Jaspreet Dol, CAPM
For sowing a holistic approach to agile
Jaspreet Dol’s influence goes beyond leading data, cloud and AI projects for clients at DXC Technology. She’s also grooming agilists to rethink the future as technology and automation reframe how work gets done.
She says project leaders must learn to think more holistically—learn to flex to use hybrid. They also must examine their daily work routines: What problems routinely come up? Which ones can be solved quickly? What’s the most efficient way of implementing change? Are others in the organization facing the same challenge?
“It can be extremely tempting to overanalyze a problem by breaking it down to smaller parts to arrive at a logical conclusion, but that is old-school thinking,” Dol says. “A better approach would be to use AI to dissect the data, which allows you to focus on the big picture.”
“A better approach would be to use AI to dissect the data, which allows you to focus on the big picture.”
Q&A: Jaspreet Dol on bots, Satya Nadella and adding value
What’s the one must-have skill to succeed in The Project Economy?
Strong interpersonal skills to engage with and influence your project stakeholders. These skills will come in handy when you have to negotiate project constraints—motivating your team, setting expectations for vendors and other concerned parties. You have to show your stakeholders that you have a passion for what’s critical to them.
What professional accomplishment are you most proud of?
I had just joined Storm Technologies in 2018, and the customer-care department used to get complaints about how the e-commerce system was malfunctioning. I saw the frustrations first-hand and decided to halt any new feature development until the most obvious bugs were resolved. I was able to decrease complaints from 20 per week to zero—in just two months. The supply chain and customer care departments even gave me a cake—they told me none of the previous managers ever took them seriously enough to focus on resolving their problems. I felt a sense of accomplishment by adding value to people’s lives, so they can go home early and not have to deal with shouting customers.
What’s one way managing projects will have changed by 2030?
Project managers will have capable assistants: Bots will be stepping up and handling less-intensive tasks, cutting the time project managers spend on busywork in half. Project managers will be able to focus on their teams, helping them to find further efficiencies.
What famous or historic person would you want on your project team?
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. We’ve all seen how he changed the status of Microsoft in ways such as his pioneering cloud computing technology, which made him a trendsetter. I think people with that kind of energy tend to create a vibe around them that inspires others to be the better version of themselves every day.