Figure 1
Figure 2
The results of the primary lexical analysis (Source: Own research)
| Word in the text | Without inflection and basic terms | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Word | Number of words | Word | Number of words | Varieties |
| 1 | project | 234 | data | 231 | 339 |
| 2 | data | 231 | process | 88 | 238 |
| 3 | management | 201 | change | 87 | 221 |
| 4 | transformation | 178 | customer | 59 | 195 |
| 5 | digital | 177 | time | 50 | 150 |
| 6 | organization | 172 | tools | 59 | 132 |
| 7 | transformation | 137 | communication | 59 | 122 |
| 8 | digital | 130 | information | 92 | 121 |
| 9 | work | 118 | employee | 81 | 120 |
| 10 | management | 103 | resources | 39 | 71 |
Positive and negative sides of DT from project management perspective (Source: Own research)
| Positive impact | ||
| 1) | Project effectiveness, including cost savings, reducing the time spent on ineffective activities (e.g. travel), selection of resources and their proper allocation | ... we can purchase a software subscription needed only for a given project, taking into account the time and needs of the team |
| 2) | The possibility of allocating the time saved as a result of eliminating repetitive and tedious calculations for creative and adding value activities | ... changing the profile of the desired project manager from a person scrupulously performing repetitive calculations to an employee characterized primarily by creativity |
| 3) | Shortening the project delivery time thanks to automation, new tools supporting project management | today, using costing software, we are able to directly load the bill of quantities from the project into the software |
| 4) | Ability to use a large amount of current data, realtime access, and fast data processing | saves all project component data in the same way, a new person in the project or a new manager is able to easily implement and read the project and continue the work |
| 5) | Mobility and the possibility of remote cooperation | you do not even need a computer to use the data to work on the project, all you need is a tablet or smartphone |
| 6) | Flexibility of work and results | ... the availability of digital methodologies starts the era of independent, self-organizing and more flexible project management |
| 7) | Improvement of risk management processes in the project, identification of risk sources, quick response to threats | ... much better control of threats during the project duration, e.g., by ongoing control of project costs |
| 8) | Improving the relationship with the client or recipient of the project product, improving communication, better recognizing the needs and expectations of the client or end user | focusing on areas related to the client's experience and better understanding of his needs |
| 9) | Positive impact on communication in the team and cooperation | communication between individual team members and the trend related to agile management ... affects the team management model itself, in which the project manager plays the role of facilitator rather than manager |
| 10) | Improving knowledge management in the project | universal access to knowledge about the project for the team and clients - Jira / Confluence platforms allow easy documentation, testing, and modification of projects by various stakeholders |
| Negative impact | ||
| 1) | information overload, information noise, redundant data that requires constant prioritization or plausibility checks | ... the amount of information we receive from colleagues is often so large that we are not able to read them all |
| 2) | required expenditure for the implementation of new digital solutions, for new systems and applications | ... digital transformation is perceived as an additional cost |
| 3) | risk of data loss, undesirable access, or industrial espionage or as a result of a planned hacking attack | data that is sensitive to an enterprise or project may leak outside the organization, either as a result of negligence, e.g., a lost unencrypted flash drive |
| 4) | the need to acquire new competences, the competences held may turn out to be insufficient, the need for continuous training and learning | the manager should be proficient in using or at least understanding these tools to efficiently perform the tasks entrusted to him |
Key aspects of the relationship between digital transformation and project management (Source: Own research)
| No. | Excluding the hierarchy of aspects | Number of indications | Indicated first (most important) aspect | Number of indications |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | data | 41 | data | 13 |
| 2 | IT tools / systems | 41 | IT tools | 13 |
| 3 | communication | 40 | communication | 12 |
| 4 | agile methodology | 16 | agile methodology | 6 |
| 5 | customer orientation | 15 | customer orientation | 5 |
| 6 | process optimization | 12 | process optimization | 4 |
| 7 | management of knowledge | 10 | profitability | 4 |
