Project Management

Future-Proof Projects — and Careers — With a Little Engineered Serendipity

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Keynoter Mark Stevenson closed PMI® Global Congress—EMEA on Wednesday.

By Cyndee Miller

Everyone says they won’t get old and stuck in their ways. And then it happens. Habits and assumptions calcify until all change seems either utterly pointless or just stupid. To battle that instinct for the status quo so deeply embedded in my DNA, I must fight the good fight. Yup, I literally force myself to try new music even when I’m absolutely convinced I’ll hate it. And so it came to be that Beyoncé now lives happily next to Nick Cave and Junior Kimbrough in my iTunes.

Author and futurist Mark Stevenson has a fancy term for it: engineered serendipity. The idea is to smash your mind into new shapes and truly embrace divergent thinking, aka new ideas.

That means tossing out cynicism. “You think it’s wisdom — actually, it’s laziness,” he said in his closing congress keynote. “Because if the person with the new idea is right, you’re going to have to change the way you think.”

Given Mr. Stevenson’s whirlwind-but-vivid tour of the future — 3D printing! blockchains! solar-powered smartphones! — we’re all in for some serious change.

“If you thought the digital revolution was a big deal, well, strap yourself in.”

For those of us who have trouble with straps, Mr. Stevenson helpfully offered up some tips. There was the idea of valuing evidence over ideology, or as he so eloquently put it: “Think like an engineer, not a politician.”

He also suggested actually doing what you think about. Stop procrastinating, no more excuses: “You are what you do—not what you intend to do,” he said. So, um, I guess I’ll have to book that safari in Namibia, hit the gym more than twice a month and master Snapchat like all the cool kids.

Living at the border of strategy and results, project managers have loads to look forward to, Mr. Stevenson said. “You’re the people who take us from the world we’ve got, to the world we want.” He pushed attendees to “engage in projects bigger than you.” 

Not a bad thought to close out my congress coverage. Adios, Barcelona — and ciao Roma. Ci vediamo là for next year’s congress on 1-3 May.


Posted by cyndee miller on: May 11, 2016 05:49 PM | Permalink

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RMA GOYAL PM Consultant| Self Fl, United States
True, from AS-IS to TO-BE dreamland, aiming to help all those who can benefit from the solutions designed by architects,delivered by developers and managed by us.....proud feeling to be a PM and able to contribute.

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Mike Roach India
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