With the new Manifesto for Enterprise Agility, PMI and the Agile Alliance provide guidance for organizations seeking to remain capable of making decisions and taking effective action in times of uncertainty.

Building on this impulse, the Community of Practice (CoP) for SMEs will explore which established assumptions in project and portfolio management still add value today—and where new perspectives may be needed. 

Over the coming months, the CoP SME will develop practical recommendations to help organizations advance their Enterprise Agility capabilities. The focus will be on approaches that can be implemented quickly and pragmatically, particularly in small and medium-sized enterprises.

A key area of discussion will be the critical examination of long-standing assumptions in project and portfolio management. While many of these ideas have shaped organizations for years, they may no longer fully address the challenges of today’s increasingly complex business environment.

Examples include:

Project planning and communication as the primary drivers of project success or failure
In practice, organizational overload is often a more significant factor than inadequate planning. Too many concurrent initiatives can lead to delays, inefficiencies, and reduced delivery speed.

Control as the most important management instrument
While control plays an important role in standardized work environments, knowledge-based organizations increasingly depend on trust, accountability, and empowered decision-making to operate effectively.

The “single-system strategy” in project portfolio management
Organizations are often required to balance flexibility and speed with compliance and governance. Whether a single system can adequately support these competing requirements remains an important question.

In the coming months, the CoP SME will discuss:

• management principles that can support Enterprise Agility,
• measures capable of delivering results in the short term,
• and practical roadmaps for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Professionals interested in these topics are invited to challenge these perspectives, contribute their own experiences, and participate in the development of practical recommendations.

Information Session – June 11, 2026
Anyone interested in learning more about the CoP SME, its objectives, planned activities, and opportunities for participation is invited to join the information session on June 11, 2026.

For further information or to express interest in participating, please contact: cop-kmu@pmi-gc.de