A Project Management career wasn’t always a career. It once was just a hobby that technical people did in their spare time. How did we get from hobby to career and what’s next? Lee Lambert will spare no detail. This presentation will share the experiences of someone who has been there through it all. More than 45 years of involvement in PMI has exposed the good, the bad and the ugly. We have gone from basic project scheduling to comprehensive integrated project planning to an Agile explosion that has had the impact of a 7.5 quake on the Richter Scale and we aren’t done yet as AI is threatening to change everything (again).

How to undertake a transformation by leveraging Disciplined Agile, they will understand the challenges from global project teams, they will learn about the DA coaching approach and what are the success factors for achieving sustainable transformation in the manufacturing industry. With this project and case study an example is given on how to choose a Way of Working with Disciplined Agile and how to address challenges at the team, project and enterprise level. The presentation will outline the results of the 6 months coaching, the improvements and the impact on the organization as a whole.

Project success hinges on how we handle ‘the people stuff’. Yet most of us can’t really explain "why people behave as they do". In this interactive, (and quite possibly unexpected!) session Carole will draw on material from her book, Neuroscience for Project Success: why people behave as they do, published in 2022 by the Association for Project Management. You’ll come away with a clear understanding of how the human brain works and new insights into yourself, your projects and your decision making, in a world characterized by stress, chaos and disorder. Act on them and you can develop an Antifragile Mindset.

Interactive discussion moderated by Chris Cashell (Head of IT Change @ Apex Group)

Ike will highlight the long-term trends profoundly transforming the future of work itself, from evolving demographics around the globe to revolutions in how we use technology. These paradigm shifts are placing marked pressure on organizations and governments to ensure their relevance/resilience and operate with dramatically more agile approaches, even “anti-fragile.” As a result, professionals around the world also need to upgrade their own capabilities and develop the right mix of technical and “power skills” to effectively lead teams and turn ideas into reality. Please join us as Ike shares engaging stories and actionable lessons on how organizations and individuals alike can prepare to succeed in the future.

Each undesirable outcome harms us to some degree, but it can also teach us how to avoid similar outcomes in the future, which makes us stronger… assuming that it doesn’t kill us! How much we learn in these cases usually correlates with the pain it causes us. However, not many people are close enough to the source to feel the pain to absorb the information effectively enough and generate usable knowledge from it. The result is that the organization as a whole doesn’t learn as much as it can, and others would make similar mistakes and get similar undesirable outcomes on their own. One solution to this problem is to bring more people closer to each potential source of pain. They would bring their existing knowledge, which can prevent the problem, and on the other hand, if the problem arises, they would be close enough to the source of pain to learn from it. This solution can be implemented by having structured, frequent peer reviews for the project management activities. I’ll explain how it can work in a project, what benefits you can expect, and what difficulties you may experience along the way.

Impact and management of companies, organizations and people with eclectic contexts and cultures in perpetual motion requires the appropriation of the concept of antifragility. Lessons and opportunities learned in the context of working and doing business with or in Africa. From a certain angle and approach, changes, crises and cultural differences are opportunities.

In an age of digital transformation, data-driven organizations, and last but not least, ChatGPT, the discussion about the use of artificial intelligence in project management is in full swing. Various scenarios and topics like project chatbots, automated reporting, and data collection for better and more informed project decisions, are frequently debated. A common immediate question is how long it takes until those scenarios become reality. One thing to remember though is that people remain accountable for their projects and decisions made as part of projects. Hence, one important question is how AI can help project management professionals become better in their roles and human-led capabilities by engaging with data-driven methods. In this presentation, you’ll learn about a different perspective toward AI technology in project management and the steps one should take not only to unlock the capabilities of AI for improved project performance but primarily to improve and advance the capabilities of project management professionals.

Interactive discussion moderated by Boyana Zahova (President of PMI Bulgaria Chapter)