Businessweek article is interesting!
The co-creationization has pitfalls because if you are not TRUE - your brands gets thrashed! WOW.
Are we starting the Era of TRUTH!
Well, Co-Creationization is only possible when both sides in the creative process believe as TRUE whatever they are doing together. In fact, there is nothing Non-truth about co-creationization - however this is valid for the instant and duration of co-creationization. Truth as well know has its own problem of changing itself with time!
Co-Creationization is based on Instant perceived TRUTH, which is really what Truth is all about anyway! As there is no absolute truth!
My Book on Strategic Decision Making
Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Transhumanism
Transhumanism - is the new avataar of a mix of cybernetics, artificial intelligence, evolutionary biology.
It has really mind-blowing (they call it intelligence amplification - by the way) resources as well. With around 4500 members of WTA worldwide, it is an interesting place to peep into future. The Singularity is Near author - Ray Kurzweil is one of the leading authorities.
I wanted to give my remaining August 2007 a rest from Blog entry point of view - well this topic is too interesting to let it go!!!
It has really mind-blowing (they call it intelligence amplification - by the way) resources as well. With around 4500 members of WTA worldwide, it is an interesting place to peep into future. The Singularity is Near author - Ray Kurzweil is one of the leading authorities.
I wanted to give my remaining August 2007 a rest from Blog entry point of view - well this topic is too interesting to let it go!!!
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
50th Post of the Year 2007!!!!
Well,
In 2007 this is my 50th post to the blog. Out of which almost 70% has come in the month of August!
The reason is I have taken time off from my work for a month+ - to be in between jobs is a great time to read, study, learn and think. I believe this is needed. Earlier I never did this break between jobs - and I must say, if one can, one should take time off while in between jobs to look inside yourself, search for answers inside your own self. May be thats our spiritual quest anyway.
I have read long-pending books lying on my shelf. Although there are more to read. But that always will be. More important this time however has been the daily (well-almost) blogging enteries I was able to make. Google news of what I term Globalizing Innovation Complexity (GIX) did help me. India won the Cricket test series against England - although a little defensive, as I was hoping 2-0 result not 1-0. The one-day series is interestingly poised. Watched the movie Chak-de India as well. Found it to be very good as was Gandhi-My father - More than the Harilal played by Akshay Khanna, I liked the Gandhi. He was superb.
India is poised ( after the 60th anniversary of Independence - 15th August) - New President - the first woman president after the most mind-blowing president scientist in our history - Dr Kalam, Economy poised with possibility of double digit growth per year - well - we also have to contend with Hyderabad terrorist blasts, Police brutalities shown live on TV, Cinestars going or coming out to Jail for old crimes that they did - Justice delayed colours the perception as well... India floating a detailed requirements for fighter planes - 126 planes - this is going to be a big fight Mig35, F-18, F16, Grippen, Rafale, in the fight. Hope the deal will not go like the BVR (beyond Visual range) missiles the planes will be carrying. For me - India should have odered 5 squadrons of Mirage 2000 and 4more squadrons of SU-30MKI to make the balance - hoping LCA will be there by 2010 - well hope is what we all live on!!!
I hope to continue to write next 50 enteries this year - to complete the century in 2007!!!!
I think it is really my Ego that urges me to write - Right. Well, may be!
In 2007 this is my 50th post to the blog. Out of which almost 70% has come in the month of August!
The reason is I have taken time off from my work for a month+ - to be in between jobs is a great time to read, study, learn and think. I believe this is needed. Earlier I never did this break between jobs - and I must say, if one can, one should take time off while in between jobs to look inside yourself, search for answers inside your own self. May be thats our spiritual quest anyway.
I have read long-pending books lying on my shelf. Although there are more to read. But that always will be. More important this time however has been the daily (well-almost) blogging enteries I was able to make. Google news of what I term Globalizing Innovation Complexity (GIX) did help me. India won the Cricket test series against England - although a little defensive, as I was hoping 2-0 result not 1-0. The one-day series is interestingly poised. Watched the movie Chak-de India as well. Found it to be very good as was Gandhi-My father - More than the Harilal played by Akshay Khanna, I liked the Gandhi. He was superb.
India is poised ( after the 60th anniversary of Independence - 15th August) - New President - the first woman president after the most mind-blowing president scientist in our history - Dr Kalam, Economy poised with possibility of double digit growth per year - well - we also have to contend with Hyderabad terrorist blasts, Police brutalities shown live on TV, Cinestars going or coming out to Jail for old crimes that they did - Justice delayed colours the perception as well... India floating a detailed requirements for fighter planes - 126 planes - this is going to be a big fight Mig35, F-18, F16, Grippen, Rafale, in the fight. Hope the deal will not go like the BVR (beyond Visual range) missiles the planes will be carrying. For me - India should have odered 5 squadrons of Mirage 2000 and 4more squadrons of SU-30MKI to make the balance - hoping LCA will be there by 2010 - well hope is what we all live on!!!
I hope to continue to write next 50 enteries this year - to complete the century in 2007!!!!
I think it is really my Ego that urges me to write - Right. Well, may be!
Lego Toys, Creativity and Organizational Development
Lego training helps workers boost creativity
Lego toys are teaching corporates to enhance creativity.
This is not a real discovery. We all have seen how relaxing is solving a puzzle in a game-play scenario. In fact, one of my pet themes have been to design Work as a Game. Further, all of us prefer to do something with our hands and mind (sudoko, crosswords, etc).
In my workshops, I have designed games using simple paper boats and paper airplanes, which have been enjoyed by delegates who simply havent done these complex tasks since their childhood. And they absolutely were thrilled by playing these games - may be going back to childhood days is what enhances creativity - as we all know our creativity at age 40 is just 2% of what we had at age 5
Lego toys are teaching corporates to enhance creativity.
This is not a real discovery. We all have seen how relaxing is solving a puzzle in a game-play scenario. In fact, one of my pet themes have been to design Work as a Game. Further, all of us prefer to do something with our hands and mind (sudoko, crosswords, etc).
In my workshops, I have designed games using simple paper boats and paper airplanes, which have been enjoyed by delegates who simply havent done these complex tasks since their childhood. And they absolutely were thrilled by playing these games - may be going back to childhood days is what enhances creativity - as we all know our creativity at age 40 is just 2% of what we had at age 5
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Simulation, Evolution, Innovation Speed and TRIZ
"'We saw a large speedup, for instance, when we repeatedly exchanged an 'OR' for an 'AND' in the computer code defining our goals, thus changing the relationship between subgoals." The quote from the article available here, indicates an important feature of how we innovate.
The above simulation of the human evolution showed a speed by changing conditions (choice) of this Vs That to This AND That. We want both - want to have the cake and eat it too. This is exactlly what Altshuller, the creator of Theory of Inventive Problem solving (TRIZ) found - the best inventions are those that provide both the capabilities of the contradictory parameters of a system.
This he found is a thinking method to speed up the process of finding Innovative solutions to inventive problems!!!
The above simulation of the human evolution showed a speed by changing conditions (choice) of this Vs That to This AND That. We want both - want to have the cake and eat it too. This is exactlly what Altshuller, the creator of Theory of Inventive Problem solving (TRIZ) found - the best inventions are those that provide both the capabilities of the contradictory parameters of a system.
This he found is a thinking method to speed up the process of finding Innovative solutions to inventive problems!!!
Co-Create with Nature - The need of the Hour
"Humans are not separate from their environment, and the environments of different countries are not separate from each other; what we experience in one region of the world is intimately connected to what people experience in other regions; what happens to natural global systems also happens to all of us." - The quote from the article available at political affairs site, opens one's eyes to the need of the hour to co-create with nature. Nature is our customer as well as supplier too!
This is a unique relationship. Generally, businesses squeeze suppliers and fool customers - well that was last millennium. The new world demand co-creation with suppliers and customers simultaneously.
Are we co-creating with our natural supplier and natural customer!
This is a unique relationship. Generally, businesses squeeze suppliers and fool customers - well that was last millennium. The new world demand co-creation with suppliers and customers simultaneously.
Are we co-creating with our natural supplier and natural customer!
MBA with a Difference
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=32b01b99-f767-45ac-afb5-d08d230b118e&&Headline=Business+model+innovation-+new+opportunities
The enterprising students of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) in Mumbai, supported by a visionary Professor, Dr T Prasad at the institute, have come up with this unique concept of “Student Companies (SCs)”, which can spawn a new generation of young entrepreneurs in the country "
This is a new Co-Creationization trend! where students (who are the customers of the Institute) and the Institute actually co-create student companies to learn how to do it..... Fantastic!
