Utah Open Source Planet

Ever typed SET to display all the useful environment variables windows has?

You can add those environment variables to your command prompt permanently. And No, Billy, this won't work by simply editing System Properties, so read on...

Four files and the PSEXEC.EXE utility are needed - save all 4 files in the same directory in a share(such as \\server\share ) to prepare to deploy your groovy command prompt on every server under your influence.

I changed the command prompt to better keep track of which server and which credentials are in use, and added a timestamp.

CMDPROMPT.BAT - contains the prompt with your preferred environment variables and gets copied to %windir%

:: c:\windows\cmdprompt.bat
@echo off
prompt $_[%ComputerName%\%Username%] $t$_$p$g

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Command Processor]
"AutoRun"="%windir%\\cmdprompt.bat"

:: \\server\share\cmdprompt-install.cmd
@echo off
copy /Y \\server\share\cmdprompt.??? %windir%\
regedit /s %windir%\cmdprompt.reg

Eriador
Gondor
GreyHavens
Minastirith
Mordor
Rivendell
Rohan
Bullwinkle
Rocky
Elaine
George
Jerry
Challenger
Cubs
Hindenburg
SpruceGoose
Titanic
TowerofPiza

psexec @SERVERLIST.TXT -c -u DOMAIN\%username% \\server\share\cmdprompt-install.cmd

One principle in Wing Chun is the maintaining of forward tension.  To explain, I’ll draw the distinction between Tension and Energy and show how this principle in Wing Chun can be applied to Change Management.

Tension is a type of Energy

A Wing Chun maxim goes as follows:

soft and relaxed strength will put your opponent in jeopardy

That maxim means that forward tension is not necessarily using force, or forcing through a barrier or “pushing through”.  But, there is soft force, or tension, such that when a gap presents itself, then the hand or arm shoots forward like a spring.  The “shooting forward” is not done with force, but is an unleashing of potential energy.

Using that definition, then, Forward Tension is much different than the overly-used business term “Breakthrough.”  In the context of Forward Tension, the notion of “breakthrough” is ridiculous, because it connotes a forcing of oneself or of one’s ideas.  Forcing anything only invites resistance and rebellion, not conversion.

So, in sum, tension is really potential energy and when a gap presents itself, that potential energy becomes kinetic energy.  Forward Tension works with the current context in such a way that does not invite rebellion or resistance or eventual back-biting.  It is open, but straightforward.

Application to Change Management

Don’t force things on people.  The most humane approach to change management is to treat those involved in the change as human beings; this means having a dialogue — listen, speak, listen some more, argue a little, and steadily deposit goodwill.

As much as I like love data, I also fully understand that data does not soften hearts or change people’s minds: true change happens when people feel heard, have given their opinion, are willing to try something new, and are part of the change.  The challenge in change management is largely an emotional one; a psychological one; a relational one.

Hold The Tension

Without forcing or pushing of people, maintaining the tension encourages discussion, debate, and invites people to inquire and become curious about the topic of change.  That is the key: behave in such a way that it invites people to learn, argue, debate, and eventually try it out.

Tension in Wing Chun

The video below shows Sifu Grados in Chi Sao (Sticky Hands).  This sensitivity exercise demonstrates the principle of holding the tension and visually explains the principle of transformation of potential energy to kinetic energy very well.

NOTE: none of the movements are rehearsed.  What is taught and practiced are the principles and how those principles are applied during Chi Sao depends on the situation.

1. Feature? What Feature?
   
2. Simplify The Product
3. Ask Aza Raskin
4. Aza Raskin on Poka-Yoke & The Humane Interface
5. Aza Raskin on Quasimodal Design and The ATM
6. Aza on Feature-Bloat and Site Clutter
7. Aza on Google Search Results Page
8. Aza on Cooperation and Team Size
9. Design Thinking in Medicine
10. On Designing a Watering Can for Little Hands
11. Queueing Theory and Visual Management
12. An Interview with the Inventor of “Clocky”
13. Bad Breath but Good Design
14. What is Ethnography

Articles on Leadership:

1. Overmanaged and Underled
2. Colin Powell on Leadership
3. Team or Staff?
4. Tipping-Point Leadership
5. Abraham Lincoln on Leadership
6. How to transform an Organization: Chime-in Before Buy-in

