????IBM靠1985年的一招領(lǐng)導(dǎo)藝術(shù)搞定了大項(xiàng)目。

????IBM是全世界技術(shù)最先進(jìn)的公司之一，但當(dāng)IBM的一位高管需要建立一支由200多名不同領(lǐng)域的最優(yōu)秀的科學(xué)家組成的、橫跨8個(gè)IBM實(shí)驗(yàn)室、2個(gè)政府實(shí)驗(yàn)室和5所大學(xué)的科研團(tuán)隊(duì)時(shí)，他卻得向一本寫于1985年的書尋求幫助。

????IBM首席科學(xué)家達(dá)曼德拉?摩德哈領(lǐng)導(dǎo)著一項(xiàng)由政府出資支持的科研項(xiàng)目，項(xiàng)目致力于開發(fā)出一款能摸擬人腦功能的芯片。但是這個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)在電子郵件和數(shù)字通訊上難以形成共識(shí)。這時(shí)摩德哈使用了發(fā)明家愛德華?迪?波諾在其著作《六頂思考帽子》中使用的方法，他告訴科研團(tuán)隊(duì)把他們的論點(diǎn)用顏色表示出來：白色表示事實(shí)，黑色表示洞察，紅色表示情緒，綠色表示調(diào)查一個(gè)觀點(diǎn)，黃色表示樂觀。這個(gè)想法的實(shí)質(zhì)是：把事實(shí)與情緒分開來，借此提高客觀性。

????摩德哈表示，這種方法有效地鼓勵(lì)了比較內(nèi)向的參與者說出自己的好點(diǎn)子，而且有助于大家消彌思想的分歧。為了確保大家的工作朝著一個(gè)共同的方向前進(jìn)，摩德哈還訂立了一個(gè)合同，概括了各方需要構(gòu)建的具體技術(shù)規(guī)格，避免了某一項(xiàng)關(guān)鍵技術(shù)無法與其他人的工作兼容的可能性。摩德哈說：“它使我們可以充分同步地工作。”

????如果有團(tuán)隊(duì)對(duì)如何最好地解決某項(xiàng)技術(shù)挑戰(zhàn)產(chǎn)生了分歧時(shí)，他就會(huì)把這個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)分成兩個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)，每個(gè)團(tuán)隊(duì)可以繼續(xù)按照他們的方法工作，然后等到一段特定時(shí)間后分別評(píng)估他們的成果。這樣做的目的是永遠(yuǎn)不給任何人打上失敗的標(biāo)簽，而且讓它成為一個(gè)讓大家學(xué)習(xí)的過程。

????2011年，摩德哈的團(tuán)隊(duì)成功展示了一款模擬人類大腦的芯片架構(gòu)，而且這個(gè)項(xiàng)目還在繼續(xù)開發(fā)使電腦模擬人腦思考的技術(shù)。不過現(xiàn)在我們還沒聽說電腦是否會(huì)用顏色來區(qū)分自己的分歧。

????Surprise! an old-school organizational technique (not software) saved the day.

????IBM is one of the most technologically advanced companies in the world, but when one of its executives needed to organize a sprawling team of more than 200 of the brightest scientists at eight different IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) labs, two government laboratories, and five university campuses with diverse areas of expertise, he turned to a book written in 1985.

????IBM Fellow and chief scientist DharmendraModha, charged with overseeing an ambitious government-funded project to develop a chip that would mimic the human brain, used a method called six thinking hats, described in a book of the same name by inventor Edward de Bono. He told the team members, who struggled to find consensus in their email and digital communications, to characterize with colors their arguments: white for facts, black for discernment, red for emotions, green for investigating an idea, and yellow for optimism. The idea: Drive objectivity by separating fact from emotion.

????Modha says the method worked to encourage quieter participants with good ideas to speak up and allowed everyone to reconcile diversity of thought. To ensure a common direction, Modha created a contract, outlining the technical specs of what each party would build. It eliminated the ambiguity of whether a key piece of technology would fit with the work done by others. "It kept us working in complete synchronization," says Modha.

????When groups differed on the best way to tackle a particular technical challenge, he split people into two groups. Each group pursued their approach and measured the results objectively at the end of a set period. The idea: Ensure that failure was never a mark against anyone's reputation but rather a learning experience for everyone.

????In 2011, Modha's team successfully demonstrated a brain-inspired chip architecture, and the project continues to develop technology that helps computers think more like humans. No word yet on whether the computers divide their arguments by color. --J.A.