The enterprising students of the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) in Mumbai, supported by a visionary Professor, Dr T Prasad at the institute, have come up with this unique concept of “Student Companies (SCs)”, which can spawn a new generation of young entrepreneurs in the country "
This is a new Co-Creationization trend! where students (who are the customers of the Institute) and the Institute actually co-create student companies to learn how to do it..... Fantastic!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Co-Creationization - the Emergence
The Emergence of a new World
In August 2005, I was sitting in a group meeting with a Professor from one of the Ivy League Business Schools. In Bangalore, India, it is not every day one get to sit and work with the elite business gurus. I mentioned as a casual remark, that may be to understand and solve business problems using Information Technology (IT), we need to involve our clients in brainstorming. There was a loud No from the professor. His logic- the customer will color the perception in the brainstorming session with what the customer already has faced and hence will reduce the brainstorming to non-optimal interaction.
Everybody in the room rejected the idea as soon as he said No. This is nothing new for me, as I am used to the usual reaction to anything different that will come up in discussions. Homo-Sapiens relish the process of nipping the idea in bud! We all wear the De Bono’s black hats – judge before it emerges. The stillborn output of dead brainstorming sessions, we all have seen, participated, and have done nothing about it – it is remarkable we keep on doing same meetings, in same way with same output. The Brainholes that our brainstorming sessions typically reduce to, indicate that we need different tools, techniques and methodologies with some structure to improve the efficacy of our Brainstorming sessions. “We” encompass – all organized human enterprises where problem solving is the core competence. This can be a software development project, a management problem, a research question, design of a new product, movie or advertisement, a manufacturing problem, a process improvement problem, a market expansion problem, a funds allocation problem, and so on. These issues are independent of any type of organization. Even in our family meetings we can observe the output of collective problem solving – typically driven and controlled by the head of the family.
So back in August 2005, as soon as the Professor said no, and the body language of each one of the members in the room indicated my foolishness in creating this uncalled for perturbation, I knew that’s the way it has to be. An ability to work with our customers in a brainstorming session may be for half a day workshop is what we all really need. If done properly, one can get to the core of the issues with lot of solution directions thrown in by both sides. The amount of rework, labor burn, heart burn and dollar burn our current approaches lead to can be cut down to zero in a half day brainstorming session with our customers.
Before the release of a recent Bollywood movie, the Director giving an interview on the Television told that the movie has been shown to “interest groups” chosen from the target audiences of the movie. Further, some of their feedback, comments and suggestions have been taken up to change the movie. If we extend the trend - the director, writer and producer could have brainstormed with the group much before the movie started. The concepts of various story ideas could have been discussed with potential viewers and they could have been part of the process from the beginning. Better still, there could have been partial brainstorms, feedbacks and discussion sessions during the movie making so as to adapt the movie as per the inputs. This is the age of co-creation. The dawn of the age may be signified when “interactive movie production” becomes the new reality. This is after “interactive TV” and “interactive story writing” on the Internet is becoming a reality. The individual in the new world demands continuous involvement in the co-creation. The new world demands, defines and develops new ways. These are not the bland ways of making the world flat – it is really about thriving in the melting pots of creative juices. Evolving the interactions, connections, the networks, and the chaos into rapidly moving and changing structures where the value is not in any fixed static structure or organization. The value lies in the dynamic of the structure. The new thriving, creative and ever evolving world demands new ways to capture value and create value.
Are we ready to Co-Create continuously!!!
In August 2005, I was sitting in a group meeting with a Professor from one of the Ivy League Business Schools. In Bangalore, India, it is not every day one get to sit and work with the elite business gurus. I mentioned as a casual remark, that may be to understand and solve business problems using Information Technology (IT), we need to involve our clients in brainstorming. There was a loud No from the professor. His logic- the customer will color the perception in the brainstorming session with what the customer already has faced and hence will reduce the brainstorming to non-optimal interaction.
Everybody in the room rejected the idea as soon as he said No. This is nothing new for me, as I am used to the usual reaction to anything different that will come up in discussions. Homo-Sapiens relish the process of nipping the idea in bud! We all wear the De Bono’s black hats – judge before it emerges. The stillborn output of dead brainstorming sessions, we all have seen, participated, and have done nothing about it – it is remarkable we keep on doing same meetings, in same way with same output. The Brainholes that our brainstorming sessions typically reduce to, indicate that we need different tools, techniques and methodologies with some structure to improve the efficacy of our Brainstorming sessions. “We” encompass – all organized human enterprises where problem solving is the core competence. This can be a software development project, a management problem, a research question, design of a new product, movie or advertisement, a manufacturing problem, a process improvement problem, a market expansion problem, a funds allocation problem, and so on. These issues are independent of any type of organization. Even in our family meetings we can observe the output of collective problem solving – typically driven and controlled by the head of the family.
So back in August 2005, as soon as the Professor said no, and the body language of each one of the members in the room indicated my foolishness in creating this uncalled for perturbation, I knew that’s the way it has to be. An ability to work with our customers in a brainstorming session may be for half a day workshop is what we all really need. If done properly, one can get to the core of the issues with lot of solution directions thrown in by both sides. The amount of rework, labor burn, heart burn and dollar burn our current approaches lead to can be cut down to zero in a half day brainstorming session with our customers.
Before the release of a recent Bollywood movie, the Director giving an interview on the Television told that the movie has been shown to “interest groups” chosen from the target audiences of the movie. Further, some of their feedback, comments and suggestions have been taken up to change the movie. If we extend the trend - the director, writer and producer could have brainstormed with the group much before the movie started. The concepts of various story ideas could have been discussed with potential viewers and they could have been part of the process from the beginning. Better still, there could have been partial brainstorms, feedbacks and discussion sessions during the movie making so as to adapt the movie as per the inputs. This is the age of co-creation. The dawn of the age may be signified when “interactive movie production” becomes the new reality. This is after “interactive TV” and “interactive story writing” on the Internet is becoming a reality. The individual in the new world demands continuous involvement in the co-creation. The new world demands, defines and develops new ways. These are not the bland ways of making the world flat – it is really about thriving in the melting pots of creative juices. Evolving the interactions, connections, the networks, and the chaos into rapidly moving and changing structures where the value is not in any fixed static structure or organization. The value lies in the dynamic of the structure. The new thriving, creative and ever evolving world demands new ways to capture value and create value.
Are we ready to Co-Create continuously!!!
Co-Creationization of FIAT 500
http://www.customerthink.com/blog/co_creation_of_the_fiat_500
The New FIAT 500 is being created in a much more involved manner with customers engaged in
1. Design: buyers (8000 of them) designed the accessories through the Fiat website ! {WOW}
2. Launch: generated themes for the advertisement of the car!!! {WOW}
3. Customization: The emotional way to describe the car accessories {{{{{WOW}}}}
4. Customization of Web site: for individual. My car has a web site and it is designed by me !!! {WOW}}}}}}}}
Customer Involvement - in fact ownership experience is absolutely fantastic - 57000 cars sold in first month July 07!!!!!
Well, How can we involve users of our services/products in ownership experience !!!!!!!! Dear CXO's you have to think - else co-creationists will eat your businessess very quickly.......
The New FIAT 500 is being created in a much more involved manner with customers engaged in
1. Design: buyers (8000 of them) designed the accessories through the Fiat website ! {WOW}
2. Launch: generated themes for the advertisement of the car!!! {WOW}
3. Customization: The emotional way to describe the car accessories {{{{{WOW}}}}
4. Customization of Web site: for individual. My car has a web site and it is designed by me !!! {WOW}}}}}}}}
Customer Involvement - in fact ownership experience is absolutely fantastic - 57000 cars sold in first month July 07!!!!!
Well, How can we involve users of our services/products in ownership experience !!!!!!!! Dear CXO's you have to think - else co-creationists will eat your businessess very quickly.......
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Predictive Simulation - DARPA Patent
Characterizing and predicting agents via multi-agent evolution is an interesting patent filed by DARPA. In a wargame simulation, this invention claims to be able to predict the behaviour of the actors based on their past behaviour, and the state of the game at the particular moment.
Wargames have been designed, developed and played to understand and study combat scenarios. The ability to predict the opponent's move in a combat situation is fraught with many imponderables. The claim of the patent although promising need to pass the real test of real wargames.
However, this is an interesting development. Digital pheromone infrastucture described in the patent indicates the use of Ant Colony Optimization and learning. The author's thesis can be downloaded as a pdf from here.
Wargames have been designed, developed and played to understand and study combat scenarios. The ability to predict the opponent's move in a combat situation is fraught with many imponderables. The claim of the patent although promising need to pass the real test of real wargames.
However, this is an interesting development. Digital pheromone infrastucture described in the patent indicates the use of Ant Colony Optimization and learning. The author's thesis can be downloaded as a pdf from here.
Bouquet of Thoughts
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/855272.html
The article above is a very interesting way of writing or thriving in diversity. It says, it is not about one idea - but collection of recently articulated ideas that we cant create a story on. Thus the writer decided to write all these together as a single piece...
