Blockchain as a Project Management tool

A developer and technology provider like Hitt Group (through its Etoolinnovation and Dingus brands) cannot ignore the blockchain breakthrough, even in terms of Project Management. Our person in charge in this matter, Marc Bara – recently certified as IBM Blockchain Foundation for Developers – advances us in this article Hitt how it will affect the work of the Project Manager.

The first thing to point out about the binomial blockchain-project management is that “if your organization deals with data or transactions of any kind, this disruptive technology will probably change things a lot“. We have all heard the term thanks, in many cases, to the technology behind cryptographic coins such as Bitcoin or Ethereum… But what does the ‘chain of blocks’ really mean and how will it affect the future of Project Management?.

Renowned expert Bettina Warburg says that “blockchain is a way of reducing uncertainty between the parties, so that we can exchange value “. Other specialists, such as the Future Thinking organization, refer to it as “a distributed accounting technology that provides a way to record and transfer data that is transparent, secure, auditable, and interruption-resistant“.

When Bitcoin was introduced a decade ago, it was known that it uses a specific implementation of blockchain to achieve its purpose. Visionaries sensed that, apart from cryptomoneda, this technology can be transferred to many applications to solve current problems. For example, distributed and decentralized can provide an inviolable record of transaction data, regardless of type. And anything from a purchase or payment, a transfer of funds, to the completion of a task, a milestone or a project.

From a more abstract point of view, blockchain technology lays the foundation and facilitates a network based on trust. It can be implemented within an industry or between subsidiaries and affiliates of a parent company, or between customers, suppliers and their partners. The financial sector, for example, defends its potential to improve the quality of governance and minimise bureaucracy.

For now, let’s think that when you use a Project Management platform in the cloud (like many of those that exist today), you are exchanging information not only on tasks and projects, but data between your collaborators. Well, one of the possibilities that blockchain offers to developers is the creation of a Cloud storage system that is immutable, untouchable, much more robust, secure and, by extension, less prone to human error, hacking attacks and data loss.

The overall impression is that blockchain will change the way we manage the supply in projects, as it will result in increased security and protection in every exchange of value between the people involved in it. Transactions will be documented in a permanent decentralized register and the system will allow the different participants to control all factors in a secure and transparent way. A further example in this context: data related to the amount of time that project team members are investing to complete their tasks will also be part of an immutable record.

According to Project-Management.com writer Jose Maria de Lo Santos, blockchain will also be more effective because it “allows for a superior operational workflow. Implementing a project based on blockchain will create commercial value. This results from the saving of time and cost, elimination and reduction of risks”. De lo Santos adds that “the project manager is the expert in communicating with all participants, to define the requirements, scope, budget, deadlines and results that blockchain will identify, verify and validate as transactions.

Project managers can use this technology to provide a solution to several of the areas for which they are responsible. For example, as indicated above, facilitates communication with all participants to define requirements, scope, budget, timelines and results. In a very practical summary: blockchain can help simplify any problem involving reconciliation, arbitration and intermediation, aspects that no company and/or professional should ignore to ensure their business model.