30 Eylül 2012 Pazar

Who I like, Oakland version

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The last time the Steelers visited Oakland, Ben Roethlisberger threw four interceptions, two of which were returned for touchdowns, in a 20-13 Raiders victory.

The Steelers have manhandled the Raiders twice since that time - both at Heinz Field - including a 35-3 dismantling in 2010.

Like those two other teams the Steelers beat up on, this Oakland team looks like a mess.

The Raiders can't run the ball, putting up 68 yards in their first two games, can't stop the run, allowing 142 yards per game on the ground, and can't rush the passer, picking up just two sacks.

Other than that, they're fine.

Troy Polamalu and James Harrison will sit out again for the Steelers, but Roethlisberger and his receivers are healthy.

The Steelers haven't had much of a running game themselves, but they'll find one against the Raiders as they adjust from all of the outside runs they've attempted in the first two weeks to a more straight-ahead style.

Take Pittsburgh, which is favored by four points, to win this one, 24-13.

Greetings from Oakland

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It's a beautiful day here in Northern California and a perfect day for football.

Inactive for the Steelers today are Rashard Mendenhall, James Harrison, Troy Polamalu, Stevenson Sylvester, Charlie Batch, Alameda Ta'amu and Mike Adams.

No surprises there, but Adams being inactive means that Kelvin Beachum is the third tackle today. I would expect that if the Steelers have an injury at tackle, though, they would bring in Legursky and slide Ramon Foster to right tackle.

Post-Oakland thoughts

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This game reminded me of on in Chicago in 1995 when the Steelers got into a shootout with the Bears. The last team to have the ball was going to win it.

Only that Steelers team had a great defense to go along with an emerging offense.

This team has established stars all over on offense and Ben Roethlisberger is playing the best football of his life.

As for a great defense, not so much - at least on the road.

As Brett Keisel said after this one, this team needs to find a way to win on the road if it is going to get to where it wants to go.

That being said, Denver and Oakland are two tough places to open. There are easier road games coming, and the Steelers had to be pleased that they put up 31 points in a very hostile environment.

But the defense allowed scores on five consecutive possessions. Can't somebody, anybody, make a play?

While the Steelers have spent some big money on offensive players in recent years, they've also dropped some heavy coin on a couple of defensive players - LaMarr Woodley and Lawrence Timmons - as well.

They're not getting their money's worth right now.

Sure, Woodley had the team's lone sack Sunday and also had a tackle for a loss. But he finished with four tackles.

That was still better than Timmons, who had three tackles. In fact, after recording seven sacks and four forced fumbles in 2009, Timmons has five sacks and two forced fumbles - in the past two-plus seasons.

At this point, he's not even as impactful on a game as Larry Foote, who doesn't have nearly the athleticism of Timmons.

Often times, tackles are a matter of opportunity. But there's something to be said about players who make their own opportunities as well.

@ If you had any question about Mike Tomlin's faith in his defense to stop the Raiders in the second half, you only needed to see him go for a fourth-and-1 at his own 29.

At that point, it was the right call. As we saw, the Steelers couldn't stop Oakland's offense.

With that in mind, I'd have given serious thought to going for it on fourth-and-9 from the 36 as well.

@ Ben Roethlisberger played an outstanding game, leading the team to 31 points while continuing his hot play on third downs, where the Steelers converted 8 of 14 for the game.

But he once again had a chance to lead a fourth quarter, game-winning drive and failed.

In the past two seasons, Roethlisberger has led exactly one game-winner, and that came against lowly Indianapolis last season.

In his first seven seasons, Roethlisberger led 26 such drives, many of which came when he was, you know, just a game manager.

@ This is still a pretty good team with a chance to get much better coming out of the bye when it gets Rashard Mendenhall, Troy Polamalu and James Harrison back.

Mendenhall has looked good in practice and has to be able to give the team something better than the 2.6 yards per carry it's currently averaging.

Polamalu is still Polamalu, while even a one-legged Harrison would give this team some kind of pass rush outside of Woodley.

