PMI Global Insights

This is how Mark Stevenson, author of the book “An Optimist's Tour of the Future“ and key note speaker last year signed his book during the EMEA Congress in Barcelona– I found it so antagonistic ... so good ...

Have you ever thought about the future and how humanity will need to adapt to the changes that are coming ...? How we will need to innovate or how local initiatives can really impact at a global scale?

There is an old man near me in the cafe .. he looks nostalgic, a face can tell you lot of things, experience, dreams, failures, successes ... Are you curious?

I look at him and thousands of things come to my mind. Thoughts about how things have changed since I was ten years old, What is he thinking about all these changes? Is he really aware of them? Does he care about them? How people moved from small villages to big cities, big data and business intelligence, how work is changing - knowmads new species... and many more to come ... Are we prepared? Do we want/need to change?

 Innovation, what’s the real meaning?

Again ... Why it is so difficult?

The world is changing, technological advances are already impacting our labor processes, society is facing and will face more and more complex changes.

So,  where is the future of project/program management? Adapt and overcome would somebody say ... PMI EMEA Congress sessions will show you different points of view and real implementations, how companies and people adapted, changed and became agile.

Events evolve together with society and offer different experiences to the user. This is what PMI is offering you at the Congress, not only the opportunity to network and attend really thrilling conferences, but to have an experience, a great one, personally and professionally; and to anticipate to the future.

So, do you stay curious? If so please join us in few days in Rome!!!

The PMI Community Team will be looking for you and your experience! ;)

We are facing exponential changes in our daily lives, not only personally but in our professional daily tasks. What is today there will be no more tomorrow. Changes are taking place at a different speed compared to society acceptance, so, Are organizations prepared to absorb these changes? Do we feel we need to change? Do we want to change? Do organisations really understand the concepts of innovation and disruption? Some they do not and they are experiencing now their own fate ... Are these words overused in our daily life? I think yes, too much ... 

Human behavior is unpredictable in some cases but in other cases it is very predictable. When we are in our area of confort, we feel save and we are not willing to change. Why to risk this confort and go to an unexplored area? Are we enough curious? When we were children, we were naturally curious—but when we grew up that sense of wonder began to flow down.

Regaining this sense of curiosity is key for the Project Manager, creativity then flows and take us to another level, where unexplored areas are not so dangerous as we thought at the very beginning. We begin traversing the bridge that seemed so dark, and oh surprise! we see us in an uncomfortable new area but we learn how to surf it.

Tuesday PMI Salon session presented some of the game changers for the PPPM Professional such artificial intelligence (AI), Big data and Predictive Analysis and last but not least important, the Human connection.

Will AI impact the job labour? How? In which percentage algorithms will take part of our tasks as Project Managers? What will be left? In any case this is already happening and the future seems complex ... so how to survive?

How big data and predictive analysis will link with AI? Forecasting concept acquires special relevance. .. Harvard Business Review (HBR) article published in May 2016 presents an excellent piece about that new concept. 

The Good Judgment Project (GJP) was launched in 2011 by Philip Tetlock and Barbara Mellers and was completed in 2015. The objective of that study was to determine whether some people are naturally better than others at prediction and how this performance predicting could be enhanced.

The Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) organized a competition where participants were challenged to answer geopolitical and economic questions that U.S. intelligence agencies pose to their analysts normally. The GJP was the winner. 

[...] Most predictions made in companies, whether they concern project budgets, sales forecasts, or the performance of potential hires or acquisitions, are not the result of cold calculus. They are colored by the forecaster’s understanding of basic statistical arguments, susceptibility to cognitive biases, desire to influence others’ thinking, and concerns about reputation. Indeed, predictions are often intentionally vague to maximize wiggle room should they prove wrong. The good news is that training in reasoning and debiasing can reliably strengthen a firm’s forecasting competence. The Good Judgment Project demonstrated that as little as one hour of training improved forecasting accuracy by about 14% over the course of a year. [HBR]

Training linked to AI and big data results in a powerful combination, at the same time scaring at some point.

After so many changes will invade our lives/business, human connections will become more and more relevant. Compassion, humanity, understanding, communication ...  

The future is already here, like it or not, and it already began impacting our daily tasks and life. Connectivity is changing the game, how we work as Project Managers ... so we have two options, to play or not to play. Consequences of each action seem obvious ... 

