ADVENTURE!

find it "inside the box"

2011-12-19T21:15:00.006-07:00

Maxine Shapiro is not shy, as you can see in her video http://maxineshapiro.com/video.html

Maxine engaged 200 PMI members in Denver with fun icebreakers and role-playing to drive lessons home. She facilitates with a flair for improvisation and directs team members to act out typical scenarios, then teaches us how we can change the outcome to become more INNOVATIVE, ENGAGED, and ACCEPTING. She taught us to say,

Yes and ... (instead of "yes, but ...")

I have found myself consciously using this technique a week later; I hope it becomes a habit!

New ideas are NEW! Yes, you are going to want to poke it and test it, but don't ask people to put it in a memo. Separate the 'ideas' process from the 'evaluation' process.

Reasons that people say 'no:'

habit

yes means they have to take action

our ideas are better

reject because we don't understand

The telephone game has left an impression in my mind and a fun story to share sometime. I think that Maxine has many facilitation techniques to share with your team or manager training.

Managing Innovation: quest for the perfect cookie

2011-11-27T12:55:00.007-07:00

Assigned to manage an innovative project, how can we organize it's members for the most efficient and creative output?

Malcolm Gladwell's "The Bakeoff" (The New Yorker, 2005) is a story to introduce the manager to three types of innovative team concepts and lots of fun details about recipes, ingredients, and the food industry.

Project Delta sought to create the perfect healthy and tasty cookie. The three innovative concepts were pitted against each other: Open Source model (citing the success of the Linux operating system), eXtreme Programming (XP), and traditional hierarchy.

The story reports all of the color behind the recipes and struggles of each team type, but most notably demonstrated that open source is not the best model for innovation.

Malcolm Gladwell, The Bakeoff : http://www.gladwell.com/pdf/bakeoff.pdf

I appreciated this article's contrast to Rod Collins "everybody is better than anybody" message so that project managers don't just throw everyone in the room and expect magic to happen.

everybody is better than anybody (or how do you get a quorum at your chapter meeting?)

2011-11-10T07:03:00.006-07:00

Looking for a speaker for your office that will leave you smarter, motivated, and entertained?

Rod Collins immediately invited us into a time machine and navigated through a series of adventures, mishaps, and conversations. Glad to arrive back in the present, we reflected on a few of those conversations to reveal that history repeats itself and all of the lessons we need in our careers have been demonstrated time and again.

We observered how "everyone is faster and better than anyone" and "networks are better than hierarchies" in companies like Google, W. L. Gore & Assc, Wikipedia, Zappos, and Blue Cross.

We contemplated the following:

that business has grown in complexity and speed over time, will it be slower 5 years from now?

Why do 75% of change management projects fail?

Why will 70% of Fortune 1000 companies fall off within a few years?

Do you understand your customer's, or can your brand be hijacked like David Carroll's viral video, United Breaks Guitars?

and the 4 laws of Rod's Wiki world: Moore's law, Metcalf's law, "nobody is smarter than everybody," and networks are faster than hierarchies.

Rod could have given us facilitation tips and tricks all night, but we had a chapter election to complete.

Rod Collins is a consultant and author of "Leadership in a Wiki World: Leveraging Collective Knowledge to Make the Leap to Extraordinary Performance" rodcollins@wiki-management.com www.wiki-management.com

Leadership is no longer an "option"

2011-09-15T00:41:00.011-06:00

Kimi presented to Denver project managers a chance to reflect on "old fashioned values" and how we are already "leaders."

Kimi ought to be a voiceover artist with her mezmerizing inflections as she tells a story.

She is also a content contributor to the PMBOK 4th ed. and surprised us that the "triple constraints" (cost, schedule, quality) has been removed. Since 90% of a PM's activity is communication, her new triple constraint would be

People

Risks

Expectations

We are already leaders; in our family and in our circles. We must be aware of our 360 degree leadership and display compassion and integrity. The PM is known for backing the team, supporting the sponsor, beg/borrow/steal resources to complete tasks, often without formal authority.

She left us with a quote from Stephen Covey, "information moves at the speed of trust within the organization." Is it moving fast enough in your environment?

Kimi Hirotsu Ziemski has a video sample (here), wrote a book "When Opposites Collide", and wants to change the world on her website (here).

PM as a Curator - Nathaniel Quintana

2011-09-15T00:40:00.005-06:00

Addressing Denver's project managers, Nathaniel convinced us that a project manager's role can be treated like a curator if we bring our passion to work and engage with our colleagues and ask provocative questions.

We derived that a curator is often a manager of a museum, one who preserves culture and presents a display in the most relevant way.

Thinking of a curator approach was "challenging" and an interesting exercise to change how we look at our role.

Other useful tips that he left us with:

"plants and dollars can be managed, but people expect leadership." D Wayne Calloway, CEO of PepsiCo.

There are 4 generations in the current workforce (4.7% mature, 38% baby boomers, 32% gen X, 24% gen Y). I imagine each group has a different communication style and motivators.

A CMO (Chief Mood Officer) promotes good moods, which leads to retention.

Try a "corporate laugh" or "laughter yoga" (Daniel Pink).

What's your Klout? Mine is 31.

Check out LiquidPlanner.

Nathaniel Quintana is an account manager at Mindavation and a past PMI Mile-Hi board member.

Change Management at National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL)

2011-02-13T14:24:00.011-07:00

A local master in process improvement and leadership consulting, Gary Vansuch, presented to the MileHigh PMI attendees. He demonstrated his tools and references as applied to enterprise changes at NREL.

NREL change leadership is using the book ADKAR: A model for change in business, government, and our community. Gary gave everyone in attendance a copy of the book, which provides the following framework to plan and assess your change management:

Awareness: the individuals must be aware of the need for change.
Desire:
individuals must have a desire to change (WIIFM- what’s in it for me?)
Knowledge: individuals need to know what their new role will be and how they
can be successful when the rules change.
Ability: is additional training
required?
Reinforcement: gestures to thank or celebrate the individual
accomplishment and reinforce the importance of the change to the organization’s
leaders.

Other key points for change managers to consider:

Every change will experience resistance.
People have found job satisfaction,
well-being, and success in the current process, which is threatened by change.
The devil you know … even better than the angel you don’t?
Three phases
of change:
CURRENT (stakeholders live here)
TRANSITION
FUTURE
(project team lives here)

The troops want to hear from 2 people:

The general needs to tell the team that we “are charging that hill.”
The supervisor needs to tell the team WIIFM.

In addition, Gary left us with a Fist-to-Five voting tool and a quote from Gen. Patton. "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."
George S. Patton

Gary Vansuch, Principle Administrator of Quality at NREL.
http://www.asq1313.org/Meetings/2010_Feb_Feature_talk.pdf

Team Building for a Project Manager

2011-01-16T00:49:00.007-07:00

Speaking to a PMI gathering, Dr. James Brown awed the crowd by pointing out that the "7 Wonders of the World" were built before the PMBOK and that project management is simply "structured, organized, common sense." Oddly, he didn't get rushed off the stage, rather the group kept him at the event late in the evening, challenging him for more consulting.

Other key takeaways:

he predicts that ROI is a weak measure of project selection in an era that is expected to experience more technology advances in the next decade than the previous century; i.e., Dell can't know what they will be building 5 years from now.
need to build and maintain trust within a team, if you expect them to perform under pressure.
one trust violation could take 12 good deliveries to overcome
the best PMs make the biggest mistakes (most likely because
they have the heaviest workload, most complicated tasks, etc.)
be a relationship builder
management is synomous with manipulation
"pain in process, pleasure in people"-preplan an escalation process
create a team charter as an important leadership tool

The remainder of the presentation correlated successful project management skills to his kindergarten report card: social, emotional, work habits, and skills.

Dr. James Brown is a "salami slicer" in his approach at long-term problems and you can meet him at his Project Management website: www.onepdu.com

If at first you don't succeed...

2011-01-16T00:27:00.012-07:00

... rename the project!
Rick Morris presented to our MileHi PMI chapter and states that 59-94% of projects fail. He advised us how to turn around failing projects.

Why do teammembers feel their priorities change daily, but the executive's priorities are unlikely to change monthly, quarterly, or even annually?

Rick recommends to plan the project, communicate the project goal over and over, and then stop the plan for a "halftime" to re-focus the team on the project goals. Celebrate progress every 4-6 weeks.

How many project managers are formally trained? He mentioned "The Halo Effect" that promotes talented technicians into project managers, which also reminds me of the Peter Principle.

How does he turn around failing projects? 90% of the time there is a shy, passive teammember who has the answer, but is not being heard.

A PM cannot "guarantee" a date. Rick's response goes sort of like this:

If a manager drives the same 20 minute commute to work everyday for 10 years (2000 times), she could see a 400-800% variance between best time (15 min.) and a traffic accident (2 hours). How is a PM supposed to lead unknown resources through an unknown project within a guaranteed date?

A PM simply identifies the resources needed for a given project and communicates those needs by stating what is needed to finish on time and the impact otherwise.

PM: "I need 3 resources or the date slips to 15Jun"
Stakeholder: "The date cannot slip"
PM: "great, then I will get the 3 resources or do the best we can; I just facilitate."

Rick A. Morris, PMP is the author of The Everything Project Management Book, Project Management that Works, and Stop Playing Games.
I am following his blog http://www.pmthatworks.com/ to learn the differences between a PMO and an OEPD (office that executes poor decisions)

Teams Unstuck!

2010-12-11T11:57:00.011-07:00

As a PM, you can identify a team that is stuck and help it to mature. Chief Unstuck Officer, Tom Sheives, presented to the MileHi PMI, why teams get stuck and how this destroys performance or success.

The aperture of cultures within a team expand as projects, teams, and companies become more virtual and global. Your team is stuck because people have different cultures, values, and expectations. The "dimensions of culture" presented by Geert Hofstede and others allow us to diagnose (or anticipate) the problems. Cultural differences can present in sensitivities to time, quality, authority, structure, and conflict. Multi-culture dynamics are all of the unique social differences that individuals bring from their personal environment that include values, education, language, gestures, and other "norms" from their experiences.

He gave an analogy comparing a person's culture to an iceberg, "the identifiable differences (language, dress, gestures, food) are only the tip of the iceberg (15-20% of the whole)."

Which statement resonates with YOUR culture?

"life is what you make of it" or "its a matter of luck"
"loudest duck gets shot" or "squeaky wheel gets the grease"

Considering that some Asian cultures are thousands of years old and manage 100 year plans in their community and corporate business, they clearly have a different concept of time over a culture with a history of a few hundred years.

You inherited a team. How long will the trust-building take? How much structure do colleagues need? Will they take direction from you? Will they deliver on time? Will they speak up in disagreement if something goes wrong?

Tom recommends an introductory meeting to "normalize" these expectations among the group allowing them to accept these "rules of engagement." A PM might even consider these culture tendancies when "selecting" the teammembers based on the project details.

Tom is the author of "OPPORTUNITY Unstuck!" and an engaging speaker and available for coaching your teams. http://www.unstuckcompany.com/

Other references:
"Doing business internationally," Walker, Walker, Schmitz 2003;
"5 Dysfunctions of a Team," Patrick Lencioni: 1. abscence of trust 2. fear of conflict 3. committment 4. accountability avoidance 5. results not shared

Forensics for Project Management

2010-10-18T09:34:00.023-06:00

Challenge to all: Can you describe your organizations strategy (and key metrics)?

Author of "Flavour of the Month," Martin VanDerSchouw spoke to an audience at the PMI MileHi October chapter meeting.

Martin walks you through the toughest challenges facing your business using a story-telling method that uncovers an organization's deficiencies and allows the audience to collectively analyze and conclude logical strategies to do their own transformations.

Key take-aways:
Only 2 things happen in an org; Operations and new projects. Project management professionals (PMPs) are change agents. You are willing to change when its your idea, but people don't like to be changed.

Understand "buy-in" versus "ownership"
The ham and eggs analogy shows that the chicken has buy-in, but the pig is invested! When your team has buy-in, they can opt-out when the going gets tough.
When a team has ownership, they are committed to seeing the project through.

Everyday is Management by crisis. Projects are completed with the following priorities:

-who is screaming the loudest
-hover the resources or lose them
-what I like to do best
-what is the quickest

How to run a status meeting:
+ Shouldn't be longer than 10 minutes.
+ Only report if the project will deliver on-time
+ Report how many hours spent and how many are left

-Do not use % complete, when providing project status, it is subjective. How long will it take for people to realize that the last 10% takes 50% of the time!
-Quantity and quality reporting cannot be done in the same meeting, because one will overshadow the other. Discuss risks and blockers in a risk management meeting.
-Asking quality questions one-on-one provides two benefits:

1. more honest respones
2. everyone else keeps working

In summary:
1. Know your organization's strategy
2. Know your organization's priorities (Sr. mgmt must decide, but doesn't like conflict)

Martin VanDerSchouw is the founder of Looking Glass Development LLC and provides project management tools, training, and consulting for organizations. Martin is an authority on program and project management, leadership and IT Governance. With nearly 20 years of experience as an executive and information technology professional Mr. VanDerSchouw, recently served as a member of the International Board of Directors for the PMI, as a member of the prestigious U.S. President's Business Advisory Council, and as a governor's appointee of Colorado's Commission on Information Management. Mr. VanDerSchouw was recently named one of the top business executives in Colorado under the age of 40 by the Denver Business Journal.

Martin's new book, Flavor of the Month, Responding to the revolving door of management systems.

Lacking Leadership?

2010-09-20T22:22:00.005-06:00

Symptoms:

Performance: you don’t want to micro-manage, but can’t they find value-added tasks to do on their own?
Engaged: are they more interested in the text messages on their phone or their task today?
Herding cats: why are they are wandering in many directions often in conflict or competition of each other, can we all move in the same direction to the same drumbeat?
Retention: replacing an employee costs $60k or more (estimated at 50% of the salary for the position) in recruiting, training, and lost productivity!

I do believe that you can teach an old dog new tricks. If a pup wants to learn something new just for your attention, the old dog needs a little more convincing. Maybe you need to present what’s in it for them besides a pat on the head; maybe you need to show the long-term value of the new process, vice another parlor trick that will soon become tiring.

Ed Tate, champion motivational speaker, presented “Making Managers into Leaders” to our PMI chapter event. He was very dynamic in his presentation and captured everyone’s participation as he acted out the differences between Management (the hard part) and Leadership (the soft part), we had so much fun!

Can we focus on more than one thing at a time? As a leader are you focusing on the problems? Weaknesses, failures, and what doesn’t work?

If we get more of what we focus on, let’s focus on our strengths, what’s working and where we are going!

If you focus on the soft part, your team will manage the hard part and provide the solutions to achieve the organizational goals.

Do we only do “post mortems” on the project failures, or on all projects?

Dealing with conflict in projects

2010-05-16T23:29:00.013-06:00

We hear that most people will avoid conflict, probably not unlike other self-inflicted pain. However, unlike masochism, conflict is the source for opportunity.

Why to deal with it
Conflicts can arise when two parties address a task or problem with a different perspective or “frame of reference.” Imagine a pot of gold on the table and two parties unable to make an equitable case to divide the booty. Avoiding conflict is an overly polite way of leaving a problem unaddressed and money on the table. The elephant remains in the room causing discomfort to everyone. The energy used to skirt around the issue creates inefficiencies for all and ignores the opportunity waiting to be discovered. Often there are inequities in the way each party looks at the issue, considering different opinions on the priorities, effort, risk, and reward. Understanding the conflict allows a decision maker to be aware of the complexities of a problem. Solving the problem allows the parties to divvy up and claim the pot of gold. There is no doubt that managing conflict takes effort and creativity, but the rewards can be worth it. Project conflict can be found within clients and colleagues alike. If the source of conflict is left alone, the issue can become a cancer that infects project performance and personalities. Dealing with conflict can be rewarding when resulting in a resolution.

