Cost is often seen as a fixed, calculable, knowable number. But it isn’t. Cost is one of the most flexible, variable numbers that exists in a project. If you step back, it’s easy to see why. Cost is the thing that every executive wants to see, but the number of inputs and recursive values that…
Author: davidmusic_6fsw2h
Stretching the comfort zone
Last night I became the newest member of the Android custom mod family. I am now running CyanogenMod 10 on my HTC One S. It was quite the ordeal setting everything up and getting it running. To sum it up. Wow this isn’t so bad. Ok, this is weird. Ummmm……. ……did I just erase my…
A comprehensive approach requires a comprehensive team.
Comprehensive: of large scope. It takes a team to cover everything that you need to take into account on a large project. Too often, comprehensive is taken to mean “a large team.” But comprehensive only means to cover everything. It is possible to have a comprehensive team of size equal to 1. Likewise, a $1MM…
Dilbert misses the mark on cannibalization
Innovation is about change. Either you drive the change yourself or your competitors do and steal your market share. Apparently Dilbert has gone from innovative to a change dinosaur. The theory that only bad (or bullied) CEOs introduce new products that cannibalize their current market share is absurd. It’s like saying that releasing the iPad…
Go ahead and play – goofing off and the increase of productivity.
If CNN runs the article, you know it has to be true. Goofing off at work is the new productivity booster. But this makes sense if you step back and think about it. If stress is the ultimate productivity killer, then relaxation must be the ultimate productivity improver. Taking time for the mental recharge can…
Business Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again while expecting the same results.
There is no expert in the world that can’t afford to learn more or adapt strategies from related areas to what they do. That’s the nature of innovation – taking the first steps into unexplored worlds. It is the responsibility of each of us to be uncomfortable sometimes by trying new and bold approaches. In…
Thinking about time
xkcd has the most intriguing new comic up. Entitled “Time” with a caption of “Wait for it.” It appears that the online comic changes slightly every 30 minutes in the telling of a short story that is going to play out over some time. It’s an unexpected change of pace in a world that wants…
To understand value you have to first understand motivations.
I talk a lot about the need to learn the business of the client. That is, and always will be, the driving factor in making good recommendations. But what that concept really gets down to is an understanding of motivations. It’s motivations that allow us to understand that thing that is deep down in the…
Acceleration – creativity booster or the best way to screw up?
On projects you are usually either given way more time than you need or you start out with a looming deadline. Rarely does it work out where you have just the right schedule. As we all know, working under a deadline can be exhilarating. The rush of getting everything done under trying circumstances can give…
It’s that time of the year again….
No, not the time of year where businesses “lose” billions to lost productivity. This is the time of year where millions upon millions of Americans get to see amazing data visualizations, put together detailed statistical models and forecasts, build complex decision matrices, and generally improve their process engineering skills. Yes, that’s right. March Madness and…