The McKinsey Quarterly

changing the game article, man versus machine, Software

February 2011 

Changing the game: “How I beat Watson and came out a different player”

Two-time Jeopardy! champ Greg Lindsay knew that beating IBM’s quiz show–playing computer would be hard. What he didn’t expect was how much it would change the way he played.

Recent Thinking

The Archive

2009

  • January 2009 

    Google like a pro

    Google’s appetite for information is its strength, but for overwhelmed users sifting through results can present a challenge. Many tools exist to help tap Google’s higher-level indexing capabilities and make your queries more efficient. Here are a few easy ones.

2008

2006

2005

  • February 2005 

    Can China compete in IT services?

    Fragmentation is keeping the country’s industry from grabbing a larger share of the global software-outsourcing market.

2004

2003

  • November 2003 

    The promise of purchasing software

    New software can provide procurement managers with more information about their operations but can’t overcome flawed processes.

  • June 2003 

    Matching people and jobs

    Achieving the most productive combination of workers and work is about to become a great deal easier.

  • February 2003 

    Getting supply chain software right

    A study of early adopters of supply-chain-management software shows that it works best where it is needed most—but is no use as a bandage over flawed processes.

2002

  • August 2002 

    A hard turnaround for software

    Software companies caught in a downward spiral find it exceptionally difficult to escape. Yet a determined few succeed.

2001

2000

  • December 2000 

    Globalizing services

    Multinational companies already understand India’s value as a platform for software development. But they now have an opportunity to move many parts of their business systems.

  • June 2000 

    The software gap

    A McKinsey survey of 100 software companies around the world found clear distinctions between practices in Europe and those in the United States.

  • May 2000 

    A software subcontinent

    Software and IT services are already bright spots in India’s economy, but a McKinsey study concluded that reducing government red tape and modernizing the country’s telecom infrastructure would make them a lot brighter.

1999

  • November 1999 

    The soft side of telecoms

    If traditional telecom equipment vendors don’t have a strategy for the software business, they may be in the wrong business altogether.

1992

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