Why Your AI Projects Need A Pathfinder (Guest: Vijay Vadav)

Andreas Welsch: 0:21

Today we'll talk about why your AI project needs a pathfinder and what that. And who better to talk to about it than someone who's been championing that term for quite a while. Vijay Yadav. Hey Vijay, thank you so much for joining.

Vijay Yadav: 0:37

Thank you, Andreas. Happy to be here.

Andreas Welsch: 0:39

Perfect. Wonderful. Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what you do?

Vijay Yadav: 0:45

I am leading the data science team at Merck. I have 20 plus experience in the data practice in different capacity. My special adjacent is primarily into applying artificial intelligence and machine learning in different business functions. And some of the solutions I led. Some of them definitely have been successful, some of them not so successful, and some of them were of failure. And, going through that journey, I think that there's a quite amount of learning and I'm happy to be here to share some of my learning with your audience.

Andreas Welsch: 1:30

That's awesome. Thank you so much. And I'm gonna say it takes a lot of confidence to say, there are things that have been somewhat successful and others that might not have been successful or not successful at all. We all love to talk about the successes. So I commend you for that. And thanks for being so open and sharing your learnings with us.

Vijay Yadav: 1:52

Absolutely.

Andreas Welsch: 1:52

That's wonderful. So to you in the audience, if you're just joining the stream, drop a comment in the chat. Where, maybe you have had a need for a pathfinder or have been looking for a pathfinder if the going got tough in a project. But Vijay, should we play a little game to kick things off? What do you think?

Vijay Yadav: 2:16

Sure, absolutely.

Andreas Welsch: 2:17

Perfect. So the game is called In Your Own Words. When I hit the buzzer, the wheels will start spinning and when they stop, you'll see a sentence and I'd like you to answer with the first thing that comes to mind and why. In your own words. And to make it a little more interesting. You'll only have 60 seconds for your answer. And in those of you watching us live, drop your answer in the chat and why. So Vijay are you ready for, What's the BUZZ?

Vijay Yadav: 2:47

Yes, I am.

Andreas Welsch: 2:49

Perfect. Great. Then let's get started. If AI were a book, what would it be? 60 seconds. Go.

Vijay Yadav: 3:02

Alright. If AI were a book, what would it be? I would say AI cannot reflect the human empathy and the region being is that, no matter how much we make AI intelligent the human empathy is that is, comes in the value that we we have in ourselves, right? So anytime a decision is being made the human empathy is part of that decision making process. And it's a critically important you can call it ethical side or other way around. But I think AI definitely cannot replace the human empathy, and that's a critical. That I think going forward is important to keep in mind hopefully that answered that question.

Andreas Welsch: 3:57

Sounds great. So with the icebreaker out of the way, let's move to to the real meat of our session. I heard you say some things have worked really well. Some have been more challenging. And others, you've run into more challenges. So I'm really curious, what have you seen be the most common challenge when you've run an AI project?

Vijay Yadav: 4:22

Yeah, I think that's a critical question. So I would say and just that the impact of the AI projects on people. So think, let's understand what happens in the real world, right? So anytime we implement AI solution, it is going to change the way people are working or the way they can perceive it as a threat. So how do we handle that? And if that is not really taken into account, and I cannot emphasize enough how important that element is, that you gotta be able to understand the impact of AI projects and manage it well, right from the beginning. What I'm talking about is the change management around the people. Now you normally a project what I've seen is that is not even a factor to start with, right? We're just excited about the AI project, let's go and implement it. And that registers from change, right? When that many people are getting impacted. So how do we influence that element of that? And it goes beyond an individual like me or anybody who's leading the project. It goes beyond this fear of influence that we have on those people. So how do we extend that fear of influence? Taking my extension, and that's what I call a pathfinder, those are the people who basically extend the sphere of influence. So the key challenge that you are trying to do is that how do we manage the change around impact of AI projects on people? And it is normally underestimated, but to me I think that is a very critical factor to take care.

Andreas Welsch: 6:15

Thanks for sharing. So what types of issues or challenges do you see when it comes to change and to your point where a pathfinder can help?

