Mastering the Unpredictable

John D’Entremont, PMP, is a program manager with over 15 years experience in training, managing training teams and designing materials to enhance the skills of managers and executives.

  Innovation   ProjectsAtWork  

There is a push for a more flexible, dynamic approach to supporting knowledge work through technology. Software architect and author Keith Swenson is a leading advocate of adaptive case management, which recognizes the creative, unpredictable nature of knowledge work. He shares his thoughts on the concept.

Keith Swenson is a software architect who helps design systems. A key part of his work requires that standard processes and procedures be put into place within entire teams of developers, and he has done a lot of thinking about how to design rules that people can work and succeed with. In the early 1990s Swenson was involved in a number of technology- and process-related standards efforts, including the Object Management Group (OMG) and the Workflow Management Coalition. During this time he began sharing his experiences in conferences and tutorials. Most recently, Swenson authored “Mastering the Unpredictable: How Adaptive Case Management Will Revolutionize the Way That Knowledge Workers Get Things Done.”

The effort to fully support knowledge workers within the workplace is not new. What's new is that recent technology advances now make the management of unpredictable circumstances a practical reality. The facilitation of knowledge work — or what is increasingly known as "Case Management" — represents the next imperative in …

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