Mark Stevenson, a visionary and author of the book "An Optimist's Tour of the Future", was the closing key note speaker of PMI EMEA Global Congress . He showed us how the new industrial revolution we are living is impacting us in different aspects such how we organised society, the way we educated ourselves, how we made business, technologically and our concept of work. I would resume the speech as inspiring, mind blowing, transhumanist, ... 

Be passionate for what you do, be a trailblazer, think big, make mistakes, adapt and overcome, learn, be ambitious in order to advance, connect the dots, don't be afraid of serendipity (General Leadership blog), be more human and never ever give up.

SO LET'S PLAY?

PMI Global Congress provides you an excellent forum to develop your professional and personal skills, apart from networking within an intercultural environment, learning and experiencing.

I guess you had a busy day, meeting new people, old friends, discovering new thoughts and ideas, sharing your experiences, buying a new book?, posting at the board to find colleagues to network with? ... Sure you did ... so, how it was? Did the event met your expectations? We hope so ... 

The Congress is divided in topics and each day is different: On Monday we focused in Globalisation and the Effect on the PPM Community; tomorrow Tuesday we will focus on Localisation and Industry Connectivity and we will conclude on Wednesday with Organisational Influence and Impact.

Antonio Nieto, PMI Board, introduced the keynote speaker  Ms. Isabel Aguilera ... how inspiring she was ... personal attitude, artificial intelligence and all the advances that are in place and coming, creativity, change, disrupting, innovation, transforming the model into digital, talent, focus, predicting the future, ambition and confidence, ... Ms Aguilera showed that while presenting, her words were like water my friend! 

After this we had a good break to check the last book publications about different topics at the PMI bookstore. I found this really good, you can buy the book you want with discount.

Going around I found an excellent initiative, a big board where you could paste your post-it with things you like so far, things you would like to share, ... how crazy and how creative!

Educational sessions are one of the pillars of PMI events and they were of quality where speakers really connected with the attendants. For today I attended different sessions where we dealt with complexity in turbulent environments, projects for a sustainable world (we need to keep track on this ...), how to raise up PMOs at country level ... we had questions and answers, sharing ideas and thoughts ... 

Do you know what is the PMI Educational Foundation (PMIef)? The first time I knew about them I really 'felt in love' with their objectives: Project Management for Social Good. I volunteer for the Spanish Mountain and Climbing Federation (FEDME) and we deliver some of the project management disciplines in our trainings in under-developed countries such Nepal or Jordan. I feel part of something bigger and that makes others people life better.

Networking is another pillar of PMI events and has been well explained by my colleague on the PMI Community Team, Carlos Javier Pampliega García. You will have different moments to connect with other peers, show them, share with them, learn, discuss, laugh ... so don't be shy and introduce yourself. You have nothing to lose and a lot to win.

We are in a moment where changes happen quickly and we need to adapt and overcome and continue. Never give up and play, take meditated risks and dream high!

So, let's go for a second round PMIs! Let's see tomorrow!

Let's meet the team!

Be sure to check the PMI EMEA Congress 2016 event page for new posts every day, follow along with the PMI Congress Insights blog and follow us on social media using the hashtag #PMICongress!

Kristin Jones, blogger at The Critical Path, a ProjectManagement.com site, leads the Congress Community Team to bring the news and talks to those who cannot attend. This is a new experience in the community for this year's Global Congress - EMEA.

The Community Team will cover all the presentations and will be live to share the best of the Congress: Kristin Jones, Yves Cavarec , Catalin-Teodor Dogaru, Joanna Newman , Carlos J. Pampliega, Laura Samsó 

Quick changing environment make us weaker in some aspects and really stronger in others. Cooperation, sharing, ethics, professionalism and knowledge make us not only better people but better project managers.

In 2012 I attended my first EMEA event in Europe and in 2014 my first in US and I can tell you I was really impressed, I felt like never before. We are a big family where we all feel and share passion for project management ... 

Before attending I had hundred questions ... How people would be? from where? Would they work for big corporations or small companies? Will they be approachable? What PMI sessions would add to my knowledge? Would they be practical or just theoretical? Would I feel like in the right place as project manager? How about the speakers? 

I must say I was really delighted about the professionalism and the quality of the sessions and people. I met people from all over the world, working for different types and sizes of companies, from different markets, sessions where theoretical and practical, people was really open to meet you and learn from you .. so what are you waiting for?

If you want to learn, enhance, share, innovate, recharge your batteries and enjoy a great atmosphere while you network meeting people around the world this is your place!

We want to see you at PMI EMEA Global Congress in Barcelona starting tomorrow!