Workforce Optimization & Chess

7min read

With all the fuss about OpenAI I am solemnly stating for the record that this article hasn't been written with generative AI and I had to be persuaded to even use a spell checker. This piece passes the generative AI Turing Test! Rest assured that these words are all mine, with the exception of the ones I looked up in my dog-eared copy of Roget's Thesaurus.

"This article hasn't been written with generative AI and I had to be persuaded to even use a spell checker"

I have always been a big chess fan, and in particular love the mind boggling science around chess computation. My chess abilities sadly have never matched my enthusiasm, my actual ELO is more like Very-LO. It is perhaps not the ideal game for someone like me who has a short attention span. Still, nothing diminishes my enthusiasm… something my colleagues know only too well.?

I constantly frustrate my non-chess playing colleagues by turning almost everything into some tenuous chess metaphor. So, this blog is designed to talk about Workforce Optimization through the lens of chess - two of my favourite subjects!

This blog is designed to talk about Workforce Optimization through the lens of chess - two of my favourite subjects!

Firstly, lets define workforce optimization.

I have completely made this up and no I don't have any citations and you probably won't study this in your MBA course.?

Any optimization should really be goal based, trying to maximize or minimize something. The primary goal of workforce optimization is to maximize the quality of work output, creating a product or service that is the most competitive. And you want to do this at the lowest possible cost and in the least time possible. Ergo maximising your profit and business value.?

In essence workforce optimization provides the solution to? the problem of -“I want to produce an insanely competitive product or service… but what size workforce will I need, with what skills, in what locations, how much do I have to pay them, how do I stop them leaving and how to I motivate them to do their best work?”

Getting each of these right is tricky.

Too big a workforce and your product will be great, but it may be too expensive for the market, or you may not make enough margin. Too small a workforce and you won’t make a quality product or deliver it quickly enough. Wrong skills mix equally means you won’t achieve the desired level of competitiveness and quality. Achieving workforce optimization is the key to unlocking value and delivering excellence - but it’s hard.

Achieving workforce optimization is the key to unlocking value and delivering excellence - but it’s hard.

So how on earth is any of that like chess?

Computation is king.?

Computer chess has long since surpassed even the most freakishly talented human grandmaster.? A combination of brute force calculations of millions of? board positions, smart heuristics and constant learning mean it is an overwhelmingly unfair fight between computers and humans.? Many common workforce optimization problems are also hugely benefited by brute force? computation and smart heuristics, to pick one example - the tricky process of planning annual audits at large accounting firms.?

Many common workforce optimization problems are also hugely benefited by brute force?computation and smart heuristics

For those not familiar, the process is not as straightforward as you would initially assume. The firms need to create a schedule that keeps every one of the audit staff in the “golden goldilocks zone of busyness” - no one too busy and no one not busy enough.?

You need to make sure people are allocated to work based on certain client priorities, that the staff? have the relevant accreditations and that all regulatory constraints are met. In addition you may want to create a schedule that creates blocks of free time for the audit staff to take holidays/training, and you also want to minimize any travel time.?

Finally, you want to make sure that employees’ work and personal preferences are being taken into consideration.?This is a classic complex scheduling problem. If you had thousands of audit engagements and thousands of auditors the number of potential solutions would be a frankly ridiculously large number. Just like in chess, AI and computation can help create winning positions.

This is a classic complex scheduling problem. If you had thousands of audit engagements and thousands of auditors the number of potential solutions would be a frankly ridiculously large number. Just like in chess, AI and computation can help create winning positions.

The similarities between workforce optimization and chess don't end there.

??In chess, you have to understand the value of the pieces in order to understand what moves to make. This is the same when you make strategic workforce planning decisions that will impact your future competitiveness.

??In chess, you have to?anticipate, understand and react to what your competitor is doing and respond accordingly. This is the same for an organization - you cannot achieve workforce optimization in a vacuum - you are in a competitive playing field where in-demand people and skills are fought over. A yearly strategic planning exercise or a slow-moving transformation programme will not survive the battlefield. You need highly attuned decision-making, adaptive business practices and a flexible workforce to react to new demands and emergent needs.?

??In chess, one of the most valuable things you can do is develop your pieces (a pawn can become a queen, if you can get it all the way through the battlefield). Could there be a better metaphor for the benefits of employee retention, driven by experiential learning?

A yearly strategic planning exercise or a slow-moving transformation programme will not survive the battlefield.

I could go on, and I will, at great length, to the next person who is unfortunate enough to cross my path. Suffice to say, in all of these ways, playing a chess game is very much like operating in the competitive landscape, and the pieces = your workforce.

Workforce optimization requires you to be like a chess grandmaster, seamlessly navigating your workforce through the field. This is what we help organizations do at ProFinda .

I hope you enjoyed this blog significantly more than the colleagues who gave me feedback on it!

Workforce optimization requires you to be like a chess grandmaster, seamlessly navigating your workforce through the field. This is what we help organizations do at ProFinda .

Standby for my next workforce optimization blog through the lens of Mixed Martial Arts. The blog after that will attempt to set a word record for? butchering physics metaphors.

Thanks for reading!

Alps

Alpesh Patel