If you read "The World is Flat" then you know that for project management the world is a flat platform with nearly unlimited connectivity that allows nearly everyone to climb aboard, more or less equal in their access to function and data.
Tom Friedman wrote the book; he's well known for his pithy summaries, and now he says this, which for project managers, is a heads-up for what the flat and universally accessible platform might bring:
"Privacy is over:" Hackers can get to anything; so beware your faith in non-disclosure agreements, patents, secrets and safes, and whatever you think is proprietaryThe first three are more or less on everyone's radar. We know about hackers and platforms and quicker-faster.
"Local is over:" That's the message of the platform; I would argue a bit on this one since it is well documented that velocity and local go together. Want to go fast? Get local!
"Later is over:" In fact, if you're on-time, you're late. If you wait, the advantage goes over to the next guy. That brings "too fast to plan" and other inverted process paradigms into the frame.
"Average is over:" Functional automation of all manner of PM tasks is creeping in; and guess what: automation is quicker, faster, more accurate, and did I say 'above average'? Like timeliness, if you're average, you're lost
OMG, that last one is a problem. In any big organization, half the people are below the organization's average. Don't believe it? Just ask Mr Bell Curve. And, if automation pushes the expectation for the people mean upward, you've got to bring your A-game
And, so what's the A-game? Ever increasing intellectual skills to stay ahead of the robots, and broad experience so you don't get organized out of a job when things change. And attitude: a success today is to be rewarded with a harder job tomorrow... we love it!
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