Disqus - Latest Comments for jackvinson

Re: What Stupid Machines and Stupid Processes Reveal

jackvinson — Thu, 11 Jul 2019 11:24:51 -0000

Don't know if it is a "KM fix" for this, but it is a familiar challenge when orgs develop tools in isolation with each other. And in KM, one of the big things we do is ensure that we understand the full system and how the people in it work. There are certainly plenty of "KM implementations" that touch upon call centers.

Re: Our Vision for the Next Generation of Management Tools

jackvinson — Mon, 20 Nov 2017 09:42:28 -0000

Interesting design principles: simplicity, tools supporting decisions, not the other way around, etc. (I've seen many examples of complicated tools built, and then processes created to force people to manage the tools, instead of those tools always helping people manage their work.)

However, for project management, if I don't have a mechanism to clearly articulate dependencies between activities, how can I possibly come up with a commitment date on a random jumble of activities (some of which happen to have individual due dates)? What I need to know if the longest sequence through the project and what is driving any impact on the project due date. Internal task due dates are less important - we want to run the "relay race" and get the work completed as quickly as possible, driven by the right focus.

Re: A return to constraints

jackvinson — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 08:08:48 -0000

My brain is in a completely different place with typology of constraints. I think of constraints from college maths, which were some representation of a physical system boundaries.

Or I think of "constraint" from the Goldratt Theory of Constraints perspective which is the thing that limits attaining more and more of the goal. In the ToC world, these are things like the capacity of a work center or some role on a project or market demand. ToC folks also get tied up in knots talking about "policy constraints" - policies (often unwritten) that prevent organizations achieving more.

Yes, I know there are many ways to think about constraints. ToC doesn't have the lock on that, of course.

Re: Everything you need to know about the location services built into your Mac

jackvinson — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 13:13:16 -0000

Does the MacOS Photos app use Location Services?

I ask because I've got something odd happening with Photos. It no longer lets me add location information. Even for photos that have location information, it does not bring up the map that shows the location. (It lists the location, but the map is just a blank square-grid square.) This has been happening for at least six months, if not longer.

I'm guessing something has been turned off or disabled, but I don't know where to find such things. I noticed that I had disabled system preferences -> security & privacy -> location services (and have now re-enabled), but that doesn't seem to have an impact.

Re: How to easily find and add missing location to images on Photos for Mac

jackvinson — Tue, 22 Aug 2017 13:06:57 -0000

I've got something odd happening with Photos. It no longer lets me add location information. Even for photos that have location information, it does not bring up the map that shows the location. (It lists the location, but the map is just a blank square-grid square.) This has been happening for at least six months, if not longer.

Re: Freedom through constraints

jackvinson — Mon, 12 Dec 2016 10:42:33 -0000

Of course not. But it's useful to know how different people / communities think of the terms. I still recall my early engineering education where we talked about the mathematical constraints of physical systems. Not always were those constraints "active" but they are relevant to the analyses.

Re: Freedom through constraints

jackvinson — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 09:49:11 -0000

Slow to find these things, but very interested to follow up on the other posts in this thread. The Theory of Constraints community has struggled with "constraint" as well. The focus is on constraint as that which prevents attaining (more of) the goal. Traditionally they mean the physical constraints of a production system: we can't get more than 10 units out of the whole system because THAT work center can only produce 10. Knowing where that work center is provides tremendous power to the organization. They know where to focus. But in TOC there is also the idea of "policy" or "management" constraints that aren't so much the physical constraints but they also affect the ability of the system to produce more of its goal. These constraints are often on/off and may enable big leaps in performance if identified / removed. The physical constraints may also be further constrained by these kinds of policies / practices.

Re: Another Drucker memory - Cognitive Edge Network Blog

jackvinson — Mon, 16 Feb 2015 13:23:36 -0000

Thanks for these notes, Dave. I think one of the big challenges behind the "systems thinking" crowd (and I am probably one) is that people want the easy answer. So it is sometimes expedient to look at a model and think that is the world. Or to use a saying to replace the thinking that went into getting to the saying.

I often find myself reminding people that we "don't check our brains at the door."

Re: Necessary ambiguity - Cognitive Edge Network Blog

jackvinson — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 08:37:02 -0000

Ever been to Manila? They charge some kind of exit tax on the way out. Why the airline can't do this is baffling. Maybe it is just a scam. At least there were extra steps involved - they just funnel you right to the people who collect the tax. And they give you a receipt to prove it. Whee.

Re: All new blog posts will be exclusive to www.k3cubed.com

jackvinson — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 21:34:20 -0000

Funny. The url you included above embedded the knowacademy url. Might want to fix that!

Re: Follow the Knowledge Jolt with Jack

jackvinson — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 11:42:49 -0000

Thanks, Joe! I appreciate your picking me as one of the two blogs to be in your contribution to the carnival.

Re: New Year, New Beginnings

jackvinson — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 21:37:33 -0000

Nice to hear this, Mary. You will be awesome at these things - and you will get to continue learning. Let us know if you need any help!

