Reinhard Friedrich Wagner

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing project work while raising questions about how project professionals acquire and demonstrate competence. This article develops an evidence-informed framework for learning and educating project managers in AI-enabled environments. It undertakes a focused integrative analysis of findings from a 2026 survey of 300 German project professionals and selected empirical studies of AI-assisted project work, learning, and education. In the source survey, 91% reported readiness to develop competences, learning-by-doing was the most highly rated individual format, and mentoring/coaching was the highest-rated organizational support measure. Experimental and classroom evidence indicates that AI can improve task performance and provide instructional scaffolding, but output improvements do not necessarily imply durable learning or sound contextual judgment. We propose a three-part educational architecture encompassing foundational project management judgment, responsible human–AI collaboration, and project value-oriented orchestration. It is operationalized through scaffolded practice, explicit AI-use rules, progressively independent assessments, and workplace-supported development. The framework is a conceptual synthesis, not an intervention validated by the source survey. The article offers testable propositions and an evaluation agenda for universities, employers, trainers, and professional associations.

Europe is confronted with technological, economic, environmental, geopolitical and societal challenges that demand more than policy intentions and established organisational routines. They demand the capacity to turn ideas into action and ambitions into tangible change. Projects have become one of the principal organisational forms through which such change is realised. This Academic Engagement/Perspective paper reflects on projectification from a European perspective and distinguishes three interrelated arenas: the private economy, where projects enable innovation, transformation and competitiveness; the public sector, where projects translate policies into infrastructure, reforms and public value; and society at large, where projects provide vehicles for civic engagement, arts, culture and collective action. Projectification is understood here as the increasing prevalence and societal embeddedness of projects and project practices. We distinguish it from project capability, meaning the ability to select, govern, resource, deliver and learn from projects. Evidence from Germany, Norway, Iceland, Croatia and Italy shows that projectification is substantial but not uniform. Our five-country research based on institutional logics further indicates markedly different trajectories even within Europe: Germany is characterised predominantly by a decentralised market- and profession-oriented logic, whereas Croatia displays a stronger supranational European Union governance logic. We therefore argue that projectification should be understood as a contextually embedded societal transformation rather than as a universal model. Europe does not simply need more projects; it needs project capabilities suited to different institutional settings and able to connect temporary initiatives with longer-term organisational and societal purposes.

The publication Study Report: Assessing the Maturity and Impact of Project Management Offices (PMOs) presents a systematic and theory-informed examination of the role and assessment of Project Management Offices (PMOs) in contemporary project-based organisations. The author team, led by Dr Reinhard Wagner (Germany) in collaboration with an international research group, critically analyses prevailing PMO assessment practices, which remain largely dominated by maturity-based approaches. The study demonstrates that, in the literature, maturity models—while useful diagnostic tools for diagnosing capabilities and supporting internal development—are frequently treated as proxy measures of effectiveness or value. However, limited empirical evidence supports a causal relationship between higher maturity and greater organisational impact. Based on a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) of peer-reviewed academic literature, complemented by insights from professional discourse, the study clarifies key concepts and explicitly distinguishes maturity from impact, while also addressing the relationship between performance, maturity, and impact. It highlights the need to move beyond normative maturity assumptions toward theory-driven and context-sensitive impact models. Particular attention is given to impact understood as contribution to benefits realisation, strategic alignment, decision quality, and long-term organisational performance. The study offers implications for both practice and research. For practice, organisations are encouraged to complement maturity and performance assessments with impact-oriented evaluations that explicitly link PMO activities to strategic objectives and benefits. For research, the study calls for longitudinal and mixed-methods designs capable of capturing indirect and long-term effects, as well as stronger collaboration between academia and practice. Overall, the publication provides a robust foundation for advancing both scholarly understanding and practical evaluation of PMOs. It ultimately calls for a shift from capability-centric to impact-oriented assessment perspectives, better reflecting the strategic role PMOs play in today’s project-based organisations. License: CC-BY-SA

While currently, general attention is focused on generative AI applications such as ChatGPT and their impact on project management; there is hardly any talk of blockchain applications. Using a bibliometric analysis of the pertinent literature, we can show a significant increase in the application of blockchain technology to project management and a clear link between AI, blockchain technology, and project management. Our research shows not only a significant increase in publications in the field of the application of blockchain technologies in project management, particularly in the construction industry and in China, but also the first concrete examples of application in the area of contract management, smart contracts, secure payment transactions as well as data management. The results of our research show in a unique way the direct connection between AI and blockchain technologies and their application in project management using the example of smart contracts with secure payment transactions in plant construction. This opens up a fascinating field of research and provides practitioners with exciting insights into an innovative application for AI and blockchain technologies.

The extent to which projects are established as an organizational form in society to cope with various challenges has been analyzed extensively in research under the term ‘projectification’. However, it remains unclear how the projectification at the level of society begins and which actors are involved in its institutionalization. Drawing on an explanatory case study in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, responses are provided to these questions and propositions for further research. The country is undertaking reforms as part of its ongoing transformation, which includes the professional implementation of projects, particularly in the public sector. These activities are, to some extent, based on the developments in project management in neighboring Kazakhstan, where a presidential decree also constituted a first step towards the institutionalization of projectification. It later found its way into relevant sectors and to key actors via the presidential administration, primarily through regulative and normative institutions. Because of increased international cooperation, the number and importance of projects in Kyrgyzstan will continue to increase in the coming years, requiring greater emphasis on projectification. The results are informative for research into projectification and for those involved in countries with comparable situations.

The extent to which projects are established as an organizational form in society to cope with various challenges has been analyzed extensively in research under the term ‘projectification.’ However, it remains unclear how the projectification at the level of society begins and which actors are involved in its institutionalization. Drawing on an explanatory case study in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan, responses are provided to these questions and propositions for further research. The country is undertaking reforms as part of its ongoing transformation, which includes professional implementation of projects, particularly in the public sector. These activities are, to some extent, based on the developments in project management in neighboring Kazakhstan, where a presidential decree also constituted a first step towards the institutionalization of projectification. It later found its way into relevant sectors and to key actors via the presidential administration, primarily through regulative and normative institutions. Due to increased international cooperation, the number and importance of projects in Kyrgyzstan will continue to increase in the coming years, requiring greater emphasis on projectification. The results are informative for research into projectification and for those involved in countries with comparable situations.