Intelligence is not an isolated phenomenon. The only intelligence we know about lives inside human bodies, not just the brains. As humans we are embedded into our environment and instead of just reacting to it, as most of the living world around us does, we think about abstract concepts, envision worlds that are not and can never be, and communicate and collaborate with one another. Cognitive Systems are arguably the hardest part of AI (for me they constitute AI), but that also makes them a most fascinating object of study.

In everyday life people master comlex decisions under uncertainty and time pressure. As soon as organizations solve tasks it seems these capabilities are largely suppressed by rigid processes that are designed contrary to what people do well. From my research on human and automatic decision making I transfer processes that people use successfully in everyday life to organizational routines. This corresponds roughly the trend of agile software development, but it is much more general.

Whether artificial intelligence is presented as a dream or a nightmare, the computer is always the focus. But what if you cleverly combine technical possibilities with human abilities, if you look at people and computers as an integral system? In my opinion, every system that is supposed to be suitable for everyday use must be designed with the user interface as a starting point, to be complemented gradually with intelligent tools.