People and Teams

People and Teams

People and Teams Stories
contextual reasoning AI R&D: DARPA Investing $2 Billion in Contextual Reasoning

In the view of the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a government agency that has contributed heavily to AI research in the past, AI’s programmed ability to process information is still much too limited. What AI needs is contextual reasoning capabilities.

Training class with people's hands raised, photo by Nicole Honeywill If You Want Training to Take, Explore Experiential LearningPeople typically think of training classes as passive activities, where the instructor talks and the others listen. But experiential learning, where you learn through hands-on activities and then reflect on the experience, often gets the lesson to stick in people's brains better. Consider using interactive lessons.
A businessperson and a customer shaking hands Communicating to Customers That You CareHow can you communicate caring to your customers if your job doesn’t lend itself to demonstrating in person how hard you’re trying? Fortunately, showing evidence of caring is not about scurrying around; it’s about interacting with customers in a way that says you’re listening to them and taking their needs seriously.
migration map Real-Time Bird Migration Algorithms for Live Tweeting

New maps on the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s BirdCast website let you track migratory birds in near real time, as well as forecast avian migration up to three days ahead. Pamela Rentz looks at why the when, where, and how far birds will migrate is important.

Group of team players on a soccer field How to Be a Team PlayerSome people think of themselves as team players because they're technically savvy, hard workers, and strong contributors. But these traits alone don’t make someone a team player. Teamwork, after all, is the process of working together to achieve a shared goal. Team players collaborate to solve problems.
Gerald Weinberg, photo by Corey Grusden The Importance of People in Software: A Tribute to Jerry WeinbergGerald Weinberg's work inspired many to be better engineers and better leaders. Although he’s no longer with us, his message about the role of people in building quality software lives on in his writings and in those who have learned from him. Here, Steve Berczuk recalls some of Jerry Weinberg's most influential books.
group at table The World Has Product Ideas—and So Can You

From where do organizations—both big and small—get product ideas? Most often, pioneers and revolution makers have ideas that are homegrown, but today the market is such that the world has ideas. Our industry has plenty of patterns, trends, and ideas to work on and augment.

Sign indicating twisting roads ahead 16 Questions to Assess Your Response to Major ChangeIf your responsibilities include guiding others through major change, you might find it instructive to assess your own behaviors and response to change. The sixteen questions here can help you do just that. You can also use these questions to facilitate a discussion with your team about a current or upcoming change.