The hot topic lately in meetings and the odd conference on Integrated Project Management (IPM) often focuses on the mechanics of achieving that state, bound by the implied definition of current regulation, which has also become–not surprisingly–practice. I think this is a laudable goal, particularly given both the casual resistance to change (which always there by definition to some extent) and in the most extreme cases a kind of apathy.
(more…)IT management
All Along the Watch Tower — Project Monitoring vs. Project Management
My two month summer blogging hiatus has come to a close. Along the way I have gathered a good bit of practical knowledge related to introducing and implementing process and technological improvements into complex project management environments. More specifically, my experience is in introducing new adaptive technologies that support the integration of essential data across the project environment–integrated project management in short–and do so by focusing on knowledge discovery in databases (KDD).
(more…)Ground Control from Major Tom — Breaking Radio Silence: New Perspectives on Project Management
Since I began this blog I have used it as a means of testing out and sharing ideas about project management, information systems, as well to cover occasional thoughts about music, the arts, and the meaning of wisdom.
(more…)Like Tinker to Evers to Chance: BI to BA to KDD
It’s spring training time in sunny Florida, as well as other areas of the country with mild weather and baseball. For those of you new to the allusion, it comes from a poem by Franklin Pierce Adams and is also known as “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon”. Tinker, Evers, and Chance were the double play combination of the 1910 Chicago Cubs (shortstop, second base, and first base). Because of their effectiveness on the field these Cubs players were worthy opponents of the old New York Giants, for whom Adams was a fan, and who were the kings of baseball during most of the first fifth of a century of the modern era (1901-1922). That is, until they were suddenly overtaken by their crosstown rivals, the Yankees, who came to dominate baseball for the next 40 years, beginning with the arrival of Babe Ruth.
(more…)Back in the Saddle Again — Putting the SME into the UI Which Equals UX
“Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.” — Statement by Henry Ford in “My Life and Work”, by Henry Ford, in collaboration with Samuel Crowther, 1922, page 72
The Henry Ford quote, which he made half-jokingly to his sales staff in 1909, is relevant to this discussion because the information sector has developed along the lines of the auto and many other industries. The statement was only half-joking because Ford’s cars could be had in three colors. But in 1909 Henry Ford had found a massive market niche that would allow him to sell inexpensive cars to the masses. His competition wasn’t so much as other auto manufacturers, many of whom catered to the whims of the rich and more affluent members of society, but against the main means of individualized transportation at the time–the horse and buggy. The color was not so much important to this market as was the need for simplicity and utility.
(more…)Takin’ Care of Business — Information Economics in Project Management
Neoclassical economics abhors inefficiency, and yet inefficiencies exist. Among the core issues that create inefficiencies is the asymmetrical nature of information. Asymmetry is an accepted cornerstone of economics that leads to inefficiency. We can see in our daily lives and employment the effects of one party in a transaction having more information than the other: knowing whether the used car you are buying is a lemon, measuring risk in the purchase of an investment and, apropos to this post, identifying how our information systems allow us to manage complex projects.
(more…)I Can’t Drive 55 — The New York Times and Moore’s Law
Yesterday the New York Times published an article about Moore’s Law. While interesting in that John Markoff, who is the Times science writer, speculates that in about 5 years the computing industry will be “manipulating material as small as atoms” and therefore may hit a wall in what has become a back of the envelope calculation of the multiplicative nature of computing complexity and power in the silicon age.
This article prompted a follow on from Brian Feldman at NY Mag, that the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has anticipated a broader definition of the phenomenon of the accelerating rate of computing power to take into account quantum computing. Note here that the definition used in this context is the literal one: the doubling of the number of transistors over time that can be placed on a microchip. That is a correct summation of what Gordon Moore said, but it not how Moore’s Law is viewed or applied within the tech industry.
(more…)Don’t Know Much…–Knowledge Discovery in Data
A short while ago I found myself in an odd venue where a question was posed about my being an educated individual, as if it were an accusation. Yes, I replied, but then, after giving it some thought, I made some qualifications to my response. Educated regarding what?
It seems that, despite a little more than a century of public education and widespread advanced education having been adopted in the United States, along with the resulting advent of widespread literacy, that we haven’t entirely come to grips with what it means. For the question of being an “educated person” has its roots in an outmoded concept–an artifact of the 18th and 19th century–where education was delineated, and availability determined, by class and profession. Perhaps this is the basis for the large strain of anti-intellectualism and science denial in the society at large.
(more…)Big Time — Elements of Data Size in Scaling
I’ve run into additional questions about scalability. It is significant to understand the concept in terms of assessing software against data size, since there are actually various aspect of approaching the issue.
Unlike situations where data is already sorted and structured as part of the core functionality of the software service being provided, this is in dealing in an environment where there are many third-party software “tools” that put data into proprietary silos. These act as barriers to optimizing data use and gaining corporate intelligence. The goal here is to apply in real terms the concept that the customers generating the data (or stakeholders who pay for the data) own the data and should have full use of it across domains. In project management and corporate governance this is an essential capability.
(more…)I Can See Clearly Now — Knowledge Discovery in Databases, Data Scalability, and Data Relevance
I recently returned from a travel and much of the discussion revolved around the issues of scalability and the use of data. What is clear is that the conversation at the project manager level is shifting from a long-running focus on reports and metrics to one focused on data and what can be learned from it. As with any technology, information technology exploits what is presented before it. Most recently, accelerated improvements in hardware and communications technology has allowed us to begin to collect and use ever larger sets of data.
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