How to deal with it
Dr. Terry Young provided the Denver audience of the Project Management Institute a few tools in managing project conflicts. Among the tools, he showed us examples of how “reframing” an issue can overcome conflict to discover and settle a resolution.
Quoting Bernie Mayer, he explains that framing is the context of a proposal or the way a conflict is described. Reframing the conflict would be to change the context.

Two examples of how a controversy can be reframed follow:
>Expand the issues. This can shift the focus to a bigger picture.
>Change the metaphor. The adversary could be more receptive to a different metaphor.

Terry Young is a mediator and provides mediation training.
Forever Young and Associates offers conflict management services, including mediation, arbitration, facilitation, and mediation consulting (med-consult) to resolve disputes and improve business relationships.

Using Six Sigma principle to drive your human capital performance management

2010-04-21T17:14:00.008-06:00

A concept that I implement subtlety is a paradigm shift from performance evaluations (PE). I use six sigma principles to measure what is most important to me, a leader’s effectiveness.

PEs are a monitoring tool. With limited resources, we need efficient measures. I can analyze the performance of 10 managers for a fraction of the costs of 100 employees.

What are the costs of PE? In my estimation, PE have direct costs of $200/per employee (for annual evaluations) plus capital IT resources and immeasurable indirect costs on morale.

Most performance evaluations expect employee performance to statistically fall within a normal distribution that can be divided into 3 categories, where 10% excel, 80% maintain, and 10% need improvement.

Do we need the company overhead to identify the top 10%? Do we need a company-wide PE system to manage low performers and sustain a case for their dismissal?

Managing teams requires immediate feedback to situations. If a team is failing to meet objectives and expected performance, I would look at the manager’s ineffectiveness to lead.

Using six sigma principles to measure only what is most important to you, I recommend to measure the manager’s effectiveness based upon objective, quantifiable metrics like team’s output, deliverable timeliness, and personnel turnover.

I don’t care if the manager likes the subordinates, I care if the employees can rely on their boss for instruction and facilitation.

hypothesis-based consulting

2010-03-21T12:47:00.006-06:00

When a client hires a consultant, a lot of issues are laid on the table and a lot of promises are made between the client manager and the consultant business developer.

By the time a consultant engages the client to produce a solution, it can be overwhelming to assess the situation, manage the client's expectations, and provide a solution.

Hypothesis-based consulting provides a logic-model to complete a consulting life cycle efficiently.

As a consultant, first, inspect the Statement of Work (SOW) and Contract Deliverables (CDRLs) to verify what is contractly expected.

Then interview the client to discover their objective for hiring a consultant. The responses might be narrow (train my staff) or broad (increase my revenues), but will always be incomplete and ambiguous.

Using the above as our "scope" (boundary of work effort), we can employ the following lean six sigma tools:

affinity diagram (document all of the complaints associated with the topic and group them into logical categories to aggragate the responses)

pareto analysis (discovers which problem has the largest impact)

root cause analysis (a fishbone shows 'why' a problem exists)

At this point, the consultant has a finite, solvable problem that can be managed and delivered in an efficient and profitable manner (we didn't have to boil the ocean). Using the tools above, the solution is sure to have the proper stakeholder buy-in and provide the 'biggest bang for the buck' to the customer.

ITIL or outsource?

2010-03-16T21:32:00.010-06:00

ITIL philosophy focuses on maintaining an IT department with a customer-service perspective. Having an IT service management aligned with corporate business processes and goals is a crucial competitive advantage in productivity and talent retention.

However, outsourcing to a data center provides access to scalable technologies and best-practice services. Data centers aggragate customers to leverage a scale of economy on the use of hardware and software.

The business plan of outsourcing to a data center isn't a cost savings for a client, it is the opportunity to access the latest software and hardware technologies for development and production.

By default, each corporate customer has to provide a variety of hardware, software, and administration to meet the enterprise needs as it grows. It is impossible to manage the capital resources and human resources to keep up with the bleeding edge technologies that can provide a leg ahead.

Even the smallest budgets can open the door to a data center. A data center operates like a CO-OP providing shares of resources. A data center can enjoy gold-level enterprise licenses for the latest software installed on leased (or vendor-managed) hardware.

When an enterprise no longer has to manage technologies and depreciation, it can focus on its core competancies.

A data center offers infrastructure as a service (IaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) with the expertise to maintain these technologies like a finely tuned engine. Infrastructure can provide the temporary bandwidth, bare metal, or operating environment that you need for development. SaaS provides you with the variety you need and the service level to use it productively.

Other technologies that you can access from a data center:

purchase mainframe time for running yearly reports
10Gb ethernet backbones and switches
COOP- continuity of operations and disaster recovery
blade server architecture
SATA 15k harddrives
SAN or NAS storage
performance monitors
virtualization

It seems that the key to being satisfied with the trade-off of 'loss of control' versus 'access to technology' is to negotiate the proper service level agreements and reporting with a data center.

your project is $42,000 behind schedule: an EVM schedule problem

2010-01-20T19:51:00.006-07:00

Your client wonders what does this mean? Should the client withhold payments? Can the project manager borrow money to get back on "schedule?"

Bill Locke, successful PM at BAE Corp., presented "A neat solution to the EVM schedule problem."

In Earned Value Management (EVM), Schedule Variance (SV) is the difference between the value earned for tasks completed (EV) and the value of the tasks planned for that period.

Bill gave us handy formulas to convert SV to time (x-axis) rather than dollars (y-axis). This metric provides a clear status to clients and allows the team to better understand the variances and make corrections to the project management.

the #1 voted way to save the US taxpayers money is...

2009-12-13T11:00:00.006-07:00

With all of the think tanks, professors, and talk show hosts who claim to have all of the answers, it appears that none showed up when President Obama asked government workers to submit suggestions that will provide US Taxpayers quantifiable savings.

President Obama announced the winning submission, of 38,000 received, that will be implemented into the 2011 annual budget process. The award was given to Ms. Fichtner who states that US Taxpayers can save money at VA hospitals by sending unused medications home with patients or otherwise redistributing the drugs instead of disposing them.

The President's SAVE (Securing Americans Value and Efficiency) Award enables Federal employees to submit their ideas for efficiencies and savings as part of the annual Budget process. The best idea will be included in the 2011 Budget, and the Federal employee who submitted that idea will be invited to a meeting with the President.

think that you can do better?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/save/SaveAwardEmailPage/

Your Boss Loves Dashboards! ACART automates project compliance management

2009-11-20T20:41:00.012-07:00

The Business Transformation Agency provides a web tool to tailor and manage architecture compliance relevant to your project. A 60 minute tutorial can be found at:https://acart.bta.mil/ Additional support: http://www.acartcompliance.com/

Dr. Elliot Chikofsky presented this resource to Falls Church Project Management Professionals (PMP). The web tool is a project that can assist a project manager in identifying and tracking the compliance to the myriad of regulations and compliance. Additionally, Dr. Chikofsky's delivery was terrific with an analogy of project architecture documentation (like DoDAF) to a building's blueprints. Although it may never be referenced once the project is complete, it is reassuring to everyone that the project was built to standards.

Dr. Chikofsky's bio.

Once we have created an ACART account and setup our project, it is easy to build graphical and detailed exception reports and a Requirements Traceability Matrix that aid in managing the scope of standards and compliance to apply to a given project.

ACART is a net-centric, compliance and management decision support tool that EM&I developed which helps key stakeholders to scope, assess and assert architecture enterprise requirements compliance as well as architectures, laws, regulations, policies, guidelines and checklists. Although ACART is used to streamline compliance, it is a highly-customizable platform that is also used for comparing systems and requirements and enabling more effective IT investment decisions. Bottomline: ACART assists agencies in determining the "best IT bang for the buck."

is your entire team an "emergency response team?"

2009-08-21T13:59:00.009-06:00

Blackberries fire up at 5am, your European customer can't restore the servers after a power outage. The event has three of your teammates sending emails flying to do various systems checks and theorizing the problem.

By 9am, everyone is in the office and buzzing on coffee, when word comes down that the president wants a meeting at 9:30 to understand what happened over the weekend. The team scrambles to assemble and meet in the conference room.

At 11, the team joins the daily telecon with a vendor on the west coast to receive status. Afterwards, the independent test lab requests a meeting to discuss findings in the product testing and at 3pm, a data base sales engineer will meet to share the data standardization adaptors that will become your future architecture.

This twelve hour day is just like every other. The team members are heroes and feel satisfied with all of the issues they resolved and the now dried sweat on their brow.

If you can't relate to this scenario, then you probably don't have dominant team members who want to be where all of the action is, or docile folks that herd with the group, or loosely defined responsibilities.

Matter of fact, you are the pinnacle of where we want to be. You have dedicated colleagues that are allocated to duties. Each person's work is respected and the redundancy of team collaboration on every issue is unnecessary.

Effectively, you have one person doing one person's job, instead of five (or more) people doing one person's job; so the team will get five times more work done. When the workplace "fires" are handled with processes, people are developing efficient personal processes for completing their tasks.

When the responsibilities are not defined, the entire team rushes to the scene of every fire (some out of curiousity, some with the intent to be the hero), each with there own opinion. Chances are good that the smoldering issue could have been managed correctly by a single person tasked with being responsible for these issues and capable enough to seek the necessary inputs and brief the problem/solution.

When teams don't operate within assigned responsibilities, there is chaos from the many opinions and communications channels and will result in many people doing a single-person job. If that one person is not capable enough to manage the issue or responsible enough to follow through with effective communications, that person should be reassigned. Don't allow that person to be "assisted" with dozens of specators.

Decision Support Models

2009-08-19T19:08:00.005-06:00

Everyone can appreciate a little support in their decision making, can a model help you?

When do I need a model? How much will it cost? What will be the benefit?

Jane Materna of OrgCapacity.com presented a case study where she supported the DoD Joint Staff with a model to select resource allocations annually. The model was created using http://www.decisionlens.com/ which uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process (Dr. Thomas Saaty).

In this example, a six-week investment to discover the stakeholders, the decision criteria, and the weights provided a defensible process that will have the buyin of multiple stakeholders. The computer program allows for voting and analysis to rack and stack 92 initiatives and the ability to easily tweak the scenarios.

Like all problem solving, the computer can automate the routine, but the underlying process can be easily practiced with some household decisions to learn the mechanics of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). AHP is a fundamental Systems Engineering tool and useful in Six Sigma facilitation.

I recommend using the process outlined http://thequalityportal.com/q_ahp.htm to create a model that will help you decide on which make and model for your next car purchase.

Deloitte's IMPACT is my impact at Bryant Alternative

2009-06-05T22:29:00.002-06:00

pix to follow- Bryant's principal, Mrs. Kee, invited us to spring clean the facilities. The brains were utilized inside and the brawn volunteered to do the landscaping outside.

Swine flu statistics (H1N1) are viral!

2009-04-29T15:07:00.016-06:00

(click on image)

The epidimiology of a new strain of influenza A virus has the U.S. media in a frenzy.

There are researchers who predict that the virus can be pandemic in the United States.

Today, U.S. President Obama publically requests for $1.5B to monitor and fight the Swine flu and urged the proper virus name, H1N1. Swine flu is misleading to citizens and distracts from the awareness of how to reduce transmission.

Contrary to news media reports and consumer speculation, the Swine virus is not related to eating contaminated pork. The misconception has concerned citizens worried about thoroughly cooking their pork and having the stores destroy inventoried pork products. The virus is spread human to human through contact or mucous exchange. Prevention includes frequent hand washing with an anti-bacterial soap and isolating coughs and sneezes of infected people.

Annually, 35,000 people die in the US during flu season and another 45,000 people die from auto accidents. In the past month, there are 65 confirmed cases of the Swine flu in the U.S. resulting in nothing more than temporary 'cold' symptoms of a runny nose and sore throat. Although the H1N1 is responsible for the death of a 23-month old, the Swine is no match for the common cold virus.

While 159 Mexicans died from Swine Flu, this statistic is not meaningful and supportive of the full media blitz to call for a pandemic that has resulted in schools closing, extracurricular activities cancelled, flight attendants quitting, the DHS releasing 1.5million Tamiflu vaccines, and countless Americans overloading public health lines for more information on the "national emergency."

I can only assume that the U.S. government and media is purposefully inflating the story to be self-important and to distract the public from the daily troop deployments, mortgage foreclosures, unemployment rates, and CEO bonuses.

paperless : e-signing webinar 18FEB09

2009-02-17T16:10:00.014-07:00

http://www.silanis.com/egov-casestudy.html

Following this overview, attendees will hear first hand how the US Army has successfully implemented e-signatures and e-forms across the enterprise. The US Army's Publication Content Management System (APCMS) is the single largest deployment of electronic forms & e-signatures, involving more than 1.6 million users and 2500 forms. Since the implementation began more than 3 years ago, the project has successfully met the initial goals of cost avoidance and productivity including:

$28M saved per year from the evaluation report process

2 hour reduction in processing time per evaluation report

$10M in annual data entry cost slashed

Reports completed across multiple countries in less than 1 hour

High end-user adoption and satisfaction

E-Signature adoption trends in government

Infrastructure requirements - dealing with legacy & silo systems

Implementation options and choosing the right solution

Common e-signature project challenges

How to calculate ROI

Who should attend?

DoD, Civilian, State & Local Government

Enterprise Architects

Project Managers & Business Analysts

Enterprise Content Management Strategists

"Green Initiative" Proponents

Why you should attend
Governments are under immense pressure to do more with less - to increase accountability & responsiveness while reducing cost. With an increasingly distributed workforce and partner network, these challenges are even greater. Forms and contract-based processes help mitigate risk and provide control over mission critical operations. Unfortunately, most forms today are still executed on paper which is costly, causes delays and impedes productivity; but with the right technology and a phased-approach, government organizations can successfully make the transformation into paperless enterprises.

In this free Webcast, Silanis & EIM will share how governments can leverage electronic signature, e-forms and content management capabilities to eliminate paper from their organizations.

Susan Schleigh, President EIM Federal, Executive Program Manager APCMS, will describe how the Army has transformed into a highly automated, efficient enterprise by introducing electronic signatures, content management, forms and workflow through the Army Knowledge Online Web portal.

Its not your stimulus!!!

2009-02-13T04:37:00.009-07:00

Why did this home foreclose????

As our politicians decide how to spend $730B they don't have, please understand that this will not help your economy.

The National Assc of Realtors say "Home Ownership is an investment in your future."

However, the reality for homeowners who have purchased a home between 2004 and 2007 have not experienced this kind of investment.

If a home sold for $500,000 and its market value is $300k the following year, a rationale person with normal means cannot spend one third of a family's disposable income to pay down an unexpected $200k debt at 5% interest. This condition is called "being upside-down in the loan." On the normal payment schedule, it would take 17 years just to pay the loan down to $300k and have zero equity! This does not factor in any anticipated appreciation over the next 20 years, but what are we learning about anticipating appreciation????

The U.S. Census reports that the American family moves on average every 4.5 years. When homeowners with "upside-down loans" have to relocate, they will need to pay hundred's of thousands of dollars to the closing.

Should an investor accept the 'risk' and pay the burden or should they be excused from the debt with an insurance or government relief? Undoubtedly, you would the investor accountable for the investment that went sour.

But what about a family? One colleague tells me that he felt victim to a nationwide scandal. All of the financial advice told him to buy his retirement property. When he set the plan to motion, there was a system of appraisers, realtors, and banks all seeming to conspire to obligate him to an overpriced million-dollar property. Two years later, that property was worth half and it feels like a scam. Each of the services (appraiser, realtor, closer, title company, loan broker) made their risk-free commisions and are no where to be found and he's left holding the bag. Is this his poor investment or is he the victim of a complex ponzi-like scam where the market went wild and the institutions threw caution to the wind and played along. Right now, he wants justice!

