Last week, I had the pleasure of spending three days in Krakow (Poland), attending the seminar “Towards (De)projectification? Transformations in the Project Society” at Jagiellonian University. Organized by Beata Jałocha, this event brought together a fantastic group of scholars to explore one of the more intriguing shifts happening in organizational life today: the rise of deprojectification.

For decades, we’ve witnessed the spread of project-based ways of organizing, what scholars have called “projectification”. It’s shaped how organizations function, how people work, and even how societies are structured. But increasingly, we’re seeing signs of pushback. My presentation, “Deprojectification: A quiet organizational shift?”, focused on some tensions that might cause organizations to move away from project-centric structures and what that might mean for the future. I was honored to present alongside a wonderful group of colleagues: Beata Jałocha, Damian Hodgson, Ewa Bogacz-Wojtanowska, Joana Geraldi, Ewa Sońta-Drączkowska, and Timo Leimbach.

A huge thank you to Beata and the team at Jagiellonian University for hosting such a thought-provoking and collegial event. I left with new ideas, new connections, and a real sense of momentum around this emerging conversation.