Networking : Win-Win Problem solving
Immigration (Come from far Away CFA workers) : Not a silver bullet yet retaining foreign students through certification is needed
Leadership: great leadership correlates to good things (I am not sure whether Great things happening imply great leadership as well :))
Mission Statements : Great if they mean something (e.g. " Yes, We Can")
Measuring Success: Compare with the best in the Globe not best in my own house!
Education: Will determine Success!! There is no other way.
This is really a great way to write an article, by the way!
The article above is a very interesting way of writing or thriving in diversity. It says, it is not about one idea - but collection of recently articulated ideas that we cant create a story on. Thus the writer decided to write all these together as a single piece...
Networking : Win-Win Problem solving
Immigration (Come from far Away CFA workers) : Not a silver bullet yet retaining foreign students through certification is needed
Leadership: great leadership correlates to good things (I am not sure whether Great things happening imply great leadership as well :))
Mission Statements : Great if they mean something (e.g. " Yes, We Can")
Measuring Success: Compare with the best in the Globe not best in my own house!
Education: Will determine Success!! There is no other way.
This is really a great way to write an article, by the way!
System-of-Systems Thinking - a move away from Stovepipes
http://www.military-information-technology.com/article.cfm?DocID=2147
See the link above
Command Control Communications Computers Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems are the central nerves of the modern military. The revolution in military affairs (RMA) has been achieved due to rapid and massive (it is really the momentum achieved) advances that these systems have taken that has revolutionized the way we conduct war. However, people the army doctrines and thinking hasnot kept pace with these advances - it continues to be Command control, hierarchical and autocratic - The new systems demands network thinking the so called system of systems thinking...
It is in the integrated rapid and massive response to any threat that the prinicples of success lies. At least military is thinking of changing its thinking...
Are our commercial business organizations listening!!! If they dont listen quickly, this time, it will be late, as their employees can have networked thinking with like minded people outside their stovepipes and create solutions that command and control organizations cant do anything - It is in networking and creating a common pool of solution creators that the key lies.
See the link above
Command Control Communications Computers Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems are the central nerves of the modern military. The revolution in military affairs (RMA) has been achieved due to rapid and massive (it is really the momentum achieved) advances that these systems have taken that has revolutionized the way we conduct war. However, people the army doctrines and thinking hasnot kept pace with these advances - it continues to be Command control, hierarchical and autocratic - The new systems demands network thinking the so called system of systems thinking...
It is in the integrated rapid and massive response to any threat that the prinicples of success lies. At least military is thinking of changing its thinking...
Are our commercial business organizations listening!!! If they dont listen quickly, this time, it will be late, as their employees can have networked thinking with like minded people outside their stovepipes and create solutions that command and control organizations cant do anything - It is in networking and creating a common pool of solution creators that the key lies.
Do-it-yourself - The Age of Co-creationization
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/ET_Features/The_Sunday_ET/King_customer_gets_DIY_bonus/articleshow/2311023.cms
Do-it-yourself jeans
Travel Companies
Interiors of a Car including the music system
Exterior Paints for the new Car - Your individual personality should reflect in your Car!
Paint your home software
Customer Designed Jewelley
From ready to wear TO made to measure clothes
Designing your own games on Xbox 360
The article however is not able to think towards the trend - It is about Co-Creationization of the world. The producers should provide sub-systems, modules, ready to make components, let the customer create. This is the start of the scenario ... It is when every customer goes to the design factory to co-create the product the customer needs along with you - through virtual or real immersion the age of co-creation will reach full bloom. You need a Jeans - why dont you design - Logon to levi's and vitually talk to the guy in the factory who will create the jean that you need - u dont need to go to a store dear - you are on your laptop or your palmtop driving through the busy evening train back home from work- you design your Jeans, you design your beds, bedsheets, you design your own toothbrush....design, create and njoy the process along with the guys who are ready to work on your product for you... obviously they dont know what you really Need - But do you know what you need!!!!
Do-it-yourself jeans
Travel Companies
Interiors of a Car including the music system
Exterior Paints for the new Car - Your individual personality should reflect in your Car!
Paint your home software
Customer Designed Jewelley
From ready to wear TO made to measure clothes
Designing your own games on Xbox 360
The article however is not able to think towards the trend - It is about Co-Creationization of the world. The producers should provide sub-systems, modules, ready to make components, let the customer create. This is the start of the scenario ... It is when every customer goes to the design factory to co-create the product the customer needs along with you - through virtual or real immersion the age of co-creation will reach full bloom. You need a Jeans - why dont you design - Logon to levi's and vitually talk to the guy in the factory who will create the jean that you need - u dont need to go to a store dear - you are on your laptop or your palmtop driving through the busy evening train back home from work- you design your Jeans, you design your beds, bedsheets, you design your own toothbrush....design, create and njoy the process along with the guys who are ready to work on your product for you... obviously they dont know what you really Need - But do you know what you need!!!!
The New Sciences - Books that layman should read
The last two decades have suddenly changed the view of Science itself. It is not perfect geometries, perfect linear artificial objects, unidimensional man-made static world of artificial objects, but the really messy, uncertain, undeterministic, sochastic, non-linear, curvy, continuously evolving world that New Science is trying to understand - through modeling the non-linearity in dynamic computer models of reality.
Chaos theory rooted in physics and chemistry tells us why Uncertainty is the new reality. Bringing the Hiesenberg Undertainty Principle to the center of this science. Chaos is what we should be aware of - with its unseen abilities to create futures that are indetermistic - a small variation in initial conditions of a system can lead to diametrically opposite behaviours or more interestingly unknow behaviour of the system in future.
Complexity Theory rooted in Biology tells us, what are the possibilities in such a complex. How the complex system works and evolves.
Well, if you are interested - and mind you, you have to study the new science -as in schools they are not teaching it so far (oh what a pity!!!) - Please go through some of the books that may help you make sense (with as less maths as possible) (the order of the list below is random- you can start reading from any book) -
Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos
Chaos: Making a New Science
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
Emergence: From Chaos to Order
Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order
Order Out of Chaos
A New Kind of Science
Investigations
The Fractal Geometry of Nature
Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning
Ant Colony Optimization
An Introduction to General Systems Thinking
The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind
Cybernetics, Second Edition: or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern
The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living
In the above list I am missing out many books of great authors, Nevertheless, this is a good sample to cover the New Science from multiple perspectives... Will add more to the list.. may be in the next post... Enjoy and Thrive in the New Science!!!!
Chaos theory rooted in physics and chemistry tells us why Uncertainty is the new reality. Bringing the Hiesenberg Undertainty Principle to the center of this science. Chaos is what we should be aware of - with its unseen abilities to create futures that are indetermistic - a small variation in initial conditions of a system can lead to diametrically opposite behaviours or more interestingly unknow behaviour of the system in future.
Complexity Theory rooted in Biology tells us, what are the possibilities in such a complex. How the complex system works and evolves.
Well, if you are interested - and mind you, you have to study the new science -as in schools they are not teaching it so far (oh what a pity!!!) - Please go through some of the books that may help you make sense (with as less maths as possible) (the order of the list below is random- you can start reading from any book) -
Complexity: Life at the Edge of Chaos
Chaos: Making a New Science
Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software
Emergence: From Chaos to Order
Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order
Order Out of Chaos
A New Kind of Science
Investigations
The Fractal Geometry of Nature
Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning
Ant Colony Optimization
An Introduction to General Systems Thinking
The Emotion Machine: Commonsense Thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and the Future of the Human Mind
Cybernetics, Second Edition: or the Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine
Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
Metamagical Themas: Questing for the Essence of Mind and Pattern
The Hidden Connections: A Science for Sustainable Living
In the above list I am missing out many books of great authors, Nevertheless, this is a good sample to cover the New Science from multiple perspectives... Will add more to the list.. may be in the next post... Enjoy and Thrive in the New Science!!!!
Friday, August 24, 2007
Rationality, Reality, Decision Making and Ladoo Game
The Value of alternatives in a decision making scenario is typically what the rationality theory talks about.
The following experiment done at many workshops and seminars that I conduct, shows real life decision making and how it is not at all matching with the rationality theory or logical mathematical view of the world.
I can tell you - if you are an innovator - it is likely that you may choose Ladoo 4!!!!
Talk to start-up guys - may be they will choose Ladoo 4!!!
Is this a test for innovativeness - which is nothing but taking risks continuously!!!
Which Ladoo are you choosing in your life right now?
The following experiment done at many workshops and seminars that I conduct, shows real life decision making and how it is not at all matching with the rationality theory or logical mathematical view of the world.
I can tell you - if you are an innovator - it is likely that you may choose Ladoo 4!!!!
Talk to start-up guys - may be they will choose Ladoo 4!!!
