Guessing is not a strategy: How to build decision velocity with AI and real-time data
June 10, 2026 | Live Webinar
Engaging Your Right Brain for Increased Agility
Doug is the author of the landmark book, Extreme Project Management®: Using Leadership, Principles and Tools to Deliver Value in the Face of Volatility. He works with clients who undertake projects in very demanding environments: those settings that feature high speed, high change, high unpredictability and high stress. Doug has lived in the trenches—from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to Beijing, China—with over 275 project teams with budgets that ranged from $25,000 to over $25 million. He is one of the founders of the Agile Leadership Network, an organization dedicated to connecting, developing and supporting great project leaders. He is known for his hard-hitting and humorous keynote speeches that address vital issues facing today’s project-based organizations. You can visit Doug at www.dougdecarlo.com.
Putting together a 1,200-piece jigsaw puzzle is no big deal when you have the box top in front of you and 100 percent of the pieces to work with--and enough time to do it.
In contrast, imagine being on a project team whose job is to put together a large jigsaw puzzle under the following conditions: The size and composition of the box top is changing before your eyes, the number and shape of individual pieces are changing dynamically, the team is geographically dispersed and the deadline is fixed due to a delivery window that cannot be missed.
The first scenario is predominantly a left-brained activity: the solution is logical, linear and simple. To be successful in the second example requires one to enlist the faculties of the right-brain. That is, the right brain is best suited for situations that are ambiguous and complex.
Although all projects require us to employ both sides of our head, the project management discipline has been heavily dominated by left brain-based methods and practices that still persist. Take extreme projects for example--those volatile ventures characterized by high change, high complexity and high speed. In an attempt to contain these challenging projects, organizations more often than not look for solutions by imposing more policies, procedures and practices while also insisting on the use of standardized templates embedded…
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