Articles on Queueing Theory:

• Queueing Theory: Part 1
• Queueing Theory: Part 2
• Queueing Theory: Part 3
• Queueing Theory: Part 4
• What is Waste?
• On Time-Traps and Waste
• Call Centers as Queueing Systems
• Travel Time & Waste
• Little’s Law for Product Development
• YouTube’s Queueing Properties
• Psychology of Queueing and Disneyland
• Queueing, Disneyland, and FastPass
• Multi-Tasking Leads to Lower Productivity
• Queueing Theory and Terrorism
• On Queueing Theory and Elevator Mirrors
• Psychology of Queueing, Haunted Houses, and Halloween
• The Variability Tree
• Attitude and the Psychology of Waiting - The Psychology of Queueing

Articles on Operations, lean and six sigma:

• Managing Constraints Under Peak Volumes
• Order Pipeline of Events
• On Game Theory
• Applied Regression Analysis
• 5S
• Click-to-Ship Processes
• Kanban Sizing and “Pull”
• Lean at Krispy Kreme
• Theory of Constraints and Camping
• Lean for Software Development
• Don’t Waste the Customer’s Time
• Featuritis and the Focus on the Customer

Every system has constraints — sometimes several — minor bottlenecks and major bottlenecks.  What makes managing constraints even more challenging is that bottlenecks move: up-and-down the process paths.

I saw this phenomenon recently during a visit to a fast food restaurant, which I discuss in this post — but, my application of the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing, and Six Sigma as applied to a Restaurant can be applied to any Dynamic System.

One of the key lessons in The Theory of Constraints is that the contraint or the bottleneck determines the throughput for the entire system.  This means, then, that if we optimize and improve a non-bottleneck, then those efforts have almost zero impact on the overall throughput of the system.  It is only when we improve and optimize the contraint that we will see improvement in the throughput of the entire system.

Every system has a constraint — that is neither good nor bad — but just a fact of dynamic systems.  Once you’ve identified the constraints in your system, then the next step is to manage it.

I was able to obtain some empirical volume data for a Burger King.  The data below is taken from one Burger King restaurant.  I imagine the numbers would be significantly different if we were to average the volume by geography, restaurant size, or by other factors.  Now, consider the following process map for a typical Burger King:

Click on the image for a larger view.

For this restaurant, over the course of an average month, Burger King produces 34227 sandwiches.  This means, then, that for an average hour, Burger King produces 198 sandwiches per hour during normal hours.

But, on Friday and at 12:00PM, Burger King experiences higher-than-normal volume and so we add a “Peak Multiplier” of 18% and 17.9% to arrive at 256 sandwiches during Peak Hours.   The “Peak Multiplier” is not completely arbitrary, but a quasi-educated guess at the volume increase during those hours.  In both cases of Fridays and Lunch Hours, we add a ~20% multiplier.

Now, let’s take a look at the process map above.  We see the Assembly Step producing 200 sandwiches an hour.   We consider the Assembly to be the constraint in the system.  The upstream processes produces more than 200, but when we arrive at the Assembly, the capacity of that step is lower than its upstream processes.  So, the maximum throughput of the entire system above is 200 sandwiches per hour.

Under normal hours, the constraint functions reasonably well.  Since normal hour demand is 198 sandwiches per normal hour, the Assembly Step can produce at least at that amount — but, it’s cutting it close.  Under peak volume, the constraint is not able to fulfill demand. 

How To Manage a Constraint

Under normal hours, it appears that the Assembly Step can produce at expected demand.  But, there are several things that could put burden on the constraint and cause it to producing less than capacity.  Here are some of those items:

• Rework: Having to Re-Assemble sandwiches adds undue burden on the system and exaggerates the effects of the constraint, leading to a potentially higher-than normal work-in-process, or build-up.
• Set-up & Changeover: If all the parts aren’t immediately available in the Assembly step, then it could lead the operator to slow down which could lead to build-up and higher-than-normal work-in-process.

