Last Black Swan of 2008

As I wrote predictions 2009 post here

The Last of 2008's Black Swan was happening here in India. The fourth largest (if you dont include Cognizant) IT Services in India Satyam has gone to such depth that rising from it may take more than 2009!

Is this the possible fate of other IT Services companies in 2009! Or something very similar.

Well Black Swans are a plenty in 2008.

We still have a day left in 2008!

May be tomorrow will turn the new Black Swan!

Inventing a New 2009

Given the 2008 that we are leaving behind - we need to Invent a New 2009!

Invent a 2009 where, we focus more on learning as a means to live
Invent a 2009 where, we focus more on working with each other
Invent a 2009 where, we focus more on means rather than the quick wins (the low hanging fruits they say)
Invent a 2009 where, we look at Work as Joy!
Invent a 2009 where, we invent ourselves continuously
Invent a 2009 where, we celebrate life more and more every passing day
Invent a 2009 where, we are honest to our inner heart more than anyone else
Invent a 2009 where, we tolerate more and nourish actions
Invent a 2009 where, we solve more problems rather than create more problems
Invent a 2009 where, we rejoice failures and contemplate success
Invent a 2009, where, we become more human!

TRIZ Becomes Mainstream!

When Steve Hamm writes about TRIZ at Businessweek it becomes Mainstream!
Please find the article here.

More than the article it is the specific reader comments which caught my eye

I just quote one, "TRIZ is nothing but a rehash of ideas and methods that have existed since the industrial revolution.Thomas Edison,Bell Labs, and numerious well run companies used the same methods (albiet, not in a fancy package). Same with Six Sigma."

Even if above is true, TRIZ I have found is much more powerful than any other "BOX" to structure inventiveness of human minds together!

As my friend from Altshuller Institute Richard Langevin comments at the article "TRIZ is a powerful methodology for the identification of numerous solution concepts for difficult problems. It is also food for the mind that will open your eyes to the opportunities for resolving conflict in many kinds of systems and forecasting future systems. TRIZ is the best kept secret in the world."

It is a secret indeed - as doing it requires very hard work initially - which the fast mover superficial minds of the western world have a bigger problem. The "Not Invented Here" is another reason why TRIZ is taking time to proliferate. Had it been an American Process - by now whole world would have gone through multi-rounds of mass hysteria! Well - Looks like TRIZ sells slow and on its own power!

So Full Steam ahead on using TRIZ type philosophies to create a new world of continuous innovation!

LIST Workshop at TRIZCON 2009

TRIZCON 2009 to be held in March 2009 in US, will also be hosting a workshop to be conducted by Crafitti Consulting on Lean Inventive Systems Thinking.

For those interested the details for registration and other information are available at Attending LIST Workshop at TRIZCON 2009

LEAN INVENTIVE SYSTEMS THINKING (LIST) framework with applications in Ultra Large Scale Systems Design, Services Design and Software Design

The globe is being re-engineered rapidly. Our businesses of today are not what they used to be even a decade back. Our existing methods of thinking – based on analytic and logical methods developed over last couple of centuries are suddenly looking in-effective in the new world of increasing globalization, increasing complexity and unprecedented pace. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the growing field of service and software design and innovation. Further, we are increasingly looking at the needs for designing Ultra Large Scale Systems.
In this context, Lean Inventive Systems Thinking (LIST) framework brings three key thinking dimensions –Lean Thinking, Inventive thinking and Systems Thinking to invigorate innovation in the design process. These three thinking dimensions integrate symbiotically with the dimensions of analytical thinking and logical thinking that has helped mankind succeed in the last few centuries.
The LIST framework holistically looks at needs, functions, structure and behavior of systems under an overall set-based evolutionary approach to design and includes the following elements:

Value Streams and Value Nets as a means to decode the concept of value
Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) to bring holistic systems thinking and inventive triggers to create novel ideas,
Set-based concurrent engineering (SBCE) approach to the process of design
Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) as a tool and approach to understand relationships and dependencies,
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to facilitate complex decisions in multiple-criteria scenarios

The workshop will lead the participants through the elements of the framework using a “learning-by-doing” approach. The three main application areas – Ultra Large Scale Systems, Innovative Services and Software architecture and design will be explored during the workshop.

