Organizations are barely scratching the surface of potential for software—and project management itself.

Not all project managers are concerned about the future, but that could be a fatal error.

"This is their future, and we can either plan for it and build for it or we can be left behind," says Stacy Goff, PMP, author of the chapter, "Visions for the Project Management Software Industry," in Project Management Circa 2025 [PMI, 2009].

In the book, Mr. Goff considers several different future scenarios in software development that could transform portfolio, program and project management.

A consultant and president of ProjectExperts in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA, Mr. Goff discusses the profession's future and how software fits into that picture.

>What will the project management landscape look like in the year 2025?

I think the biggest area of difference will be [the existence of] more project-oriented enterprises. Organizations will realize their value-add through project management, where today there's a very small proportion of government and business organizations that excel because of their project management. I position project management software as today tapping barely 5 percent of its market, but it will go up.

By 2025 the potential is 80 percent. A large part of that usefulness will come from using the tools more for information than data, and applying them with competence, instead of just knowledge.

What's the most important insight you want readers to walk away with?

The one main idea I expect readers to take away is that while we have made significant gains in the use of [software] tools and in the practice of project management, we have barely scratched the surface for their potential societal, organizational and individual benefits. We must recognize and embrace the changes needed to move to the next step in maximizing our potential. The [most innovative] and leading organizations that use the right combination of enabling policies, clearly assigned roles and responsibilities, scaled and effective project management processes, and the appropriate technology will continue to thrive. The laggards will either barely survive, change their strategies to leverage their other significant strengths or be acquired by the leaders.

>What will be the most challenging external factor project managers will have to contend with in the future?

The biggest challenge is communicating more effectively with executive management-learning how to properly position and leverage the powerful tool for change that is project management. [And] showing executives that [project management] need not be a black hole-an inefficiency of corporate resources. That it's got benefits.

Do you believe executives will eventually begin to see the merits of project management at the strategic level?

Absolutely. It's a matter of executives understanding how to manage projects differently and what information they need from their middle managers so they get the intended business results from their project. It's not sending them away to a class-it's more often a matter of an organizational redesign.

How can project management tools help reduce risk?

The majority of project organizations spend most of their time keeping track of trailing indicators like time and cost. To use [project management software tools] just to report trailing indicators faster doesn't improve project performance. For example, by the time Microsoft Project shows you that you're late and over budget, you've already driven off the road.