While many people earned a living off of these transactions, the only entity that got 'rich' off of the transaction was the lucky seller who traded her property at the height of the market.

Give it back! There are three options for those families who are still hanging on in a large "upside-down mortgage." Consider bankruptcy, foreclosure, or a short sale and ditch the non-investment immediately while the housing market is still at a low.

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy can cost less than $3000 and forgive the mortgage debt for middle-class wage earners. A lawyer will help distribute the title to your assets and ensure that you meet the new 2005 regulations of median income and passing the 'means test.'

A foreclosure will naturally result if you abandon the home and apply your mortgage payments to a new property or rental. The bank may try to collect the difference between the mortgage and the sale of the property. A lawyer's assistance may be required to force the bank to write the mortgage off as a bad debt.

A 'short sale' is challenging way to negotiate the mortgage down to the market price. Banks are very skittish about these transactions and neither party can count on a timely sale, or even be sure that the sale will go through until the day of closing!

In any case, it is wise to make a move immediately and reposition your family in the real estate market to take advantage of all these low, low prices that won't last forever!

PMI: Skyline : Planning for Transitions

2009-01-19T10:25:00.006-07:00

Its one thing for a PM to plan the current project, but what about multiple projects, the next project, the last project.

Ms. Colleen McGraw has contributed to the PMBOK and has demonstrated successful project management in multiple industries. Colleen shared some tricks to manage these transitions easier and reminded us of some fundamental topics that can enhance our organization and efficiency.

Key take-aways for me:

->Fog of War- describes the reactionary decisions made under a stressful crisis. The decisions can be very short-sighted if any thought was applied at all. Hospitals are finding that simple checklists can ensure that medical practioners pause and make deliberate decisions, by forcing them to stop and think.

->Clarify expectations- manage them and even negotiate them. It will prevent scope creep and dissatisfied customers.

->Delegate- Doesn't mean PASS-THE-BUCK. It means to identify what can be delegated, describe what & why, train the delagatees, then trust them.

->Manager's job- plow the road, removing the obstacles

->Low Hanging Fruit- attack this first to reassure the team that you are in control, then attack bigger issues.

->Communication- should be Deliberate and Meaningful, share information, structure information with logical folders and naming conventions

Anecdotes-

Painting- only 1/3 of the work (execution) is actual, measureable productivity (1/3 prep/planning, 1/3 clean-up)

Documentation helps to avoid great leaps of faith.

Look up:

Oprah's 5 minute meditation

Movie- The Candidate

Execunet

Care and Feeding of your: Engineer

2008-12-22T23:33:00.012-07:00

click on image
Having an engineer on your team is like having a Swiss army knife, you can challenge them endlessly. Because of their independence, this versatile tool is easy to neglect while you focus on other team members who need much more direction.

Has your engineer wandered off and become disconnected, less productive, or possibly looking for the next job?

engineers need ongoing training. Declare your annual training budget for them and allow them to strategize how best to invest that in courses and technology that will update and broaden their knowledge.- to maintain a SME status or round out other interests.

engineers need to be facilitated in meetings. Some meetings are for brainstorming and information exchange and others are for one-way info-sharing. Prevent tangents and debates by setting the rules up front and tell the team which meetings are formal and reserved only for relevant, factual statements. Don't publicly contradict an engineer's statements, politely take it offline. In any topic, there are too many variables to consider to come to a concensus in a eloquent manner. Do not disagree publicly, speak with one voice.

engineers need to practice the delivery. Engineers have their own language and the first time they provide status on each issue, it is a 10 minute incoherent and detailed summary of the problem, the analysis, and the conclusion. Managers HATE this, they just want the 5-second status. Engineers use this expression for confirmation of their thought process and to seek appreciation for their analysis. Allow them to express themselves in such a manner to flush their thoughts "off the record" and then retrieve your 5-second summary.

engineers need to be the expert, but they can't be the expert on everything. Tell them explicitly where you need them to be authority and what their primary responsibility is. Give them a label, you are my Subject Matter Expert, SME, on "x;" where "x" is a single product, process, or a technology. In the same manner, clearly state your primary need for an engineer which should be categorized as consulting, requirements development, design, or training. From this comfort zone, they can meet the expectations every time and then exceed them by supporting other areas of the business.

engineers need constraints. Before you issue the next problem, express all of the constraints that you are aware of, timeline, budget, quality, and political. Poorly defined requirements and boundaries lead to the "bring me another rock" syndrome.

While engineers appear to need less interaction and guidance than other team members, that doesn't mean they don't need any direction and appreciation. Understanding your engineer in this way can lead to a loyal engineer that solves problems with complete and proactive solutions, in a mentoring manner.

The day after Christmas is a government holiday : Friday Dec. 26th, 2008

2008-12-12T11:12:00.008-07:00

From: TMA Admin
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 12:53 PM
Subject: Executive Order
Importance: High

TMA Employees

The President of the United States, The Honorable George W. Bush, issued an Executive Order today, December 12, 2008, stating that all Executive Branch and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, December 26, 2008 (the day after Christmas Day).

TMA contractor support personnel should contact their company for guidance
in regard to December 26, 2008.

TMA Office of Administration

risk management

2008-12-11T07:39:00.004-07:00

Once risks have been identified and assessed, all techniques to manage the risk fall into one or more of these four major categories:

Avoidance (eliminate)

Reduction (mitigate)

Transference (outsource or insure)

Retention (accept and budget)

US Department of Defense, calls these categories ACAT, for Avoid, Control, Accept, or Transfer. (Not to be confused with Defense Acquisition University's use of the acronym for Acquisition Category).

Each risk should have an ID# for tracking and can be maintained in a database (or spreadsheet) with the following columns:

name/description

risk handling category

Liklihood / Impact

associated action items

how it is resolved or closed

A successful summary chart looks like the picture above. This example rolls up six project risks and provides executive level briefing for senior management or clients.

risk = hazard x exposure (or occurance x impact)

Federal Holidays : Inauguration Day : Tuesday Jan 20,2009

2008-12-10T11:04:00.008-07:00

Federal government employees in the Washington, D.C. area are entitled to a holiday on Inauguration Day.

http://www.opm.gov/operating_status_schedules/fedhol/2009.asp

Thanks Obama! :)

How do gas prices drop from $3.89/gallon to $1.50 overnight?

2008-11-30T15:55:00.009-07:00

Why are the gasoline prices 1/2 what they have been for the past year?

My coworker, Phil Keller, gave me this handy formula:
The retail gas pump price changes correlate with the crude oil barrel price as follows-- A $1 per barrel change is reflected in a 2 cents per gallon at the pump.

So the falling gas price from $3.79/gal to $1.50/gal must be represented by a correlation in crude oil prices. In fact, crude oil has been slashed from $110/bbl to $44/bbl.

With increasing global demand for oil and logical decreases in supply, how can the price go down?! Economic theory states that rising demand of a set supply will increase the price (otherwise there will become a supply shortage).

The answer lies in the 'fair market.' OPEC (organization of petroleum exporting countries) is a cooperative (or a cartel) controlling 40% of the world's oil supply. The organization is able to both set the bbl price AND modify the production (supply). OPEC sets the price regardless of the Supply and Demand curves. OPEC met last week and decided to cut barrel prices by half to give global economic relief. It is meant to be a band-aid, its a placebo to give consumers a false sense of confidence.

De-valuing the bbl price of oil will have an interesting affect on global oil companies and shareholders who were counting on profits; in some cases, they will cut back on their production as the profit margin subsides temporarily.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/gasolinepricesprimer/index.html

Property taxes: Larimer county breakdown

2008-11-30T06:09:00.017-07:00

Total Annual Tax Liability: $1,221.87

$501.53 POUDRE R-1 GENERAL FUND
$315.81 LARIMER COUNTY
$177.60 POUDRE
R-1 BOND PAYMENT
$138.04 FT COLLINS
$42.27 FORT COLLINS REGIONAL LIBRARY
$30.53 HEALTH DIST OF NO LARIMER CTY
$14.09 N COLO WATER CONS DIST
$2.00 LARIMER CO PEST CTRL DST

I am overwhelmed by the estimated $30,000 that I have paid to the Denver and Larimer county school districts over the past 20 years, but what about the library assessments? I have not gotten $600 worth of value from my Ft. Collins library card over the past 15 years, I had better get reading.

Can someone explain the perception that children aren't receiving an excellent education and teachers are underpaid in public schools?

Bail or not? _____ (The $25,000,000,000 per year question)

2008-11-16T21:30:00.016-07:00

Do Americans drive what they want or do they drive what American marketers make?

Ford Motor Company's market capitalization (just one of the Big 3- General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford) is only $6.3B, yet the company is allowed to create losses of $12.7B in 2007 (about $1900 per auto) and accrue a debt of $170B. In a normal capitalistic market, this could never happen. Making the wrong product mix is purported to be one of the many failures of an otherwise successful marketing machine. But in a socialized economy, huge government subsidies and incentives allow the impossible to happen over and over again.

Ford's MD&A in the 2007 10k lists a dozen reasons for poor performance, starting with excess capacity with one analysis discovering that global automobile production is only producing at 80% of capacity. The market saturation and other economic variables dramatically reduce prices.

The U.S. has a habbit of sustaining the Big 3 executives similar to socialist governments such as Russia, China, and France which also generally produce inferior vehicles. The difference is that Americans are led in fear and encourage the government subsidies to create the artificial economies for the vehicles and its workers.

Abuse of credit allowed the Great Depression to happen in the 1930's and is a culprit for today's economic downturn. Who would lend an entity $170B, when the company cannot even turn a profit? Why are creditors lending Ford money, when the failed CEO, Alan Mulally, is paying himself $21.7M? Why would the U.S. 'lend' this corrupt model another $25B?

This is just an example of one company and one executive, there are three companies with dozens of executives stealing billions of dollars of investments. UPI reports the Big 3 are losing up to $3B per month. The workers are no better off and the consumers are no better off. The investors have totally lost their money by mislabeling the risk of the blue-chip industries and the taxpayers see no results from the continued stimulus funding.

American corporations are not efficient. The average cost of each worker on an American car is $77/hr, while only $46/hr for leaner companies like Nissan, Toyota, and Honda. Are the foreign corporation auto workers paid less? In some cases, it's the same United Auto Workers (UAW) making the same wage assembling cars for the different companies, but the corporate overhead structure is entirely different.

Will a little stimulus create a turnaround? Toyota, the largest automobile producer in the world, has $100B in cash. Among the many lessons to be realized in American culture are just-in-time manufacturing leading to efficient made-to-order and reduced inventories, six sigma defect control, supply chain management, and cash-based investing. American companies have scofflawed this end-to-end solution since the 1970's, because they are subsidized (because they can)!

Still want to bank on better days by pulling out your credit card?

Just like the steel industries of the eighties, the auto industries over-commoditization has evolved beyond the current American model to produce profits. Sustaining American automakers is a sentimental act of an identity crisis; American pride needs to move on to the 'next' big thing. Further subsidies to automakers yield an unsustainable way of business where automakers pay dealerships to take unwanted inventories, grant 0% interest loans to high-risk consumers, create the appearance of sales, all to keep executives and shareholders wealthier.

The Changing Face of Capitalism

2008-11-15T12:29:00.007-07:00

from Jessica's email:

THE CHANGING FACE OF CAPITALISM

TRADITIONAL CAPITALISM: You have two cows.* You sell one and buy a bull.* Your herd multiplies, and the economy grows. * You sell them and retire on the income.

AMERICAN CAPITALISM: You have two cows.* You sell three of them to your publicly listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with an associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax exemption for five cows. The milk rights of the six cows are transferred via an intermediary to a Cayman Island company secretly owned by the majority shareholder who sells the rights to all seven cows back to your listed company. The annual report says the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Sell one cow to buy influence with a new president of the United States, leaving you with nine cows. No balance sheet provided with the release. The public buys your bull.

AN AUSTRALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows.* You sell one, accept a new tax that promises a credit payable in 4 year's time, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows.* You are surprised when the cow drops dead.

A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows.* You go on strike because you want three cows.

A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows.* You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce 20 times the milk* You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them worldwide.

A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows.* You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.

A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows.* Both are mad.

AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are.* You break for lunch.

A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows.* You count them and learn you have five cows.* You count them again and learn you have 42 cows.* You count them again and learn you have 12 cows.* You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.

A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you.* You charge others for storing them.

A CHINESE CORPORATION: You have two cows.* You have 300 people milking them.* You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported the numbers.

A NEW ZEALAND CORPORATION: You have two cows.* That one on the left is kinda cute...

Veteran's Day 2008

2008-11-10T10:08:00.010-07:00

Please observe U.S. verterans today, they work for everyone's benefit the world over.

Solar and Wind turbine is cheap and durable : Bluenergy

2008-11-02T17:13:00.004-07:00

A scalable, inexpensive, and durable electric generator, it can even be portable.
I'd like to find out the economics of this design compared to the Stirling engine previously reviewed in this blog.

Solarwind

Happy Holloween! | -)

2008-10-22T20:26:00.011-06:00

Create your own Jack-o-lantern:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/pumpkin_sim.html

IA is being asked to do more

2008-10-15T17:55:00.006-06:00

Information Assurance is the catch-all for security. The IA team polices everything from facility security violations to role-based access to sensitive data in a database.

IA is infamous for stalling a project in the 11th hour to blow all budgets and deployment schedules. Today, IA spreads the message loud and clear to include IA in all meetings and all thoughts regarding the products and requirements that we are working on. Think of IA in your designs and in your schedules to allow time for STIG'ing (security scans of hardware and software configurations) and ATO (Authority To Operate) paperwork to be filed.

In addition to managing the concerns about allowable versions of software on military networks (JTF-GNO), IA scans the Ports and Protocols (PnP) to ensure proper firewalls, DMZ (De-militarized Zone), MAC (Mission Assurance Category), and proxy servers.

Recent domains issues cover the privacy concerns of data:

PII (Personally Identifiable Information)
PKI (Public Key Information)
PHI (Protected Health Information, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act- HIPAA)

With the broad scope of concerns that IA is concerned with, IA has not been responsive to daily requests for information or attendance to meetings. IA still engages in the 11th hour with a heroic effort to verify the designs, documentation, and configuration.

Information Assurance members should have CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) certification to ensure their familiarity with the CBK (Common Body of Knowledge) and the current resources to manage:

CIA triad (confidentiality, integrity, and availability)
the ten domain areas of interest
access control
application security
cryptography
information security
risk management
operations security
physical security
security architecture and design
telecommunications
network security

global economics : US defense spending

2008-10-09T21:58:00.004-06:00

I appreciated your economic and patriotic perspectives last night. In contrary to the statement about keeping "good jobs" in the US, you might consider that the east coast used to think that steel industry jobs were critical to the nation's economy. This article demonstrates 'steel production' bankrupting a Chinese company, just think what it would have done to a US company: china steel.

A CEO of a defense contractor is 'only' able to speak on behalf of the shareholders; everything else is propaganda and manipulation towards the benefit of shareholders. People of the world are facing a global economic crisis and a macro view of economics doesn't consider the bloated 55,000 jobs in a local economy but the strategic spread of wealth and political support in a global economy. Protecting these jobs is like providing socialism or welfare to make a desparate community lazy and unsustaining.

