Communication and Coordination
Communication and coordination are critical for any type of collaborative effort.
Communication and collaboration is limited more by human behavior than by computer systems.
Computer systems add automated notifications and messages to facilitate coordination and communication, but these don't really address the core issue.
In a lot of ways, these automatic notifications and emails cause more harm than good.
Because there are so many of them, humans become numb to automated messages for a number of reasons. Sometimes, it is just the sheer volume, but sometimes it is because they are often wrong or outdated.
Automated confirmation emails are one thing, but do we need an email at every phase of a process. Maybe or maybe not.
Automated ticketing systems are particularly frustrating because they highlight inefficiency and lack of individual accountability.
Ticketing systems create a kind of limbo that need to be resolved. The queues of information waiting for more information or resolution are helpful as reminders, but at a certain volume the tickets become meaningless.
The metrics around ticketing systems are a bit off too. They are skewed to what is easier to measure rather than what makes a bigger difference.
Is it better to close a lot of small unimportant tickets than to resolve tickets that might provide more leverage.
Usually ticketing systems are weighted with different priorities, but these priorities tend to be aimed at resolving short term emergencies than higher leverage activities geared to resolving bigger communication issues.
The killer app for AI would be to fix coordination and communication gaps.