During the golden age of General Electric (GE), it was the den where companies sourced for business leaders. As Jack Welch took the company to the mountaintop, American companies descended to harvest the managerial capabilities which made it possible for GE to have become the world’s finest and most dominant industrial conglomerate. As that happened, mid-tier GE leaders left to become senior managers in great companies.
GE was the apostle of Six Sigma, a process that makes use of statistics and data analysis to analyze and reduce errors or defects, improving cycle times while reducing manufacturing defects to no more than 3.4 defects per million units or events: ‘They needed to be exceptional so in the late 1980s, the company began focusing solely on quality control. In 1995, CEO Jack Welch made a goal for General Electric to become a Six Sigma company within five years by adopting the “Six Sigma Quality” as a part of the company’s culture.’
GE has since largely faded. And some of the leading American companies have picked a new construct: move fast and break things! Of course, when it is software, you have that liberty: you can launch at 8am, and relaunch at 5pm. In hardware and physical products, that is not possible because the mean time to market is longer.
Today, the chief Googler is telling Googlers that “Things Will Go Wrong” as Google plots trajectories on how to battle existential threats from ChatGPT via Bard, its AI-chatbot: “Google rolled out Bard for public use on Tuesday, but admitted that it is experimental and a lot of work is still there to be done as it expands access to the AI language model”.
Period, we do not claim that this product is ready, but nonetheless, we will go to the market with it. The key element is learn fast, fix and keep improving the product, even in a market of uncertainty
That is the new spirit of how to build modern digital companies because speed is a feature since, most times, it is winner-takes-all or few winners-take-all. You can become perfect and launch, but no one will care. That is why Google is launching Bard when it has not been fully baked in the lab.
Sure, you still need your six sigma in that factory, but do not overly apply the same principle in some industries.
According to Bill Gates, the impact of A.I. on the workplace may not be as significant as many fear. Instead, Gates views A.I. as a “copilot” that will enhance workplace efficiency by assisting with tasks such as email composition and inbox management.(Fortune)
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Comment 1: Google has deep pockets towards litigations. They can pull the plug on a product, loose employees in the 10s of thousands and still be a top 5 organisation. Something SME’s and startups have to be weary about when following similar model.
My Response: Litigation for Bard recommending Nigeria when you asked for Sweden? Which area do you think someone can sue ChatGPT for using it and it getting the answers wrong? These are not medical equipment.
Comment 2: That has been the modi operandi of most software companies – first, lean startup.
Because the product can never be perfect.
Hence, early to market with a viable product and then iteratively refine the product.
Used to be GPT-3, now GPT-4, expect vNext soonest. That’s the way we roll ?
Comment 3: My take-away from this is; In this era, Do not wait for the perfect time to perfect your ideas to be perceived as the best but rather #start and subsequently improve. There’s nothing that is perfect and would ever be perfect in this world and/or in the eyes of #all people.
