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The Project Economy Has Arrived

Joerg Glaescher/laif/Redux

Summary.   

By 2027, some 88 million people around the world are likely to be working in project management, and the value of project-oriented economic activity will have reached $20 trillion. But research shows that only 35% of the projects undertaken worldwide are successful—which means we’re wasting an extravagant amount of time, money, and opportunity. To take advantage of the new project economy, companies need a new approach to project management: They must adopt a project-driven organizational structure, ensure that executives have the capabilities to effectively sponsor projects, and train managers in modern project management.

Quietly but powerfully, projects have displaced operations as the economic engine of our times. That shift has been a long time coming.

A version of this article appeared in the November–December 2021 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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