Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
The ABCs of Trend Spotting
Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.
The start of a new year makes a lot of people real nervous and insecure about their jobs. We ought to be insecure about losing our jobs all year round, but the official start of a new calendar year drives home our fears of the unknown. The unknown is change--so commonplace today, yet still frightening.
On the speaker circuit, it’s likely futurists will be doing brisk business the first two months of the new year forecasting future trends. Trend spotting, however, like losing our jobs, should also be on our minds all the time. We ought to learn how to get a handle on tomorrow and not be so dependent upon futurists, economic forecasters and business intelligence experts. PMs, especially, ought to be on top of business, and especially IT trends. An insightful take on the future makes them more attractive to their clients and employers. The paragraphs ahead explain why.
Companies and organizations of every type, not to mention the government, depend upon professional forecasters to tell them what the next big fad is going to be or what the economy is going to be like a decade from now.
Not to undermine the science of futurism, but anyone can learn the essentials of futurism and forecasting by plugging into the trend-spotting world--if for no other reason but to learn how companies make strategic decisions.
There is more to the tired …
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If I had only known, I would have been a locksmith. - Albert Einstein |