The Google Maps of Work

Between late 2022 and mid-2024, I conducted 1:1 interviews with 1,000 knowledge workers, including 600 leaders, to understand how they currently work and how they aspire to work.

A sneak peek into 2025

Introduction:

According to HBR, $48 trillion is invested in projects worldwide every year, yet only 35% are considered successful. The definition of project success has evolved; it's no longer just about delivering on time and within budget. Success now depends on how effectively organizations can navigate complexity and adapt to rapid internal and external changes.

The current tools left the burden of change management and interpretation entirely on people.

During my time at Walmart, I witnessed firsthand how traditional tools failed to keep up with the increasing complexity and pace of change. We relied on PowerPoint, Excel, and project management software rooted in old paradigms—tools designed for predictable environments where changes were infrequent and manageable. These tools left the burden of change management and interpretation entirely on people.

Problem

In today's dynamic world, projects are complex and ever-changing. Traditional tools are ill-equipped to handle this new reality. They belong to an era when building a house—something we've perfected over thousands of years—was the standard project, with predictable processes and outcomes. These tools assume stability and leave people to manage changes, interpretations, and adaptations manually.

We have to meet for everything because we want to understand the impact of the changes.

Think about it this way: in terms of project management, we're still living in an era before Google Maps. Just as travelers once had to rely on paper maps and street signs or they stopped to ask for directions, we rely on outdated tools and constant human intervention to navigate projects. It's inefficient and prone to errors. Today, no one wants to return to the world before Google Maps.

Why is a new approach needed?

Just as Google Maps revolutionized navigation by providing real-time updates, alternative routes, and traffic conditions, we need a modern solution for project management. We need tools that offer real-time insights, adapt instantly to changes, and guide us efficiently toward our goals.

I interviewed 1,000 knowledge workers. One of the questions I asked was about the concept of “The Google Maps of Work.” As shown below, understanding changes and risks, discovering dependencies, and having a step-by-step direction with a clearly estimated arrival time were the most common unmet needs.

Professionals want a 'Google Maps of Work' app that prioritizes tracking changes, discovering dependencies, and offering step-by-step directions. These features would provide clarity and streamline workflow, making work management more efficient.

Exploring digital twins

This led us to explore the concept of digital twins—digital replicas of physical systems. In manufacturing and supply chain management industries, digital twins have been successfully used to simulate and optimize operations, allowing companies to predict outcomes and adjust proactively. However, traditional digital twins are limited; they struggle with the complexities of entire organizations due to computational constraints and limited rules.

Introducing Mo

At Momentum, we've developed a solution that brings project management into the modern era. We've created tools and infrastructure for organizations to empower them to build high-fidelity digital twins of their entire operations—project by project—through a simple conversational interface.

Mo's mission is to create and maintain a real-time digital twin of your business by engaging with you. Beyond that, it takes care of repetitive tasks like status updates, freeing up your time. Mo is always available on your laptop, fully aware of your business context, and ready to hit the ground running.

Meet Mo, your personal program management assistant. Mo resides on your laptop and phone ready to interact with you just like a trusted colleague. Powered by the General Model of Work (GMW) and advanced Large Language Models (LLMs), Mo combines a structural understanding of organizational workflows with the knowledge to comprehend complex tasks and goals.

To better understand the GMW, imagine a seasoned consultant with expertise in subscription-based products and business model. They know that benefits are membership's primary drivers, and retention is the key metric in this field. With that knowledge, they can help design or refine membership programs across different companies because they understand the structure of such programs.

How does “Mo” transform project management?

You can start modeling your projects and initiatives by simply talking to Mo. Mo understands your work because it has a built-in general model of how work gets done, powered by the GMW and enriched by LLMs that provide vast domain knowledge.

Mo is backed by a company simulation and not just an LLM. Mo knows how to solve different business problems in a structured way. Therefore, even before integrating company data, it can be useful as a brainstorming partner. When asked questions about the company, Mo offers to answer with publicly available information or to integrate the specific internal data sources that could further increase the answer’s precision. Without company data, Mo is like a consultant who knows your industry, relationships, tools, and best practices. With company data, Mo is like an expert consultant who profoundly understands your company. Upon your approval, Mo will ask you for permission to connect with your existing tools and data sources, like MS Teams, Jira, and email. This integration allows Mo to update your digital twin in real-time without manual data entry.

Mo works around the clock to build a digital twin of the project, simulating the flow, trade-offs, and status.

