HP Innovation Journal Issue 10: Fall 2018 | Page 43

STRIVING TO BE SUPERNATURALLY PRODUCTIVE PAST, PRESENT AND THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE
Alex Thayer, Chief Experience Architect for HP’s Immersive
Experiences Lab, believes that artificial intelligence, virtual
reality, language processing and machine learning will
dramatically improve meeting productivity—as long as their
developers observe and apply how people actually learn, work
and collaborate best. As businesses continue to grow globally, with employees
working from decentralized locations—last year a Gallup
survey found that 43 percent of American workers spent
some time working remotely—virtual reality could radically
evolve collaboration across teams.
“One of our lab’s focus areas is what we call supernatural
productivity,” says Thayer, whose Ph.D. thesis explored
human collaboration. His team aims to understand how
technology can enhance people’s day-to-day rather than
become a burden. “If you don’t understand people—their
workflows, their habits, their messy lives—how can you
craft technology solutions for them?
“It’s only recently that we can choose to work in either the
physical realm or the digital realm,” Thayer adds. “For
example, if workers are more productive using physical
notebooks, then by all means, the future of technology
doesn’t mean we have to kill paper.” Rather, he envisions
a future with “activated paper,” where people can take
notes by hand while remaining connected to their digital
workflows.
FROM VIDEO CONFERENCING TO VR COLLABORATING
Advanced technologies are already being harnessed to
improve meetings. Mark Benioff, CEO of cloud-based
services provider Salesforce, brings an AI machine to the
company’s weekly executive gatherings. He says the tech-
nology helps process and analyze data in real time—often
out-predicting the high-performing humans around the table.
And virtual-reality meetings could soon replace Skype and
Zoom as the video-conferencing platform of choice. Chance
Glasco, co-founder of popular video game franchise “Call
of Duty,” is now co-founder of a new VR-meeting software
startup called Rumii. The software provides interactive
desktops, VR slide presentations and the ability to make
virtual eye contact with teammates.
“If you don’t understand people—
their workflows, their habits, their
messy lives—how can you craft
technology solutions for them?”
- Alex Thayer, HP's Chief Experience Architect
Back in this reality, a wearable device called Bird lets
meeting presenters turn any surface into a tactile, interactive
projection screen for brainstorming and hands-on creative
collaboration. In other words, a table you’re all gathered
around could suddenly become an all-hands whiteboard.
The Garage by HP
In the U.S., American companies
hold 11 million meetings each
year. Unproductive ones cost the
country $37 million annually.
And, using data from AI, machine learning and voice systems,
it could be possible to upload and store meetings in the cloud,
Thayer notes.
“A meeting in 2030 might entail literally having a dialogue
with four versions of yourself from the past, plus some
people in real time,” he says. “Your meeting might start by
saying: ‘Let’s review what we said six months ago and make
sure we’re on track.’”
Thayer also foresees effortless and instantaneous cross-
global communication. “Imagine having meetings where you
can just speak your native language while everyone else does
the same—what happens to the notion of language itself?”
HP is betting on seamless collaboration in the workplace by
making key investments in technology advances like the Elite
Slice, which packages the power of a desktop in a portable
and cable-free device. Remote workers can even customize
their Slice and turn it into a conference phone. (A conference
call seems a lot less soul sucking when you’re calling in from
a remote locale of choice.)
These kinds of innovations could unleash a world of
creative ideas and business solutions as well as new global
opportunities for talent.
Of course, as time goes on, Thayer notes, we’ll also be collab-
orating more and more directly with the technology we build.
“For the thousands of years that humans have had meetings,
we’ve never invited technology to play an equal role in
the meeting,” he says. “I’m curious how partnering with
intelligent technology is going to change the dynamics of
meetings over the next five or 10 years.”
This article originally appeared on the Garage by HP. Visit garage.ext.
hp.com for more stories on how technology is improving our world.
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