Artificial Intelligence and the Project Manager

Microsoft vs Google in Cloud Computing

By G C Network | May 22, 2008

Many took note of the Randall Stross essay in the New York Times last weekend. In it he succintly described why Microsoft is failing in it’s attempt to bridge the…

IBM at Forrester IT Forum

By G C Network | May 22, 2008

At the Forrester IT Forum yesterday in Las Vegas, Rick Lechner, VP Enterprise Systems at IBM, made the following comments The changing face of globalization (transformation from exporting to multi-nationals…

HP & EDS

By G C Network | May 21, 2008

In an interesting take on his Enterprise Architecture blog, Chris Pearson sees the HP acquisition of EDS as a ploy by HP to remain relevant in a cloud computing world.…

The Library of National Intelligence (LNI) – A Possible Cloud Application

By G C Network | May 20, 2008

In the MAZZ-INT Blog a couple of weeks ago, Joe Mazzafro artile on “Intelliigence and the Concept of Customer” stated that a “realistic business model for the IC to assume…

Net-Centric Enterprise Services – An Update

By G C Network | May 19, 2008

Net-Centric Enterprise Services (NCES) is about to enter the initial operational test and evaluation phase. NCES are a set of capabilities that support network-centric warfare operations and information sharing. It…

Microsoft Renews Yahoo Bid

By G C Network | May 19, 2008

Microsoft renews Yahoo bid and is now offering to buy a piece of Yahoo. I believe this is just the opening of the second round. Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson

Cloud Computing Risk

By G C Network | May 18, 2008

CIO.com reviewed the top three concerns that the IT executives have regarding the adoption of cloud computing – security, latency, and SLA. These concerns seem similar to those previously assigned…

Grid vs. Cloud – May 17, 2008

By G C Network | May 18, 2008

From Geva Perry’s April 25th blog Cloud Computing overtaking the term Grid Computing With the term “cloud computing” rapidly being hyped everywhere, I did this little exercise on Google Trends…

Blogsphere Clouds – May 16, 2008

By G C Network | May 18, 2008

The cloud is billowing in the blogsphere !! Virtual Computing in the Cloud — How a Universal Dialtone Will …Virtual Cloud Computing represents the next wave of virtualization and offers…

Gartner on Cloud Computing / Yahoo vs. Icahn- May 15, 2008

By G C Network | May 18, 2008

Gartner thinks that cloud computing may be the next big thing: By 2012, 80 percent of Fortune 1000 enterprises will pay for some cloud computing service and 30 percent of…

Organizations use teams to create wealth, market share, customer service, competitive advantage, and organizational success. Effective teams accomplish their assigned end goals by engaging in collaboration as a joint learning activity. Enhanced effectiveness is why collaborative tools are so critical to the project manager, and 7 out of 10 IT professionals see collaboration as essential to their organization.

 
For an information worker operating within a modern team environment, finding information is relatively easy. Any team member can “google” to find just about anything.  High-performance teams, however, know how to work together to brainstorm and collaborate on discovering the right questions. That concept frames the future of collaboration and the project manager’s role. The most effective project managers use artificial intelligence (AI) to apply computational approaches to the collaborative social experience. In laymen’s terms that means using AI to discover the right questions. Research has shown this approach as a more robust method of helping humans solve increasingly complex business problems.
 
As AI and collaboration technologies enhance and spread intelligence equally to any worker, machine learning technologies provide just-in-time custom learning based on team needs and the organizational goals. Collaboration technology should, therefore, also help ease the challenge of connecting physically remote teams to each other. This critical function allows more interaction, more collective learning, more collaboration, and more team success. By embracing this new remote collaboration paradigm, project managers can:
  • Identify and engage critical talent independent of their location. This capability improves the manager’s ability to bring complementary skills into a collaborative environment with the broader team;  
  • Encourage and build healthy relationships with remote team members. Strong relationshipsare the heart of effective collaboration and leadership;
  • Present and communicate a guiding vision to the team. Providing clarity of purpose enhances collaboration;
  • Work with local and remote team members to jointly prepare a clear mission objective and define group rules of engagement;
  • Connect the project with higher level organizational objectives;
  • Create an atmosphere of safety, trust, and respect that, in turn, encourages multiple perspectives, diverse viewpoints, and creativity;
  • Make everyone’s ideas and suggestions visible and tangible by building prototypes, or drawing diagrams;
  • Provide an easy-to-use infrastructure that enables learning, communication, andcollaboration;
  • Remove barriers to high performance by nurturing individual brilliance;
  • Coach for improved teamwork, emotional intelligence, and navigating difficult conversations;
  • Jointly celebrate joint accomplishments; and
  • Capture best practices and things that should be avoided.

 

 

These are all reasons why Cisco launched Webex Teams. This collaborative platform uses machine learning to present an intelligent and human-like conversational interface for any application or device. With this capability, project managers can eliminate the friction usually associated with remote team member communications. The solution has also embedded Webex Assistant, an AI-enabled service for managing directory and scheduling information and designed to assist, participate, and take action that supports the project manager. Webex Assistant leverages the powerful Webex graph to access better information faster. In doing so, it essentially injects artificial intelligence into every team interaction.

 
 


This post is brought to you by Cisco and IDG. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Cisco. 

( Thank you. If you enjoyed this article, get free updates by email or RSS – © Copyright Kevin L. Jackson 2016-2018)

Follow me at https://Twitter.com/Kevin_Jackson
Posted in

G C Network