Is this a test for innovativeness - which is nothing but taking risks continuously!!!
Which Ladoo are you choosing in your life right now?
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Complexity of dealing with the company
Microsoft has realized the folly of making it complex to deal with it. In a very interesting move Microsoft is focussing on reducing the complexity of dealing with it for its partners. Better late than Never. Yet... Microsoft should do well to understand - the complexity that is needed and complexity that is non-value adding - which is really the source of Entropy in the relationship.
It is indeed important to look at your value net (your company's relationships with your suppliers, complementers, customers and competitors) - Can you reduce the Non-value adding complexity in the links in the value net!!!
How to do it is next step? First is to find out where in the links is the Entropy!!
It is indeed important to look at your value net (your company's relationships with your suppliers, complementers, customers and competitors) - Can you reduce the Non-value adding complexity in the links in the value net!!!
How to do it is next step? First is to find out where in the links is the Entropy!!
Why do we Play?
After the recent Cricket Test series between England and India - Sunny Gavaskar, the legendary Indian opening batsman, remarked, that with every century or a fifty or a difficult innings - the first clappings he wanted to look for was from dressing room. This is a very interesting point - we donot play for galleries, not for TV, not for even money, not for fame, it is the appreciation and a sense of bonding with the other members of the team that make your work meaningful. It is all about the team with whom you live day-in and day-out! really!
I am reminded of Bana Singh - the Param Vir Chakra winner of Indian Army who single handedly demolished an enemy post in Siachin glacier and yet lived on to tell the tale. His reasons, his section (the team members) were wounded by the enemy and it was his duty to destroy the enemy for the team. It is the immediate relationships with your team that propel you to go beyond.
Indeed there is nothing more than the power of teams! Yet have we ever realize how important our team is to us!!!!!
I am reminded of Bana Singh - the Param Vir Chakra winner of Indian Army who single handedly demolished an enemy post in Siachin glacier and yet lived on to tell the tale. His reasons, his section (the team members) were wounded by the enemy and it was his duty to destroy the enemy for the team. It is the immediate relationships with your team that propel you to go beyond.
Indeed there is nothing more than the power of teams! Yet have we ever realize how important our team is to us!!!!!
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Creativity Innovation Self-Organization and Controversies
Two books have been written and are being sold in the market. They are Lifecode: From Egg to Embryo by Self-Organization and LifeCode: The Theory of Biological Self Organization
A Blogger reads the book and critics it - negatively on his blog
The author sues the blogger for Libel.
What shall we make out of this? Freedom of speech -
Author seems to have written contrarian view of human life saying the human body develops through mechanical processes illustrated through fantastic pictures. This is against the existing view of how life emerges etc.
The reviewer of course speaks of the book in negative terms.
Both are free to speak - Author is negating the existing world view of life and reviewer is negating author's view...
I believe all should be free to express their views ...
One thing we need to really consider by the way - How much the book's sale has increased...
Wired Magazine Blog covers it as well
A Blogger reads the book and critics it - negatively on his blog
The author sues the blogger for Libel.
What shall we make out of this? Freedom of speech -
Author seems to have written contrarian view of human life saying the human body develops through mechanical processes illustrated through fantastic pictures. This is against the existing view of how life emerges etc.
The reviewer of course speaks of the book in negative terms.
Both are free to speak - Author is negating the existing world view of life and reviewer is negating author's view...
I believe all should be free to express their views ...
One thing we need to really consider by the way - How much the book's sale has increased...
Wired Magazine Blog covers it as well
Co-Creationization - The begining of the age of co-creation
http://blogs.usatoday.com/hotelhotsheet/2007/08/guests-get-to-d.html
When you will be designing the hotel room that you will be checking in (see the link above) - this is the new age - the logical child of GIX -Globalizing Innovation Complexity. I call it the Co-creationization - this the next world order - Are you ready for the continuous creativite challenge - where you create the choices that you want - Are you creative enough!!!
The producer and consumer are co-creating in an orgy of innovation that is unprecedented. Look at what is there - in your spare time create the hotel room that you would like, the books that you would like to read, your hobbies etc. Keep it in your profile. As soon as you check in a hotel, a city, a hospital - yes!!! a movie theatre, a shopping mall, an airport or railway station, your profile goes with you and the world that you want has been created by the producer who has modularized his products - so as to reconfigure as per your needs anywhere anytime.
Welcome to the world of Co-creationization - bye bye globalization!
When you will be designing the hotel room that you will be checking in (see the link above) - this is the new age - the logical child of GIX -Globalizing Innovation Complexity. I call it the Co-creationization - this the next world order - Are you ready for the continuous creativite challenge - where you create the choices that you want - Are you creative enough!!!
The producer and consumer are co-creating in an orgy of innovation that is unprecedented. Look at what is there - in your spare time create the hotel room that you would like, the books that you would like to read, your hobbies etc. Keep it in your profile. As soon as you check in a hotel, a city, a hospital - yes!!! a movie theatre, a shopping mall, an airport or railway station, your profile goes with you and the world that you want has been created by the producer who has modularized his products - so as to reconfigure as per your needs anywhere anytime.
Welcome to the world of Co-creationization - bye bye globalization!
Monday, August 20, 2007
Greatest Mysteries
LiveScience has a series running for last 15 days or so on greatest mysetries in science. the following 15 have so far been reported... I think - the biggest mysetry really is why does the universe exist or may be equivalent is why do I exist? I have an answer as well, " I exist to find out why do I exist". (Is it sufficiently round about?)
What Makes a Scientist?
How Does the Brain Work?
How Many Species Exist on Earth?
Does Alien Life Exist?
Who Are You?
What Causes Mass Extinctions?
How Did Human Culture Evolve?
What Causes Gravity?
How Did the Universe Begin?
Why Are There Transitional Animals?
Why Do We Desire Things?
What Drives Evolution?
What Makes a Scientist?
How Does the Brain Work?
How Many Species Exist on Earth?
Does Alien Life Exist?
Who Are You?
What Causes Mass Extinctions?
How Did Human Culture Evolve?
What Causes Gravity?
How Did the Universe Begin?
Why Are There Transitional Animals?
Why Do We Desire Things?
What Drives Evolution?
Crows are closer to Humans in Problem solving
Crows have been found to be clever in the recent experiments reported. They are closer to analogical thinking, which is problem solving based on experience. The way humans also do, it seems.
Looks like the old Thirsty Crow fable is not a story, afterall.
We have something to Crow about. As well the Crows of the world!!
Looks like the old Thirsty Crow fable is not a story, afterall.
We have something to Crow about. As well the Crows of the world!!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
CEO Words can Tell Innovation Future
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070814150611.htm
By counting the number of future oriented sentences by the CEO in annual reports one can decipher the future innovation of the company. Well! Is it so simple, really? Let all CEO's start talking in annual reports - future oriented sentecnes.
However, there may still be a point. May be the indirect focus for the whole organization comes to future rather than the day-to-day war fighting that each member of the enterprise is engaged in.
A very interesting study - please see the link above.
By counting the number of future oriented sentences by the CEO in annual reports one can decipher the future innovation of the company. Well! Is it so simple, really? Let all CEO's start talking in annual reports - future oriented sentecnes.
However, there may still be a point. May be the indirect focus for the whole organization comes to future rather than the day-to-day war fighting that each member of the enterprise is engaged in.
A very interesting study - please see the link above.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
B K Birla - Simplicity and Complexity...
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/B_K_Birla_shares_interesting_times/articleshow/2279454.cms
The quote "In our childhood, simplicity was respected; today it is deplored" from B. K. Birla, is a remarkable statement.
Is this simplicity that one gets on other side of complexity or this side of complexity? We know there lies simplicity at both sides of the complexity mountain. It is really the simplicity that one achieves on the other side of complexity that has more value? Or is it so?
The citizens of the new world that Mr. Birla has categorized wants to be inside the complexity lest they are left behind.. may be there in lies the reason for deploring simplicity whether this side or the other side of complexity
The quote "In our childhood, simplicity was respected; today it is deplored" from B. K. Birla, is a remarkable statement.
Is this simplicity that one gets on other side of complexity or this side of complexity? We know there lies simplicity at both sides of the complexity mountain. It is really the simplicity that one achieves on the other side of complexity that has more value? Or is it so?
The citizens of the new world that Mr. Birla has categorized wants to be inside the complexity lest they are left behind.. may be there in lies the reason for deploring simplicity whether this side or the other side of complexity
Monday, August 13, 2007
Intensity to Create
Intensity (dictionary says : extreme degree of strength, force, energy, or feeling) to create is the greatest driver for large scale Innovation. How do you inculcate in yourself - can it be learned? It requires continuous processing or sparks of inspiration? Does it come from extreme focus or serendipity?
Once you have or you havent - however can you instigate or inculcate in others around you? How? Is there really a standard how?
