How do you stay updated on industry trends?

When I read today’s question, I repeated that question a few times because the word industry kind of confused me. First let me try to think why we need to stay updated and then what is it I need to be updated on and then we will get to how

Why do I need to be updated: On level it is about the work I perform and get paid. There is change that is happening constantly as a result of which the industry where my company operates in and the industries where my company’s customers operate in, all change. This means my company has to adapt. This in turn means I have to change my way of working and even how I consider value delivery in my role. It also means that there is a possibility that my role gets redefined.

Staying updated with industry trends becomes crucial to learning and to an extent staying employed. There is also an industry in which I operate which is the Agile and Scaled Agile space. What are the trends there is important. So the ‘Why’ question encompasses different levels of industry knowledge.

What do I need to be updated on: I personally feel I might fall short being updated at an equal footing on all industry levels. So I might want to prioritize what I need to be updated on. Top priority should be for the industry my specific role is in. This would be Agile and Scaled Agile and Organizational Transformation and Program/Portfolio Management and similar areas. Even education and coaching trends in these areas. The next would be the industry my company operates and then it would be the industry in which my organization’s customers operate.

This will also expand to a lot more aspects of general professional knowledge. I would also think that I need to be updated on the trends in professional roles that I aspire to pursue in my career in the near future. If there is a career roadmap then mapping what that would demand of me should be one point to look into.

How do I stay updated: This is the meat of the question. I should acknowledge that I have not done a real good job or not to my satisfaction. But that has changed over the last few months I would say. It had a few factors to it.

Firstly I was in a position where I had to reach out and understand what is happening in the Agile and Scaled Agile space in order for me to plan my work in my company. This forced me to start looking at what all are happening elsewhere, talking about it and listening to other experts in my field speak. This forced me to take up some additional training and focus on specific reading that helped me.

Secondly my career roadmap demanded some changes for the next few years. This post and the videos and podcasts all have to do with that. To try to find my voice within the space I operate.

I have a few sources for getting updated. One is Gartner which provides me with well researched Articles. The next is Medium that has helped me find stories from the trenches. This has been so useful for me and I have a paid subscription for the same and get stories in my inbox. Then I have the Agile community blogs and the SAFe studio which is a great place to stay abreast on getting better at my job. Podcasts are another place I go to for listening to conversations. Then I also subscribe to a few people on substack. ChatGPT has been a great tool, more as a search assistant than a trend informer.

The challenge is with so much content it can get overwhelming and I always feel I am missing on some other crucial information. I think just like the career roadmap, there needs to be a learning roadmap to decide where your time should be spend.

And on top there are books that I read and don’t get to read.