It’s easy enough to see that the Assembly Step needs some help.   Here are several things Burger King — or any system with constraints — can do to better manage the natural constraints that are in every system:

• Eliminate Defects at the Constraint: This means that all waste is eliminated or reduced at the constraint.
• Have the Quality Steps in Front of Constraint: In support of the first bullet, make sure that the parts entering the Assembly step are free of defects.
• Support the Constraint: Add labor to the constraint or more lines, if that is prudent.
• Appropriately use Buffers: Systems with Constraints exhibit a feast/famine phenomena.  To avoid having too much coming into the constraint or too little coming into the constraint, have a buffer of parts large enough that the constraint stays appropriately busy.  Put another way, reduce the variation in front of the constraint as much as is possible.  A Drum-Buffer-Rope system might be appropriate for some systems.
• Evaluate the overall system: How much of the steps in the system are really value-add to the customer?  What is the process-cycle effeciency of the process?

Conclusion

All systems have constraints.  Identify what they are, quantify the effects, then manage it.  The above Burger King example shows how this can — with some effort — be done.  What are the constraints in your systems?  What can you do to better manage those constraints?

+++++

Articles on Ethnography and Design:

1. Feature? What Feature?
   
2. Simplify The Product
3. Ask Aza Raskin
4. Aza Raskin on Poka-Yoke & The Humane Interface
5. Aza Raskin on Quasimodal Design and The ATM
6. Aza on Feature-Bloat and Site Clutter
7. Aza on Google Search Results Page
8. Aza on Cooperation and Team Size
9. Design Thinking in Medicine
10. On Designing a Watering Can for Little Hands
11. Queueing Theory and Visual Management
12. An Interview with the Inventor of “Clocky”
13. Bad Breath but Good Design
14. What is Ethnography

Articles on Leadership:

1. Overmanaged and Underled
2. Colin Powell on Leadership
3. Team or Staff?
4. Tipping-Point Leadership
5. Abraham Lincoln on Leadership
6. How to transform an Organization: Chime-in Before Buy-in

Please articles on Queueing Theory below:

• Queueing Theory: Part 1
• Queueing Theory: Part 2
• Queueing Theory: Part 3
• Queueing Theory: Part 4
• What is Waste?
• On Time-Traps and Waste
• Call Centers as Queueing Systems
• Travel Time & Waste
• Little’s Law for Product Development
• YouTube’s Queueing Properties
• Psychology of Queueing and Disneyland
• Queueing, Disneyland, and FastPass
• Multi-Tasking Leads to Lower Productivity
• Queueing Theory and Terrorism
• On Queueing Theory and Elevator Mirrors
• Psychology of Queueing, Haunted Houses, and Halloween
• The Variability Tree
• Attitude and the Psychology of Waiting - The Psychology of Queueing

Articles on Operations, lean and six sigma, please visit the links below:

• Managing Constraints Under Peak Volumes
• Order Pipeline of Events
• On Game Theory
• Applied Regression Analysis
• 5S
• Click-to-Ship Processes
• Kanban Sizing and “Pull”
• Lean at Krispy Kreme
• Theory of Constraints and Camping
• Lean for Software Development
• Don’t Waste the Customer’s Time
• Featuritis and the Focus on the Customer

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I’ve spoken extensively about the unheralded — but, arguably, the most important — Pillar of The Toyota Production System: Respect for People. Today, I want to highlight an interesting company that appears to have done an amazing job at Participative Management and in eliminating fear and mediocrity in the workplace: Semco Group.

I was first made aware of Semco Group after watching this amazing video on the MIT website. I sought to learn more about Semco and found some pretty amazing case studies such as the following:

• Harvard Business Review: Managing without Managers
• Harvard Business Review: Why my former employees still work for me
• Maverick: The Success Story behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace
• The Seven-Day Weekend: Changing the Way Work Works
• Semco on Strategy+Business

Semco appears to have operationalized a very humane workplace and has also produced some impressive results, proving that fear and intimidation and mediocrity are not necessary ingredients to do well in the corporate world:

Reforms implemented during that time led to 65% reduction in inventories, a marked reduction in product delivery times and a product defects rate that fell to less than 1%. As the business climate improved, Semco’s revenues and profitability improved dramatically. As of 2003, SEMCO had annual revenue of $212 million, from $4 million in 1982 and $35 million in 1994, with an annual growth rate of up to 40 per cent a year. It employs 3,000 workers in 2003, as opposed to 90 in 1982.

