Project management as root capability: Huawei’s digital transformation in a changing world

This invited paper offers practice insights from Huawei on project management such as how it has developed, how it is being reshaped by digitalization, and how it may evolve in the future. It is an extracted and edited version of several interview-based conversations with Mr. Hu Sun, Huawei’s Chief Project Management Expert and Services Fellow. The paper first examines why Huawei has built project management as a root capability, outlining a four-phase trajectory from professionalization to value-creating, service-oriented project management. It then explores how this trajectory has been translated into digital practice through the Integrated Service Delivery Platform, organization-level digital operations and smart project management applications. Finally, it discusses Huawei’s vision of human–machine collaboration and data-driven decision-making in future project work and reflects on implications for research and practice in project-based organizing.