Well, I dont have any set standards, - if you go by the book Fooled by Randomness - may be there is nothing - it just happens ?
Once you have or you havent - however can you instigate or inculcate in others around you? How? Is there really a standard how?
Well, I dont have any set standards, - if you go by the book Fooled by Randomness - may be there is nothing - it just happens ?
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Learning and amount of schooling in a year
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070811151449.htm
Well the above linked study says there is no difference in a 9 month study + 3 month holidays Schools Vs 12 months schools with multiple holidays in between (The uniformly distributed holidays). The study of course says that total number of study days remain 180 for both scenarios.
I think learning is about Authentic Immersion into real life experiences and active processing of these experiences. How many authentic real life experiences are provided by the schools - I think the experiences need to be maximized rather than counting the number of days...
The schools that create more authentic, wider, real life experiences to kids - should be doing much better in the final score in life of the students...
May be business organizations - especially the PROCEES JUNKIES that we have been producing - have to realize that Process is not the panacea - it has to be the PEOPLE.... Make people above everything else - and build an organization that can stand the impact of changes, adapt to the changes and continuously evolve through learning... Making LEARNING CENTRAL to your organization.....
Well the above linked study says there is no difference in a 9 month study + 3 month holidays Schools Vs 12 months schools with multiple holidays in between (The uniformly distributed holidays). The study of course says that total number of study days remain 180 for both scenarios.
I think learning is about Authentic Immersion into real life experiences and active processing of these experiences. How many authentic real life experiences are provided by the schools - I think the experiences need to be maximized rather than counting the number of days...
The schools that create more authentic, wider, real life experiences to kids - should be doing much better in the final score in life of the students...
May be business organizations - especially the PROCEES JUNKIES that we have been producing - have to realize that Process is not the panacea - it has to be the PEOPLE.... Make people above everything else - and build an organization that can stand the impact of changes, adapt to the changes and continuously evolve through learning... Making LEARNING CENTRAL to your organization.....
THINK - "BIG" will Happen
I have been thinking about "THINK BIG" - the cliched statement that everybody tells us mere mortals. Self-help books, to Big achievers, Business tycoons, university profs, Business gurus and political leaders.
I realize - it is about "THINKING" - there seems to an almost unsurmountable inertia in all of us to start "THINKING" - How do we think - how our mind want us to remain in the patterns that we are use to - actually create mountains of our stable patterns. These stable patterns are such a sucker points that all our thoughts get regionalized or attracted to these Strange Attractors - Basins of attraction. It is important to get triggers to think out of these BrainHoles.
The topmost question that we should be asking everyday " How I can do, what ever I am doing now, differently"?
Second question "How this time whatever I did, how much it was different than the previous time I did this thing?"
Did you brush your teeth differently today?
If not - get up and find out a way to brush your teeth differently right now.....
Once you start thinking this way - believe me - the so called BIG will happen - you dont have to start thinking BIG - but just start thinking of doing whatever you are doing in a different way?...
I realize - it is about "THINKING" - there seems to an almost unsurmountable inertia in all of us to start "THINKING" - How do we think - how our mind want us to remain in the patterns that we are use to - actually create mountains of our stable patterns. These stable patterns are such a sucker points that all our thoughts get regionalized or attracted to these Strange Attractors - Basins of attraction. It is important to get triggers to think out of these BrainHoles.
The topmost question that we should be asking everyday " How I can do, what ever I am doing now, differently"?
Second question "How this time whatever I did, how much it was different than the previous time I did this thing?"
Did you brush your teeth differently today?
If not - get up and find out a way to brush your teeth differently right now.....
Once you start thinking this way - believe me - the so called BIG will happen - you dont have to start thinking BIG - but just start thinking of doing whatever you are doing in a different way?...
Thursday, August 09, 2007
Future of Work - At least in US
21st Century Workforce in US
(A brief summary of The future at Work – Trends and Implications Research Brief RB-5070-DOI (2004), Rand Corp.) -
Next 10-15 years (2020) work in US will be shaped by
- Demographic Trends
- Technological Advances
- Economic Globalization
Key Findings
Growing trade in intermediate and final goods and services
Expanding Capital flows
More rapid transfer of knowledge and technologies
Mobile Populations
These are due to result of inexpensive, rapid communication and information transfer enabled by the IT revolution
Skills and preparation of the workforce –
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Principles for Project Management and Process Improvement
Toyota’s 14 lean principles (detailed in Jim Liker's book The Toyota Way) have been culled out of long-term process improvement experiences and deep deployment initiatives in manufacturing scenarios. The software development processes at the observation level may be different, or at the abstract level may be same – debate is still on. However, keeping an open mind to observe and study the scenarios, situations and project organizations for providing software services, author has culled out seven interesting operational priniciples. These operational principles may not exactly match Toyata’s Lean principles, but are derived from successful and sometimes unsuccessful attempts in trying to apply them in the software world. The note describes these prinicples in brief and hope these 7 lenses will give a software value stream owner efficient tools to improve operational efficiency manifolds!
7 Principles that Stick
1. Plan your Project and Project your Plan
2. Collaboration is the key and it has two parts Cooperation and Elaboration
3. Identify and Exploit Concurrency where ever you can
4. Wait Times are Waste Times
5. Crisis Avoidance is an order of magnitude more profitable than Crisis Management
6. Best time to detect and respond to an error/defect/bug/mistake is while it is being created
7. Decisions made in the value stream and Handoffs in value stream are main flow decelerators
Principle 1: Plan your project and Project your Plan
First part of this principle is fairly straight forward. However, we typically plan projects with a linear way of work break down structures, etc. There is no framework to generate multiple project plan alternatives; rather it is found from author’s experience, typically there is only one project plan which gets refined, modified, developed, elaborated and at the end abandoned, as the reality moves so far away from it that there remains no point in following it. Further, there are no metrics to evaluate the project plan alternatives from the point of view of efficiency measures such as number of decision points, number of handoffs, time the work in progress will be waiting for the person to work or the person will be waiting for the work to come, workload balance in time and space, etc. Although this part of the principle is not done in a comprehensive manner, however there is a semblance of a project plan in most of the software projects.
It is really the second part of the principle, i.e., project your plan that is missed out completely. Once the plan is created and is expected to be followed, the complete plan needs to be projected to the team and all stake holders. Further the project plan should be a living document or artifact that keeps on reflecting the life of the project at a particular point in time. By doing this projection of the project plan, the anatomy and physiology of the software project is captured and is visible to all the stakeholders, thereby creating higher probability of finding crisis points much earlier. This helps in crisis avoidance which is the focus in Principle 5.
Principle 2: Collaboration is the key and it has two parts Cooperation and Elaboration
Software development projects and software maintenance projects are heavily people dependent. Further the persons involved have arguably higher education and IQ levels (at least they perceive) compared to other industries. If the team members are able to combine the skills in a synergistic manner, it can amplify benefits in multiple dimensions for the project. If the discussions or the ad-hoc, non-formal brainstorming sessions are carried out in open, synergistic manner, leveraging the creative tension, the teams can be much more effective. Cooperative elaboration is fundamental to carrying out efficient projects. This also requires involvement of maximum number of team members in maximum number of project activities. It is an important point to note and remember that the egos of software developers – because of the very nature of work they perform and the need to work in solitude – are higher than other classes of homo-sapiens. Making multiple team members to collaborate and elaborate in such a scenario is a major task for any project manager and as such needs much more self-organizing project teams than many managers are willing to allow.
Principle 3: Identify and Exploit Concurrency where ever you can
Concurrency is the parallel execution of multiple processes, multiple stages of a process, multiple tasks, or multiple activities which ultimately unite or unify to deliver final output. By identifying concurrent paths work can be executed in an efficient manner wherein the cycle time can be shortened considerably. Software development life cycle is typically a set of sequential phases which may get iterated due to multiple review points in the life cycle. Sequential process phases are generally followed as one phase may be dependent on the previous phase. However, by looking at the process activities and their interdependencies as early as possible, concurrent work paths can be identified and exploited so as to reduce the development time. A conscious, complete and clear focus on concurrency exploitation is absolutely essential for software process improvement.
Principle 4: Wait Times are Waste Times
Any type of wait in the process is sheer waste. Look at obvious wait times – we typically plan only for the people utilization, i.e., when people are waiting for work. However, the second type of wait – the hidden wait, is when the work which is partially completed waits for the next phase or person to work on it. These sort of wait which can be more dangerous as not only it is hidden but the focus is not on it at all. To create process flow, eliminating both types of wait times is essential. It is however criminal, when at the same time there are partial work items waiting to be worked upon and at the same time there are people who are waiting for the work. Identify all type of waits in the delivery processes and minimized or eliminate the wait times, as these are absolute waste.