Navneet Bhushan
Post Graduate Diploma in IPR (NLSIU, Bangalore), Diploma Patent Information (The Netherlands), M.Tech (Computer Science & Engg) IIT Madras, M.Sc (Software Science) Allahabad University, B.Sc (Hons.) Physics (Delhi University)

Navneet Bhushan (Navneet) is a founder director of CRAFITTI CONSULTING (www.crafitti.com) – an Innovation and Intellectual Property Consulting firm focused on imbibing Lean, Inventive and systems thinking to co-craft Innovation in global enterprises.
Navneet has close to two decades of experience in the fields of Defense Research, Information Technology, Intellectual Property and Management Research. He is a leading expert, researcher and consultant on Innovation Management and has built a variety of frameworks, methodologies and techniques to craft innovation in business and technology contexts.
He has authored more than 40 technical research papers and an invited speaker at various International and National Journals, Trade Magazines and Conferences. He is the principal author of Strategic Decision Making- Applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process published by Springer-Verlag, UK, as part of the Decision Engineering Series and featured at the Harvard Business School.
Navneet Blogs at http://innovationcrafting.blogspot.com


Karthikeyan Iyer
Pursuing Post Graduate Diploma in IPR (NLSIU, Bangalore), Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Mumbai University, India
Karthikeyan (Karthik) Iyer is a founder-director of Crafitti Consulting, an innovation and strategy Consulting firm focused on facilitating Lean and inventive and systems thinking to co-craft innovation in global enterprises.
He has close to a decade of experience in the IT industry and over the past several years has consulted on innovation in processes, product strategy, technology, intellectual property and organizational innovation capability. Several of his articles on innovation and strategy have been published in leading online journals.
His current areas of interest include innovation culture and chaos theory, open innovation, inventive principles and technology evolution trends. Karthik is currently pursuing his post-graduate diploma in IPR (National Law School India University, India); he has a Bachelor's degree in computer engineering from Mumbai University, India. Karthik blogs at http://kartzpot.blogspot.com.

Puppets of Chemistry

Where is the free Will
Where is the so called Mind
Where is the so called Body
- We all are really the Puppets of Chemistry!

Predictions 2009

December is the month of predictions - for next year! This is a great pass-time of many analysts and futurists and in general everyone!

Last year in December 2007 - I looked at the some of the predictions at my post here
and asked a question can we find any black swan in those predictions - and as we have seen 2008 played out rather differently -

1. Greed of the Rich (in US) creating a ripple impact of eliminating Trillions of Dollars from the markets (what the hell was sub-prime crisis)
2. Most momentus year in which 100 and 150 years old financial institutions vanished from the face of earth.
3. US Government - started behaving Like the socialist govenment of USSR to save the Automotive Giants in Detroit - from their own greed! (Is it possible?)
4. Mumbai attacked in the most outrageous terrorist attacks on India from across the border and BBC calls them "Gunmen"!
5. Bush "Shoe-gated" in Iraq - in what could be the most iconic feedback to the US and west about what people really think about their continuous greed for OIL!
- It is not over 2008
- we still have a fortnight left - and there might the biggest Black -Swan Lurking somewhere - will it be in this year - anyway 2009 will bring its own black swans!

Screw your Employees - The strategy for screwed-up times

My friend Sunil writes a very nice blog the recent post is very nice to read -

I like to give the following title to his post

In Screwed-up Times strategy should be to Screw your employees -
Sunil gives the action plan as well -
Screw your employees as they are 80% of the operation cost for IT companies..they have nowhere else to go! (Apologies for being rude but I think it is more effective to use strong words)
a. Put them in any project any technology...throw them into the first available project....if they dont survive fire them
b. If your employees ask for change or roll off from engagement lower their performance rating
c. reduce their salaries
These are the strategies especially for IT companies.
I think for others - the advise would be same!

Innovation is Power!

Innovation (and not knowledge) is Power

This may look cliched - Really thinking about Power - power, I wrote in a paper in 1998 which became a chapter in my book Strategic Decision Making , is the ability to change something from its current situation and if you know Innovation is also about change

I think Innovation is Power is the right Equation!

What say you, dear reader?

Classification of Social Networks

Searching for any papers or taxonomy on classification of Social Networks.

Could not find any - or what we need!