The Steelers are on pace to allow more touchdown passes (32) than they have sacks (27).

You want to know what's wrong with this defense? That's it in a nutshell. The lack of pressure is killing it.

@ That was a bad fumble for Jonathan Dwyer. With Mendenhall coming back and Barron Batch showing a little something as a third-down back Sunday, Dwyer could find his opportunities dwindling quickly.

@ On the positive side, with the return of Mendenhall, this offense has a chance to be one of the more dynamic ones in the NFL. If the defense can play average football the rest of the way and the offense continues to click, the Steelers still have the look of a 10 or 11-win team.

But unless they figure out how to win a big game on the road, any hopes of another Super Bowl run are just that, hopes.

Good news for Steelers

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It appears that both James Harrison and Troy Polamalu will be back on the field for the Steelers when they return to action against the Philadelphia Eagles.

That's good news for a defense that has been cheesy soft on the road.

There has been some question as to how much Harrison can help this team because of his health.

Remember, this is a guy who started last season at about 50 percent due to two offseason back surgeries.

Harrison on one leg is better than 75 percent of the pass rushers out there.

Steelers take some days off

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The Steelers got their final practice of their bye week in today with one conspicuous absence - linebacker James Harrison.

After practicing Tuesday, Harrison left the team facility on Wednesday before the team completed its late morning session.

That doesn't bode well, but it's not crushing, either.

It might come down to pain management for Harrison, who has shown in the past that he has a high tolerance.

On the positive side, strong safety Troy Polamalu was out there again for the second consecutive day and appears to be on track to play when the team returns to the field Oct. 7 against Philadelphia.

@ Ryan Mundy got rung up to the tune of $21,000 for his hit on Darrius Heyward-Bey last weekend in Oakland.

Given the one-game suspension of Denver's Joe Mays this week for illegal hits in back-to-back games, Mundy could be looking at a similar penalty for another illegal hit this season.


29 Eylül 2012 Cumartesi

How to Use Group Dynamics to Stamp Out Ugly Politics

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Over lunch, my friend provided an update on his career at a thriving start-up. Previously when Adam talked about his job, he enthused about the challenges and teamwork.

Today, Adam lamented about a subtle shift in culture as the company has grown. For the first time since joining three years ago, politics registered on his threat meter. In some recent exchanges, his meter had gone to red alert.

Since this was causing my friend distress, I suggested that he raise the issue at the next Friday beer bust. (He works in Silicon Valley).  My recommendation was to leverage group dynamics to reinforce the group's values and modulate behavior.

The Game Plan

1. Relate Politics to Broader GoalsAdam would introduce his concern that dysfunctional politics could derail the company from achieving its goals.

2. Make Them See
He would then take specific incidents from his current job --- but change the names and setting. It is critical that he put these examples in context of his previous big company experiences where politics stifled productivity and creativity.

3. Inspire with a "Call To Action"
Next he would challenge the leadership and his colleagues to avoid the fate of so many companies who reach a certain size and experience an explosion of politics. Adam could frame the challenge by asking "How can we work together to avoid that type of energy-sucking behavior? How can we grow-up the company without down-sizing teamwork?"

This Socratic type of questioning should elicit a strong response from leadership on the need to stay focused on the goal and a strong chorus from the troops who also prefer politics-free workplace. In fact, the recent  perpetrators of dysfunctional political behavior are likely to voice support for politics-free.

4. Let Them Figure It Out; Facilitate the Discussion as Needed
Adam should plan on posing some additional questions:
  • "What are the types of political behaviors that people find energy draining?" This would add to the few scenarios that Adam already described.  
  • "What should we do when we see examples of politics?" This should encourage the group to define  how to hold each other accountable.
  • "We still want to have the tough conversations about strategy and issues. How should people raise topics constructively?" Politics-free is not issues free. To continue to grow and thrive, the company will encounter many challenges that need to be reviewed and solved.
If the free-flow discussion covered any of these topics, Adam could briefly summarize the lessons. The important role as facilitator is for Adam to avoid letting the conversation digress into a whine session. The goal is to agree on some positive actions that can be implemented immediately. 
This first discussion should cover a lot of ground. Yet keeping the culture politcs-free will require follow-up to dig deeper and sustain the commitment.
This scenario examined a newer organization. But this approach is effective for older organizations but may take several sessions for honest and helpful dialog to emerge if the team has been hardened by corrosive politics.