Re: The Salmon effect - Cognitive Edge Network Blog

jackvinson — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:41:59 -0000

Dave, I've heard versions of "no amount of evidence" from a variety of sources, but I can't pin one down. It seems familiar in my change management mind, but then that is the same mind that says people CAN change their minds / beliefs. As your salmon-in-the-Thames story expresses, it has to be the right kind of evidence that fits with other established beliefs.

And for fun, I found the Twelve Virtues of Rationality that suggest the rational being is always waiting for opporutnities to be swayed.
http://yudkowsky.net/ration...

Re: The Next Innings of Social – I’m hiring @sapsocial

jackvinson — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:25:11 -0000

Sure you don't want to move that job out to Boston?

Re: A cupcake technique that will change your life,... | HOW TO DO EVERYTHING

jackvinson — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:25:28 -0000

Where were we supposed to be leaving comments or suggestions about public toilets? (You mentioned a page or link during the show, but it isn't here, and I am not backing up to attempt to find the mention again.)

That said, there is a Sit or Squat app on the iPhone. However, I see that it has been taken over by Charmin as an advertising ploy, and it no longer works on my phone. (And their home page won't let you do anything unless you connect to Facebook, which annoys me to no end.)
https://itunes.apple.com/us...

Re: Team Culture, Project Culture

jackvinson — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:20:55 -0000

Even in "big delivery" projects (house, bridge, satellite), the project mindset creates many of the problems that Tobias describes (pulled in many directions; unclear priorities; multitasking; too much WIP; doing more instead of finishing more). Shifting to a mindset that gives people doing the work the information they need to make priority and focusing decisions has to be helpful.

Re: Apple and Philippe Starck? I Don’t See It.

jackvinson — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:21:58 -0000

I can see it now: a whole line of designer-inspired Apple products, a la Target's clothing lines. :-)

What would an Apple-Stark television look like? Would it be more attractive than a piece of glass that you mount on the wall? What else would it be? The remote is going to be an app on your iphone / ipad. What would Stark actually do? I could more imagine Stark designing wrappers and decoration, like the color "jewel cases" you can put around your macbooks and mobiles.

Re: Introducing the newest love of my life: Anneka Roxanne Patel

jackvinson — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:07:41 -0000

Congratulations! Happy birth day!

Re: What’s the Right Question for a Better Answer?

jackvinson — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 08:25:53 -0000

Questions, questions, questions. Almost anything we say in conversations lead us down pathways and are loaded with assumptions. The beauty of your story here is that you discovered your lack of knowledge was pushing you in the wrong direction right away.

I also see your story as an example of a mentality of limits (in this case, limits on the expert's time). In the networked world, the nature of those limits change. And we can start asking questions differently. We can even ask our networks what questions we should be asking to learn more about a given topic - which of course leads to more questions. [And this reminds me of diverging / converging in learning: diverging to see the scope, converging on a specific point.]

Re: Lean Software & Systems Conference

jackvinson — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 10:22:46 -0000

Are you going, Joe? I'm going to be there.

Re: How to get buy-in for your project

jackvinson — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:36:07 -0000

This sounds familiar. There have been some interesting consumer results where technology simplifies this so much that all you need to do is push a button. But then people won't buy it (or won't pay a premium) because they think it's "too simple." The comments I saw had to do with clothes washing machines that detect dirt levels, amount of clothing and adjusted appropriately.

Re: Social Media Silo's

jackvinson — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 12:31:48 -0000

Yep. Google+ just re-highlighted the problem for me. It created some initial buzz and engagement (for me), but now it is back to the same problem. Where do I want to spend my attention when all the people on Google+, Facebook, Twitter and my blog readers are heavily overlapped. How am I supposed to remember who said what where?

And a link to my blog post on the topic, so we have circular references.
http://blog.jackvinson.com/...

Re: IAM Talking: Digital Gifts and the Gift Marketing Economy with Ethan Bloch from Flowtown

jackvinson — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 23:27:55 -0000

Hey Dan. Interesting conversation. I was surprised to hear you guys comparing DropBox and Carbonite. My impression is that they serve different markets - DropBox for saving & sharing files, and Carbonite for backup (which also happens to enable similar remote access capability). Both work in the cloud of course. I've only used one of them, though.

Re: InformIT: The Skeptic’s Guide to Project Management, Part III: The Critical Chain > The Skeptics Guide to Project Management, Part III: The Critical Chain

jackvinson — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 23:16:57 -0000

I think someone didn't read the article. Hitting individual task deadlines has nothing to do with successfully completing a project on time. And if you live in an environment that works like that, I would guess most projects don't finish by the (original) due date.

Re: Say Goodbye to that Expensive Meeting

jackvinson — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:47:01 -0000

It's always nice to stop doing things that add no value to the people participating. But I caution you to check your thinking about the cost savings of canceling that meeting: are those people going to bring $200K / year additional revenues now that they don't have to attend this meeting?

That said, it is important to realize that people's time is important. Only spend it in meetings that actually bring them together for a good reason.