A strong nation must reinvent itself, high-volume manufacturing is about taking skilled labor and making the process low-tech, prior to obsolescence. Planes (and rockets) are very low-tech; the designs are from the 60's and the avionics are from the 70's and its production has been commoditized. The US is capable of providing superior engineering, while some cultures are devised to only develop replicas and efficiency (US engineering and MBA students study that Japanese have a low individualism score on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and have an education format based on memorization and not creativity). In general, the US can maintain a lead in productivity by shedding high-volume manufacturing and focusing on the creation of wealth. An increasing GDP is critical in managing the nation's debt. Don't forget that a $200B US trade deficit annually exists with China. What could China do with $1T US?

A third point is on politics regarding the US spending of $600B in Iraq to provide international security. The more that the US can learn to share its least sensitive technologies and economic gains, the more allied support that will be gained. This will mean less responsibility, economic burden, and anti-US sentiment; more security for US families which is all that Americans seek.

Key take aways:

People of other ethnicities, did not choose their ethnicity.
Don't be the 800# gorilla, you are just a bigger target.

How can I save the government some money?

2008-09-19T22:11:00.012-06:00

We just spent a lot of the government's money to buy software tools and licenses in the hope of building better applications for less cost.

Some of the dollar figures would make your head spin and caused us to analyze other options. One colleague countered every proposal with a freeware option. How about Subversion i/o Perforce? Why don't we use Notepad++ i/o CodeCollaborator?

'free' as in speech versus 'free' as in beer

There is hype from government agencies to use open source and I've seen more projects use Linux operating systems. However, our program is heading the other way. In the interest of streamlining operations and maintenance costs, our data center is 86'ing the SUN servers and adopting a Windows Server standard on Dell and HP servers.

In the same craziness (good logic gone bad), we have to replace perfectly good COTS software interfaces because the original vendor is defunct. We have Information Assurance policies that require each software product to have a current maintenance contract. If you can no longer find a maintenance contract for the rather inert powerhouse program, Corel Draw, then you may be forced to buy/integrate a newer application into your process like Adobe Creative Suite 3.

So the gov't is not interested in free (as in beer) tools, how about free as in speech? The ITAR (Int'l Trade and Regulations) is one deterrent from allowing government agencies to use products compiled by foreign entities. There is inherent security risk in not knowing the details of a compiled application. It doesn't seem that government agencies are promoting the use of freeware for use on government networks or to develop government applications.

In essence, all that the government is promoting is open standards. We are looking for applications using standards-based interfaces that are substitutable and will integrate with other vendor's products. The government is downgrading proprietary products which typically have high licensing fees and high switching costs.

process explorer mark russinovich

remember 9/11

2008-09-11T20:02:00.009-06:00

my colleague, Liz, put this together for the team today:

Good afternoon all,

Although years have passed, the memories have not faded
of the horrible events of September 11, 2001. Can you recall where you were when it started? What you were doing? I'm sure we all have memories and stories to share. Some of us, as well as friends or family members may havebeen called to duty, or as volunteers to help at the sites where the attacks occurred. So many lives lost, a Nation forever affected by the horrifying actions of terrorists.

"Dangerous enemies have declared their intention to destroy our way of life. They are not the first to try - and their fate will be the same as those who tried before - 9/11 showed us why. The attacks were meant to bring us to our knees, and they did - but not in the way the terrorists intended. Americans united in prayer ... came to the aid of neighbors in need ... and resolved that our enemies would not have the last word. The spirit of our people is the source of America's strength. And we go forward with trust in that spirit, confidence in our purpose - and faithin a loving God who made us to be free." -George Bush

On that note, please take time and reflect on this day. The working day is almost at it's end, and I haven't seen anything come across through email in reference to remembering 9/11. With that said, I grabbed a few videos and slideshows for your viewing and reflection.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/us/2008/09/11/sot.bush.pentagon.dod(Memorial 'everlasting tribute' address by President Bush)
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=9687977

(Bushremembers attacks in moment of silence)
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/182564/726803 (President Bush's address tothe Nation on 9/11/01)

http://shock.military.com/Shock/videos.do?displayContent=174172
(TributeVideo)
http://www.americanspirit.inetu.net/movie.html (Tribute Video)

http://www.link4u.com/911.htm (Tribute Slide Show)*******************************************

v/r,

Liz Harris

Systems Oriented Architecture (SOA) - theoretical

2008-09-04T20:27:00.006-06:00

Help?! The boss decided that we will use SOA. Not a programmer, not an architect, he must have heard the buzz that SOA will solve our interface problems and simplify our product development.

Now that the office is buzzing with SOA activities, how far do we go and what will we gain?

Currently our suite of enterprise software consists of dozens of stovepiped applications. In some instances, we have created a web of interfaces to share one piece of data with another system here and there. The resulting complex system is unweildy. Anytime a system goes offline or changes a datatype, we have no idea of how the other systems will be affected.

So we are scurrying to build DoDAF views (OVs, SVs, and TVs) and arguing every aspect of development, saying, "is it SOA, what is SOA?"

The hardest part in this paradigm shift is to herd the cats into all sharing the same vision of 'how much SOA is enough.'

While SOA principles can lead to more consistent and documented designs, we need to understand that it is not reasonable to redesign all of our systems to fit a SOA-compliant framework. Supporting this position is the statement that no complex system has ever been successfully SOA-implemented.

I would like the team to perceive SOA principles as a guide to encourage loose coupling of interfaces and commonly defined data values that can be more easily shared throughout the systems.

In mentioning my dilemma to the new guy, William, he pointed me to a SOA maturity model that describes the spectrum in a hierarchy:

http://www.enterprise-architecture.info/Images/Services%20Oriented%20Enterprise/soa_maturity_pyramid.gif

denver's Park to Park 10 mile on Labor Day

2008-09-02T21:34:00.007-06:00

it was my special olympics. I won't lie, I finished at 1'39" which makes people laugh. My running / training partner, Aurelio, ran it with me. Although he crossed the line almost 30 minutes earlier, he came back to the finish line for me to make sure that I was okay.

It looked like approx. 1100 people ran. As I placed 739, I believe that I was first in the category of "out of state, males, born on ..."

results list

bit torrents : free movies, music, and more

2008-08-02T21:41:00.008-06:00

your internet library. While you are reading this, your computer could be downloading the hottest movies, music, and software.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) connections allow techies to share files one fragment at a time. For any given file, there may be dozens of peers (seeds) with the file who are online and willing to share fragments. Your computer connects to all of the peers and collects fragments from everyone until the file download is complete.

The catch. Everyone can't be a leech. If you want to borrow, be considerate and allow your downloaded files to seed other peer's requests.

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Download the BitTorrent client software for free.

2. Download the Peer Client software to provide anonymity and protection while seeding and leeching.

3. Visit a torrent search engine like and select your favorite titles:
isohunt.com

4. Download the torrents to your computer.

5. Open the BT client. Add the torrent to your download list.

6. When the file download reaches 100%, you can view music and movie files with Windows Media Player ( you might need to add codecs ).

singles : east coast vs. west coast

2008-08-02T15:13:00.011-06:00

Are you on the right side?

I found this map while browsing Richard Florida's 'spiky' map referenced in the previous blog entry. There is another map that shows levels of neuroticism highest in NYC, which also has the highest concentration of single women. I wonder if that is just coincidence.

the world is flat, the world is spiky

2008-08-02T13:30:00.010-06:00

these metaphors are fun ways to envision the global market in relation to our business planning.

The world is flat or the world is spiky don't fully describe the current environment or contradict one another. A New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman, explains how our markets are recently open to globalization because of technology. Following this thought we can consider the global reach of our competition, our customers, and our resources to open our minds to new business strategies. Every market around the world can be equally accessible.

Author, Richard Florida, described the spiky phenomena. The image above shows the dramatic aggragation of people and economies despite the low barriers to spread throughout the globe. While the worlds economy’s are spread throughout the world, they are highly concentrated throughout forty cities.

In general, it seems that this concept is well-practiced through outsourcing and following the sun. Thomas says that innovation doesn't require emigration.

US spikes

As Warren Buffet tells me, it's not whether I make x or 2x that will bring me happiness, take a job you love.

successful projects

2008-06-05T09:23:00.007-06:00

As a management and technology consultant, I get parachuted into projects where stakeholders are screaming for help.

The challenge is to refine the process of taking the diagnostics. When a project is recognizably in trouble, it has exceeded a threshold of constraints. So in order to salvage the project, we will have to assess the current state, the desired state, and propose a roadmap of accelerated performance in order to get back on track.

I've used gap assessments based on different project methodologies to establish the baseline and reset the focus on the end goal. One logical step in the process comes from Six Sigma techniques. An affinity diagram shows a pathway that aggragates all of the negative symptoms into a root cause.

Interestingly, every one of these affinity diagrams have led to the same root causes. I tend to skip this step formally unless the participation and presentation of the team is required for buy-in into the solutions. As we assess failing projects, the affinity diagrams always point to the same three things:

poor mgmt
lack of budget
lack of resources

What is a successful project?
A project by definition is a temporary and unique task and must conclude. A successful product is one that simply delivers.
A second layer of success is to analyze the results within the Triple Constraints (time, cost, scope). Each of these primary constraints are weighted uniquely on each project. A first-to-market product will be time critical, while a commoditized product will be very cost sensitive.
A third layer of project performance taught by PMI is the quality, risk, and customer satisfaction.

Roadmap
I have found this to be an invaluable presentation tool. Clients want to see a linear and logical sequence of corrections and events that will bring the project to completion in the most efficient way.

While the solutions and steps vary based on the effort, two solutions are common:

1. an experienced PM can re-scope the work to align with the existing resources, then manage to maintain the resources for a short duration, then raise new resources in the bullpen for future projects.

2. a true systems engineer can help a PM to search for a solution that is within the project constraints, i.e. redefine the technical scope, reduce the development risk, or simplify the integration.

The funny thing about an unhealthy, disfunctional project is that the team believes that it is operating normally. It can be easy for an outsider to audit processes and deliverables to see a different perspective. We use the "frog in a pot of boiling water" analogy. The project is like pot of boiling water. The team has acclamated to the chaotic state that built up over time. If the team jumped into the middle of the project with all of their senses in place, they would immediately jump right out of the pot.

After a few years of assessing unhealthy projects, the first clue in finding a bad project is when the team's primary objective and complaint is for more people. Fred Brooks' 'Mythical Man-Month' explains how adding more resources will never increase efficiency.

In reality, the only way to pull off the miracle finishes is to remove all non-essential members and apply the most senior resources. There just isn't time for extra communication channels, overhead, and training, when the project becomes at risk of cancellation.

DC ultimate frisbee team forming THIS WEEK

2008-06-04T20:32:00.003-06:00

The best hour that you can spend meeting new people and learning the city -- one soccer field at a time.

www.wafc.org

I only changed one line of code -- answer: Configuration Management

2008-05-19T15:05:00.003-06:00

Watts Humphrey, founder of the Software Engineering Institute once noted,
"The most frustrating software problems are often caused by poor configuration management. The problems are frustrating because they take time to fix, they often happen at the worst time, and they are totally unnecessary."
From "Managing the Software Process" by Humphrey Watts, Addison-Wesley, 1989
What happens when sound practices are not employed in software development and acquisition? Findings indicate that it will cost more and take longer to develop, maintain and acquire software. One of the "sound practices" that can reverse these impacts is Software Configuration Management (SCM).
--From "But I Only Changed One Line of Code!" by Theron R. Leishman and Dr. David A. Cook, in CrossTalk: The Journal of Defense Software Engineering, January 2003

project planning: brooks' law

2008-05-16T12:17:00.003-06:00

Brooks' Law states that it is almost always true that "adding more resources to a late software project only makes it later". The law is named after Frederick Brooks, a PM who documented it over many years ago in his classic collection of program management essays entitled The Mythical Man-Month.

You've seen this in action. When deadlines approach, the projects scream for more people. The more crucial the deadline, the more likely the request will be granted. A downward spiral just spirals downward faster. The failing project that inevitably ends (but may or may not be complete), now has more people to share the blame with. What crucial, late project has the time to hire quality members or TRAIN them. Throwing bodies at the problem is like kindling in a fire.

EVERY project that I have been on has gone through this experience. In each case, manager's are firefighters that promote heroic efforts.

Readers of this blog entry have the desire to break this cycle and focus on the big picture and the life-cycle planning. What can we do?

1. network with like-minded process improvement friends, wherever in the world they are at the moment, they are still a sounding board for you to examine the root cause, key stakeholders, and roadmap to recovery.

2. create and track a performance metric to be an early indicator of project problems to the triple constraints (budget, schedule, or quality).

3. Project Management Institute (PMI) says to plan project scope (and resources) to ensure a 18 month schedule. Expect a commitment from teammembers to complete the project, provide golden handcuffs if need be. Turnover kills. Don't lose project momemtum because a teammember leaves for a 20% increase in pay. Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) says the employee turnover costs 100-200% of an employees pay to replace (besides recruiting and training, think of opportunity cost!).

4. if you add teammembers late, hire known, trusted, proven team players. Prima donnas will isolate the team; consultants will baffle them with BS and not produce anything. Get team buy-in early on that a threshhold metric requires a senior teammember addition.

5. don't hire entry level support in a crisis. They add no value and learn the wrong way to react. A project in chaos will feel natural to him/her. Likewise, inject apprentices on a schedule, don't overwhelm the team resources and don't expect any return from the new hire; they are an investment to learn the correct processes and the culture to become contributing members on the next project.

Following any of these points will help your project avoid the common pitfalls that lead to mass hysteria and rapid degradation.

MAC - designing information assurance

2008-05-03T09:24:00.007-06:00

Security has a cost. Like every other engineering requirement, we desire the gold-plated ones. One well-used example is the consumer requirements for a new car. It should be built like a tank with 400 horsepower that gets 50 miles per gallon for an affordable price of $10,000. However, the combination of these requirements are not technologically feasible, so trade-offs must be considered. The requirements must be separated from the desirements and then prioritized to facilitate trade-offs.

The salesperson, project manager, or systems engineer must work closely with the customer to manage their expectations and extract a solution that meets their needs within the client's budget.

Back to MAC- mission assurance categories, the DoD has established levels of system availability to communicate a requirement when purchasing or maintaining an information system. MAC levels are 1-3 with 1 being the highest need for availability and integrity. Using the example of above, engineers would like to design every application to be a MAC 1.

Can everything be a MAC 1? It would be like Amazon.com being accessible for ordering and history 24 hours per day and seven days a week. Although possible, think of the design ramifications. Redundant hardware that could handle backups and failovers. Software that could handle critical transactions processing without downtime for millions of transactions per day.

MAC 3 is for daily business transactions requiring normal accessibility and integrity. If the system is down for a moment, the user can try again later or if the record accessed is not the latest, it can still be sufficient for the task at hand (like a credit check).

MAC 2 is when accessibility is more important than integrity. A lower maintenance downtime might be accomplished with multiple backup servers (in different facilities) to ensure that the customer always receives a response to a query, but yesterday's data or last week's data is sufficient.

MAC 1 is reserved for a system or application that must always be available and have the latest record available. This might be accomplished through redundant transaction processing and a lot of extra work behind-the-scenes to ensure reconciliation between the many instances.

ref: Trusted Toolkit Blog

Defense Acquisition Guidebook

system architecture

2008-04-12T09:11:00.005-06:00

solutions are like bandaids, they are temporary. Unless the team steps back and considers a systems engineering approach. The SE approach is not solution driven like design engineering.

The principle we are dealing with is Life Cycle Costing or Total Cost of Ownership which is the associated costs of a system over its life cycle where the design phase is about 10% and the operations phase is 60-70% of the total costs. It is easy to see the opportunity to spend a little more effort in the design phase in order to create a true enterprise solution that will reduce the overall life cycle costs of the system.