Benefits

The benefits of this approach are:
  • It calls out bad behavior in a way that people can "save face". Rather than accuse Mark from marketing of making a power play, the behavior rather than the person is the focus.  
  • The group setting avoids a one-on-one confrontation that can easily escalate into an unproductive stalemate. The group will confirm that politics-free is not just Adam's value, but a critical component of the company's culture. 
  • Those individuals who had started to engage in ugly political behavior can reflect in private and perhaps change on their own.
  • The group agrees to what specific types of behavior are political. Otherwise, some people may be too sensitive (everything stressful is politics) while others are too Machiavellian ("the end justifies the means"). 
  • Most importantly, there will be agreement by the group on how to diffuse politically charged situations and discuss in a healthy way.  
This is an important crossroad for a growing company. If this change is handled well, it can bring the team closer together and maintain an important advantage --- an open and honest environment that nurtures the creative spark.

And reignite my my friend Adam's enthusiasm for his work.





  

Olympic Statistics: 3 Tips on How to Use Data Effectively

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Most media outlets in the U.S. celebrated the fact that the U.S. won the medal count. But does medal count alone reflect a country's achievements?

Grenada followed by  Jamaica and the Bahamas earned the most medals per-capita. In a recent post, I reviewed that large countries have a greater pool of people which provides an advantage over less populous countries. [1] Adjusting the medal count by population levels the playing field for less populous countries like Grenada.

Two recent articles made a similar point. One made a good case, while the other used faulty logic. This post will review the approaches and conclude with 3 tips to use statistics effectively.

1. Faulty Logic

In a New Yorker article [2], John Cassidy wrote:
"'Why Is America So Awesome at the Olympics?' asked a headline at Slate. The main reason is that the United States is a very big, very rich country, and it should come out on top. On a per-capita basis, other rich nations did equally well, perhaps better.
If you combine the five biggest European countries (France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Spain) they have practically the same number of inhabitants as the U.S: about three hundred and fifteen million people. Taken together, the European countries won a hundred and eighty-eight medals—almost twice the U.S. total—and sixty-two golds."

The first part is correct where he introduced per-capita.

The second part --- where Cassidy combines the five biggest European countries --- is faulty. It is true that the combined populations of those 5 European countries and the U.S. are about the same. But those 5 European countries entered 5 times as many athletes as the U.S. giving them many more opportunities to win medals. To be analgous, the U.S. would have entered 5 teams for each event: California, Texas, New York, Florida and All Other U.S. states would have made this an equivalent match.

There was no mathematical reason to combine the 5 European countries, since the per-capita analysis already achieves the goal of comparing countries by population. By combining countries, without considering the extra events, an error is introduced.


2. Getting the Math Right

Over at the New York Times, they prepared an interactive chart [3] that reviews per-capita medal count by country. The accompanying article [4] provided background information on the per-capita analysis:
"The pipsqueaks [small nations] are finding mathematical ways to make their triumphs seem more impressive. During an interview last week, a public relations representative from Slovenia pulled out a chart titled “Olympic Glory in Proportion.” It divided the country’s two medals by its total population — two million — and put Slovenia at No. 1 in the category of medals per capita. 
“I’m a little worried about Jamaica,” the representative said at the time. 
He should have been worried about Grenada. On Monday, Kirani James won the gold medal in the men’s 400-meter dash, vaulting his country, population 110,000, to the top of the medals-per-capita chart."
The U.S. plummets to 27th place when reviewing medal count per capita. Ouch! 
But the U.S. and other populous nations are on par. The 5 European countries that the New Yorker referenced are 
  • France - Tied for 24th
  • Germany - Tied for 24th
  • Great Britain - Tied for 10th
  • Italy - Tied for 28th
  • Spain - Tied for 30th
 Great Britain has been doing well in the recent games and  enjoyed the traditional Olympic host bump by moving from 14th in 2008 to 10th place in 2012. 

