Best Advice: 'Use data, not emotions, to make decisions,’ says AMD India's Jaya Jagadish

Q. What was the problem you were grappling with?

I faced a key customer as project lead for the first time. The customer was demanding, and the work complicated. They wanted a schedule pull-in, and I was worried about their high expectations. The customer had their own views on a remote team in India delivering the most crucial IP with a woman lead. They probably asked leadership if another team could take over the project. But, my team didn’t understand why I was pushing them to meet the deliverables timetable when they were already doing well. I was caught between client demand and team expectations.

Q. Whom did you approach for advice and why?

AMD Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster, my project leader, helped me negotiate the situation. What was the advice you received? Mark advised me to trust my own judgement and engage with the customer using data. He said, “Use data, not emotions, to determine whether a schedule pull-in is possible. Whenever there is a conflict, base your decisions on data because leaders must set aside their emotions to find solutions.”

Q: How effective was it in resolving the problem?

 I informed the customer that I respect their request but there are challenges to a schedule pull-in. I said we will try our best; we will add project timeline checkpoints for transparency; we will move to the next phase if the data shows that we are meeting the quality metric at a certain mile. The customer agreed. I also convinced my team that I didn’t sign them up for the impossible. This helped me handle a schedule pull-in and the customer was happy.