A Festively Decorated Big Box of …. What Now?!
| by Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin
I'm glad PMI added "Uncertainty" to the PMBOK.
As 2023 comes to a close, my first thought is I’m glad PMI added “Uncertainty” to the PMBOK Guide.
The stock market, inexplicably soaring in the face of gloom from economists and pundits; a globe beset by seemingly unresolvable conflicts; a new technology that even its inventors express concern about, and which may, even as I write, be subtly changing the way we work, do business, or even perceive the world … all these things display the kind of uncertainty that risk managers exist to assess and mitigate, if possible.
Not all uncertainty is bad, of course: The child shaking her wrapped presents and pondering their contents on Christmas Eve, enthralled by tomorrow’s wonder and possibility, represents one aspect of uncertainty, as does the project manager eagerly reading a Forbes article about how the wonders of AI will transform his profession in ways we cannot yet imagine.
Every “Happy New Year!” since the beginning of calendars, though, has been shadowed by the unknown that stretches out ahead. Maybe that’s why we celebrate. It’s certainly why we make plans, and contingency plans, form resolutions, and plot strategies by using SWOT analysis. Next week’s blog will look at some of these tools for anticipating what’s in the big, brightly wrapped box labelled 2024.