This article describes that groups of people and computers combined will be able to provide collective intelligence, sometimes referred to as “cyber-human.” What relation does this have to improving product development?
There is an excellent article by Thomas W. Malone in the latest MIT Sloan Management Review (Summer 2018), called “How Human-Computer ‘Superminds’ Are Redefining the Future of Work.” What I find much more compelling than this title is the byline, “Virtually all human achievements have been made by groups of people, not lone individuals. As we incorporate smart technologies further into traditionally human processes, an even more powerful form of collaboration is emerging.”
Drotar and Morrissey, Co-founders of Strategy 2 Market, have seen countless product development mishaps over the years. These mishaps boil down to poor decision-making and the limited ability to identify and manage product development uncertainty and risk. These mishaps include, but are not limited to the following examples:
Improving project team decision-making through the assistance of computers/ Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a key asset that product development teams can benefit from to reduce the number of product development mishaps.
Drotar and Morrissey created a “cyber-human” tool called the Product Risk Framework® (PRF). The PRF enables and supports Malone’s key elements of an intelligent system: create possibilities for action, decide which actions to take, sense the external world, remember the past and learn from experience.
The PRF collectively incorporates smart technology/AI into the human process of developing products. Ultimately, leading to better decision-making. Here is how the cyber-human collaboration works:
Companies are showing an interest in these intelligent systems for product development. Mary and Kathy are recipients of a NSF STEM I-Corp grant for the Product Risk Framework. During their grant research they found senior product development leaders, across industries, embraced the idea of sharing anonymized information (1) on product development risks and uncertainties to improve product development efforts.
So, what does this future world of PRF collective intelligence look like for you and your product development team?
Collectively, computers and humans can help product developers to make better decisions. Visit our Product Risk Framework website or contact us to learn more about the Product Risk Framework business intelligence tool. You can also read our latest Summer 2018 white paper and case study.
(1)Providing anonymity of information collected from participants means that either the project does not collect identifying information of individual subjects (e.g., project name, proprietary details, etc.), or the project cannot link individual responses with participants’ identities.
Strategy 2 Market helps companies increase growth and decrease product development complexity. www.strategy2market.com
For more information or to speak with one of our consultants, please contact Mary Drotar at 708-829-7470 or mdrotar@strategy2market.com