3 Tips on How to Use Stats to Illuminate 

In our age of number crunching, we need to be careful when creating or using statistics:
  • Look at a phenomenon from different perspectives to get a richer explanation such as total and per-capita medal count.
  • Remember to check if the comparison makes sense and avoid the apples and oranges problem such as the New Yorker's comparison of Europe's most populous 5 countries to the U.S.
  • If being fed statistics, try to understand why a particular number was selected. The U.S. news media focused on medal counts to pump up national pride, just as Slovenia was doing with the per-capita perspective. 
Following these tips, our statistics will be as powerful as Grenada's Kirani James when running the 400-meter dash. 

Notes

1. My Olympic article reviews China's medal strategy to increase its medal count. Read more on this blog >>


2. New Yorker Article on medal counts. The New Yorker article was drawing a conclusion that government support of athletes in GB had improved its medal standing over the years. "In fact," stated Cassidy, "the entire London Games was a testament to the productive role that governments can play." Read more at the New Yorker >>

3. New York Times Interactive Medal Count chart. The chart also counts medals by total number and various weightings for gold, silver and bronze. Read more at the New York Times >> Per-capita alone does not tell the whole story. Smaller countries could put all their energies in a few events. Jamaica, for example, is focused on track which has be rewarded when measured per-capita.

No matter how you look at it, poor India is under-performing in both count (38th) and per-capita (79th).

4. New York Times article on medal counts. Read more at the New York Times >> 

Agile: Fast & Fruitful Development

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Agile is a product development approach that focuses ondelivering small increments of product functionality overtime. The goal is to deliver the highest value features quickly. 
This makes agile attractive financially since revenue and benefits also start accruing quickly. In addition, when agile is compared toother product / project management frameworks, it wins the trifecta. Agilereduces risk. Agile enhances quality. Agile cuts development costs.
In this article, we will review how to achieve the benefitsof agile while also confronting some of its challenges.  Topics covered are:
  • How to Earn Revenue Now
  • How to Remove Roadblocks
  • How to Manage Rework
  • How Agile Cuts Costs, Enhances Quality andReduces Risks
  • When to Use Agile

How to Earn Revenue Now!

The challenge is for the product owner to focus on featuresthat drive revenue and benefits. And the first step is to pick the rightsegment. Since the product will be rudimentary, demanding consumers will rejectit. If it is rejected, then little revenue will be realized and the agileapproach fails.
The key is to find a segment that is ignored by currentsolutions and is therefore willing to deal with the inconvenience of arudimentary product. As this initial core accepts the product and proves itsbenefits, the product may be extended to capture additional segments.   
The story of the transistor radio illustrates how to capturean overlooked segment with a simple product and then go on to refine theproduct for a broader set of consumers.
In the early fifties, radios used tube technology whichprovided outstanding audio quality. Transistors were discovered that could beused for radio, but the sound was poor. Instead of going head-to-head with anentrenched competitor, Sony found a way to exploit the transistor’s differenceto make it a differentiator. The difference was size. A radio could now bebuilt that was portable.
That first transistor radios cost over $300 dollars incurrent costs. It appealed to a small segment who wanted to listen to sportswhere audio range was not a big issue. It also attracted teenagers who couldlisten to their choice of music.
Costs continued to decline and sound quality improvedto be “good enough”. Transistor radios not only captured the portable market,they went on to displace tube radios in the stationary market. Transistorradios are still the most successful consumer electronics product with over 7billion sold.
An outstanding framework to use when considering agile product developmentis Clayton Christensen’s Disruptive Innovation. The3-step process is:  
  1. Launch- A product or service takes root in simple applications at the bottom of a market. The product provides lessperformance overall.  But muchbetter performance of an unmet need that creates a new market.
  2. Refine - The product relentlessly moves ‘up market’
  3. Conquer - Displaces established technology and competitors 

