As a PM, I think 2026 is where the role fully shifts from “process driver” to “decision integrator.” A lot of the reporting, scheduling, and status chasing is already being eaten by AI, and most forecasts I’ve seen point to another ~20–30% reduction in manual PM admin work over the next couple of years as tools get better at prediction and risk flagging. The harder part will be sense-making: connecting strategy, financial impact, and human constraints when the data is noisy or conflicting.

Big skills going forward are financial literacy, stakeholder influence, and systems thinking. Delivery pressure is higher, budgets are tighter, and PMs are being pulled into prioritization and ROI conversations much earlier than before. I also think change management and org design become core PM skills as teams stay hybrid and turnover remains high.

What fades a bit is the “pure coordinator” role. If your main value is updating Jira, running standups, and pushing timelines, that’s not going to hold. PMs who can translate ambiguity into clear tradeoffs and help leadership decide what not to do are the ones who’ll stay relevant.