Events Calendar

Topic: Successful AI Projects and Avoiding Failure
When: Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Where: via Zoom
Credit: 2 PDUs (1 PDU for Ways of Working and 1 PDU for Business Acumen)
Registration fee: Complimentary for PMI-DVC Members and Non-Members

Agenda:

6:30 pm - 7:00 pm Breakout Sessions
7:00 pm - 7:10 pm Chapter Announcements
7:10 pm - 8:30 pm Speaker Presentation and Q&A

Description:

Many organizations are struggling to implement AI with success. Despite the buzz around AI and its potential to revolutionize industries, a surprising 70-80% of AI projects fail.

Why do so many AI initiatives, brimming with promise and potential, end up falling short? In this talk we explore the top reasons for these AI project failures, through real-world experiences and “ripped from the headlines” examples. We’ll share why these AI projects failed, and the practical ways to navigate these challenges for AI project success. Furthermore, we’ll explain how emerging approaches to Trustworthy AI are helping to address a wide range of ethical and responsible AI challenges. 

As a way to avoid these common AI project failures, we’ll present the emerging best practice for AI projects leveraged by successful organizations, the Cognitive Project Management for AI (CPMAI) approach. Attendees will learn how to do AI right by applying a step-wise approach/methodology for AI projects, including an AI project template that gives you a straightforward way to adapt CPMAI methodology to your AI projects.

Learning objectives:

• Understanding the Common Pitfalls of AI Projects
• Real-World Case Studies of AI Failures
• Approaches for successfully managing AI projects
• Trustworthy AI considerations

Presenter Bios:

Ronald Schmelzer, Managing Partner and CPMAI Certified Lead Instructor

Ron is Managing Partner and Founder of Cognilytica. In conjunction with Kathleen Walch, Ron developed the CPMAI methodology, iterating and evolving prior approaches to AI & data project management given the realities of the rapidly changing AI environment. Adopted by dozens of multinational organizations, dozens of government agencies, and NGOs, CPMAI is quickly becoming the standard methodology for AI project management best practices. Ron is CPMAI Certified and is a Lead Instructor on CPMAI courses and training.

Ron is a sought-after expert on AI and data best practices and AI project management. He serves as chair for a number of industry groups focused on AI adoption and best practices, helping launch the AI working group at ATARC. Ron is co-host of the AI Today podcast, regular Forbes contributor, TechTarget SearchAI columnist, and SXSW Innovation Awards Judge.

Prior to founding Cognilytica, Ron founded and ran ZapThink, an industry analyst firm focused on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), Cloud Computing, Web Services, XML, and Enterprise

Architecture, which was acquired by Dovel Technologies in August 2011, which was subsequently acquired by Guidehouse. Ron received a B.S. degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where his undergraduate advisor was well-known AI researcher Rodney Brooks. Ron also received an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Kathleen Walch, Managing Partner and CPMAI Certified Lead Instructor

Kathleen is Managing Partner and Founder of Cognilytica. In conjunction with Ron Schmelzer, Kathleen developed the CPMAI methodology, iterating and evolving prior approaches to AI & data project management given the realities of the rapidly changing AI environment. Adopted by dozens of multinational organizations, dozens of government agencies, and NGOs, CPMAI is quickly becoming the standard methodology for AI project management best practices. Kathleen is CPMAI Certified and is a Lead Instructor on CPMAI courses and training.

As an experienced data-focused analyst with a background in marketing, Kathleen’s expertise and experience in project management issues around organizational adoption of data led to the development of the CPMAI methodology. Kathleen is a dynamic presenter, researcher and thought leader on emerging technology best practices. She helped launch the AI-focused working group at ATARC and is the AI working group chair bringing her knowledge, experience, and expertise to help organizations and government agencies apply AI best practices. Kathleen was selected to join OECD’s ONE AI and Expert Group on AI risk and accountability in 2019 at the OECD ONE group launch. She is often invited to present at and keynote industry events. Kathleen is also a co-host of the AI Today podcast, regular Forbes contributor, TechTarget SearchAI columnist, and SXSW Innovation Awards Judge.

Prior to her work at Cognilytica, Kathleen founded tech startup-up HourlyBee, an online scheduling system for home services where she quickly became an expert in grassroots marketing, networking, and employee management. Before that, Kathleen was a key part of the direct marketing operation for Harte Hanks managing large scale direct mail campaigns for clients including Bed Bath and Beyond and BuyBuyBaby. Managing big data analytics, she created efficiencies in the process saving thousands of dollars and days of processing time from each campaign. Kathleen graduated from Loyola University with a degree in Marketing.