How to Remove Roadblocks

As you can see inthe diagram, the “burn rate” or rate of spending for agile is high from thestart. If agile is unable to deploy quickly, its costs escalate causing return-on-investment(ROI) to plummet.
The agile framework is set-up to eliminate many inherentroadblocks by establishing a team of full-time associates who remain togetherfor the duration of the program. Teams will be discussed more in a latersection.
But there are still some specialists that are needed for ashort period who are called upon when necessary. Since these specialists are inhigh demand, there is often delay in getting their services.
Before implementing an agile approach, resolve allocation ofcritical specialist skills. Some approaches to consider:
  • Automate – Whenever possible, critical andfrequent services should be automated and made self-service. Server buildsoften hold up software development teams and make a good candidate for automation.
  • Delegate – Determine what specialists’ functionscould be delegated to agile team. It may be necessary to develop standards and provideoversight.
  • Engage temp resources – Allow the agile team toacquire third party resources as needed following appropriate standards andoversight. Unlike traditional methods, the agile team will only have a fewweeks / months to prove their value proposition, so costs are unlikely toescalate.
  • Implement agile services management – There is acomplimentary agile approach for service queue management to make moreefficient and predictable. It is called Kanban.

How to Manage Rework

In agile, a holistic design for the fully built product isnot completed upfront. Instead product design emerges as the solution is builtand refined.
Those with experience will see that an emerging design mayalso cause rework. For many of us coming from more traditional methods, thespecter of emerging design makes us shudder.
But a holistic design may provide a false security. If theproduct is using new technology, defining a robust and scalable design isunlikely on the first pass. It may be more useful to get feedback sooner thanto over-analyze. So start small, get it out in the real world and plan onmaking adjustments.
If the technology is well established, there is opportunityto borrow design patterns from successful projects. For example a 3-tierarchitecture when developing a website is a proven pattern. 
The development team also may have insights as to whichfeatures support synergistic development. The caution is that we want to avoidbuilding lots of foundation functionality that delays release of the product.
With frequentdelivery, it becomes necessary to perform some development functions such astesting repeatedly. In more traditional methods, testing would only be doneonce. For those activities that are now completed multiple times in agile, itis important to review how they may be made more efficient. For example,automating test cases will reduce costs and avoid elongating the schedule.

How does Agile Cut Costs, Enhance Quality, & Reduce Risk

At the heart of agile is the “empirical process”. The "empirical process" manages product development through frequent inspection and adaption. The steps are plan, do, inspect and adapt. 
Because agile defines short, consistent, time-boxeddevelopment cycles of just a few weeks, the empirical process is effective inagile. There are numerous opportunities to plan, act and review. More frequentiterations
  • Improves efficiency by exploiting the “learningcurve”.  Hastening the number of iterations,hastens learning.
  •  Helps us avoid making large investments infeatures that are not useful since there is regular review by the product ownerwho is a core member of the team and by the product consumers.

As mentioned earlier, the team is dedicated and full-time.Dedicated team members avoid switching costs that occur when a person mustswitch from one project to another. When switching, a person must rememberwhere they left off and then ramp up. Studies suggest that switching adds up to40% to overhead.
All of these agile methods cut costs, reduce risks andenhance quality by working on small doable chunks and correcting issues early.

When to Use Agile

Consider switching to agile for more of your productdevelopment. It is especially helpful when the problem or solution is unclearand requirements will change frequently in response to new information.
Agile benefits any product that that can launch with asimple version that attracts early adopters. Remember that if the product issuccessful there will be sufficient benefits to fund refactoring andincorporate learning into the next version of the design.  

When the underlying technology used to develop a product is easy to change, then agile is ideal. For example websites, on-line apps, a restaurant menu, a class curriculum, or the finishes in a building.
It is also useful for products weighed down by too many features. The National Science Foundation completed a study that found that 50% of system features were never used and a significant percent were used sparingly. Those extra features make products more difficult to use and frequently add to on-going overhead.
Google exploited this insight with the release of its officeproducts such as Gmail that focused on the high benefit features and dumped therest. The features cut werenot missed by the typical user.