Principle 5: Crisis Avoidance is an order of magnitude more profitable than Crisis Management
Crisis situations are those conditions in a project or process that have a high probability of turning into disaster in short time period. Disaster is defined as a situation of extreme loss. We usually find ourselves in crisis situations and would like to be designated as crisis managers. It is interesting to note that crisis managers are invariably in demand. Contrast them to a project manager whose projects do not have any crisis situations. These managers have smooth projects and hence these projects do not attain too much visibility. However, it is the practices and capabilities of these crisis avoiders that we need to imbibe in the organization rather than the crisis managers.
Principle 6: Best time to detect and respond to an error/defect/bug/mistake is while it is being created
This principle may come as a surprise as we are all so used to reviews, project post- mortems, etc, and we expect or rather let mistakes continue in the system during the development. It is surprising that despite knowing that the later we are in time from the moment of mistake creation, difficult it is not only to detect but also to rectify a mistake – we let the mistakes happen. This is in fond hope that reviews and observations later in the software development cycle will uncover them. But this is like the proverbial pigeon that on seeing the cat closes its eyes in the hope that as it is not seeing therefore cat is also not seeing it. Mistakes are part of human nature and will always be there. The point is that earlier the mistake identification happens less costly it is to fix it. Pair programming is a clear manifestation of this principle, where in, two programmers work at the same time on the same machine on the same program. Thereby not only developing together, but reviewing each others code at the earliest – in fact many times as it is being created.
Principle 7: Decisions points in the value stream and Handoffs in value stream are main flow decelerators
A value stream needs to flow. It is observed that more number of decision points make the flow lesser and lesser. Similarly more hand offs in the value stream indicates more inaccuracies, delays and reviews than in a value stream with less number of hands offs. In fact, we can define a Value Stream Choking Index (VSCI) as directly proportional to number of hand offs and number of decision points. Further, hands offs create a absolute hidden waste that is so intertwined with human psychology that it goes without notice. In a typical hand off between two persons, the giver is supposed to pass the artifacts and information in complete, comprehensive and unambiguous manner to the receiver. The receiver is supposed to get this information and artifacts and develop them further so that he can add more value to send it to customer ultimately. Typically in the hand offs there is tremendous loss because neither the receiver nor the giver puts effort to pass the information in unambiguous manner first time. This results in multiple meetings and rework and hence creating flow deceleration.
Kindly review and send your critical comments, thoughts and feedback to navneetbhushan@gmail.com.
7 Principles that Stick
1. Plan your Project and Project your Plan
2. Collaboration is the key and it has two parts Cooperation and Elaboration
3. Identify and Exploit Concurrency where ever you can
4. Wait Times are Waste Times
5. Crisis Avoidance is an order of magnitude more profitable than Crisis Management
6. Best time to detect and respond to an error/defect/bug/mistake is while it is being created
7. Decisions made in the value stream and Handoffs in value stream are main flow decelerators
Principle 1: Plan your project and Project your Plan
First part of this principle is fairly straight forward. However, we typically plan projects with a linear way of work break down structures, etc. There is no framework to generate multiple project plan alternatives; rather it is found from author’s experience, typically there is only one project plan which gets refined, modified, developed, elaborated and at the end abandoned, as the reality moves so far away from it that there remains no point in following it. Further, there are no metrics to evaluate the project plan alternatives from the point of view of efficiency measures such as number of decision points, number of handoffs, time the work in progress will be waiting for the person to work or the person will be waiting for the work to come, workload balance in time and space, etc. Although this part of the principle is not done in a comprehensive manner, however there is a semblance of a project plan in most of the software projects.
It is really the second part of the principle, i.e., project your plan that is missed out completely. Once the plan is created and is expected to be followed, the complete plan needs to be projected to the team and all stake holders. Further the project plan should be a living document or artifact that keeps on reflecting the life of the project at a particular point in time. By doing this projection of the project plan, the anatomy and physiology of the software project is captured and is visible to all the stakeholders, thereby creating higher probability of finding crisis points much earlier. This helps in crisis avoidance which is the focus in Principle 5.
Principle 2: Collaboration is the key and it has two parts Cooperation and Elaboration
Software development projects and software maintenance projects are heavily people dependent. Further the persons involved have arguably higher education and IQ levels (at least they perceive) compared to other industries. If the team members are able to combine the skills in a synergistic manner, it can amplify benefits in multiple dimensions for the project. If the discussions or the ad-hoc, non-formal brainstorming sessions are carried out in open, synergistic manner, leveraging the creative tension, the teams can be much more effective. Cooperative elaboration is fundamental to carrying out efficient projects. This also requires involvement of maximum number of team members in maximum number of project activities. It is an important point to note and remember that the egos of software developers – because of the very nature of work they perform and the need to work in solitude – are higher than other classes of homo-sapiens. Making multiple team members to collaborate and elaborate in such a scenario is a major task for any project manager and as such needs much more self-organizing project teams than many managers are willing to allow.
Principle 3: Identify and Exploit Concurrency where ever you can
Concurrency is the parallel execution of multiple processes, multiple stages of a process, multiple tasks, or multiple activities which ultimately unite or unify to deliver final output. By identifying concurrent paths work can be executed in an efficient manner wherein the cycle time can be shortened considerably. Software development life cycle is typically a set of sequential phases which may get iterated due to multiple review points in the life cycle. Sequential process phases are generally followed as one phase may be dependent on the previous phase. However, by looking at the process activities and their interdependencies as early as possible, concurrent work paths can be identified and exploited so as to reduce the development time. A conscious, complete and clear focus on concurrency exploitation is absolutely essential for software process improvement.
Principle 4: Wait Times are Waste Times
Any type of wait in the process is sheer waste. Look at obvious wait times – we typically plan only for the people utilization, i.e., when people are waiting for work. However, the second type of wait – the hidden wait, is when the work which is partially completed waits for the next phase or person to work on it. These sort of wait which can be more dangerous as not only it is hidden but the focus is not on it at all. To create process flow, eliminating both types of wait times is essential. It is however criminal, when at the same time there are partial work items waiting to be worked upon and at the same time there are people who are waiting for the work. Identify all type of waits in the delivery processes and minimized or eliminate the wait times, as these are absolute waste.
Principle 5: Crisis Avoidance is an order of magnitude more profitable than Crisis Management
Crisis situations are those conditions in a project or process that have a high probability of turning into disaster in short time period. Disaster is defined as a situation of extreme loss. We usually find ourselves in crisis situations and would like to be designated as crisis managers. It is interesting to note that crisis managers are invariably in demand. Contrast them to a project manager whose projects do not have any crisis situations. These managers have smooth projects and hence these projects do not attain too much visibility. However, it is the practices and capabilities of these crisis avoiders that we need to imbibe in the organization rather than the crisis managers.
Principle 6: Best time to detect and respond to an error/defect/bug/mistake is while it is being created
This principle may come as a surprise as we are all so used to reviews, project post- mortems, etc, and we expect or rather let mistakes continue in the system during the development. It is surprising that despite knowing that the later we are in time from the moment of mistake creation, difficult it is not only to detect but also to rectify a mistake – we let the mistakes happen. This is in fond hope that reviews and observations later in the software development cycle will uncover them. But this is like the proverbial pigeon that on seeing the cat closes its eyes in the hope that as it is not seeing therefore cat is also not seeing it. Mistakes are part of human nature and will always be there. The point is that earlier the mistake identification happens less costly it is to fix it. Pair programming is a clear manifestation of this principle, where in, two programmers work at the same time on the same machine on the same program. Thereby not only developing together, but reviewing each others code at the earliest – in fact many times as it is being created.
Principle 7: Decisions points in the value stream and Handoffs in value stream are main flow decelerators
A value stream needs to flow. It is observed that more number of decision points make the flow lesser and lesser. Similarly more hand offs in the value stream indicates more inaccuracies, delays and reviews than in a value stream with less number of hands offs. In fact, we can define a Value Stream Choking Index (VSCI) as directly proportional to number of hand offs and number of decision points. Further, hands offs create a absolute hidden waste that is so intertwined with human psychology that it goes without notice. In a typical hand off between two persons, the giver is supposed to pass the artifacts and information in complete, comprehensive and unambiguous manner to the receiver. The receiver is supposed to get this information and artifacts and develop them further so that he can add more value to send it to customer ultimately. Typically in the hand offs there is tremendous loss because neither the receiver nor the giver puts effort to pass the information in unambiguous manner first time. This results in multiple meetings and rework and hence creating flow deceleration.
Kindly review and send your critical comments, thoughts and feedback to navneetbhushan@gmail.com.