Design engineers will plague a project by jumping straight to the answer and plugging the first solution within their experience that comes to mind. This limited approach is highly rewarded and satisfying to a poorly-managed program that is behind schedule and over-budget. With each knee-jerk solution, all of the adverse effects have to be accepted or managed. This can mean unexpected customization to interfaces and business methods. A better approach would take a moment to understand the constraints and trade-offs to make a balanced decision.

Since the SE approach considers the entire life cycle of the implementation, it will always be worth the scientific sanity check to go back to square #1, the customer's requirements. Understanding the endstate that will most satisfy the customer will help the team to properly weight the trade off criteria will provide the most value and satisfaction to the customer. Each one of the performance parameters must be prioritized and traded among cost and schedule concerns as well. With objective decision criteria, discovery shall be made to find possible alternative approaches or solutions that can be traded.

How far that you have to go back is up to you and how well documented your architecture is. Ideally, systems architecture will have a concept of operations (CONOPS) that describes all of the system components, capabilities, and the end-users (actors). The up-front investment of creating good architecture will consistently be referenced to validate the incremental system development. It ensures that the business is modeled and prevents the business from having to tailor around technology. Beware that a CONOPS can be a quick description (or marketing presentation) of a solution or it can be a visionary future-state that aligns all future interfaces.

Engineers and Scientists are like lawyers, they are happy to create more problems than they solve; its called job security. You can save the world once or keep rescuing the team from the long-term affects of every solution.

china hacked the Pentagon!

2008-03-08T15:00:00.004-07:00

What message is the media sending with this headline? Should everyone panic and sell their stocks and save their cash outside of cyberspace? Will they cyber-attack the US with wargames?

Why are they singling out the Chinese hackers over the Russian, Indian, African, South American, and US hackers.

For example, it doesn't mean anything to hack into the Pentagon. One would just 'hack in' and look around public files that support the external, public website. I hope that real Department of Defense communications and system's controls are on isolated networks (see demilitarized DMZ). You can't hack in, unless you are already entrusted to be on the special equipment. There are tens of millions of people who have special permissions - they are the ones who we hope don't betray us.
Here's a pentagon site that could be 'hacked' http://www.pentagon.mil/

The e-mails varied in sophistication. "The vast majority are fairly primitive," said
the expert, "littered with 'Chinglish' misspellings" or other obvious errors.

The anti-Chinese media is understandable, but doesn't address the root causes and concerns for our fears. The Chinese are 1B people (20% of the world's population) and that is an easy segment to point to and say "look, there's a problem."

The US is very frustrated because:
1. Every year $200B of wealth is transferred from the US to China; they currently own $1T US.
- what will the Chinese do with all of that money? (maybe raise their defense spending by 20%)
2. The Chinese Yuan is artificially weakened by 'pegging' it to the US dollar. As the US dollar weakens, the Yuan keeps the same relation, when really it should be strengthening and making Chinese products more expensive.

- the natural response for US politicians is to place duties/tarrifs on Chinese imports to balance out the trading and prevent the 'flooding' of products. Illegal Chinese trade practices make the US very uncompetitive by violating anti-dumping and copyright international laws, but two strong pressures prevent the appropriate US action:
a. the American consumer is so hungry for the best price (considering the immediate gratification over the long-term economical impact) that consumers will be appalled to pay this US tax on Chinese goods which prevent American consumers from reaping rock-bottom prices.
b. the US fears the Chinese government will be more aggressive militarily if we don't keep their economy appeased and they will shut off our capitalist opportunities to expand in the country (called FDI -- foreign direct investment)

Interestingly, the Chinese are entirely isolated from world events, the government blocks the internet from its people and manipulates the information that Chinese people have access to. Friends in China can't access world news, thoughts, or education. Their military is large but the technology is still 30+ years behind the advanced countries of the world.
1. China plans to send a man to the moon this year.
2. China developed a new nuclear submarine that only rivals US/EU/Russian technology of the 60's.

Back to the hacking. Network admins watch pranksters attack the networks all day long with trojans and brute force scripts to sniff passwords. These untrained students are just showing off. To see a larger number of daily attacks coming from China than previously simply suggests that the nation is gaining self-awareness of the network we all live in. Truly harmless. Its nothing more than pranks and irritations.

Global Challenges, Global Opportunities

2008-02-19T21:00:00.007-07:00

Retired General Dan Christman spoke to our DC PMI chapter.
It was a fabulous overview of current global issues. Mr. Christman re-inspired me to seek international employment, which had waned since being caught up in the daily rat race and adventures of Washington D.C.
Upon returning from Iraq as a representative of the US Chamber of Commerce,
he gave us a brief of:

The Middle East (Saudi has a great outlook for investors and project planners)
China (very dangerous for additional FDI right now)
India (now considered a strategic alliance with the United States)
Russia (60% of FDI is non-hydrocarbon based and seems sustainable)
EU (favorable investment opportunities and stability through successful leadership of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkosy; Europeans need to learn that monopolies are irrespective of a company's size)
Western Hemisphere (Canadian PM Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon are very opportunistic for North American economy, while Chavez is populist in rhetoric; Castro has been out of power for 18mos and Cuba has a chance to be reborn)

In short, the highlights were a discussion of the incredible trade deficit w/ China that is
Described as ‘unsustainable.” The climate suggests an environment that is less welcoming
of US FDI and Mr. Christman calls it the glass is ½ full, but is losing water. Mr. Christman calls China's environment an authoritarian capitalism and is appreciative of how open their society has grown and reminded us of a famous quote from Deng Xiaoping . The $1Trillion imbalance can't be sustained and political pressures to add tarrifs, duties in response to currency manipulation is inevitable. Here is one place where the weakening US dollar has helped to curb the staggering $200B/year US-China trade deficit.

•He said that Iraq and the middle east are in desparate need of FDI and can be safe. Where there was 40 ieds/day, it is now days between IEDs. Private sector growth is encouraged and needed for Iraq to have the confidence and economy to regain its independence. He reports that Nouri Al Maliki can seem to reach across sects. Recent advancements include a de-Baathification law and attempts to distribute hydrocarbon wealth among the provinces.
•Saudi look at Dubai as a DisneyWorld and have many such projects booming and in great need of project planners.

Finally, the US is showing a strong export market at 30% of GDP and a 14% growth rate that can mitigate the effects of the housing market bust.

It was so satisfying to meet this Army general and to know that such an intelligent person was representing the US in military and business advising.

Find Free Stuff here!

2008-02-07T21:06:00.002-07:00

The internet is full of free, but sometimes it can be so hard to find. Here are some of my faves that were posted on Forbes this week:

Free language training:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/

Free vodka:
http://www.pravdavodka.com/registration.aspx

Free coffee:
https://dunkinathome.offerprocessingcenter.com/?source=%5Bhomepage%5D

Free anything (just don't throw it in the landfill!)
http://www.freecycle.org/

Free tax software (just started to play with this)
http://www.taxact.com/

Free drinks in select cities (my ladies in Chicago are having fun)
http://nyc.myopenbar.com/

Free workout tools, maps, logs
http://www.mapmyrun.com/

Free classified ads (then choose the city/community closest to you)
http://www.craigslist.org/

Free travel agent
http://www.kayak.com

Free flight tracker
http://www.flightview.com/

Free movies, music, software
BitTorrent

Free photo editing
http://webresizer.com/resizer/

my favorite riddle

2008-01-27T13:47:00.004-07:00

There are 10 kinds of people.

(those that get this and those that don't)

Which one are you?

mortgage and refinance

2008-01-19T16:45:00.002-07:00

what's a good deal today?

should I refinance?

what's my credit score?

rent versus buy?

what do I need to qualify for a good rate?

what are the tricks of the mortgage trade?

Buy low, sell high! Best advice in the world, but like so many words of wisdom, it loses practicality. So you've just (seenheard) an advertised rate of 4.75%. Is that good, bad, possible?

Ignore it, don't time it, just do solid research to determine if today's market rate is one that you would consider using against your given alternatives.

There are so many fancy advertisements meant to confuse you and prevent you from shopping apples to apples. This is a desperate time for the average person to find sustainable business in real estate; flipping, brokering, or lending.

BANKRATE is the best tool for shopping rates to see where the market is at and where it is heading.

Today, Bankrate says that a 30yr fixed costs 5.43% and is trending down. There are local factors that will increase this or decrease this, here are some:

INCREASE:

-credit score below 680

-credit score below 620 = subprime rate

-high risk demographic neighborhood with many foreclosures

-less than 30% equity in home (will cost a minimum of .5%)

-home loan greater than $400k (jumbo loan)

DECREASE:

-pay origination points

-adjustable rate mortgage (ARM)

Double check the estimated closing costs and application fees if dealing with an unknown mortgage broker. Ideally, choose a mortgage from your credit union. Otherwise, get an estimate from two lenders that your bank recommends and take the best offer.

TO LOCK or NOT TO LOCK.

Absolutely lock with one exception. The terms were agreeable to you today to proceed in this direction, therefore accept them in entirety. The rates will NEVER drastically fall, but can ALWAYS drastically rise overnight and unexpectedly. The exception is when you're a betting individual and your broker assures you that every economist is predicting a rate cut of the Discount rate. Even then this can only mean .1 - .25 % rate reduction to you at a consumer level which is neglible.

Don't fret, mortgages aren't permanant. The average US household moves every three years. Typically, one wouldn't get a mortgage for less than two years due to the overhead costs. Likewise, we can't plan to hold one for ten years. If you can imagine your situation remaining constant for 3-5 years, then a 30yr fixed will do well for you. Anything else is a gimmick or a gamble (some win and some lose in the game of chance)!

$50 per 1/4% equates to a difference of $600/yr. If you pay 1 discount point on a $250k loan ($2500) to save on interest, you would need to have the loan for (2500/600=) 4.1 years to break even (and even longer when you consider the Time Value of Money (interest that could have been earned on the $2500 pre-payment). If your credit allows, you want a loan with 0 discount points and 0 origination points.

Hope this helps and feel free to address common concerns that I have overlooked here.

He won't leave, what do I do?

2008-01-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

Do you have help for my friend?

He's 28 and never left home. What do I do?

My son is a good-natured and charismatic, tall, atheletic person. He has no discipline or guidance and hasn't found positive motivation on his own. He is not responsible in paying his bills or parking tickets and is often bailed out by his parents. He hasn't completed any education or training and usually works about 12 weeks out of a year in some restaurant or mall store.
We cover his room and board and his friends pay for his gas and drinking binges. While his homebase is in our basement, he is typically partying at clubs four nights a week from 11p to 3am and sleeps until 1 in the afternoon.

I can see the cycle, but I can't break it. When we make an effort to instigate change, he senses it and will become angry, defensive, ignoring, malicious, or will disappear at friend's places for a few days until the heat cools off. Meanwhile, we both have jobs and can't sit around with the frustration and passion to resume this draining fight the moment that we see him again.

In addition to being my son who I love, he is also large, intimidating, and manipulative.

Is there a plan that I can follow to humanely break this pattern or a support group to help me work through the plan and the details? Is this a common problem? Am I to blame for this outcome?

This is tough because some parents don't have to worry about this as children may be internally motivated to achieve. What do you do when everything lines up where the child doesn't know how to move on and the parent's don't know how to provide a strong, loving and disciplined approach?

And it begs to be asked. . . Is it a problem to wait until the son leaves on his own even if this never happens?

breaktime: Penguin Swing

2008-01-18T21:58:00.003-07:00

We had so much fun with this at work!
Wheeee!

Since we're on the penguin topic, here's a video: dancing penguin

Aurelio sends in this fun one:

The object is to move the red block around without getting hit by the blue blocks or touching the black walls. If you can go longer than 18 seconds you are phenomenal. I was told that the US Air Force uses this for fighter pilots. They are expected to go for at least 2 minutes. Give it a try!!I Enjoy!
http://tinyurl.com/56t9u

credit card help

2008-01-17T14:48:00.002-07:00

29.49% ! Though, I have never been affected by this rate being fortunate enough to pay the balance each month, I was embarrassed and concerned. Did AMEX think that I was high risk? Clearly, I am not a preferred customer.

Within a 30 second phone call, I asked the representative if she would check if I qualify for a better rate. A quick discussion of my concern led to a 'no fuss,' immediate reduction to 15.4% on my business account. I figure that if I ever do need to lean on this credit privilege, it is better to ask for the break while I am clearly in good standing, than when I am in that desperate moment when debt is piling up.

Good luck!

Find Russian satellites

2008-01-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

There are 8,000 satellites orbiting Earth. With limited premium parking spaces, de-orbiting is not always an option.

Use the orbital dynamics map to see why satellites are placed in different orbits. Then use the satellite locator from NASA to identify the spy satellites that fly polar orbits at 100 miles above the Earth and the communications satellites that fly at 35,000 miles away.

Creating Working Groups: planning and structure?

2008-01-03T19:18:00.003-07:00

Can one identify the need for various working groups within a development environment and organize them prior to needing a solution?

It would be nice to create a large-scale IS development team and anticipate and create the working groups in advance and build them into the process. Is the very nature of working groups an ad hoc response to an unanticipated problem and meant to have a limited lifespan?

What are some working groups that you have participated in?

Ideally, I would like to post a framework of general review boards and working groups that are needed within an engineering effort.

One driver to set up this structure in advance is to ensure a successful network of coordinated standards and engineering throughout the projects within a large Program Executive Office (PEO). The article from the Software Technology Support Center journal CrossTalk describes the desire to have a well-coordinated development team and the challenge of synchronizing such inputs and resolutions when it is impossible to have everyone in every meeting.

I was fortunate to experience an efficient development effort. Using an IPPD (Integrated Product and Process Development) and IPT (Integrated Product Teams), a representative attended the daily readiness meeting from each discipline. Rules were presented in advance and posted at the meeting location and included the following:

meeting will start at 3:05 sharp daily

we will stand up (thinking on our feet seems to speed up the meeting and keep it moving forward)

the meeting will end promptly at 3:20

communication will be hub and spoke

spokes will take notes and communicate minutes to their respective disciplines

be direct (not vague, there is no time for ambiguous statements)

This meeting was an efficient status of daily activities and a defined communication network to prevent redundancy or lacking coordination. The early afternoon 'huddle' was quick and sharp and everyone came with a pen and paper. Problems were redirected to a team that usually had the remainder of the evening to resolve the issue.

As it turns out, our meeting was using the efficient team size and the concept of nodes (Role Managers) to create a successful communication network as described by Dr. Nichols.

The DAU says that IPPDs are recognized as the "best practice" by the DoD and IPTs are a key component. Management of any project can be improved when people communicate
effectively, identify problems early and work as a team. A recognized industry
technique for facilitating such results is called IPPD.

The ground rules for implementing IPTs are:
􀁺 Open discussion with no secrets
􀁺 Qualified, empowered team members
􀁺 Consistent, success-oriented, proactive participation
􀁺 Continuous "up-the-line" communication
􀁺 Reasoned disagreement
􀁺 Issues raised and resolved early

A team of 8 will establish 28 communication channels: [= [N x (N-1)] /2]

Champagne selection for parties

2008-01-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

Champagne for your parties!

Finding a light, enjoyable champagne (or sparkling wine) for everyone can be difficult. Its nice to present a variety. There were about equal votes for each of the wines at last night's party even though they were drastically different:

Cooks was very sweet.
Korbel was subtle.
Rondel was extremely dry.

Usually the experience can be anticipated by the percentage of alcohol content. Alcohol and sugar are inversely related, the higher the percentage of alcohol, the more sugar that has been converted and the dryer (less sweet) the wine will be.

Money is tight? Need some Christmas spending cash?

2007-12-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

Fun way to have an opinion and get paid for it.