Why Use Agile

The CFO will find agile exciting since revenue / benefitrealization starts much earlier.
The product owner and development team will also be compensated.They gain feedback from consumers sooner which is informative and rewarding.
Being on a development team using traditional methods can bea long march without any big wins until the end. Agile provides frequent deliveryof working product to enhance the team’s morale.
In addition, the team experiences improvements in theirability to deliver more effectively using the empirical process. Crisismanagement – a factor in many projects – is eliminated since change can beincorporated easily in the next iteration.

Resources

  • Product management using disruptive innovation - Read more @ Professor Christensen >>  
  • Empirical process - Read more @ Agile Learning Labs >> 
  • Switching costs of multitasking - Read more @ American Psychological Association >>  

What's the Right Model for Acquiring Professional Services Contractors?

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Is acquiring a paperclip the same as acquiring an IT specialist? Many large companies acquireprofessional service contractors --- such as IT, marketing and HR --- using asimilar program as they use when buying supplies, equipment, raw materials ormerchandise.
Yet many hiring managersand contract recruiters find the hiring process is unsatisfactory due to timespent vetting candidates or removing contractors that are a poor fit.
So why is the suppliespurchasing model not as effective for professional contractors? An importantprinciple of systems thinking is to apply the right model for the environment.What fits for one context when transplanted to a different context --- evenwhen they appear similar --- may cause problems.
This article exploresthe rationale for the current model, issues and a better approach.  
Rationale for Paper Clip Purchasing ModelBusinesses noticed thatcosts escalate when individual departments acquire their own supplies. I'veseen that first hand at a company where I worked. Identical raw materials fromthe same vendor were sold to various departments at wildly different prices.One company uncovered that they were buying 424 slightly different versions ofa standard gloves used by its factory workers. Compared to the lowest cost glove,the most expensive version was 340% higher.  [1]
The solution to such amess is to consolidate the number of vendors and products, leverage the firm's buying power to negotiatevolume discounts and insert a strong centralized purchasingfunction. Often systems are implemented to manage the process. 
Given the success ofthis approach, it is natural to apply it to a similar looking mess as theacquisition of talent. The purchaser / product user is the hiring manager.The providers are the professional services contract recruiting firms. Theproduct is the IT, marketing or HR expert. The mess is created whenindividual hiring managers develop relationships with their favorite providers. 
How are Paper Clips and IT Specialists Different?Although similar on thesurface, there are important differences between the acquisition models for suppliesand talent. Let's explore where they are different and where they are thesame. 
1. Product  For a paper clip, glovesor other standard products, it is straightforward to specify objective criteriato judge the product. Mature products tend to be commodities. This is theopposite with talent.
Hiring managers providefuzzy specs. Either the specs are too vague that too many ill-suited candidatesare presented; or so narrow and specific that few candidates can be found.
Each candidate is aunique combination of experiences, skills and personality quirks. The good recruitersinterpret the fuzzy requirements to find the right talent. 
When purchasing puts awall between recruiters and hiring managers, the dynamics change fromrelationships to checking the box that the candidate meets the requisitionrequirements often leading to disappointing results.
2. Negotiations Decentralized purchasingallows the provider to exploit those product users who arepoor negotiators. This is true for both supplies and talent. 
3. Cost Structure Centralized purchasingincreases the volume to each preferred provider and more volume reduces theprovider's costs and that savings can be shared with the purchaser. Althoughtrue for standard supplies, surprisingly this is not the case for talent. 
Unlike paper clips, consolidatingto fewer providers may create less incentive for the contract recruiter.
  •  Each search for a contract recruiter is a new competition, whilepaper clips are bought in bulk.
  • With centralized purchasing, the contract recruiter is likely to competewith many more firms for that search. Previously the hiring manager had a fewfavorites.
  • With more competition for each opening, there is less incentivefor the contract recruiter to work diligently on the opening since many otherfirms are going after the same pool of candidates. It becomes a race to presentas many candidates as possible rather than a few quality candidates.


