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cover of episode Transforming a Technology Organization for the Future: Starbucks’s Gerri Martin-Flickinger

Transforming a Technology Organization for the Future: Starbucks’s Gerri Martin-Flickinger

2022/1/25
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Me, Myself, and AI
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Gerri Martin-Flickinger：我从80年代就开始关注人工智能，亲历了人工智能技术和组织创新发展的历程。我认为，构建模型并不能解决所有问题，不存在一个能够解决任何问题的通用人工智能模型。要有效地应用人工智能，必须先整理好数据，数据架构至关重要。人工智能并非简单的“即插即用”，它需要一系列的准备工作和架构设计。人工智能和机器学习的发展促使企业开始提出不同以往的问题，并寻求更有效率的解决方案。人工智能和机器学习工具的普及将改变人们的工作方式，如同电子表格的出现一样。星巴克使用名为“Deep Brew”的项目组进行各种人工智能项目，包括个性化推荐等。看似简单的 AI 应用（例如推荐拿铁）背后需要深层次的数据处理和架构设计。个性化推荐需要处理无限的定制可能性，这需要从数据层面解决问题，然后才能构建 AI 模型。解决企业内部数据孤岛问题，首先要明确目标，然后才能协调不同部门的合作。打破数据孤岛需要团队合作，明确目标，支持团队发展，并为其提供必要的资源。技术人员需要深入了解业务领域，才能有效地利用技术解决问题。技术人员应该与业务一线人员紧密合作，了解业务的实际情况。用词的重要性，团队名称和口号能够影响团队士气和外界认知。将 IT 部门更名为“Starbucks Technology”，并制定了相应的口号，以此来提升团队士气和外部形象。技术转型最终取决于人，领导者需要激励员工，支持员工创新。 Sam Ransbotham: (This participant did not offer core arguments on the topic of AI.) Shervin Khodabandeh: (This participant did not offer core arguments on the topic of AI.)

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The episode introduces Gerri Martin-Flickinger, former CTO at Starbucks, discussing the importance of the name and mission of a technology team in fostering innovation and motivation.

Shownotes Transcript

Why does how you describe your team — down to its name — matter? Gerri Martin-Flickinger, former executive vice president and CTO at Starbucks, joins *Me, Myself, and AI *to describe some of the technology initiatives the coffeehouse chain has been able to pursue since rebranding its technology team and articulating its mission.

In her conversation with Sam and Shervin, Gerri recaps a decades-spanning career working in technology leadership roles at Chevron, McAfee, and Adobe, then explains some recent employee- and customer-facing projects Starbucks has undertaken using AI and machine learning. Read the episode transcript here).

Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger.

Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders).

Read more about our show and follow along with the series at https://sloanreview.mit.edu/ai).

Guest bio:

As executive vice president and CTO at Starbucks, Gerri Martin-Flickinger led the Starbucks Technology team through a transformation into a best-in-class retail technology organization. She was the passionate leader behind the technology strategy that plays a critical role in propelling the Starbucks mission — “empowering partners and delighting customers, globally.”

Before joining Starbucks in 2015, Martin-Flickinger was senior vice president and CIO at Adobe, where she led portions of its technology transformation to a cloud-based subscription services business. Previously, she served as CIO at Verisign, McAfee, and Network Associates and held numerous senior leadership roles at Chevron, where she began her career.

Martin-Flickinger currently sits on Charles Schwab’s board of directors and serves as a member of Arizona State University’s Fulton School of Engineering Advisory Board, Sierra Ventures’ CIO Advisory Board, and The Wall Street Journal CIO Network.

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