Semco publishes and collectively live by the “Semco Survival Guide”, opting for something much simpler and thinner than a big, thick manual. Here are two points that I personally appreciate:

Our People: We avoid using terms like “employees”, “staff”, “collaborator” and similar terms. We are a team and we only have “people”. This is what we call everyone who works with us. Try as hard as you can not to use terms which are so common, but which do not express equality.

Customer Services: This is very important. Never fail to serve a customer well; do not run away from the customer, and do for the customer exactly what you would expect if you were in their position. Be honest about deadlines, prices and service conditions - never promise something you cannot deliver.

I find “never run away from your customer” an interesting thing to say — I think this point requires some reflection:

Do we — as an act of omission — run away from our customers — either in action or mentally or emotionally?

Below is their survival guide, taken directly from their website:

Leadership
We believe that organizational structure is required to ensure good business processes. However, only people who have respect for their followers can be leaders. Situational leadership will always be stimulated and respected.

Position
At the Semco Group, it makes no difference whether someone has a high ranking or a humble position. The most important thing is to always try to learn and teach new things.

Job Rotation
Whenever possible we rotate people: Some people change area and other people change business unit. This is another development opportunity offered by the company.

Freedom
There is no space at the Semco Group for formalities. The doors are always open and people should say what they really think, without worries or inhibitions.

Honesty
Everything at the Semco Group is based on trust. Whenever there is dishonesty, and there is always the possibility that there will be somebody dishonest, the company takes hard action.

Accusations
The company does not encourage people to accuse others - this should only occur when you believe you have access to concrete facts that somebody is benefiting while harming everybody else. Anonymous letters are not considered.

Gambling
No gambling of any type is permitted within the company.

Weapons and Violence
It is completely unacceptable to carry weapons inside the company. Any type of violence employed by one person against another is seen as an extremely serious event.

Unions
Unions are an important method of protecting workers. Unionization is free within the company. The Semco Group believes that constant relationships with unions are healthy for the company and the employees. The presence of union members at the company is always welcome.

You… and the Others
Based on the fact that everyone can say what they think, rumors and gossip should not be stimulated. Any attempt to harm another person is looked on very seriously. Take part and speak openly of what you are thinking in order to improve things.

Sales at the Company
The entry of salespersons to deal with personal issues is only permitted when scheduled by the interested party.

Loan Sharking
Any employee lending money to another while charging interest is considered abusive and this is dealt with by the company as a serious matter.

Discrimination
The Semco Group does not permit discrimination based on sex, colour, religion, politics etc. Everybody must have identical opportunities at the company - help to make this a reality.

Use of Authority
Many positions of the company involve the use of authority. Pressure, tactics that involve people working while afraid or any type of disrespect are considered incapable leadership and improper use of authority.

Working Hours
The Semco Group has flexible working hours where possible. This is a method of meeting the needs of each person, without harming the company.

Employee Timesheet Control
At the Semco Group, each person controls their own working hours. This is a method of transferring responsibility to each person.

Commissions
People at the Semco Group usually create commissions to deal with issues of collective interest. Take part to ensure that the commissions are active channels which effectively defend your interests, which may often not coincide with the interests of the company. Here, this conflict is seen as healthy and necessary.

Internal Promotions
At the Semco Group, people already working for the company are given preference when a new position or a promotion appears, as long as they fill the requirements for the job.

Vacations
The Semco Group does not believe that anyone cannot be replaced. Everybody must take their annual vacations, always. This is fundamental for the health of the people and the company as a whole - no excuse is good enough to justify accumulating vacations.

Recruitment
Where there is recruitment or a promotion, people in the department have the chance to interview, analyze and take part in the decision to choose the candidate.

Evaluation by Subordinates
Every six months you will fill in a questionnaire and say what you really think about your immediate superior. Be open and honest, when filling in the form and during the discussion that should take place afterwards.

Retirees
We have no restrictions on active or part-time work for retirees or people of an advanced age. Nobody is too old for us - on the contrary, we believe that experience comes with age.

Everyday Participation
The Semco Group philosophy is based on active involvement and participation. Do not sit back. Have an opinion, put yourself forward as a candidate, always say what you think - do not be just another cog in the wheel. State your opinion about everything that interests you, even if you weren’t asked for it. Be active about your feelings.

Suggestions
We want everybody to participate; opinions will always be welcome and should be spontaneous. The Semco Group does not use and is not wish to implement suggestion box programs. Whenever there is a need or interest, we can institute campaigners that encourage specific suggestions.

