In my last post I summarized by the macroeconomic environment in which we operate and delved into some discussion of microeconomic foundations. The response was positive if lukewarm overall, but ego-boosting is not why I started a blog. One of my readers once asked why I don’t take on some hot button issues. Well that’s not my role or area of expertise. I’m not a politician or a social commentator. The community I inhabit has a large impact but is relatively small and mostly consists of engineers, scientists, mathematicians, some policy-makers, thought leaders, and other technically-focused professionals. I’m not trying to stir up emotions. I’m out to stimulate discussion and thought. I’m relieved that I don’t get trolls when posting factual information that goes against popular misconceptions. They are a waste of time.
(more…)Economics
Family Affair — Part I — Managerial Economics of Projects, Microeconomic Foundations, and Macro
A little more than a week ago I had an interesting conversation on a number of topics with colleagues in attending the National Defense Industrial Association Integrated Program Management Division (NDIA IPMD). A continuation of one of those discussions ended up in the comments section of my post “Mo’Better Risk–Tournaments and Games of Failure Part II” by Mark Phillips. I think it is worthwhile to read Mark’s comments because within them lie the crux of the discussion that is going on not only in our own community, but in the country as a whole, particularly in the economics profession, that will eventually influence and become public policy.*
(more…)My Generation — Baby Boom Economics, Demographics, and Technological Stagnation
“You promised me Mars colonies, instead I got Facebook.” — MIT Technology Review cover over photo of Buzz Aldrin
“As a boy I was promised flying cars, instead I got 140 characters.” — attributed to Marc Maron and others
I have been in a series of meetings over the last couple of weeks with colleagues describing the state of the technology industry and the markets it serves. What seems to be a generally held view is that both the industry and the markets for software and technology are experiencing a hardening of the arteries and a resistance to change not seen since the first waves of digitization in the 1980s.
(more…)Take Me Out to the Ballgame — Tournaments and Games of Failure
“Baseball teaches us, or has taught most of us, how to deal with failure. We learn at a very young age that failure is the norm in baseball and, precisely because we have failed, we hold in high regard those who fail less often – those who hit safely in one out of three chances and become star players. I also find it fascinating that baseball, alone in sport, considers errors to be part of the game, part of it’s rigorous truth.” — Fay Vincent, former Commissioner of Baseball (1989-1992)
“Baseball is a game of inches.” — Branch Rickey, Quote Magazine, July 31, 1966
I have been a baseball fan just about as long as I have been able to talk. My father played the game and tried out for both what were the New York Giants and Yankees–and was a pretty well known local hero in Weehawken back in the 1930s and 1940s. I did not have my father’s athletic talents–a four letter man in high school–but I was good at hitting a baseball from the time he put a bat in my hands and so I played–and was sought after–into my college years. Still, like many Americans who for one reason or another could not or did not pursue the game, I live vicariously through the players on the field. We hold those who fail less in the game in high regard. Some of them succeed for many years and are ensconced in the Hall of Fame.
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Life, Project Management, and Everything 