Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - skill search and people search

Gregory Ronczewski leads the design of the TeamFit - view his skill profile

Google's web crawler began exploring the web in March 1996. To convert the backlink data that it gathered for a given web page into a measure of importance, Sergey Brin and Larry Page developed a PageRank Algorithm, which consisted of a list of backlinks ranked by importance. A search engine based on PageRank started to produce far better results than ranked results according to how many times the search term appeared on a page. Twenty years later, we are used to the simplicity and accuracy of Google search. I often observe how people rely on Google to quickly get answers to almost any question that comes to mind... including spelling.

Those quick dialogues between human and machine are based on the same principle: ask a question and get an answer, or rather, type a word and see the results. We are getting smarter in how we can adjust our search criteria. Adding more words to your query or cross reference will narrow the results, but the search still depends on how you choose the keywords and how well you are prepared for this human-machine conversation.

There is simple search, advanced search and there is also intelligent search. At TeamFit we are using our AI Engine to help us improve search for skills and for people. Imagine this scenario: you just got an email from your colleague from another branch describing an upcoming project. In most cases, the description will give a few details, perhaps a few roles as well as a preliminary timeline along with the deliverables and some of the challenges anticipated.

If you are a resource allocator or a project manager, you would immediately start planning: who is available, who could work on this project, what roles does the project have, what skills are required. You would open your Project Management Software and Talent Management to see what your options are at the moment. On occasion, you might look back at your records to find the next best candidates if those who you always work with are not available. You may call a colleague and ask if they have seen the project or if they have any suggestions for the team.

What if there is another way? Simply forward the email you just got to the address: newteam@teamfit.co That's it. Our Intelligent Search Engine will look at the information and automatically generate an advanced search taking into account: skills, location, industry experience, roles, availability, tags and a few more variables. Our system gets smarter as more requests are processed. TeamFit also looks at the Big Data available outside your organization: trending skills for a role, or the demand for competencies in a certain location or industry. Once done, TeamFit will email you back with an invite to view the search results. All you have to do is click on the link. The search results can be saved in the Notepad. You can also share this link with other people in your organization. This gives you a good place to start building your team. You still make the final decisions, and you can always refine and extend your search as your understanding of the project and the people available evolves.

There are several ways to approach team composition. You can start with People or with Roles. RoleMatch (how well an individual fits a role) and TeamFit (how well the combination of people fits the requirements for the project as a whole) are the main variables. But there are other ways to use Advanced Search. For instance, you have an excellent specialist that would be a fantastic fit for an upcoming project, but unfortunately this person is already booked for several weeks. Although cloning is not possible, searching for a similar profile is. Enter the name of your engineer, then adjust the availability and add a few more skills to the mix. Of course, TeamFit will find your hero, but also list other people with similar skill sets. Et voila! Alternatives have been found. The location, industry, roles and company tags can be set to narrow the results and let you focus on the best person for the project at hand.

We are working on the ability to compose a project team right in the Notepad and apply it to an upcoming opportunity. You will be able to "attach" search results to people or roles. This way you will be able to quickly move your search starting point to a set of adjusted filters making the process of skill-based allocation far more efficient.