Innovation Toons
Please use these cartoons in your presentations as much as you can. Would like to get your feedback as well @ navneetbhushan@gmail.com
Monday, August 06, 2007
Crisis Gaming for Software Project Management
Software Project Management in Times of Crisis - How to train SW Proj Managers using Crisis Gaming
Navneet Bhushan
mailto: navneetbhushan@gmail.com
Abstract
Navneet Bhushan
mailto: navneetbhushan@gmail.com
Abstract
Software Project Manager (SPM) is in continuous state of Crisis. A Crisis situation is defined as the one with a high probability of leading to disaster. The SPM has to take care of many or sometimes multiple crisis situations in the execution of software projects. However, SPM is not trained in a formal way to tackle crisis situations. We propose a formal simulation environment, based on the methodology of Crisis Gaming or Free Form Gaming to train SPM to deal with Crisis situations in Software project execution.
Most Software Project Managers have to deal with situations, which unless tackled within a specified time have a high probability of leading to disaster. In Software Project Management, disaster can be defined as a failure of Project delivery within the pessimistic deadlines or pessimistic cost limits. Disaster may also be defined as delivery of highly bugged Software to the Client within the pessimistic cost and schedule limits. As the project goes through various phases of the life cycle, the SPM has to decide on a Course of Action (COA) from alternative options, so as to tackle crisis situations. There are many events within the lifecycle, which unless nipped in the bud, may lead to crisis or even disasters. The SPM needs to identify such events and take corrective or even preventive measures to tackle such events.
Crises and Disasters in Software Project Management
Crisis is defined as a crucial stage or turning point, which implies fairly compressed period of time. Although Risk Management is part of project planning and management, it is carried out in an ad hoc manner based on Project Manager’s experience. This experience is usually limited and SPM is generally unaware of dealing with crisis situations. This may lead to pronounced negative effects on the project execution. Risk (R) of an event has been defined as the product of probability of occurrence (p) and consequences (q), i.e.,
R = p x q (1)
High-risk events can lead to crisis situations. Therefore events with high probability of occurrence or with grave consequences or both may be identified as Crisis Events. The idea of crisis management is that when the high-risk event actually occurs or is about to occur, it can be deciphered. However, due to the compressed reaction time available it becomes difficult to respond appropriately to avoid crisis or disaster. In this regard, it is extremely important for the SPM to make decisions, which are not only effective but are taken at a rapid pace under extreme pressure conditions.
We define Crisis Index associated with a risk as
CI = (p/tp) x (q/tq) (2)
Where, tp is the time taken by the crisis conditions to lead to the crisis event and tq is the time taken after the event has occurred and the occurrence of consequences or impact.
From (1) and (2)
CI = R / (tp x tq) (3)
In effect the Crisis Index is inversely proportional to the reaction time available to the respondent. Lesser the value of reaction times higher the value of CI.
Thus while carrying out risk assessment, it is not only important to compute Risk (R), but its imperative to evaluate the Crisis Index (CI) of the events as well. The CI will give a true picture of grave consequences that are possible with occurrence of each event as it incorporates the reaction time. Some of the Risk factors, and Crisis Avoidance and management strategies are listed in the table below.
Most Software Project Managers have to deal with situations, which unless tackled within a specified time have a high probability of leading to disaster. In Software Project Management, disaster can be defined as a failure of Project delivery within the pessimistic deadlines or pessimistic cost limits. Disaster may also be defined as delivery of highly bugged Software to the Client within the pessimistic cost and schedule limits. As the project goes through various phases of the life cycle, the SPM has to decide on a Course of Action (COA) from alternative options, so as to tackle crisis situations. There are many events within the lifecycle, which unless nipped in the bud, may lead to crisis or even disasters. The SPM needs to identify such events and take corrective or even preventive measures to tackle such events.
Crises and Disasters in Software Project Management
Crisis is defined as a crucial stage or turning point, which implies fairly compressed period of time. Although Risk Management is part of project planning and management, it is carried out in an ad hoc manner based on Project Manager’s experience. This experience is usually limited and SPM is generally unaware of dealing with crisis situations. This may lead to pronounced negative effects on the project execution. Risk (R) of an event has been defined as the product of probability of occurrence (p) and consequences (q), i.e.,
R = p x q (1)
High-risk events can lead to crisis situations. Therefore events with high probability of occurrence or with grave consequences or both may be identified as Crisis Events. The idea of crisis management is that when the high-risk event actually occurs or is about to occur, it can be deciphered. However, due to the compressed reaction time available it becomes difficult to respond appropriately to avoid crisis or disaster. In this regard, it is extremely important for the SPM to make decisions, which are not only effective but are taken at a rapid pace under extreme pressure conditions.
We define Crisis Index associated with a risk as
CI = (p/tp) x (q/tq) (2)
Where, tp is the time taken by the crisis conditions to lead to the crisis event and tq is the time taken after the event has occurred and the occurrence of consequences or impact.
From (1) and (2)
CI = R / (tp x tq) (3)
In effect the Crisis Index is inversely proportional to the reaction time available to the respondent. Lesser the value of reaction times higher the value of CI.
Thus while carrying out risk assessment, it is not only important to compute Risk (R), but its imperative to evaluate the Crisis Index (CI) of the events as well. The CI will give a true picture of grave consequences that are possible with occurrence of each event as it incorporates the reaction time. Some of the Risk factors, and Crisis Avoidance and management strategies are listed in the table below.
However, CI’s give only a static indicator of the possible Crises in the SDLC. Various strategies for dealing with the crisis situations should be understood and evaluated in a dynamic situation. The SPM unless put in a dynamic situation wont be able to understand the intricacies involved. To understand the dynamics of crisis situations and to train the SPM to deal with such situations we propose the design of Crisis Games for training SPM.
Why Crisis Gaming?
Penetrating the shadowy and complex intersection between psychology and decision maker remains a key analytic challenge. To address the organizational psychology of crisis management in many socioeconomic, sociopolitical, politico-military and industrial disasters and crisis situations, technique of role-playing simulations have been proposed and used. When properly done, such games offer a close approximation of the stress and flow of events of a real world crisis, saturating the participants – often more than they anticipated or desired – with policy conundrums and quick demands. Games can provide a realistic portrayal of various stumbling blocks in crisis resolution.
The Software Project Manager (SPM) requires a framework on a scientific footing to come up with possible strategies for coping up with various crisis situations. This requires a thorough understanding of possible crisis situations, how these may be avoided and how to manage them.
The Crisis Gaming Methodology provides such a framework for the SPM to explore future situations and to create strategies on a rational basis. Games provide a form of laboratory in which to observe the activities of individuals or groups in simulated crisis. These games use the standard simulation techniques such as Monte Carlo or Discrete Event Simulation for generating virtual crisis situations for creating near real life experience for the SPM.
Crisis Gaming for Software Project Managers
The Game can be designed as a two terminal game – one terminal each for the SPM and expert respectively, or it can be designed as a single terminal game. Although the two- terminal game is easier to design, its usage requires the availability of SPM and trainer at the same time. The single terminal game with automated Trainer may have more value in terms of its usage, but is more difficult to design.
The flowchart shows the sequence of flow in a crisis game. A scenario about the project, client requirements and resources is painted in qualitative terms for the SPM (the trainee). There is usually a library of multiple project scenarios that is kept beforehand. This may contain information of past projects executed by the organization or may have completely new situation described by the expert (the trainer).
The SPM is asked to indicate his Course of Action (COA) along with the effort estimation and effort distribution. The COA is evaluated in terms of impact on PI values. The game structure defines linkages between various Scenarios, Initial PI values, Likely events during the execution of the project, likely events due to chosen COA and certain random events corresponding to the scenario. The CI’s as computed earlier are used to estimate the time and consequences of occurrence of high- risk events.
As the COA is chosen the project execution is simulated. The project goes through various phases and milestones of the chosen SDLC model, which are pre-established. As the project goes through the simulated time, the events linked to chosen COA, linked to the scenario and random events keep on occurring. The occurrence of each event modifies the performance indicator values of the project and SPM. As the event occurs the SPM is given a chance to redistribute his resources and allocation of tasks as per his plan and changing scenario. The time given to the SPM is in accordance with the reaction time estimated for all events, which has been used while calculating CI. This cycle is repeated till the game termination condition occurs which usually is the end of SDLC or pessimistic project deadline estimated by the trainee or stored in the scenario database beforehand by the trainer.
Once the game is over the SPM, the trainer and other experts undergo a post game analysis phase, where all the COAs and Scenarios are evaluated. It is of paramount importance, however, that game post mortem sessions must not become only faultfinding sessions. It should be a group discussion to carve out various lessons from the whole exercise.
Benefits
Major benefit is that SPM gets trained under simulated pressure conditions rather than learning on live projects where the cost of such learning may be enormous. As the Crisis Gaming Methodology is proliferated throughout the organization, lessons from multiple games may be collected and collated t o establish a process for Software project planning in the long run. This whole procedure is likely to reduce costs and effort compared to the lessons learned on the live projects.