Just as Google Maps provides real-time navigation, Mo guides you through the complexities of your projects, offering instant insights, highlighting potential obstacles, and suggesting optimal paths forward. It handles the tedious tasks of status updates, dependency tracking, and progress reports, freeing you to focus on strategic, high-level work.

Workers prefer deep work to stay happy

Our research with over 1,000 professionals revealed that 74% would gladly delegate the program management part of their jobs to a capable assistant. They expressed frustration with administrative burdens and a desire to focus on meaningful, high-impact work.

Our research with over 1,000 professionals revealed that 74% would gladly delegate the program management part of their jobs to a capable assistant.

Employees have every incentive to engage with Mo because it helps them achieve their goals faster and more efficiently. By offloading shallow work to Mo, they can concentrate on innovation and collaboration—interacting with colleagues on more engaging and pleasant matters. Mo becomes a trusted partner that not only supports individual success but also enhances team cohesion and organizational alignment.

Workers will delegate these tasks, which they consider an unproductive use of their time—such as those shown in the graph—to Mo.

Continuous Simulation and Clarity

Mo works around the clock, using the data it gathers to continuously update the digital twin of your organization. This means everyone—from team members to executives—can have clarity about the ground truth at any time. With a live simulation, you can predict different outcomes, assess risks, and make informed decisions proactively.

The organization's digital twin enables effortless alignment by ensuring everyone is 'seeing the same movie in their head,' driving clarity and unifying goals across the organization.

Technological breakthroughs

Like physical buildings, simulations always require a rule-based structure. Just as a building needs a frame, simulations need rules to function properly.

Simulations, like buildings, need structure. Planning requires a framework and rules. Mo is already trained with millions of work and planning-related rules, but can also extract new rules by interacting with users and observing their actions.

Traditional digital twins and project management tools rely on predefined rules—typically handling only a few dozen at a time. This setup means that they can only simulate a relatively small and predefined portion of the company, like a manufacturing line.

Unlike current digital twin technologies that rely on a few dozen pre-defined rules, our solution empowers companies to build a digital twin of their entire operations by handling millions of pre-defined and dynamically-defined rules.

Our innovative approach to knowledge graphs prioritizes flexibility and reliability in modeling complex systems. Traditional models—especially those with recurrent architectures—often face challenges in adapting to changes and require substantial computational resources during the rule-creation phase. With MFlow, we have restructured how knowledge is organized and processed, enabling faster and more efficient rule expansion. This design enhances our ability to adapt to evolving requirements without significantly increasing computational demands during model execution. By improving the creation phase and overall adaptability, MFlow offers a more resilient and versatile framework for managing complex systems.

The digital twin is built through a conversation with Mo. Users build the digital twin of projects by interacting with Mo, while project managers add company-specific rules. The underlying system includes a rules engine that combines a general model of work and company rules, all powered by MFlow infrastructure developed by Momentum.

This means Momentum can manage the millions of rules necessary to model entire organizations without requiring impossible computational resources. The twin can handle the interdependencies between tasks, teams, and projects while continuously updating in real-time as new data comes in. The result is an efficient and scalable simulation that adapts as your organization evolves.

How does each group of knowledge workers benefit?

For Project Leaders and product and program managers: Mo assists you in navigating your projects with real-time guidance, much like Google Maps for your work. You can run simulations, manage dependencies, and adjust plans effortlessly, eliminating the need for endless meetings or manual updates.

For Engineers and Designers: With Mo handling updates and tracking, you can focus on innovation and execution. You can receive relevant information when needed without being bogged down by administrative tasks.

For Executives: Your organization’s digital twin provides a comprehensive, real-time view of your entire organization. Momentum’s technology enables you to simulate strategic decisions, understand their potential impacts, and steer your organization confidently through a rapidly changing landscape.

Organizations with a digital twin will become antifragile. Changes do not weaken antifragile systems; in fact, they grow stronger from external disruptions and changes.

One last word

According to McKinsey

Today, 70% of C-suite technology executives at large enterprises are exploring and investing in digital twins to increase project success rates. The market for digital twins is projected to grow at a 60% CAGR over the next five years, reaching $73.5 billion by 2027. Together, generative AI and digital twins can revolutionize the way organizations operate. Gen AI could streamline digital-twin deployment, while digital twins could refine and validate gen AI output.

Generative AI enables the digital twins market to grow at an expected 60% CAGR and reach peak impact by the end of this decade.