long delays with self-driving tech. These illustrate how overpromising sets projects up for failure before they even begin.
Successful project management involves balancing ambition with realism:
- Think big but start small: Focus initial iterations on solving one specific problem effectively.
- Anchoring in business needs: Begin by identifying urgent business requirements rather than AI capabilities first.
- Define measurable success: Establish clear, tangible goals for each development phase to demonstrate value early and often.
- Maintain grounded expectations: Reality check unrealistic claims; focus on what can be demonstrated and measured.
Effective expectation management channels excitement into productive action through focused pilots and transparent communication. It replaces vague pronouncements with concrete plans and defined outcomes from the outset, ensuring stakeholders understand both potential and limitations.
š ļø Tool of the Week
Motion, (also commonly referred to as āUse Motionā or āMotion Appā) is a distinct category within the realm of time management. Motionās primary objective is to comprehensively address the time-related needs of your entire team. For individuals who rely on their calendar applications to manage their daily schedules, Motion App seamlessly integrates with various calendars, including Google Calendar, Microsoft Calendar, and Apple Calendar. This integration enables the development of robust project and task management systems for both individual members and the entire team. Notably, Motion App automates task organization based on priority, ensuring that the most critical and time-sensitive tasks are prioritized and completed efficiently.
š¤Æ Fun Fact of the Week
41% of underperformers and 17% of champions state that the main reason why projects fail is inadequate sponsor support.
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