How about three quick updates on the new evil empire, Google.

“The Google OS Is Coming by Year’s End” by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols (Computer Word, 9 March 2009). Looks like good news until you read:”

“No Infinite Beer” by Frank Hayes (Computer World, 16 March 2009). Will make you want to switch your email to the (superior) Yahoo!

“Google: The Next Evil Empire? by Preston Gralla” (Computer World, 16 March 2009).  Be prepared to be fooled again.

Evidently Google’s definition of evil is somewhat different than the rest of us.

“Web 2.0 tools like Twitter, Facebook can foster growth in hard times” By Sharon Gaudin (Computer World, 16 March 2009). Hardly a day goes by where someone doesn’t ask, “What’s Twitter?” and “Why should I care?”. Ms. Gaudin’s article is a rock solid primer for any organization contemplating launching their brand into the Twitter-verse. Enjoy!

“Has IT process standardization gone too far?” by Kathleen Melymula is actually a Q & A with M. Eric Johnson (Computer World, 9 March 2009). Mr Johnson and Joseph M. Hall have an article published in this month’s Harvard Business Review. Maybe you’d also like to check out “When Should a Process Be Art, Not Science?”

While “artistic” has a nice buzz word-esque ring to it better words might be: agile, pragmatic or versatile. The truth is, if your company / brand is truly guest-centric then it is no surprise to you that  having too much standardization is often counterproductive. To say nothing of the fact of how it might effect the morale of your co-workers. More companies would benefit from putting more effort into “standardizing” the (internal) perception of their vision. When everyone shares a vision making the right decisions for the right reasons becomes second nature. Unfortuately too often management would rather push memorization over actually growth and learning.

“Take Advantage of the Recession” by Bart Perkins (ComputerWorld.com, 9 March 2009) is classic lemonade from lemons. While his target are those in the IT space, of six must-dos nearly all apply to all of us. Both on and off the clock. We like: Question practices, Measure performance, Increase agility, as well as Communicate candidly. All of which AU has had a passion for even prior to this economic smackdown. Running a business might not be easy. but it’s not rocket science either.  What seems to be difficult is remembering the basics, getting those right,  and maintaining the vision and passion to do so.

“Project management for networking geeks” by Greg Schaffer (Computer World Mag, 23 Feb 2009, ComputerWorld.com). The irony for this post is that Schaffer was trying to teach geek dogs new PM tricks, but his lesson was simple enough for it to be shared with all. Consider this a refresher course more that a new ground breaker. And who can disagree with the classic: “You can have it done cheap, fast, or right. Pick two”.

And while we’re on the topic of PM, “Excerpt: Agile Project Management” as pulled from Karen R.J. White’s “Agile Project Management: A Mandate for the 21st Century” as offered by Consulting Magazine (Jan / Feb 2009. ConsultingMag.com. In a nutshell agile is a buzz word for being prepared for things not to go as planned and responding to get things back on track.

“Hope Rising” by Computer World editor Don Tennant (Computer World Magazine, November 2008). A couple weeks back there was a post about this editorial as well as AU email into Mr. Tennant. And here is the edited version that appeared in the 8 December 2008 print issue. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be available online just yet.

Do I think there’s racism in America and specifically in corporate America? Without a doubt. Do I believe Don Tennant’s column ["Hope Rising," Nov. 11] helped clear things up? Nope.

Tennant relied on a survey. At the very least, he should have prefaced his comments by saying something like, “The input to this survey was subjective and was not audited for survey taker accuracy.”

Here are just two of the many possibilities that could have affected the survey’s outcome:

- For all we know, whites might exaggerate more than African-Americans about their pay.

- Both pay and racial concentration correlate to geographic location. In some cases, higher concentrations of African-Americans occur in cities with relatively low pay (for example, Atlanta) and lower concentrations are found in some cities with higher-than-average pay (San Diego).

I always read Tennant’s columns because they are thought-provoking. But in this case, hard facts are going to be more effective then overgeneralizations from surveys.

Mark Simchock
Chief Alchemist
Alchemy United
Princeton, N.J.

It’s always nice to know the AU state of mind is approved and appreciate by movers, shakers, decision makers, the critics, those in-the-know, etc.

“Hope Rising” by Computer World editor Don Tennant (Computer World Magazine, November 2008). Don writes a great column that’s always challenging and often venturing outside the scope of traditional IT publication. This was a good topic but unfortunately he missed the mark in some respects. Here’s what AU had to share with Don:

Hello again Don,

With regards to the Hope Rising column, and the issue of race… Do I think there’s racism in America and specifically corporate America? Without out a doubt I do. Do I believe your column helped clear things up? Nope. First thing, you used the S word – survey. In short, unless there’s some sort of verification I don’t see how such result can be trusted to make any sort of assessment of reality. At the very least any assumptions (and we all know about assume) should be prefaced with, “Of those who responded to this unscientific survey. The input to this survey is subjective and is not audited for survey taker accuracy, etc.”

There are just tons of possibilities:

- For all we know whites tend to exaggerate more than Afro-Americans about their pay.

- If Afro-Americans really are more dissatisfied then I’m willing to bet that those who are unhappy are going to be pretty well aware of the figure that’s making them unhappy. Note: I’d trust someone’s self assessment of satisfied vs. dissatisfied (which is subjective) far more than someone’s recall of their salary (objective).

- Is average really the best way to look at this?

- Pay is also related to geographic location and that certainly could be related to racial concentration. For example,  Atlanta verse the more expensive and thus higher pay of Dan Diego.

Well, I think you get the point. I often enjoy your thoughts because they provoke more thoughts. However in this case I think the assumptions and generalizations have been counter productive. If we’re to solve this problem – or any problem – then hard facts are going to be more effective then over-generalizations of surveys.

Keep’em comin’, please!

Mark

Mark Simchock
Chief Alchemist
Alchemy United

The Grill: Judy Estrin (www.ComputerWorld.com, late Sept 2008). To read the complete interview please click here. Great interview. Hardly a word wasted. What this interview brings to mind is that to most people innovation is really just a high class word for breaking the rules. Unfortunately, such a mind set scares a lot of people.

Simple put, the majority of corporations are not only anti-rule breaking but “corportate culture” (by its very nature) is about conformity. The carrot is typically for employees to fall in line. Not explore the unbeaten path. Unfortunately, HR won’t approve a dismissal based on someone being too homogenized. If they did it would certainly “inspire” the rest to reach a little further.

Poor management? Possibly. Effective? Maybe. Innovative? Yes.

From the 1 September 2008 issue of Computer World (www.ComputerWorld.com) Don Tennant does a interview of Ms. Mulcahy that’s worth checking. To read the complete interview click here.

Btw, Mr Tennant is Computer World’s editor and writes a great blog with a pretty broad perspective . It’s not just techie computer stuff. Don’s insights can be found at: blogs.computerworld.com/tennant.

Later in this interview you’ll find:

AM : There were plenty of less-than-perfect decisions. For us, the worst decision was no decision. It’s the things you don’t deal with. It’s much easier to fix mistakes than to fix inaction.

Break out the champagne. We’ll drink to that!