Project Management Practices
That No Longer
Work in 2025

But despite this, many PMs continue to carry out outdated practices into 2025, sometimes unwilling to keep up with the times and learn new practices, other times - not having the right environment & resources.  

In this article, we have compiled a list of things that are no longer serving project managers, their teams and projects.

We all know this one. You’re on a Zoom call, staring at a sea of muted microphones and blank faces, while two people debate something that could’ve been solved in Slack in five minutes. Daily stand-ups that drag into 40 minutes, status updates with no clear outcome, review calls that repeat the same talking points. And this is how many project managers still imagine the true project management career.

Modern-day PMs, however, should embrace async communication. This approach is about updates in project boards prior to the calls, AI-generated call recordings and summaries, and smart dashboards that keep stakeholders informed without wasting human hours. And as for meetings - those are structured in a way that is purposeful, and reserved for strategy, decision-making, or true collaboration.

If your calendar is still packed with recurring calls that eat up half the day, let’s be real: you’re suffocating projects.

Micromanagement is one of those leadership styles that was never good, but turned toxic. With distributed teams and AI tools tracking progress in real time, there’s zero reason for a PM to hover over every task like a helicopter parent.

We know what you are thinking, certain team members are not reliable/capable in that regard and no AI tool can fix that…your job is to hold them accountable. Nowadays the pace of work has expedited tremendously and micromanaging your team members will inevitably slow you and the entire project down, leading to missed deadlines for your project and burnout for you.

Signs that you are micromanaging your team:

• Constantly checking in on every single task instead of trusting dashboards and reports
• Asking for status updates multiple times a day
• Controlling not just the what but also the how of the work, leaving no room for autonomy
• Overloading team members with approvals for even the smallest decisions
• Measuring performance by “busyness” instead of outcomes and impact

Additionally, micromanagement undermines trust in the team, as well as creativity and motivation.

The modern skilled PM role is shifting away from control and toward empowerment. If you recognize these tendencies in yourself, here are a few ways to break the habit:

1. Shift from tasks to outcomes: Focus on what needs to be achieved, not on every tiny step along the way.
2. Leverage tools and automation: Dashboards, AI assistants, and project boards can keep you informed without constant check-ins.
3. Reflect on your triggers: Often micromanagement comes from insecurity. Learn to recognize when you’re acting out of fear, not necessity.

Ask for feedback: Invite your team to provide candid feedback on ways you can improve.

For years, project managers were judged by their technical expertise: how well they could manage Gantt charts, understand the difference between Java and JavaScript,, or configure Jira. Now those skills alone don’t make or break you as a successful PM. The skills that actually do and that can’t be replaced by AI are your soft skills.

And yet, many PMs continue to dismiss this side of the job. They focus entirely on processes and metrics while neglecting the human element. They fail to recognize when their team is running on empty, they avoid difficult conversations until conflicts escalate, and they underestimate how much their words and presence shape motivation. On paper, these managers may look competent, but in reality they’re missing the very foundation of leadership.

The cost of ignoring soft skills is high. Deadlines may still be met, but at the expense of morale and long-term engagement. In the end, what’s left is a burnt-out team and a manager who never inspired loyalty.
If you notice yourself undervaluing communication, empathy, or emotional intelligence, it’s time to make a change. Start with self-awareness: reflect on how your leadership style affects your team, and don’t shy away from feedback.

And most importantly, practice being a present leader who empowers others to succeed.

Agile has played and still plays an important role in project management. It brings flexibility, helps teams adapt to change, and also introduces a culture of delivering value step by step. There’s no denying that Agile has its strengths and, in many cases, works really well.

Related post: Scrum vs Kanban: What’s the Difference?

Too many managers still believe that if you’re not running daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, retros, and sticking rigidly to every ritual, you’re doing it wrong. They obsess over velocity charts and burndown graphs while forgetting that the true purpose of Agile was about delivering value and adapting to change. When the framework becomes more important than the outcome, the team ends up serving the methodology instead of the other way around.

Being a project manager today means being flexible and pragmatic. The best results come when you select the methodology based on the project’s needs.

Project management KPIs such as velocity, burndown charts, hours logged, utilization rates  are useful, no doubt, but at today’s pace of change these metrics tell only a fraction of the story, and relying on them alone is a recipe for mediocrity.

In 2025 and further we need to look beyond activity metrics. The real indicators of success are customer satisfaction, adoption, business impact, and the long-term health of the team. Those are harder to measure, but they are far more valuable.

The shift that modern PMs need to make is simple but radical: stop chasing activity metrics and start measuring what truly matters for the team, projects and the company itself.

Continuing with the previous problem, many project managers still cling to the outdated idea that there is a single methodology (like Agile as we’ve mentioned), framework, or process that works for every team and every project. But teams, projects, and business contexts are all different, yet some PMs insist on applying the same rigid approach everywhere, regardless of circumstances.

This harmful approach ignores the nuances that make each project unique. What works for a small, highly autonomous remote team may fail spectacularly in a large cross-functional initiative. Instead of solving problems, a “one-size-fits-all” mindset often creates new ones.

If you want to be a true project manager, expand your vision and let yourself choose among project management methodologies and approaches. Ask yourself if the chosen method actually serves this team and current goals. Being flexible must become one of your essential approaches to running projects and teams.

Some PMs still carry a work overload and being online 24/7 mindset, pushing their teams to deliver faster at the expense of rest and personal time.

In 2025 a work-life harmony is as necessary as breathing. A competent approach to work and life balance helps to keep teams healthy, engaged, and performing at their best. Forward-thinking PMs understand this and make balance part of the process: realistic deadlines, respect for personal time zones, flexibility for distributed teams, and recognition that people are not machines.

For years, many organizations treated time tracking as the ultimate measure of productivity. Even now many companies practice installing specialized software for tracking laptop screen time when the team is distributed.

However, instead of motivation and supposedly useful control, the result is an intimidated employee who is completely unmotivated under such working conditions. It tells you how long someone sat at their desk, nothing more. Time tracking might have its place for billing or high-level planning, but as the main tool for measuring productivity, it’s outdated.

The smarter approach is to measure outcomes: what was achieved, what value was created, and how sustainable the pace is for the team. Hours matter less than results.

Being well-rounded and adaptable are among the most important soft skills for any project manager today. This issue is actually very similar to what we discussed above (point 6) about using a one-size-fits-all approach: when a PM relies on the same method for years without trying anything new, projects inevitably suffer.

In 2025, it makes no sense to resist technology (especially AI) when it’s already everywhere in our daily lives. Think about food delivery apps that predict what you might want to order, or Google tools that quietly optimize your searches every single day. If we’re comfortable using these services outside of work, why should we be afraid of them in our professional lives?

Project management is no exception. Working with outdated tools that don’t integrate with APIs or AI is inefficient and holds you and your team back. Modern platforms can do many useful actions like automating reports or generating insights

We’ve already argued before that AI won’t replace project managers in the future. So if your hesitation to use AI-powered tools comes from fear of losing your relevance, don’t worry. You won’t be replaced, you’ll be smarter and far more effective.

We’ve covered 9 project management practices that totally suck in 2025. Now it’s up to you, let go of the habits and outdated approaches that only slow you and your team down. The sooner you drop them, the faster you’ll move forward. Good luck!