Acquiring more talentfrom a particular contract recruiter does not reduce costs dramatically sinceeach new search incurs its own set of costs. Also the professionals have amarket rate and are not under the control of the contract recruiter.  
Contract recruiters havesome flexibility on price. They may reduce their margin. The best way to reduceprice is to remind providers that there is a competitive pool of other vendorswaiting to replace them. 
What Model Works Better for TalentRussell Ackoff, apioneering system thinker, cautioned against using mechanistic type models suchas the purchasing of paper clips to humans.  “In the long run, such mismatches produce lessdesirable results because critical aspects of the social system are omitted.”continues Ackoff “The more skilled the workers, the harder they are to replace.”[2]
A better model forcontract talent acquisition is a hybrid approach. Specifically:
  • Centralized purchasing to resolve the issue where product users are on average poorer negotiators than the purchasing professionals. Centralized purchasing would define consistent contract terms / conditions and rate structure. Systems are useful to manage. 
  • The hiring manager and contractor recruiters would build strong relationships to facilitate matching the best talent for an opening.  
This hybrid approachallows each group to do what they do best while eliminating weaknesses of thepaper clip model.
References      1.  The gloves example was used in the book by the Heath Brothers Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard.
2.  Systems thinking is highlighted in Russell Ackoff’s book Re-creating the Corporation.

How to Optimize Your Performance by Reconnecting to Your Biological Rhythms

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It is 2:22 A.M. and I am writing this article. I am not on adeadline nor did I procrastinate. I often find myself writing, reading orthinking in the wee hours of the morning.

Middle-of-the-Night Awakening is Normal

Historical research and scientific studies on sleep patternsfound that I am not an anomaly. After years of believing I was suffering from insomnia, I now learn I am normal.
As reported recently in the New York Times, ahistory professor A. Roger Ekirch noticed references to a “first sleep” and a “secondsleep” in numerous historical documents. On the scientific front, a psychiatrist,Dr. Thomas Wehr, conducted sleep experiments on subjects by depriving them of artificiallight. The subjects would settle into a new sleep pattern once they caught upon their sleep. The new / ancient sleep pattern consisted of 2 shifts of sleeppunctuated by a few hours of wakefulness.  [1]

Normal, But Sleep Deprived

Unlike my ancestors and the sleep guinea pigs, my scheduleforces me to be up at a certain time. When I get tired and am ready for mysecond shift of sleep, it is close to my “get ready for work” time. So Iusually stay up. 
My workplace is in the US; not Spain, China, India or otherlocales that sanction the nap. Given that I often get by with only my firstshift of sleep, I am sleep deprived. I function fine but not optimally, despite my low sleep by catching up on the weekends. 

The Huge Benefits of Restorative Rest

When my schedule is more flexible and I am able to sleep ornap as required, I take a short second shift and then a nap in the afternoon fora total of 3 distinct rest periods.
More frequent deep sleep is beneficial reports the previouslyreferenced New York Times article, since each session of deep sleep allows thebrain to recharge and “function at a higher level, identify patterns faster,recall information more accurately, store new learning in long-term memory, makeconnections that were hidden in a jumble of information” [1].

High-performance Organizations Are Promoting the Nap

Some organizations recognize the link between sleep and performance. The 3PM power-nap is so common in the NBA that everyone in theleague office knows not to interrupt the players’ restorative rest. [2] TheU.S. military is exploring how to monitor soldiers' sleep and enforce nap times. Google provides nap rooms. [1]

Our Culture Stigmatizes Naps

I visited Google’s offices on several occasions to review its green projects. Since workplace napping is a personal fantasy, I also asked about the nap rooms. The tour guide admitted that they were used sparingly.
That is not surprising since our broader work cultureis hostile to naps and looks down on those who nap as weak and lazy. I learnedin kindergarten that even though there was a rest period, you were not supposedto actually nap. One day I made the mistake of drifting to sleep only to awakenwith my peers surrounding me and taunting me with chants of “kindergarten baby”. 
So unless Larry and Sergey (founders of Google) are takingsome downtime in the nap pods, napping will likely be limited to the brave ordesperate. And for most of us who don’t have access to workplace sleep area, tosneaking to our car.