Get paid to express your opinons. There is a company located in the Tabor Center called Plaza Research that does focus group studies. I have done them in the past. In exchange for your time of about two hours you generally get paid $75-$100. You get paid on thespot after the survey is completed. You can only do a survey once every six months. Go to http://www.plazaresearch.com/ to do the online profile so they can contact you about focus groups coming up.
thanksLisa Uber-Networker

BASIC spying will be successful : Defense Acquisition System

2007-12-07T17:04:00.004-07:00

Why try to push technology again?

The government has a new weapon, the Defense Acquisition Management Framework (DAMF). The DAMF is a collection of systems engineering 'best practices' throughout the lifecycle of a system to ensure that a cost-effective solution is selected (from an analysis of alternatives) and its development is managed.

While some workforces fear efficiency that speaks of downsizing, reorganizing, and outsourcing, this model is altruistic in that all stakeholders will receive more of everything! The DAMF process model guides decision makers to choose the right products to develop and increases the liklihood that the project won't be cancelled. Therefore the government will likely get more toys, the country will experience more productivity, and contributors will experience more success and satisfaction in the workplace.

The objective decision process ensures a careful evaluation of alternative solutions and technologies.

U.S. Plans New Spy Satellite Program

Associated Press December 03, 2007WASHINGTON - The U.S. is pursuing a multibillion-dollar program to develop the next generation of spy satellites, the first major effort of its kind since the Pentagon canceled the ambitious and costly Future Imagery Architecture system two years ago, The Associated Press has learned.
The new system, known as BASIC, would be launched by 2011 and is expected to cost $2 billion to $4 billion, according to U.S. officials familiar with the program. They discussed details on condition of anonymity because the information is classified.
Photo reconnaissance satellites are used to gather visual information from space about adversarial governments and terror groups, such as construction at suspected nuclear sites or militant training camps. Satellites also can be used to survey damage from hurricanes, fires and other natural disasters.
...
U.S. commercial satellites currently can make out the outline of 2-foot-long object from space. In April, a satellite will be launched with the ability to see a 16-inch object.
We would look forward to reviewing any new government acquisition request since we give the ...

The Defense Department spends about $20 billion annually on space programs.

https://akss.dau.mil/ifc/

Space Based Space Surveillance milestones

falling satellites: skylab, USA 193 (NROL-21)

shooting down a deorbiting spy satellite

Here is a missle development entering the LRIP phase.

Christmas Eve will be a holiday in 2007 (by Executive Order)

2007-12-06T12:49:00.001-07:00

Office of the Press SecretaryDecember 6, 2007

Executive Order for Federal Government Closure on Dec 24

Executive Order Closing of Federal Government Executive Departments and Agencies on Monday, December 24, 2007

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1. All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Monday, December 24, 2007, the day before Christmas Day, except as provided in section 2 below.
Sec. 2. The heads of executive branch departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 24, 2007, for reasons of national security or defense or other public reasons.
Sec. 3. Monday, December 24, 2007, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States.
GEORGE W. BUSH
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 5, 2007.

Merry Christmas and be warm!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/12/20071206-5.html

The whole office is out sick!

2007-12-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Why the Flu Likes Winter

Researchers at the microbiology department at Mount Sinai School of Medicine say the flu's seasonal preference for winter has to do with the virus itself. It is more stable and stays in the air longer when air is cold and dry. In test animals, the virus was transmitted best at a low humidity, 20%, and not transmitted at all when the humidity reached 80%. The animals also released viruses nearly 2 days longer at 41 degrees than at room temperature of 68 degrees.

As Reported by The New York Times

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/567041?sssdmh=dm1.323673&src=nlpatient

Hmm, how much is a humidifier?

why CMMI?

2007-12-04T15:53:00.000-07:00

HELP! I'm looking for excellent examples of CMMP and SEP (formerly SEMP) to tailor quickly and improve our documentation and processes within an informations systems acquisition or development environment.

We have been tasked to achieve a CMMI Level 3 capability and maturity. This is a crucial directive in our environment that consists of high turnover and little process or tribal knowledge combined with products that have 5-10 years lifecycles of development and maintenance. Its a recipe for disaster.

We are constantly in the state of crisis with little control over the architecture and development of concepts. Every component is devised as a bandage with emergency funds and bypasses any systems-level architecture to ensure ideal integration and solid solutions. It puts the acquisition control in the hands of vendors who are forced to take charge of the design and solution without regard to the over-arching system.

We want to take the control back and own the system and decide when and how to spend our money!

Our first step in increasing our capability is to perform a gap analysis and determine where we are currently operating. We used a CMMI SCAMPI class B assessment internally. The results were positive, but concluded that we could not even pass a Level 2 maturity.

Rather than shoot for a fully optimized, continuous improving department right out of the gates, we will learn to walk before we run. Let's bring our processes up from the Level 1 Initial to the Level 2 Managed maturity.

http://www.itworldcanada.com/a/News/a545cbb5-78fa-4043-86fa-8d46518c3a49.html

http://online-books-library.blogspot.com/2007/12/cmmir-assessments-motivating-positive.html

From SEI:

18% of projects are considered failures, 53% of projects are considered challenged (only 29% of completed projects are considered a success)
Average percent of time overrun: 84% (average project is completed at almost twice the original schedule)
Average percent of cost overrun: 56% (average project is completed at slightly over 11/2 times the original budgeted cost)
Most common scenario in the software industry is still: over budget, over time, and with fewer features than planned
(Source: Standish Group – CHAOS Report 2004)

Cost Reduction 20%
Schedule Shortening 37%
Productivity Increase 62%
Quality Increase 50%
Customer Satisfaction Increase 14%
Return on Investment 4.7 : 1

Source: Software Engineering Institute, December 15, 2005. Based on data provided by 21 companies at various CMMI maturity levels (3 through 5) See: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/results.html

CMMI is a collection of best practices for development and management of products throughout the lifecycle based on experiences from the community.

It’s a Risk Mitigation Strategy, but it is not a process.

From the ORGANIZATIONAL point of view:
CMMI can help achieve business goals by delivering
Consistent, predictable process performance to improve profitability
Improved product quality that will result in less rework and more satisfied clients
Credentials to enter markets where CMMI is a barrier to entry
Innovation delivered through continuous process improvement

From the INDIVIDUAL point of view:
CMMI can help you become a better analyst, developer, or manager
CMMI can help you better balance work-life requirements through schedule predictability and reduced rework

CMMI compliance in a nutshell means the following:
The engagement has a set of plans, based on an organizational set of standard processes, which describe “HOW” the activities of the engagement will be performed.
These plans describe processes which consist of the best practices articulated in the CMMI as specific practices.
The engagement team performs the processes as described in the plans with the assistance of institutionalization features articulated in the CMMI as generic practices (Policy, Plan, Responsibility Assignment, Training, etc).
An engagement Process and Product Quality Assurance (PPQA) function reviews the performed activities for consistency with the established plans.
At Maturity Levels 4 and 5, detailed metrics are captured for the key subprocesses of the engagement and quantitative techniques are used to maintain and improve stable process performance and quality objectives

Become a better buyer with CMMI-ACQ
By: Rafael RuffoloComputerWorld Canada (03 Dec 2007)
The Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) has unveiled a new set of best practices for IT acquisition and supply chain management that it hopes will change the way businesses acquire their IT software and services.
Blogs.ITWorldCanada.com
Shane Schick: Babes, bikinis and the IT buyer
The Capability Maturity Model Integration for Acquisition (CMMI-ACQ) aims to help people in the acquisition process. It provides a model to manage the process of acquiring IT products and services, and developing a common language between those parties, with the ultimate goal of IT projects being delivered on time and on budget.
The CMMI-ACQ guidelines are geared toward technology professionals in sectors such as government, transportation, finance, health care and the entertainment. But, according to Paul Nielsen, director and CEO at the SEI, the role of software-based systems and services is not limited to those fields.

According to Ralph Szygenda, group vice-president and CIO at General Motors, implementing the CMMI-ACQ model has resulted in improved software development, acquisition, integration, and most importantly, predictability in those areas. GM uses it to handle the more than 15,000 IT professionals the car maker employs worldwide. For instance, CMMI-ACQ would outline how and where the company would get its packaged software applications.

“In choosing a select group of vendors, we’ve standardized the legal stuff and that’s all behind us now. So we focus on the IT content and value, rather than the T’s and C’s with these vendors.”

The bottom line rationale
Szygenda said it saves time on both sides of the equation because it standardizes the interactions between an IT services vendor (in GM’s case, Cap Gemini and HP), which allows for a more efficient process.
Szygenda said prior to implementing the system, GM was “buying more than we were building but didn’t have the processes in place, or the acquisition standards in place.” Historically, GM would direct its IT providers every day.

CMMI Presentation (SPAWAR)

Tricare Health

CMMP- Configuration Management Master Plan
SEP / SEMP - Systems Engineering Plan
CMMI - Capability Maturity Model Integrated
SCAMPI - Standardized CMMI Assessment Method for Process Improvement

PMI: Countdown to Teamwork 12/20/07

2007-12-04T10:09:00.000-07:00

Countdown To Teamwork is a team-building and leadership program in which Colonel Mullane motivates the audience on their practice of these fundamentals of teamwork: guarding against a "normalization of deviance", responsibility, trust, courageous self-leadership, and courageous team leadership. This program is applicable to all teams everywhere. It has thrilled and inspired personnel in sales, manufacturing, production, safety...in all areas of company operations.

http://www.pmiwdc.org/calendar_day.asp?date=12/18/2007

http://www.mikemullane.com/RidingRockets.htm

Project Performance workshop notes.

Countdown to teamwork notes.

the se crisis

2007-12-03T10:27:00.009-07:00

I need a Systems Engineer, but I don't know where to find one.

I build custom solutions for customers. I have Sales&Marketing folks to help me find customers with problems. I have business operations folks to manage the contract and tally the expenses along the way. I have engineers to design and build. I have test engineers to evaluate requirements. Everyone is a professional and I am convinced that they are proficient.

Why is it not possible to meet the customer's expectations with the negotiated resources? Everybody told me from the beginning that it could be done.

My senior manager, Brett Seylor, helped me to see the team players in a new light. The team is not complete. It starts with S&M who are tailoring the scope of the problem to the customer's budget, then throw the opportunity over the wall and start developing new business. The engineers are excited by an unbounded opportunity and the chance to stretch their wings and try new things. Often isolated from the customer, they apply their specialty to the problem. When all that you have is a hammer, every problem becomes some variation of a NAIL! If they are a mechanical engineers, the primary design will be hardware; if they are a software engineer, everything can be solved with a script. These unmanaged assumptions result in building a Cadillac when a VW Beetle will do.

The BusOps folks are the rearview mirror with earned value reports that tell us where we've been but cannot offer a root cause or any control over the development process.

If I enlisted a chief systems engineer, I would have the missing component. My SE would work with the customer to create and document the needs and capabilities. The capabilities would then be analyzed against multiple concepts that could satisfy the capability (DOTMLPF). From the concept that would provide the best value to the customer, the SE will create the specs and requirements that design engineers need to build a specific product.

As the product gets developed, I will always have my SE to help me manage customer expectations, integrate engineers and their components, and consider the entire life cycle costs of development, deployment, sustainment, and disposal. Who was doing any of this before? Everyone was operating from within their box and there were no liaisons.

Ok, problem solved. But, ... where do they make SEs?

It seems that the demand for SE is far greater than the supply. Researching "what is SE" on INCOSE, an analogy was used to demonstrate the excessive learning curve for developing an SE.
INCOSE says that a disciplined engineer who is mentored by an SE will only be 70% effective after 10 years!
Further, you can't provide SE training in an undergrad, because the level of experience and education is far greater than the scope of a 4 year program. An SE is multi-disciplinary and should be experienced in the fundamentals of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, software engineeirng, business management (operations management) and process improvement (lean six sigma).
This confusion is compounded when the SE term is overloaded and used in want-ads to seek UNIX administration positions (those who maintain a computer system). What is SE? 12 SE roles (or what SE is and is not).

What SE can do for me:

Transforming needed operational capabilities into an integrated system design through concurrent consideration of all life cycle needs

Integrating the technical efforts related to system and software development, manufacturing, verification, deployment, operations and support, disposal and user training for systems and their life cycle supporting products and services

Developing credible and timely technical information to support the program management decision-making process

SE tools:

http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2006systems/Wednesday/rassa5.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Defense_Architecture_Framework
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_12207
http://www.12207.com/Spice.htm ISO/IEC 12207 to ISO90003 and ISO 15504
This standard (ISO/IEC 12207) defines the best of practice for developing software.
Maturity ISO/IEC 15504
Lifecycle ISO/IEC 12207
Quality ISO 90001 & 3
DOTMLPF
examples of systems engineering process standards and models include the following:
 ISO/IEC 15288, Systems Engineering-System Life Cycle Processes
 ANSI/EIA 632, Processes for Engineering a System
 IEEE 1220, Application and Management of the Systems Engineering Process
 EIA 731, Systems Engineering Capability Model
 CMMI SWE/SE/IPPD/SS, Capability Maturity Model-Integration for Software
Engineering, Systems Engineering, Integrated Product and Process Development and
Supplier Sourcing

In a CMMI lecture today [presented by Stephen Randolph], he pointed out that SE derived from the specialty area of integrating the "ilities" into the design solutions created by the computer scientists and mechanical engineers of the day (thinking of the 1960's era). Large scale solutions were built and then modified by industrial engineers to be more reliable, producible, integratable, testable, sustainable, disposable, and human interfacing. As this liaison engineering discipline grew and the costs of adding it to the design afterwards became known, efforts to identify the "ilities" and human factors in the requirements phase and throughout the design were cost-effective.

Today SE provides the biggest bang in managing requirements to various engineering departments in order to provide the best valued product to meet the customer's needs that is within the programmatic constraints of cost, schedule, and performance. Without this balanced approach, you will agree that every engineer wants to design/build the 'gold-plated Cadillac,' which may not be appropriate on the 'VW bug' budget. Focused design engineers do not build solutions for 'the big picture' or the Integrated Product Team, there must be an engineering-minded check and balance to validate the solution and consider things like contraints, interfaces, and quality/test.

In an ancillary discussion, a manager gave me general and valuable advice pertaining to presenting the SE findings of an upcoming risk assessment. He warned of how to be diplomatic and pay attention to the culture and the feedback from the presentation.

While this is valuable information, we converged on another interesting trait of a systems engineer. There is a built-in self-actualization, diplomacy, and coaching manner that is inherent. SEs have become successful and established through many projects of communication of a vision and strategy, while providing objectivity to trade-offs, and much negotiation. It has never been easy to say 'no' or provide balanced solutions and split up the pie amongst team-members such that every one is pleased and continues to contribute.

US Navy ship Comfort

2007-12-01T17:14:00.003-07:00

One of the many MTFs (Medical Treatment Facilities) maintained by the United States throughout the world, the Navy ship "Comfort" is a mobile, floating hospital that brings emergency care and comfort whereever she goes. The hospital often exchanges health care with people around the world to bring medical training and advance humanitarian efforts globally.

http://mhs.osd.mil/news.jsp?newsID=5

USS Kearsarge helps in the Caribbean.

PMI - WashingtonDC chapter meeting

2007-11-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

This month's PMI meeting had two great speakers on project management topics:

Thomas Mahlik, an FBI agent, discusses the mutual threat to businesses and the nation of today's espionage. The FBI seeks to work with businesses to identify potential technologies and apply protection earlier, before they are leaked out to other countries through students, scientists, and spies.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d2cc5bd_53d9q2b8

Joan Knutson discusses the global trend to extend productivity and the workday. Passing work around the globe from continent to continent like a relay race, in order to benefit from 24 hours in a day.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=d2cc5bd_51fz87nt

the world's largest employer

2007-11-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Do you notice the wealth flauted about, more than ever???
cars, clothes, jewelry, phones, toys

When a $20000 sedan has all the luxuries, a $40 coat is down filled, and games have more processing power than any computer that I have owned, you will see the latest gadgets consumed 'en masse.' It seems that Mercedes and BMW sedans at four times the price outnumber new American sedans in the DC area. Everyone is wearing a North Face jacket at no less than $350, and people are finding the budget to buy the latest $200 phone every year.