Vijay Yadav: 6:27

So think about when somebody's getting changed. We are changing their ways of working. Register to change is really the key, right? Sometime they might get threatened by how their skillset is getting challenged, right? AI system is recommending something, a decision making process, right? All throughout the live humans have made the decisions. On whatever the vision they're taking now that is getting challenged by the AI project. So most likely the challenge would be will they adopt it? Think about the end of the day AI project is going to deliver the value. If it is not getting adopted, then there's no value to basically drive. As simple as that. So will that be adopted? If you don't take care of that element of that. So how do we convince people that it is? How it's going to help them in their life, whatever they're trying to? Or what outcome is it going to drive in as part of the solution? So I think influencing them and getting their buy-in. The user of the system are the senior leaders, right? And I can tell you that sometime when AI projects impacting downstream, the senior leaders are impacted by that as well, right? That element. So I think those are some of the challenges that comes into.

Andreas Welsch: 8:01

Thanks for sharing. Now, what I find really interesting and why I'm so excited to have you on today is that you are a data science manager. You are a practitioner, and typically I feel, we as people in the technology space we get so excited about technology and everything that it enables us to do that we, a lot of times, lose focus of why we're actually doing it. And so I feel if we just focus on technology so much, these types of initiatives or projects are really doomed to fail. So I think you already touched on that people aspect quite a bit, but I'm wondering two things. One is if you're in the audience and you have a question, now is a good time to put it in the chat while we have Vijay here. And the other one is you've talked about pathfinder as a way and as a person to help influence others and help them show the way and get that buy-in support. Where have you seen that be successful in what's worked particularly well in, in that case?

Vijay Yadav: 9:08

Yeah, sure. So let me touch base on the technology element that you talked about. We data people normally come with a technology background, most of us, right? So we are very excited and everything. We're thinking in the technology terms, but my experience tell me that technology is just very small part of that. I think the bigger piece is two things. Number one is the business outcome that we are trying to drive the solution, right? So rather than focusing on technology, gotta be able to understand and define what business outcome it is going to drive. If you just cannot put your finger on the business outcome, you better don't do AI project as simple as that. End of the day, if you're not driving the outcome, it is going to fail and you're not going to get the credit for what you basically anticipated, right? It's critically important. The second element I would say is the people side. People make things happen. They can make it fail and they can make it successful, as simple as that. Anybody else, anything else is a secondary factor. People are the one going to make it success or failure. Whether those people are the people who are decision makers or the user of the system. Or just because being in an environment it could be a political for any other region they are the one going to do that. So you gotta be able to understand. And also the people who are part of your team as well. They are the one be part of that equation as well. So I think everywhere the people aspect, I think you gotta be able to pay more attention to those elements. I would say business outcome and people aspect, if you can take that in different direct dimensions that can give a high level of success in that aspect.

Andreas Welsch: 11:01

So as leaders, we, have already a certain positional power, if you will in an organization. But also when we lead teams or we lead organizations or units, right? Not everybody in that team or in that organization has that same positional power. How do you help your team members embrace that same spirit and go look for it for pathfinders and sensitize them to collaborate and find a way right through that individual that can influence even if they don't have that positional power, but they know the person that seems to be holding things up or then have a stronger opinion that somebody else listens to.

Vijay Yadav: 11:44

That's a really critical point, Andreas. So I would say that any organization has a formalist structure, right? You start with the CEO at the next level and next level and that's how the hierarchy is defined. But lemme tell you, in the real world, there's a different organizational structure that's taking place that is a very informal network of people who are linked together. They listen to each other. That is when the real decisions are made. Sometimes you feel like decisions coming in the hierarchical structure formula is defined. But the real world, informally decision being made and there's a need that is being made, a differently small group of people that coming together basically to make that. So you've gotta be able to break in that network of people if you understand it, that is where the influence is. As a leader, you should be able to break in into that piece. Maybe one or two person who can be your voice in that decision making bodies, right? We have a limited influence in terms of our circle. How do we extend that? You need to find in that small, informal network of people you need to find the change agent. People who are passionate about data, people who are passionate about AI. If you can get that and you can break into that network, you have a big support there. Yeah. So we, and I have several examples. I'm happy to share some of the examples where it came to the survival of the project and if I didn't take that to the pathfinder, the project was almost about to get canceled, right? So it is critically important that as a leader you gotta be able to understand the informal structure where you can have and understand who are the people who are calling thoughts, the influence that they have on the larger audience. They can be your champion, right on your behalf when someone speaks on your behalf, you have a more credibility to that, rather than you trying to promote yourself, right? You have the story. So those are some of the very element that has to happen. And I can tell you that does not happen by accident, right? I just cannot go on one day, I start trying to find a pathfinder. As a leader, this is what you need to build as part of your network in any organization to be successful. It takes time, it takes investment basically to build that. And that is really to many other secret recipe to success when you're trying to make a change at that larger scale.

