People vs. Software

Google’s announcement that self-driving cars will hit the road this summer is heating up the “people vs. software” debate.  Is this the start of safer roads and drivers?  Or will it, as some experts fear, begin a slow takeover by our AI overloads?

No matter how complex the program, it’s unlikely any software will ever completely account for the X Factor in driving. (A lighting strike? Tornados? Flooding?)…not to mention the X Factor combined with the human element, such as modifications of the software by the adventurous or curious…or the malicious.

In the project management world, however, the debate seems settled in many quarters.  Time and again, PSI trainers have encountered inexplicable – and sometimes undeserving – reverence for project management software.

PSI views software as the servant, not the master. We’ve developed an add-in for Microsoft Project that puts users in control of their schedules.  It produces a more stable schedule because task duration, resource assignments and status do not change without the user’s input.

After all, if Google adds steering wheels to its self-driving cars, shouldn’t project managers be able to take the wheel in their management software, too?