Rules of Innovation
1. Brainstorm with your customer
2. Find the Next Generation Customer
3. Focus on Ideal Final Result
4. Create a Red Team - a cyclic red team
5. Customer may not know what they need
6. Process is the biggest killer of innovation - focus on Innovation Process
7. Set Based thinking at all levels
8. Thrive in decision complexity
9. Biggest reason for failures is rejecting Non sense - Explore and thrive in non-sensible
10. Enable Creativity flow - ideas are the only dreams - build dreams on ideas
2. Find the Next Generation Customer
3. Focus on Ideal Final Result
4. Create a Red Team - a cyclic red team
5. Customer may not know what they need
6. Process is the biggest killer of innovation - focus on Innovation Process
7. Set Based thinking at all levels
8. Thrive in decision complexity
9. Biggest reason for failures is rejecting Non sense - Explore and thrive in non-sensible
10. Enable Creativity flow - ideas are the only dreams - build dreams on ideas
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Innovation is EveryOne's Core responsibility
http://strange.corante.com/archives/2007/08/05/wheres_your_innovation.php
In the above link, a very nice experiment showed how the skunkworks failed for the Economist. Innovation is not for one set of people in the organization - it is not the top management who should be engaged in Innovation, It has to be every mind that works for the Enterprise - that should be involved in the process of innovation - be that mind be the Employee, supplier, partner, customer or even the competitor!!!
In the above link, a very nice experiment showed how the skunkworks failed for the Economist. Innovation is not for one set of people in the organization - it is not the top management who should be engaged in Innovation, It has to be every mind that works for the Enterprise - that should be involved in the process of innovation - be that mind be the Employee, supplier, partner, customer or even the competitor!!!
Creating Non-Linear Growth - Using Complex Systems Research
Most of the Indian IT services companies are caught in the linear loop - their revenues are directly proportional to number of billable employees they have. It has come to such a passe that each big IT company has actually become more of a real estate infrastucture company - searching for land to house the growth. Below are some pointers to create a value based business model rather than billing rate based business model, using some inputs from complex systems research:
Measurement: Measure operations through a minimal set of metrics rather than the current large set of metrics
Boundary less ness: Create boundary less ness through continuous horizontal communication and open organization
Self-Organizing Teams: Reward, empower, delegate to create self-organizing teams interconnected with other teams having bottom line responsibilities- end to end project groups – sales + delivery working together as a team
Swarming: Experts with specific capabilities come together to execute projects and than go back to their respective capability development
Focus on Continuous Innovation: Intellectual Property in terms of Patents should be created and maintained; a technological look ahead of 3-4 years by creating new technologies should be the focus
Create a RED TEAM: A red team will only work for ideas to supply the same services with a new or radically different way. If we do not create from inside – somebody from outside will create it. We should be looking for disruptive innovations from inside rather than from outside
Networked Thinking: Inculcate networked thinking rather than the Hierarchical thinking – which is current way of doing things
Reach outside World through Knowledge Connectivity: Enable people to connect with outside research groups, symposiums, conferences, workshops – encourage and create research artifacts connecting with thought leaders and create our own thought leaders.
Measurement: Measure operations through a minimal set of metrics rather than the current large set of metrics
Boundary less ness: Create boundary less ness through continuous horizontal communication and open organization
Self-Organizing Teams: Reward, empower, delegate to create self-organizing teams interconnected with other teams having bottom line responsibilities- end to end project groups – sales + delivery working together as a team
Swarming: Experts with specific capabilities come together to execute projects and than go back to their respective capability development
Focus on Continuous Innovation: Intellectual Property in terms of Patents should be created and maintained; a technological look ahead of 3-4 years by creating new technologies should be the focus
Create a RED TEAM: A red team will only work for ideas to supply the same services with a new or radically different way. If we do not create from inside – somebody from outside will create it. We should be looking for disruptive innovations from inside rather than from outside
Networked Thinking: Inculcate networked thinking rather than the Hierarchical thinking – which is current way of doing things
Reach outside World through Knowledge Connectivity: Enable people to connect with outside research groups, symposiums, conferences, workshops – encourage and create research artifacts connecting with thought leaders and create our own thought leaders.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
The Upcoming Design Structure Matrix Conference in Munich, Germany
The 9th International Design/Dependency Structure Matrix conference is slated to be held in Munich, Germany (16-18 October 2007). This time it is organized in collaboration with BMW . After having participated in the previous two DSM conferences (DSM 2005, DSM 2006) held in collaboration with Boeing , I can say, the 9th conference promises to be more wider and richer as DSM theory and applications are expanding beyond the initial arenas.
For the uninitiated, DSM is a remarkably simple way to structure complexity of any system and hence an aid to innovation and problem solving. I have used it for project planning, system design, system architecture, enterprise architecture analysis, large scale software system analysis, business re-engineering, etc.
Explore DSM - you may be able to reach the simplicity on the other side of complexity much faster!!
For the uninitiated, DSM is a remarkably simple way to structure complexity of any system and hence an aid to innovation and problem solving. I have used it for project planning, system design, system architecture, enterprise architecture analysis, large scale software system analysis, business re-engineering, etc.
Explore DSM - you may be able to reach the simplicity on the other side of complexity much faster!!
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Business Method Patents
Business Method Patents -
A Strategic Awakening Call for Indian Software Companies
Introduction
One of the most controversial Patent rights granted by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in recent past has been the Business Method Patents. These patents rights belong to the US Classification class 705. It is defined in the USPTO schedule as part of data processing field.
CLASS 705: DATA PROCESSING: FINANCIAL, BUSINESS PRACTICE, MANAGE-MENT, OR COST/PRICE DETERMINATION
The problem is that no other country grants patent rights for the Business Methods that this class describes. The trend that started with granting of software patents has continued with Business Method patents
A Patent right is an Intellectual Property right given to an inventor or his assignee, for an invention that is new or novel, has industrial application or is useful, and has an inventive step or is non-obvious to a person skilled in the field of invention. The right associated excludes any one else to exercise the invention for a limited period in the specific geography where the protection has been granted. The Patent rights have traditionally been given to industrial and technical fields such as chemical, mechanical and later on electronic fields. The software field has been a late entrant to the patent subject matter – started by the US federal courts and to some extent US PTO.
A Strategic Awakening Call for Indian Software Companies
Introduction
One of the most controversial Patent rights granted by United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in recent past has been the Business Method Patents. These patents rights belong to the US Classification class 705. It is defined in the USPTO schedule as part of data processing field.
CLASS 705: DATA PROCESSING: FINANCIAL, BUSINESS PRACTICE, MANAGE-MENT, OR COST/PRICE DETERMINATION
The problem is that no other country grants patent rights for the Business Methods that this class describes. The trend that started with granting of software patents has continued with Business Method patents
A Patent right is an Intellectual Property right given to an inventor or his assignee, for an invention that is new or novel, has industrial application or is useful, and has an inventive step or is non-obvious to a person skilled in the field of invention. The right associated excludes any one else to exercise the invention for a limited period in the specific geography where the protection has been granted. The Patent rights have traditionally been given to industrial and technical fields such as chemical, mechanical and later on electronic fields. The software field has been a late entrant to the patent subject matter – started by the US federal courts and to some extent US PTO.
Two important arguments in favor of software related inventions propagated are –
All technologies are equal and hence Patent System should treat all fields with same lens
Although software industry was innovative even without Patents, the patents improve Research and Development (R&D) incentives by increasing Return on Investment (ROI).
The method of doing business patents - classified as US PTO class 705, are not only much more complicated but have much more difficulty in invalidating using the novelty and non-obviousness tests of the classical patent system. These so called Business Method Patents (BMP) use computers, electronic networks and Internet technologies to create different ways to transact, exchange information, create and display product catalogues, enable secure money exchanges, trading, etc for people across geographies. The geographical independence of these patents is a totally new dimension that the Patent Laws – which by definition are geography dependent, have to take care of. USPTO grants these patents, while rest of the world does not as yet. However, the methods of doing business over Internet, mobile data networks, satellite networks, etc, transcend multiple geographies. How and which laws will be relevant and applicable if the networks on which the BMP operate are based out of multiple geographies? These are not only serious challenges but require a thorough understanding, study, analysis and harmonization of multiple legal systems and Patent Laws to create a fair, just and innovation facilitation IP system in the world.
Trends of Business Method Patents Granted by USPTO (1992-2006)
A first order search of USPTO (http://www.uspto.gov/) provides the two graphs shown above. All the major IT companies are moving in this area rapidly, led by the ever eager IBM. May be here in lie the reason that Indian software companies - the much mentioned success mantras - may have hard nuts to crack in future - by the way, future is always NOW! Hope this is a strategic awakening call for Indian Software Companies !!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)