Andreas Welsch: 14:15

It sounds like that's actually something you need to do from day one on as a leader to determine who are the pathfinders, who are the people that have influence. Or whose word carries a certain weight with others.

Vijay Yadav: 14:32

Yeah, absolutely. That's the point I'm trying to make. As a leader, you gotta be right from the beginning. And I cannot take a project if I cannot find something. If I understand that I cannot have the influence and I can tell you that I have yet to find a single project where I did, which things went smooth and there was no resistance and there was, are no struggles to do that. I have yet to find. I have not done it any of those, right? So I am literally anticipating that piece coming my way and I'm prepared right from the beginning till the end that it goes into the piece. So I think you have to plan for it rather than try to figure things out when things are about to hit the ceiling.

Andreas Welsch: 15:12

In a room full of people, how do you make out who's the pathfinder. What do they do? How even if you're not part of the group, what is it about them?

Vijay Yadav: 15:21

When I joined any new organization, I think my six months time, this is what I'm trying to find out. Talking with the people, and you can really feel it just by the mindset someone, when you talk to how passionate are they about the change, about the data, about the technology. You know the value that they're gonna deliver. They are not the one directly responsible for their sponsorship or for your project, but they have someone who are passionate about that and they want to be part of the success. The very key thing is everybody wants success, right? If you can bring someone to be part of that and they have a bigger influence, they would love to be part of that, even though the project is not directly impacting them.

Andreas Welsch: 16:07

I think with the last few questions, we've also hit on what Jesse was asking. What are your best suggestions for gaining major buy-in from stakeholders? And Carlo was asking how to deal with that one person that's there at enterprise end-to-end AI solutions. I see there's one question from Mike that I would like to pick up here. And that is with pathfinder, is it good to focus on a central unified strategy to harmonize the team's vision? And do you think KPIs are a good measure for success towards this?

Vijay Yadav: 16:42

I would say the centralized, but also I will go where the AI is something you can't take the Big Bang theory and implement to make the change, right? So I would be focused on where the value, the outcome, and the place where we can make the bigger impact, right? So you do want to have a bigger picture strategy in mind, but I think when we need to go and get the success. You want to focus where we can deliver the value, right? Other element is really as part of that, right? So think about why someone would be part of your journey. What is in for them, right? Are you doing something that can make them successful? Whatever the role they are in. So if you can pick up someone who is really a pathfinder, passionate about things, maybe you start a project for him or her and we started small with that one. And once that person see the success, now they're your champion, right? So I think organically you want to go and working with the people and you build your network of people who can be your influencer in the larger scale. Hopefully that I answered that question.

Andreas Welsch: 17:57

Thank you. We are coming up close to the end of the show. So Vijay, I was wondering if you could summarize the top three takeaways for our audience today.

Vijay Yadav: 18:07

Number one takeaway I talked about earlier is the people. Please be focused on people understand people involvement in every part of that, whether they're part of your team or they're part of the business, or part of the people, the users are the decision maker. You gotta be able to understand every stakeholder. So what I'm suggesting is the stakeholder analysis, really critical piece to do that. That's number one. They can make it fail or succeed depending upon how you handle it. Number two things would be, I would say that no AI project can succeed if you do not deliver the business outcome. Technology is just one piece of it. Business outcome is, that's what it is physically is going to drive. And number three I would say is if you want AI project to be successful, a data leader, you want to be shaping the thinking of the people, right? How do we show them a success when people see the success? That is one, they basically get a buy-in. So I'm trying to see how can we change the culture, the shape of the peop, shaping the thinking, digital mindset, what data can do for them, right? So I think the whole culture piece and awareness seating the value of data, showing the successes and building the partnership and allyship, I think that would make AI initiative success.

Andreas Welsch: 19:38

Awesome. Thank you so much for the wrap up. I think that was an excellent session, and I hope you and the audience feel the same way.

Vijay Yadav: 19:45

Thank you so much. Glad to be here and happy to share.