The US government takes on the burden of the debt to allow capitalists to spend like there is no end.

No Degree RequiredWork Experience Can Substitute for a Diploma

By Dennis V. Damp Monster Contributing Writer

According to the Office of Personnel Management's 2004 Fact Book, the federal government employs 2.7 million civilian workers, about 2 percent of America's total workforce. Forty-one percent of them have college degrees, but if you don't, don't worry. In many cases, related work experience can substitute for a diploma, an important consideration when 27 percent of those civilian workers -- that's more than 735,000 people -- are currently eligible to retire.Generally for federal jobs, one academic year of full-time study (30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours) is equivalent to nine months of work experience. A bachelor's degree is equivalent to three years of general experience. Therefore, when applying for entry-level positions, applicants can qualify with either a four-year bachelor's degree, three years of general work experience or a combination of education and work experience.You can also combine post-high school education and experience to meet total qualifications. For example, with two years of general work experience and 45 semester hours of college that include at least nine semester hours in related coursework, an applicant can meet the requirements for an entry-level position. Don't overlook courses taken at nonaccredited institutions, such as work-related training, seminars, workshops and vocational training. These courses are acceptable if they meet the following criteria:
The courses are accepted for advanced credit at an accredited institution.
The institution's transcript is given full credit by a state university.
The courses have been evaluated and approved by a state department of education.
The coursework has been evaluated by an organization recognized for accreditation by the Council of Post Secondary Accreditation. You can search government job postings here on Monster Public Service as well as on USAJOBS -- the vacancy announcements can be confusing and lengthy, but make sure you read the entire listing so that you don't miss hidden job opportunities. Then review the occupation's published qualification standards for education and experience requirements. For example, the "Group Qualification Standard for Administrative and Management Positions" provides a table listing education and work experience equivalents for each General Schedule (GS) pay grade. The average salary in the federal sector now exceeds $54,000, and there is considerable competition for federal jobs. Daniel Lauber, author of Government Job Finder, says it best: "To succeed, learn how to use the system. Savvy federal job seekers use all of the resources available to them, including online and print job listings and job hotlines. Using all these resources, identify the announced jobs for which you qualify and send in your applications."

ref. Military.com and Monster.com

Military demonstrations and follies

2007-11-16T06:41:00.003-07:00

There is no doubt about how much influence I have gained from my friends and family who have served in the military.

This Kalashnikov (AK-47) video is very interesting, from the history and performance to the usage as a barometer of civil unrest. While the M16 (previously used by the US Army) is a high precision and accurate weapon, it is known for jamming. Since accuracy is only good for sniping, the AK-47 is an assualt rifle of choice for most combat troops around the world.

My friend, Aurelio, provides a lot of interesting history on the AK-47 (like where the name came from) in his interview.

The Active Denial System is a fabulous crowd deterrent. The military desparately wants this tool in Iraq, but policy makers are unsure that it will always be used properly (which would be short bursts from far distances to disperse violent crowds). With not too much imagination, the ADS could be used in torture/interrogation against a captive.

Are you going to hit that today or what?!

Whack-a-mole (this game is the official mascot of our Configuration Management and gets my boss laughing every time)

Interview w/ an insurgent.

Insurgent evaporated.

IED buried too deep.

Infrared fighting.

Robot dog.

I.N.S.P.I.R.E. somebody!

2007-11-15T20:14:00.000-07:00

Only 10% of employees look forward to going to work?! In a 100M person US workforce, there are only 1M people actively contributing to the productivity environment. Those naturally inspired may be fighter pilots, consultants, and entrepreneurs. Anybody else?

In this article , the author points out that this is a failure in leadership. It is rare that you are actually inspired by your management, but what would your subordinates say?

You can inspire your customers and peers too.

Reducing the burden of uninspiring work takes the investment of communication. Paint the benefits of their work every other day. Clarify the expectations for delightment by writing them down.

Has anyone read the book “Fire Them Up!” Do you recommend it; Share your thoughts (or the book!).

Use this neumonic to fire them up!

I: Ignite your enthusiasm.
N: Navigate a course of action.
S: Sell the benefit. (what's in it for me?)
P: Paint the picture. (stories sell)
I: Invite participation. (buy-in, ownership)
R: Reinforce an optimistic outlook.
E: Encourage their potential. (praise)

everyone wants their effort to make a difference.

Competency Assessment Scale

2007-11-09T08:47:00.000-07:00

If you are looking to rate your team or be rated, here are some words to prepare for the assessment.

Four categories:
Emerging: Sometimes demonstrates these competencies in routine circumstances and shows the ability to further develop to the expected level required for the position. Needs supervision and coaching to accomplish more complex tasks and projects expected at this level. This rating is acceptable for a Professional considered to be in training or developmental mode or someone in a new role learning these competencies.

Proficient: Exhibits these competencies without need of supervision in most situations. Demonstrates accountability for activities/outcomes when dealing with routine situations. Capabilities are what is expected of this position when compared to market, and performance is full, complete and satisfactory - living up to one's capabilities. This assessment indicates no serious deficiency in any major element of the job. It is expected that a majority of staff will fall within this assessment.

Advanced: Consistently exhibits these competencies without need of supervision even in the most difficult situations. Demonstrates full accountability in dealing with complex internal or external situations. Serves as a guide or mentor to others. Can be counted on to achieve high-quality results on the more complex parts of the job. Has an inherent understanding of the issues and the ability to do advance planning, anticipate problems and take appropriate action. Performs each work assignment or project thoroughly and completely.

Exceptional: Exhibits all the behaviors listed for these competencies virtually all of the time even in difficult, complex, high-level situations. Demonstrates full accountability for activities/outcomes in dealing both internally and externally. Models, leads, trains and motivates others within the same level. Demonstrates truly outstanding skills and capabilities at the highest end of market. This rating acknowledges the ability for outstanding contributions to the organization within the scope of the position.

SEMP now SEP

2007-11-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

The DAU has substituted the term Systems Engineering Plan for the previous Systems Engineering Management Plan.

The SEP is a high level, project specific document that outlines the technical activities required to fulfill acquisition objectives. Program and Engineering Managers use the SEP to:
- Assure that all technical activities are identified and managed
- Communicate the technical approach to all concerned
- Document decisions and technical implementation.
- Establish criteria to track how well the system development effort is meeting customer and management need
- Ensure technical activities are linked to and supportive of top-level programmatic ones as specified in the IMP and the IMS.
- addresses the scope of the technical effort required to develop the system

The SEP is evidence that systems engineering has been performed up front in a project and documents the various alternatives and rationale encountered.

The purpose is to consistently provide balanced solutions of scope, cost, quality, and schedule
-with a multi-disciplined approach (considers customer needs, integration, feasibility, and business case)
-over the lifecycle (with trade-offs, ECRs, decision analysis, and integration coordination)

As I ramp up in the defense acquisition industry, I am enjoying the immersion among the great community of military personnel. And so I wish you fair winds and following seas!

I have a reference copy for you of the IEEE 1220 (2005) Systems Engineering Processes standard, if you contact me.

Hofstede's cultural dimensions

2007-10-20T23:41:00.001-06:00

We often find ourselves discussing differences between countries and cultures in an attempt to understand them and negotiate with them. Geert Hofstede defines 5 dimensions of differences between cultures :

1. masculinity *

2. power distance

3. uncertainty avoidance

4. individualism

5. long-term orientation

Look up your country and compare its cultural dimensions to one of your interests :

Japan

India

http://www.geert-hofstede.com/

*women are born with their femininity, but men have to develop their masculinity continuously

Finders, Minders, and Grinders

2007-10-19T21:38:00.000-06:00

My Systems Engineering mentor and professor, Bill Wood, shared a story with me today at lunch.

Passed along from his friend, a lawyer, he explained how employees consistently fall into three necessary categories. The Finders find customers and new business. The Minders care for the customers and keep the operations going. The Grinders are in the background doing all of the research, analysis, or productivity.

Who do you want to be?

Which role will make you partner first? second? (which role is most appreciated by your company?)

As he posed this story, I recognized the parallels to any industry. We also discussed which aspects of a job get us jazzed up. Dr. Wood pointed out his results of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator testing and further demonstrated how we can naturally be of one type, but train ourselves the attributes of other types in order to meet our goals.

How to negotiate your salary

2007-10-07T20:46:00.002-06:00

this is a great tutorial with process flows to identify and mentor you through the whole process. It has sample letters of counter proposals and list many alternative compensation items to negotiate.
tutorial

In order to successfully negotiate, you should have multiple equilavent job options available (even current job v. new job). This can give you and un-imitatable confidence of a take-it-or-leave-it counteroffer. If the employer has any room to negotiate, it will counter with a strong offer closer to your request.

I am finding that a negotiation is worth $5k+ per year when the job title and responsibilities of the new job are within your current qualifications. Other things to negotiate are :

sign-on bonus
accelerated performance review
relocation reimbursement
past and future education expenses

My employer offered a relo package that really did nothing but pay for the movers. There was no coverage for

1)House hunting trip, 2) storage for belongings, 3) temporary housing

Those may be things to question when the recruiter assures you that relocation assistance is available.

Looking for answers to the following:

PART 1. How much does Cartus charge my company to manage a relocation benefit?
I am moving from Denver to DC. The relo package does not have :1. house hunting trip2. temporary housing benefit3. storage for my belongings
Does Cartus charge my company a flat fee based on the level of relo package offered, or actual expenses plus a management fee? Since DC is very expensive, I can't imagine purchasing a property nor having the space for my accumulations in Denver.

PART 2 : I don't think that I will benefit from the Relo package at all. Would a company be highly-motivated to provide a stipend in exchange for the relo package?

Project Management Institute : PMP certification help

2007-10-06T14:42:00.002-06:00

I'm affliated w/ PMI and studying for the PMP. My employer, will sponsor this certification.

My study group is looking to exchange study material and support if you're working towards the same.

This certification has become amazingly popular recently; it is a consistent requirement/desirement from HR in any industry and highly sought in government positions where projects (are large and expensive) have been typically high-risk.

In discussing the value of this certification with Brett Seylar, BearingPoint Senior Manager, he presented the pro and con of this certification. While the challenging cert assures teams that the candidate knows of the language and tools of project management, it still does not grade their performance and ability. One cannot 'learn' project management by studying for and passing the exam.

Do you feel that the PMI PMBOK is a project management bible?

http://www.pmexam.com/ has daily PMP review questions. One example follows:

Vocabulary Review: Ishikawa Diagram - (also fishbone diagram or
cause-and-effect diagram) is the brainchild of Kaoru Ishikawa, who pioneered
quality management processes in the Kawasaki shipyards, and in the process
became one of the founding fathers of modern management. It is simply a diagram
that shows the causes of a certain event. It was first used in the 1960s, and is
considered one of the seven basic tools of quality management, along with the
histogram, Pareto chart, check sheet, control chart, flowchart, and scatter
diagram.

Daily QuestionA project manager and his team are trying to determine
how various factors might be linked to potential problems using an Ishikawa
diagram. The project manager would be involved in which step of the quality
management process?
A. Quality planning
B. Quality tools
C. Quality assurance
D. Quality control

For the correct answer and daily questions :
http://www.pmexam.com/0110.html

[update] We have successfully passed our PMP exam using the following aides:
Skillsoft Computer Based Training (provided through our employers for free). It provides multiple choice questions in a study mode or certification mode.

http://www.pmiwdc.org/new-pmps-july-2008

Work - Life balance : inventory your childhood dreams

2007-10-04T16:08:00.002-06:00

Life is something that we want to make the most of, but so many unfulfilling moments slip by and we can start to think that we've blown it.

What are your childhood dreams? Randy's was to become an NFL athlete. Let's recall yours, but first watch Prof. Randy Pausch's last lecture for inspiration:

What are obstacles? What's your obstacle? Can you circumvent the brick wall?

Here's a 10 brief of the lecture from the Oprah show: ">summary

He demonstrates how "if you live properly, the dreams will come to you."

PMP : Balanced scorecards

2007-09-29T20:39:00.000-06:00

We are studying for the Project Management Professional certification. Feel free to join us if you are too. Here is the Denver chapter.
You can sign up for a daily quiz in your mailbox. Tobilynn passed this along.
sign-up
example

Here are some Balanced scorecard resources :
Harvard case

Carleton help

UCSD example

The IT world has two tools for making investment and strategy decisions regarding IT and security capability :
COBIT : objectives and framework for making IT decisions
Val IT : senior mgmt decision-making tool (IT project mgmt resource Gantthead.com)

Dr. Tucker Adams forecasts 2008

2007-09-13T23:13:00.001-06:00

Dr. Tucker Adams, local consultant and economist, provides annual forecasts.

The ‘Duchess of Doom’ lived up to her nickname this evening. She can jest at the title this year as many of her peers are comfortable enough to predict far more pessimistic outcomes for 2008.

In general, here are some topics that she covered, national first, then Colorado specific.

2.1% GDP growth (same as 2007)

1Q of recession (believes that we are currently in a recession and points out that a recession is officially announced 9months in arrears)

Unemployment will increase* 4.5M Americans are jobless and the number of jobs will decrease.

Housing permits and sales will drop (the worst is behind us)

30yr fixed will rise to at least 6.9%.

She is most concerned with the effects of consumer spending. During this economic downturn consumers will not have the confidence or the ability to borrow in order to maintain their current spending levels. The effects of the recession in 2001 were minimized due to consumers increasing debt (revolving credit and borrowing against home equity) in order to maintain standards of living. Both the jobs and the resources to borrow funds will not be as available this time.

COLORADO : There is not much difference from the national perspective.

Colorado’s housing market will not be hit as hard as the national market. Colorado stopped over-building its inventory earlier.

Office vacancy remains solid at 17%.

Grand Junction – seeing an incredible O&G exploration and pipeline boom. The average home price in Rifle is $325k. Housing is appreciating tremendously because the city planners are limiting the develop which will minimize the negative impact of the impending bust expected in the next two years when the exploration and infrastructure tapers off.

Ethanol hysteria is crazy. It’s a political move for the agricultural folks to promote corn as a fuel source and invest in refineries. Corn provides negative energy when converted to ethanol, unlike Brazil’s sugar cane that yields a 6-to-1 gain or wood chips (cellulose) which can yield 16/1.

Colo. Springs will have a very difficult three years. In anticipation of doubling the active duty personnel at Ft. Carson to 20,000 by 2009, significant over-building has occurred.

Even though multi-family housing has subsided in Colorado, Denver continues to invest in condos which will be unfilled and depress the market longer.

Tourism has been great but will certainly be strongly impacted by the reduced consumer spending this coming year.

Exports are down and going down (high-tech and agriculture).

*Dr. Tucker explained her concerns with using Unemployment statistics as an indicator. It is lagging
based on sample surveys from employers and homeowners
only accounts for those who have actively looked for work in the past 4 weeks, regardless if collecting unemployment or if underemployed or need a job (but have given up)

General statistics and advice :
Obligation ratio is at an all-time high; 17% (for home-owners) & 25% (for renters)

Home prices, like stocks, can go down—do not put such faith in the balance sheet affect of your assets.

CondoFlip.com finally folded when “the greater fool didn’t show up!”

Subprime risk was believed to be ‘diversified away’ and barely added a risk premium to normal interest rates. The market has been re-calibrated to the risk and an interest rate premium will reflect this.

The best thing that the Fed did wasn’t in Discount Rate adjustments but in convincing banks to borrow from the Fed without prejudice.

