James Drogan

This information has, I suppose, always been available on my site, but somehow, over the last couple of days it has caught my attention.

Who thinks enough of what I am saying to subscribe?  And, by the way, only one of the 15 is coming through Bloglines.  Furthermore, what is more interesting, visitor counts or subscriber counts? 

One can get obscure data identifying the visitors, but I've not been able to figure out the subscribers.   Surely there must be a way to do this.   

A student in my graduate class on MIS in Transportation made the following observation:

"Word of advice for ...: never believe the shipping deadlines that you are being promised online. In one of my latest shopping adventures online (for the Transportation Planning textbook), the estimated shipping time was 3-5 days. In the confirmation e-mail from ..., it said "up to two weeks". While tracking the book online, apparently it was shipped the next day after the order, but I received it one month and three days after that date. Now, how long would a package take from Maine to New York? I tend to think that this online tracking is a scam; it is one thing to claim the item is still in the warehouse, but once you claim it has been shipped, there is no possible explanation for it taking so long. Oh, one more thing: I received the book two days after I e-mailed them asking for a refund..."

My response to her:

"I've had a similar experience with ....  That is, the estimated availability when ordering is far removed from the estimated shipping time when I received order confirmation.  I doubt, ..., that you and I were singled out for special treatment.  A tentative conclusion, therefore, is that this happens a lot.  If so, why don't the customers complain more?  Perhaps it is only associated with book shipments.  This would make for an interesting study in system performance and customer behavior."

Interesting people, interesting problems and opportunities.

First-of-a kind projects and being in front.

“That warm comfortable feeling is the body temperature at the center of the herd. Your are not in front far enough to make any difference.”

Not original and I can’t remember the source.

“The scenery only changes for the lead dog.”

Not original and I can’t remember the source.

Surprises and ambiguity.

Reinvention is no fun.

Neither is stating the obvious.

although one might need to do this in order to bring others along.

Challenge and accomplishment leads to growth, then the cycle starts again.

“He who rests, rots.”

Arthur Fiedler

Holism is holy

Those with a knack for the detail are in plentiful supply.

Know what you know, know what you don’t know, and know who knows what you don’t know.

Learn from all, teach all.

The greatest compliment is to be asked back to fight the next battle.

Integrity, intellect, energy and imagination.

Via How to Save the World.

In A Small View of a Possible World I raise the question whether being always on, always connected, always transacting  is a good thing.

Today, by way of 43 Folders comes this article, (Some) Attention Must Be Paid!, by Stephen Levy. 

The pithy comment in the article is attributed to Linda Stone, a former executive at Apple and Microsoft; "Constantly being accessible makes  you inaccessible."

Perhaps technology has improved our productivity, but impaired our ability to be innovative. 

The original title of this piece by Rob in Business Pundit is The Wisdom of Crowds Niches: Why Experts Still Matter where the word "crowds" is lined out.

I'm pretty much a "crowds" guy, but Rob makes some provocative points that are causing me to rethink my position.

One of the mentats recommended Collins' book.  Santa Claus accommodate me this past December.  On Christmas morning I put the book to the top of my read list.  It has subsequently gathered dust, slipping further from the top, due mostly to this January 31 review by Ron in Business Pundit

The dilemma becomes one of choosing how to invest my time.

I don't bring this up to pan the book, but rather to make what may be no more than a passing comment on a central issue of our time -- the management of information. 

From time to time my students ask for guidance on writing and the use of PowerPoint.  I'm currentlydirecting them to these websites.

King's "Everything You Need to Know...."

How to Present and Pitch, Peter Smyth

http://www.economist.com/research/styleGuide/

Working Smart: Five Rules for Better PowerPoint Presentations

Writing, Briefly 

Working Smart: My Favorite PowerPoint Resources

Re: Conversations with Dave

Nope, the WP is not on my read list.  Maybe it should be.

Critical thinking is, as you and have discussed, hard work.  And, as we have further discussed, far too few people think critically.  Instead, they take the lazy way out, looking for explanations that match their preconceptions.

I sometimes cite Abraham Lincoln's "You can fool all the people some of the time, some of the people all the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time."  Usually its in the context of how my career was and is based on the middle part of the quote.

Lincoln's words apply here.  Perkins has found a lazy mass with money.

Willy Sutton was once asked why he robbed banks.  He replied, "Because that's where the money is."  Perkins doubtless saw the money and the opportunity.  Perkins has foisted off on a large number people nothing more than a very fat supermarket tabloid.

I'm on Martin Wolf's side in this debate.  I've not read Wolf, but am very much a fan of J. N. Bhagwati, In Defense of Globalization, Oxford Press (2004), 0-195-17025-3.

Perhaps the Luddites are on the rise.

Re: Conversations with Dave

And so what should we do?

First, as our unamed columnist has done, and as you often do, take on the purveyors of content pap.  This garbage will continue if not openly confronted.

Second, develop the critical thinking and communications skills in those that will follow us.  This is not just a job for professional educators.

There are significant economic and political forces at play in all this.  When considered, they seem daunting.  However, what we lose and will lose by letting these forces hold sway over us is frightening (I really want a different word here, but can't find it at the moment).

Somehow we need to find the courage to stay in the game if only in a small way.