Why Did We Abandon Our Biological Clock

As a systems thinker, I wonder how we got off our biologicalclock and onto the man-made clock. As we shifted to the industrial age,factories were a huge capital investments. To get the most out of theseinvestments, plant owners and investors used the plant as much as possible. Relativelycheap and unskilled workers were needed to serve the machinery and keep it running. 
It is at this juncture that we started to obey the tyranny of the mechanicalclock. The mechanical clock was identified by the U.S. historian Lewis Mumford as  “the key machine of the modern industrial age.” Mumford considered the clock more important than the steam engine. [3]

We have since upgraded to a digital clock. Unfortunately our sleep habits are stuck in the machine age.   

How Can We Fix It 

Much of the economy has shifted to the knowledge and information age. Ours is an age where plant capital is lesscostly than highly skilled human capital.
As Thomas Kuhn discovered in his analysis of the history ofscience, it is common for practices to lag thirty or more years when newtechnologies are introduced. [4] Such is the case of our needlessly clinging tothe rigid work schedules introduced by the machine age.
If we want to maximize our human capital we need to adjust ourpractices to biological rhythms and stop the unnatural and grueling machine pace.The good news is the digital tools can be harnessed to serve us and allow moreflexible schedules. We can and must find ways to change attitudes and providethe rest we need to perform optimally.
And many may find as I did that the Sandman may vacate inthe wee hours of the morning to allow the creative Muse to visit and inspire.
We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

William Shakespeare in The Tempest 

References

1. New York Times Article on napping – "Rethinking Sleep". Read more at  NYTimes >>
2. NBA Napping. Read more at NYTimes >> 3. Lewis Mumford and the clock. Read more at Wikipedia >>
4. Time lag in incorporating new discoveries into standardpractices. Read more at Wikipedia >> 

28 Eylül 2012 Cuma

Celebrate Oktoberfest and Continue Welcoming International Students at Next GlobalPittsburgh First Thursdays Networking Event - Oct. 4 at Hilton Garden Inn

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Please join us for festivities on Thursday, October 4 as we celebrate Oktoberfest and continue to welcome back international students and globally-minded local scholars, entrepreneurs and friends at the next GlobalPittsburgh First Thursdays international networking event at the Hilton Garden Inn in Oakland from 5:30-8:00 p.m.

Students, faculty and friends of many of the region's great colleges and universities in attendance, along with many GlobalPittsburgh hosts and members for this all-ages event. There will be free appetizers, bar specials, raffles, cash bar and more. Bring your friends! Meet our visiting international delegations and mingle with many of the region's entrepreneurs and innovators.

GlobalPittsburgh First Thursdays is a regular monthly night of networking and socializing with different themes, different activities and different locations - but always with an international flavor - on the first Thursday of every month. It's an evening of friends, interesting conversation and good spirits with an international flair.

The Hilton Garden Inn is located at 3454 Forbes Avenue near the University of Pittsburgh campus in Oakland.

Admission is FREE for paid GlobalPittsburgh members and students with a valid student identification. Admission is $5 at the door for non-members and non-students. Membership information will be available at the event, but you may also join GlobalPittsburgh now at www.globalpittsburgh.org/membership and get in free on Oct. 4.

Many thanks to support from Vibrant Pittsburgh, whose mini-grant program helps make these events possible.

If you have questions, please contact Nadya Kessler in the GlobalPittsburgh office at 412-392-4513 or by email at nkessler@globalpittsburgh.org. Photos from past First Thursdays and a few other GlobalPittsburgh events, activities, and programs can be viewed at www.flickr.com/photos/globalpittsburgh. See you there!