9/11 : Patriot day

2007-09-11T10:40:00.000-06:00

Why did the US invade Iraq?

"For oil" is not a complete or rational response, please expand your logic. The world has spent over $2T to suppress fundamentalists and seed a democracy (or whatever government) that can represent the people and sustain peace and security. To suggest another motive is insulting and disrespectful to those who have sacrificed so much.

Who is going to get the oil? The U.S. or OPEC? The U.S. is not an entity like a communist or socialist government; it does not own anything. If Iraq were to be conquered and divided up, it would have been done a few years ago already. With the US as the visible leader in this engagement, the US is obligated to not take advantage of Iraq resources and to provide security until the country’s civil war has waned. Anything less would disrupt the peace and security of every nation and make the US appear to be an aggressor which would bring the wrath of the world upon the US.

This war demonstrates the general ability for the U.S. to do the right thing regardless of the fiscal consequence. Conflicts in Bosnia, Somalia, and the daily protection of Taiwan remind me that the U.S. does not engage for economical or personal gain. The U.S. represents every nationality. Financially, Americans do not wish to be the International Cops, and the first response is avoidance as in WWI and WWII. However, when a large voice is created and the words Holocaust are reflected upon, the US will ante up the money and resources. The invasion in Iraq is not a US campaign or a Bush initiative, both of these would have played out differently. It is still an international effort, the US contribution is just the 800# gorilla that critics focus on.

I am sorry for Saddam’s arrogance. His stand was clearly to ‘puff’ in front of his country. He should have picked a different nemesis and stance, the US would have continued to supply his regime with weapons that were suppressing civil war. Saddam was a dictator, he used a military force and a disregard for human life to maintain his power and control. It actually worked to control the delicate balance of power among religious fundamentalists, possibly at the expense of the more subdued Kurdish.

In retrospect, it is really a shame that Saddam was ousted. His tyrannical power really balanced the Sunni and Shiite population. I cannot imagine a democracy that can balance and respect the power of each faction in that region; it has become a civil war and fight and a race for dominance.

So with world oil reserves in the Middle East, Russia, US, Africa, and South America that sustain beyond any of our lives (contrary to the fearful estimates of earlier decades), why would you believe that $2T and 100,000 lives is the price that people would pay for oil?

I am very interested in expatriating to the Middle East to assist with growth and development of infrastructure. Can you help me to make this a reality?

Playing with PDF files

2007-08-26T10:35:00.000-06:00

PDF files are purposefully inflexible to maintain a sort of protection to the authors from easy digital content copying. Even though your needs to modify PDF files are not intended to be a copyright infraction through monetary gain and mass-production, the files remain challenging to organize.

If you would like to save an exerpt from a PDF document without a cut-and-paste of text or a snapshot, you can use this Splitter!

Split and Merge PDF files!

Pros : Not a Plug-In (don't need a full Adobe Acrobat software suite)

Cons : The operation and menus are not intuitive to the typical Windows user (namely--me).

Use the screenprints on the download page to deduce the steps that should be taken.

Wholesale gas? Unbranded values in Sam's and Costco gas.

2007-08-19T21:33:00.000-06:00

Apparently, unbranded gasoline stations aren't reducing the profit margin for your benefit, these stations are providing gasoline mixed in trucks rather than refineries. The end effect may be the same, gas for less. But is the quality consistent and up to par?

Aspen Petroleum

Are you getting the same performance in mileage, O2 sensors, catalytic converter, etc.?

Mr. Terrance Tschatschula claims that the drip gasoline method receives the same proportion of complaints as the refined gas.

What do you think?

What does your next boss want?

2007-08-18T11:07:00.001-06:00

Sometimes it seems that they want it all. However, consider their top 3-5 priorities, address these, and you're in.

Have you ever met the perfect boss? the perfect employee? It doesn't exist. Everyone has drama in some areas (overly competivite at work, overly sensitive to criticism, endless problems at home). The boss wants someone middle-of-the-road that is reliable, won't bring their problems to work, and won't cause problems at work.

ONE MINUTE EXERCISE : Write down three major concerns for a hiring manager and prioritize them.

Highlight these following answers to compare with yours.
1. someone to make him/her feel good
2. someone capable of learning the job and eventually performing it independently or without a lot of supervision (but not an independent loner that doesn't provide status and include the boss before trouble starts)
3. someone to make the employees feel good
4. someone to make the customers feel good

Bosses are only human. They wouldn't be a boss if they didn't want to succeed and be appreciated. Receiving compliments from satisfied employees and customers is the most gratifying part of the job (better than recognition from their boss). An employee who will appreciate the manager's style and environment will be selected beyond any skillset.

Although some candidates are not capable of ever 'getting it,' managers are willing to train new hires for up to three months. Since any considerate and educated person should be able to learn manufacturing assembly to open-heart surgery on-the-job in 3 months, previous skills and experience are less important than demonstrated willingness and ability to learn.

One of the most difficult challenges for a manager is employee satisfaction. It is a rare moment when the team is united and humming along without conflict. Therefore a manager is always looking for employees that add to the team's satisfaction, that in turn, makes the manager's job easier.

It is just fine that if you can offer nothing else, at least you can make the customer's happy and satisfied. This is worth a spot on the team as long as you are significantly detracting from the above concerns (boss' ego, team ego).

So where do skill, experience, and education rank? These 'formalities' are woven in the above concerns subtly. Since 20% of the US population over 25 has an Undergraduate degree and 10% have a Graduate degree, there is little shortage of skill. Employer's must select a requirement that weeds out the highly inept (to minimize lawsuits of discrimination) and won't create unfairness with the existing team (protect the skill, salary, and ego of existing teammembers).

Job Seeker advice

Jeppesen Sanderson Inc.

2007-08-14T22:21:00.000-06:00

World Headquarters in Denver, I interviewed with a team that is looking for a Systems Engineer to join them.

Jeppesen creates pilot maps and now creates $120M in revenue with various digital navigation systems for planes and ships. Jeppesen is now a subsidiary of Boeing.

Today's weather

The products developed for use in aviation are subject to FAA approval and therefore must follow DO-178b and DO-200A. The project that I am interested in is a DO-178b class 'C' project which is considered a major problem if a failure in flight results but not catostrophic like a class A/B. Class 'C' requires absolute traceability of changes to the products and a fair degree of integration and testing; it doesn't seem to require independent testing.

Sysco : Business Intelligence

2007-08-08T02:00:00.001-06:00

Annual Sales = $37B ($400M Denver)
Fortune 500 ranking = 65
50,000 employees (1000 in Denver)
CEO : Richard J. Schnieders (Chris DeWitt, Denver President)

SYY Sysco Corp based in Houston TX includes over 100 wholly-owned subsidiaries. The local acquisitions are run like independent businesses in order to encourage entrepreneurship and growth. In limited situations, the corporate collective provides a brand and an economy of scale that improves the business model of the whole network.

Thanks to Professor Peter Wilms, we received a deep look inside of Sysco Foodservice of Denver’s amazing new, $40M redistribution facility. The new home is a secure facility, has 100 shipping docks, and 1000 employees.

See the facility tour review!

Sysco Business Intelligence case study review.

myfax.com for free

2007-08-04T12:05:00.000-06:00

I am really liking this product. I am using it at this crucial job-search time. It has come in super-handy for myself and my colleagues. I'm not sure that I will continue after the free month for $10/mo, but it is nice to know this service is great and available.

http://myfax.com/

How it works :
I email to any fax number.
I can send attachments that get printed.

War on Terror : DH4

2007-07-31T10:11:00.000-06:00

War on terror continues to be the "in" thing. The Die Hard movie was fun with its what-if scenario of a "firesale" happening within the United States. The mac guy, Justin Long, vows to be the main character in DH5.

movie info

This YouTube video gives additional inspiration to Americans that criticize world events from their couch and don't have the patience to see real cultural change through.

Gen.Patton_speech(redux)

SAP's gamble on open-source : NetWeaver!

2007-07-25T16:47:00.000-06:00

It is always exciting when a giant, respected technology opens its doors up to the community. Like SUN's JVM and other open-source communities, SAP risks some proprietary knowledge and sales erosion for the chance at employing the world to develop from its platform and make the platform a standard.
Creating open-source is a contract between the owner and a community of developers. The owner maintains a forum of standards and supports the third party development of its products. However, the critical strategy is in creating the kernel of the product that is to remain proprietary and to alter the pricing strategies that allow for sufficient future revenue streams. SUN's attempt to promote JAVA as a standard was successful, but its revenue generation is insufficient to keep the company solvent or the community demand for other SUN products high.
Does SAP have the right idea?

review

NASA : spacewalk for spacejunk

2007-07-22T13:20:00.000-06:00

Oouh, this is the kind of world press that NASA doesn't need. I want to blame the media for this, but maybe NASA is to blame.

They have a refrigerator-sized camera stand that must be destroyed and they propose that they are forced to drop it to Earth at the risk of 40# chunks surviving the descent and a 1-in-5000 chance of injuring/killing people.

spacejunk article2 (the deed is done)

Before I get too instigated, I would like to believe that this is just a political ploy on behalf of the bureaucratic $32B/yr department to plead for more Space Shuttle trips.

However, I wonder why this issue has to come to light to the public "after much careful deliberation" at NASA. First, why isn't the Russian Progress cargo ship used to dispose of this?

Second, can they break it down into smaller pieces that are less-likely to survive the burnup in descent?
Third, why don't they attach a rocket to it and accelerate/control its descent to guarantee its destruction or ocean impact?

Is this just a media-starved NASA -- any news is good news that raises the publics interest? I think this is foul and irresponsible to waste such taxpayer money campaigning this way and not quietly resolving these problems. If they cannot solve the problem with a graceful solution, then publish the outline of the deliberations and pros/cons and tap into global solutions by encouraging new solutions beyond the set that NASA has already considered.

Issue-selling in the workplace

2007-07-19T23:32:00.000-06:00

Do you recognize a critical problem? Maybe you have a solution?

Getting it implemented (or even heard) will be a challenge. You need a strategy!

Timing - three aspects follow, the recipient must be free from large distractions, your issue should be a relative high priority compared to other current issues, withhold your case until the issue or its effects come up again.

Bundling - consider tagging your issue on to an existing concern. It will get the synergy of more attention, resources, and time. Be careful that you don't tag along with an issue that may get rejected as your case may die with it.

Framing - is the problem simply a threatening observation (attrition has grown in the past year and people are dissatisfied) "we have lost 10 great people this year which will cost the company $2.5M" or can it be reframed as "I see an opportunity to save $2.5M this year through employee retention efforts, may I look into this further."

Language - accusatory language will create a dismissive or defensive reaction, but objective languange focusing on opportunities and solutions will give you the floor longer.

Involvement - is your issue best presented individually (for you to gain recognition and minimize its premature distraction to others) or would it be best to get the team behind you and increase the support for the topic (and share the risks)?

Approach - publicly put the decision maker on the spot or choose a private meeting or casual event?

This handy outline takes five minutes for you to discover and document your strategy!
Even better, mentor your colleagues with this analysis when you seem them become overly emotional or ineffective.

Infosys Global Delivery Model

2007-07-18T21:31:00.003-06:00

Infosys is an amazing Indian company that started in 1981 with a $10,000 loan from the founder's wife. Today, it is a $3B, 75,000 person corporation providing business and IT consulting.

It has been difficult for this Indian firm to gain trust and US clients, but the current growth shows that Infosys has strategically overcome many of these barriers. Voted the most respected company in India (Computer World), 90% of its business is from the US.

This is a report on a Stanford case study that explains the brilliant move in creating ICI, a US-based subsidiary that specializes in IT consulting and explains their core competancies of the GDM and 1-1-3 model.

Harvard Business Review Case : "Feed R&D -- or Farm It Out"

2007-07-18T13:43:00.000-06:00

This is an interesting case about a high-tech stereophonics company that is facing a changing industry.
The CEO must answer to the board how he intends to face the challenge of reduced demand for high-end stereo equipment, increased costs of R&D, and the adoption of new technologies that are software based.
There is great brand equity in its name, but the company finds it harder to profit from its cutting-edge technologies when customers are settling for second-best.
The scientists who are currently developing mind-blowing products need a technology injection from equally talented embedded software developers. However, the R&D costs for software developers exceeds a comfortable risk level.
It might be do or die. Can he outsource the software development and still hold the scientist's morale?

The financials in this case suggest that he must outsource the development. He has found an Indian company capable of providing the project expertise. If he properly introduces the chief engineer to the software development team and provides incentives for success, the company could pull it off. Morale would be protected if certain financial targets and milestones allowed the company to create a software R&D team for future projects. This project will give the company the necessary experience in selecting and managing software engineers, as well as, critical experience in the systems integration of hardware and software.

The attached document provides additional summary and details.

Managing Diversity

2007-07-14T13:59:00.000-06:00

Diversity is a difficult concept that raises our pulse and will generate strong responses from colleagues.
Diversity is the differences between any two people (race, ethnicity, gender, religion, socio-economic, education, experiences, or values). Even between seemingly homogeneous groups, there is diversity.

We cannot find strong research to show that diversity improves performance. Clearly, productivity comes from an individual and like-minded clones.

Why must we sell diversity solutions to our management and colleagues?
1. the labor market is too tight to ignore groups of people
2. diverse employees gives a team access to diverse resources, solutions, and customers

OVERCOMING DIVERSITY:
Overcoming diversity requires a focus on the similarities, usually goals and dependencies.
Team-building focuses on the next milestone and the orchestration of everyone's necessary contribution.

OPTIMIZING DIVERSITY:
Optimizing diversity is to recognize and show interest in the diversity.
At this point, we identify the strengths (and maybe weaknesses) of the team members to assign roles that leverage the strengths of the team.

REAL DIVERSITY

team or workgroup?

2007-07-07T08:56:00.000-06:00

a workgroup is a small set of individuals (3 to 25) who are aware of each other, interact with one another, and who have a sense of themselves as a unit. [Champoux, 2005]

The workgroup members split up tasks and generally complete the work concurrently and independently. Successful groups get together to share information, ideas, and status. Each individual has little to do with how the others are doing. Management teams are workgroups.

If you have a team, you can measure the effectiveness by the following 4 metrics :

performance

member satisfaction

team learning

outsider satisfaction

Why do you want a team?

they are difficult to manage, evaluate, and support
they take time to set up
the reward structure must change to a team focus
they go against the individualistic culture of the U.S.

You might want might want a team if you need high creativity, redundancy, and broad skills.

more for effective Managers

2007-07-06T14:58:00.000-06:00

Performance and Equity motivation :

A report shows that while supervisor’s feel that they give praise 80% of the time, subordinate’s feel they receive praise 13%.

when you feel that you have praised enough, praise some more
it can take 20 atta-boys to weigh the same as one criticism
praise needs to be more personal and effective at every opportunity – eye contact, sit down, take to breakfast/lunch/dinner

Asian culture is more collective; individual praise is a team-killer. The individual is embarrassed and may leave the group. The team-members have strong feelings of jealousy.

on one hand, this is an effective way to manage the masses
on the other, it’s a societal evolution process where individuals do not have the same self-worth and superiors are unwilling to sacrifice industrious productivity for humanity

Help : I would like more info on this case study-
Indian company that curbed tardiness by closing the doors in the morning and forcing latecomers to take a personal day. Subsequently, all employees started to leave promptly at the end of the day rather than stay until 7,8,9 as engineers sometimes do.

Incredible India : Parimal Deshpande

2007-07-04T21:43:00.000-06:00

Attached is the passionate presentation of India from my friend Parimal. You may request the powerpoint used in the presentation that describes the demographics, infrastructure, history, politics, culture, and religion. There are many fascinating facts of Indian heritage that Indians take for granted and is not propagated in the European-centric history books.

Video

Notes