Attaining Autopilot Management

There are areas where automation is scary but necessary. It is true of management and driving vehicles. Both are on the way to more automation. We are seeing a revolution in driverless cars that is taking the driving tasks from the drivers and slowly passing them on to forms of automation combined with AI that learns effectively in real-time. This automation journey is bearing fruit now with driver-less taxis and driver-less freight hauling. The maturity of automated freight movement is taking off rapidly right now. Automation may just assist us in the nick of time with messed-up supply chains and driver shortages. There is an emerging parallel for managing organizations that is early and also taking off. There is a maturity to this autopilot management journey that I will try to convey here. Much of this revolves around making better decisions and taking appropriate actions speedily. This post will investigate the progress towards "Autopilot Management" and when we might see it. This post is building off some earlier posts on management by wire and the management cockpit.

What is Autopilot Management?

Autopilot management automates the management processes that observe, decide, act and watch for the expected or unexpected outcomes. It will not happen overnight and will evolve from simple automation to highly informed and interactive automatons. The quest for 100% automation might be a pipe dream. Still, great leaps of progress can be expected over the next few decades making business agility a powerful ally in the competition game. It is now possible because of the leaps in digital technologies, including AI that learns and postulates alternative courses at the strategic level, alternative rules at the tactical level, and focused actions at the operational level. The definition will have levels of maturity that I have described below.

Level 1 Notify:

Notification is the lowest level of automation. Events, patterns, and actions are aggregated and visualized, focused on known decision points. The management cockpit plays a key role here for integrated visualization. Automation will notify the manager(s) of abnormal or out-of-bounds conditions or situations. It is purely advisory and will grow to identify emergent events and patterns to sense potential emergent conditions related to threats and opportunities.

Level 2 Suggest:

Moving up the autopilot maturity curve, the management cockpit will provide/suggest alternative decisions and actions. In some cases, the management cockpit will suggest further analysis and collaboration to deal with expected or unexpected situations. It may be as simple as continuous improvement suggestions at the operational level or an adjustment of rules and boundaries for customer experiences or processes at the tactical level. However, it could draw attention to a potential shift in strategic direction or identify new opportunities and threats.

Level 3 Decide & Advise:

Kicking the intelligence factor up a notch to decide and offer alternative actions for automated action before action is taken. The best decision that automation is capable of is taken, but the manager still determines the proper course of action. In this case, the manager would still have the finals say to the measures necessary in the situation detected or emerging.

Level 4 Decide, Act & Offer Overrides:

Here the level of freedom the automation is given has increased. It decides, but it will take action if an override is not selected within a reasonable time frame. A manager had better have a solid reason not to take the intelligence's advice in the automation tested and established. It might really be necessary for an emergent condition that might need further analysis, particularly at the strategic level.

Level 5 Full Autopilot Management:

It is where the automation would not require a manager's attention to the dynamic management conditions. Instead, the automation would be free to do anything an experienced manager could do within boundaries and constraints preestablished. Finally, it is where the law, ethics, and corporate charter play a significant role.

Net; Net:

Since flexibility and responsiveness now rule the marketplace for today's successful organizations, autopilot management has and will continue to become an increasing focus for organizations. Remember that any organization might only apply total autopilot to selected problem domains and give less freedom to other problem domains. The amount of change and emergence we have seen and will continue to see is going to accelerate. Just look at the impact on our interconnected world that COVID has had so far. While we are early in the automation of management, we can expect much more as managers become more comfortable with the automation of their internal tasks for managing their domain. Also, managers will look to automate interactions with external environments and the traditional other internal domains.

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Additional Reading:

Frictionless Management

Real-Time Fast Boards

Management Cockpits

Real-Time Strategy

Management by Wire