Workshop Description

“VUCA” is a ubiquitous acronym that has worked its way into the current PMI PMBOK Guide 7th Edition (where “Uncertainty” is the guide’s eighth Performance Domain, and complexity and risk are key parts of the PM Standard). This workshop will address how these challenges affect project leaders, and use breakouts to facilitate sharing of our VUCA and risk management experiences. We will present methods for effectively dealing with volatility and ambiguity in projects (such as vision and agile methods) and use breakout sessions to explore ideas for better managing these situations. The workshop will also drill into managing uncertainty and complexity (through deeper understanding, greater clarity, and other techniques) and build on these ideas using more breakout conversations. We plan to debrief and share all of the discussions, and close with a summary of our key learnings.

Workshop Outline

1. Introduction and overview
2. “VUCA” review
   • Volatility: Unpredictable change in project parameters and environment
   • Uncertainty: Lack of predictability in issues and events
   • Complexity: Difficult to understand causes and aspects of a problem
   • Ambiguity: Insufficient clarity related to goals and objectives
3. PMI and PMBOK 7^th Edition
   • Guide, 2.8: Uncertainty Performance Domain (Uncertainty, Ambiguity, Complexity, Volatility, Risk)
   • Standard, 3.9: Navigate Complexity
   • Standard, 3.10: Optimize Risk Responses
4. Breakouts: VUCA examples and experiences (plus quick debrief)
5. Volatility
   • Role of vision
   • Tools, techniques, and methods
6. Ambiguity
   • Role of agility
   • Tools, techniques, and methods
7. Breakouts (plus debrief)
8. Uncertainty
   • Role of understanding
   • Tools, techniques, and methods
9. Complexity
   • Role of clarity
   • Tools, techniques, and methods
10. Breakouts (plus debrief)
11. Summary and Close