It’s always good to be ahead of the power curve. I see that the eminent Paul Krugman had an editorial in the New York Times about the very issues that I’ve dealt with in this blog, his example in this case being Amazon. This is just one of many articles that have been raised about the monopsony power as a result of the Hatchette controversy. In The New Republic Franklin Foer also addresses this issue at length in the article “Amazon Must Be Stopped.” In my last post on this topic I discussed public monopsony, an area in which I have a great deal of expertise. But those of us in the information world that are not Microsoft, Oracle, Google, or one of the other giants also live in the world of private monopsony.
(more…)Technology
Doctor My Eyes — Excel is Not a Project Management Tool (and neither is PowerPoint)
This is not to disparage the utility of a good spreadsheet to take care of those transient requirements to take a bit of data from the reporting systems and to run some custom algorithms or trends to perform what-if or other one-off analysis. Probably most of us do this occasionally.
What I am referring to is the condition in many organizations in which data that consists of information essential to business operations is kept and analyzed using spreadsheets or other flat delimited storage or text methods. The issue here is the optimum use of information, which the use of Excel and PowerPoint does not achieve. Before anyone thinks that this is a contrarian’s post that is critical of Microsoft products, one need only read the technical advantages of true relational database management systems that are managed by specialized language like MS SQL. Each of these applications and products has their proper place.
(more…)Family Affair — Part II — The Micro and Managerial Economics of Projects under Public Monopsony
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…)Driver’s Seat — How Software Normalization Can Drive Process Improvement
Over the past couple of weeks I have taken note of two issues that regularly pop up: the lack of consistency in how compliance is applied by oversight organizations within both industry and within government, especially in cases of government agencies with oversight responsibility in project management; and the lack of consistency in data and information that informs project management systems.
(more…)Let’s Get (Technical) — The Crux of Predictive Measures
For many years since the publication of my various papers on technical performance measurement, I have been asked to update my perspectives. Over the years I largely declined, mostly this was due to the fact that I had nothing of importance to add to the conversation. I had staked out what I believed to be a reasonable method of integration between the measurement of technical achievement in human effort and the manner in which the value of that achievement could be documented, along with a reasonable model of technical risk to inform us of our ability to achieve success in the next increment of our technical baseline. A little background may be helpful.
(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 