On Wednesday 15 May, I presented CM+AI: A Day in the Future Life of a Configuration Manager during the IpX International CM2 Congress. For those who missed it here is what I presented. Note that this presentation is also a tribute to Mike McKinney and Chrissy Sigrist for their contribution to the world of CM.
What is AI?
It’s the capability of a computer system to mimic human-like cognitive functions such as learning and problem-solving.
But sometimes to understand a definition, you need to understand what it is not…
AI is not: Skynet that sends Terminators from the future trying to destroy humanity 😅!
It is also not:
- Magic 😞(I wish)
- Sentient 😀 (while an AI might be able to mimic emotional responses, it is just a calculated answer and does not have emotions)
- Intelligent 🧐(AI does not have true general intelligence like humans)
- Automation 🤓(the result of execution of a task via automation is the same every time, while an AI could learn to improve the execution of the task and yield better results)
The stories, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this presentation are fictitious and entirely imaginary.
Any resemblance is purely coincidental. 😉
A Day in the Future Life of a Configuration Manager at McKinnovate
Chrissy (your personal CM AI assistant) greets you and shares the Change Board Agenda it prepared 📅 ahead of the meeting this morning. Chrissy has also highlighted the emails that need your immediate attention and provides a summary and a proposed reply for each📧. You review these, update them, and send out the replies.
In the background, Chrissy is continuously monitoring any deviations, potential issues 🎱that are popping up to ensure you are alerted when needed.
While you enjoy a cappuccino, Chrissy presents the latest CM metrics and potential actions 📏 that need to be taken.
Chrissy warns you it is time for the Change Board to start.
While you chair the change board, Chrissy makes the minutes of meeting 📝and updates the change requests with their disposition and priority for implementation 📝 based on the decisions made during the meeting..
During the meeting, an urgent issue pops up. Chrissy prepares an information package 📝and before the meeting ends Chrissy explains the issue and possible ways of addressing it ⚠️. During a test a sensor failed and its backup did not work. This is a serious safety issue and requires the attention of everyone. Luckily the root cause is known and a solution is proposed by engineering.
It is agreed that the meeting is ended early to focus on solving the problem.
Chrissy has prepared an initial impact analysis 😀. The engineers proposed another type of fixture for the sensor but Chrissy found out, using the Parts Catalogue, that it will be end of life soon 🔎. Chrissy finds 2 other parts that match the requirements. However, based on some further investigation, it seems these two parts are duplicate records of the same part. Chrissy suggests to clean up the parts catalogue by removing the duplicate 🧹and updates the CM2 Baseline accordingly 📝. Chrissy proposes to issue a new part number for the sensor assembly 😀. You ask the CM2 Baseline Copilot for a 360 analysis of the sensor, sensor assembly, and rotor assembly 🤩. This way you get a complete picture of all involved dependencies and risks regarding the proposed change.
Next, you ask Chrissy to complete the impact analysis and create a business case for the change request 🧐. Once done, you ask Chrissy to arrange offline approval 🧐 from the relevant stakeholders for this CR.
Just as you are almost done you get an urgent message from a field engineer that has an issue with a part. The field engineer is not able to identify the part as its label is unreadable. Using the image the field engineer sent, Chrissy is able to identify exactly which part number it concerns 🪪. You ask Chrissy to perform a search for reusable parts that are available at the location of the field Engineer 🕵️.
Afternoon: Plan the Change
In the afternoon Chrissy provides you with a proposal for the implementation plan of the change, taking into account all running changes and their dependencies 🧐. Via a collaboration space, all the people managers provide feedback to the plan, which Chrissy takes into consideration and updates the implementation plan 📝. You review the result and request a commitment from the change implementation board for the final implementation plan.
Once the change implementation board commits to the plan, Chrissy updates the Change Notice accordingly 📝.
In the meantime, you received a question from the legal department about the AI component of the drone in relation to Export Control 😱. You need to gather all information to prepare for the discussion. Chrissy collects all the information needed 📝 to prepare for the meeting with the legal department. In the background, Chrissy keeps monitoring in real-time if any traceability issues pop up 🐾. While you read through the materials collected by Chrissy, Chrissy noticed that the deliverables of the change are ready to be released and performs the Change Audit and Release role 🤓. As everything checks out, Chrissy releases the deliverables and notifies you 🧐.
Late Afternoon: Physical Configuration Audit
Your favorite part of the job is to perform the Physical Configuration Audit. As this is the final audit just before the release of the first Autonomous Ice Cream Delivery Drone, you need to ensure everything is in order.
Chrissy has prepared all the data to be checked 📋. Using Augmented Reality Chrissy guides you through the audit and shows an issue with the records ⚠. The issue was due to a late change that was not properly updated in the records yet. Chrissy suggests how to fix it and updates the records based on your approval 📝.
The audit is finished just in time for the product launch 🚀.
Challenge Ahead
While this is a nice story, there are still things we need to consider going forward, just to list a few…
Be aware of Bias 🧐
- Amazon’s recruiting system incorrectly learnt that male candidates were preferable 😡.
- Algorithm favored white patients over black patients 😡.
- When generating the images for the presentation I noticed that most of the characters in the images were white and male. I had to explicitly request for a more representative representation of reality 😡.
- Data Quality is Key, an AI only knows what it learns from the data that is provided 📊.
With great power comes great responsibility 💪
Header Photo generated by AI Microsoft Copilot 3 May 2024
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