Hence had to create our own classification - Let us see how it goes!

Will share later! If readers have any pointers - will appreciate!

The Network is the Innovator

Collaboration Rules by Philip Evans and Bob Wolf in HBR July-Aug 2005 compares Linux (the open source community) and Toyota Production System to find remarkable similarities between these two organization systems. Salient quotes below:

1. "Monetory Carrots and accountability sticks motivate people to perform narrow specified tasks. Admiration and applause are far more effective stimulants of above-and-beyond behaviour"
2. "The Network is the Innovator"
3. "Leading is not treated as a discipline distinct from doing"
4. "Trust is a viable substitute for market contracts and hierarchical authority"

The Mistakes General Motors Made

The article in NY times explains it. The mistakes made by General Motors

The article states three mistakes - agreeing to expensive union contracts, not investing enough in smaller cars and failing to convert its plants so they could build more than one type of vehicle.

The Biggest Mistake as pointed out in the article was, "G.M.’s biggest failing, reflected in a clear pattern over recent decades, has been its inability to strike a balance between those inside the company who pushed for innovation ahead of the curve, and the finance executives who worried more about returns on investment."

If you hand over your company to accountants - be sure this is what you will get! It is imperative that you build your own dreams together -rather than helping accountants get their ROI formulas working and killing innovation!

Eigen Value Centrality, Social Network Analysis, Happiness and System Architecture

The recent study on dynamical spread of happiness in social networks uses the Eigen Value Centrality. I would like to quote the relevant portion from the paper
Figure 1 also suggests a relation between network centrality and happiness: people at the core of their local networks seem more likely to be happy, while those on the periphery seem more likely to be unhappy. We tested this by computing eigenvector centrality measures for each subject. Generalised estimating equation regressions show that ego centrality is significantly associated with improved future happiness: a 2 SD increase in centrality (from low to medium or medium to high) increases the probability of being happy at the next examination by 14% (1% to 29%, P=0.03). Moreover, the relation between centrality and future happiness remained significant even when we controlled for age, education, and the total number of family and non-family alters. Thus, it is not only the number of direct ties (at one degree of separation) but also the number of indirect ties (at higher degrees of separation) that influence future happiness. The better connected are one’s friends and family, the more likely one will attain happiness in the future. Conversely, happiness itself does not increase a person’s centrality at subsequent time points (see appendix on bmj.com). That is, network centrality leads to happiness rather than the other way around.

Interestingly I have used eigen value centrality to computer system complexity and distribution of complexity in large scale software systems ( Please see a case study published in TRIZ JOURNAL). This framework called System Complexity Estimator and System Change Impact Model (SCE-SCIM) has proved extremely potent.

Unfortunately the eigen value centrality is not easily understood by business world - Well if you need to know - send me an email ... I shall be able to help you in applying this for various applications!

Idea Crafting - Crafitti Workshops

We have started offering IDEA CRAFTING Framework for large global organizations from Crafitti.

IDEAS are those thoughts that bring in the genesis of change – many times fundamental. These are thoughts that one doesn’t get in regular run-of-the-mill thinking.
IDEAS can happen serendipitously in human mind. They can happen at any time. They can be fleeting glimpses of problem solutions, can be dreams of possible new opportunities, can be new design structures or simply new experiences.
IDEAS doesn’t happen just like that. They come to prepared minds. Only prepared minds can transform these thoughts into change. It requires an ability to generate and execute at the same time.

IDEAS need to be crafted through orchestrated immersion. Contrary to popular belief of organization having lots of ideas and it is all about execution, our experiences show ideas need to be crafted through orchestrated immersion of minds that work inside and with the enterprises.

Idea Crafting framework help us work with large enterprises in generating ideas that become the genesis of change for the enterprises

The Butcher - Movie by Arun Bose

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-UR5-MTHAM

The above link points to a movie by my friend Arun Bose. The movie is titled The Butcher.

He explains the genesis and reason for this movie on this blog as well.

A Couplet - for our Nation

{Original in Hindi}
Andhere

Had andheron ki kuch to
Hui hogi kam,
Humne yun hi nahi
Dil jalaye apne!

(translated in English)
Darkness

The borders of darkness
Must have been reduced somewhat,
We haven’t burnt our heart
Just in vain!