| 8 | monitoring | 9 | business model | 3 |
| 9 | the role of the manager | 6 | competences | 3 |
| 10 | profitability | 6 | mobility | 3 |
| 11 | way of work | 6 | way of work | 3 |
| 12 | risk management | 6 | design | 3 |
| 13 | time / speed | 5 | virtualization | 3 |
| 14 | innovation | 5 | organizational culture | 2 |
| 15 | competences | 5 | team | 2 |
| 16 | mobility | 5 | profitability / efficiency | 2 |
| 17 | design | 5 | adaptation | 1 |
| 18 | cooperation | 5 | AI | 1 |
| 19 | resources | 5 | algorithms | 1 |
Changes in project management in relation to the specificity of projects (Source: Own research)
| Changes perceived by respondents | Respondents’ opinions |
|---|---|
| 1) Project outcome | |
| the outcome of the project (product) is not precisely defined at the beginning of the implementation | …also the purpose of the project changes during its implementation or is not even fully defined until the final stages of the project |
| less focus on day-to-day operational activities allows for greater focus on goals and results | Digital technologies make it much easier for project managers to focus on results by setting goals ... |
| 2) Time – temporality, specific start and end of a project | |
| shortening the implementation time thanks to IT tools | Process automation allows managers to shorten the time spent on a particular project, improve the management of the entire project ... |
| shortening the project delivery time thanks to better communication | - organizing online meetings. This change not only reduces the time ... |
| the time of reaction to changes, including the unpredictable ones, is shortened | … Reaction time in unforeseen situations is particularly important in terms of the duration of the entire project |
| 3) Team performance | |
| work online (remote, virtual), no need for direct contact and common location | The project team no longer has to be composed of people working together in one place. The multitude of digital platforms for project management equipped with instant messaging and videoconferencing allow for remote work ... |
| efficient recruitment and the possibility of acquiring specialists and experts from around the world | requires project managers to integrate a dispersed team, sometimes even in different time zones, but also gives the opportunity to recruit specialists for the project that they could not find in their territorial area, and bring them ... would be unprofitable for the project |
| project teams are becoming international, new challenges of multicultural management and diversity management | … Providing a common language of communication for multicultural project teams. And it is not about overcoming the language barrier as such, but about ensuring that all team members have the same understanding of the tasks and know what the expected results are. |
| 4) Limited resources | |
| improving the allocation and monitoring of resources thanks to IT tools | Data sharing tools such as Sharepoint can reduce both time and cost. |
| easier access to human resources, no restrictions resulting from their location | ... the restrictions resulting from the location of employees in the world have disappeared |
| new opportunities to reduce costs | This change not only reduces the time, but also reduces the cost of travel, per diem and hotel rental. |
| 5) Risks | |
| faster identification of threats | enables faster identification of threats, much better control of threats during the duration of projects (e.g., by ongoing control of project costs) ... |
| more precise, multi-faceted threat prediction | ... access to data along with their analysis enables prediction of threats and risks related to both external and internal factors |
| use of available data and their processing | the possibility of cataloguing and using in subsequent projects experiences from projects implemented ... |
| use of modern technologies, including AI | Having access to current data, it is possible to reliably assess ... the occurrence of risk and its impact on a particular stage of the project. In the implementation phase, you can easily monitor risks - both positive and negative |
| 6) Specific management methods | |
| increasing importance of agile methodologies | directing project teams towards using agile management methods… |
| traditional methods and techniques have been programmed, most of the computational and visualization work through IT tools | budgeting, planning, and risk calculation, which have been known in the literature for several decades, have been implemented in computer applications ... tools such as MS Project, SpiraTeam, Jira, and many others (also dedicated to specific industries or companies) do most of the computational work |
| hybridization of project management methodologies | ... the use of technical solutions and the availability of information resulting in changes in the late stages of the project may reduce the share of “traditional” methodologies |