Dynamism
The Semco Group is normally a company that implements major changes from time to time. Don’t be scared - we think this is positive. Look at the changes without fear - these are typical characteristics of the Group.

Salary Policy
The Semco Group seeks to involve people in discussions regarding what is a fair salary for each employee. Of course, there are times when people think their salaries should be higher and the company believes it cannot pay more. What is important is to always provide an opportunity for discussions regarding this type of issue.

Strikes
The decision to take part or not in this type of event is an individual one. This is part of democracy and is respected by the company.

Personal Life
Each person’s life belongs to themselves and the personal life of each person at the Semco Group is sacred. Providing it does not interfere with the work of the environment, the company is not interested in what each person does with their own life. The human resources area is available to provide support in any area, but the company will never get involved in people’s private lives.

Former Semco Employees
Whenever anybody leaves the company, they are always welcome back - we have nothing against former Semco employees. On the contrary.

Severance
Whenever there are dismissals the company spends hours and days carefully considering the case (or cases). The company avoids dismissals as much as it can and is extremely involved in protecting justice - we must all take this line - dismissals are very serious and must be dealt with carefully by everybody.

Occupational Safety
This is not only a company responsibility. Keep your eyes open, always avoid accidents, use safety equipment even when it is bothersome - we cannot take risks with our health. Make a special effort along these lines, demand that the company do its part and do not let CIPA become a pro forma commission.

Statement of Results
On a periodic basis you’ll find out the results for your unit and for the company, and will be able to discuss them. Watch the results closely and ask any questions you want - there are no issues that cannot be discussed. Very few companies offer this - take advantage!

Profit Sharing Program
The Profit Sharing Program at the Semco Group is for real. This is a participation in which each unit wins. Each company and the Group have its own program, according to the characteristics of each business.

Relations
In order to avoid injustice or embarrassment, close relations do not work at the same unit, workplace or with the same leader, except in special cases. In completely different and unrelated locations, there are no formal restrictions.

Hourly/Monthly Workers
At the Semco Group there is no discrimination - Here everybody is a salaried worker and everybody is treated the same.

Our Personnel
We avoid using terms like “employees”, “staff”, “collaborator” and similar terms. We are a team and we only have “people”. This is what we call everyone who works with us. Try as hard as you can not to use terms which are so common, but which do not express equality.

Use of Company Resources
Do not mix company work and resources with personal services. During working hours, nobody should provide services to other people only for personal benefit, which does not stop people using a colleague’s services outside business hours, agreeing the conditions between themselves, without involving the company.

Customer Services
This is very important. Never fail to serve a customer well; do not run away from the customer, and do for the customer exactly what you would expect if you were in their position. Be honest about deadlines, prices and service conditions - never promise something you cannot deliver.

Communication
The Semco Group and its people must communicate openly and honestly. You must be tranquil and believe what is said in company notices – demand transparency when you are in doubt.

Pregnancy
Pregnancy is considered a time of great importance and happiness by the company. Never allow an injustice to be committed with one of our pregnant women – they deserve our respect and care.

Informality
Having a birthday party at the end of the working day or using nicknames is part of the company culture – don’t feel intimidated, and don’t stick to formalities.

Pride
It’s only worth working for someone you are proud of. Create this pride in the quality in what you do. Never deliver a product or service that fails to meet customer expectations, do not write a letter or communiqué that is not honest, and do not let the company’s stature fall – always fight for your pride.

Respect to Visitors
Give our visitors all of your attention and respect. Never let anyone wait more than 5 or 10 minutes. Meet everyone with courtesy, be they a supplier, customer or anyone else.

From the little I’ve seen, I’m quite impressed with Semco. If there are any that would care to chime-in on what they know of Semco — I’d love to hear about it in the comment section. Below is an interview with Ricardo Semler, the CEO of Semco.

+++++

Articles on Ethnography and Design:

1. Feature? What Feature?
   
2. Simplify The Product
3. Ask Aza Raskin
4. Aza Raskin on Poka-Yoke & The Humane Interface
5. Aza Raskin on Quasimodal Design and The ATM
6. Aza on Feature-Bloat and Site Clutter
7. Aza on Google Search Results Page
8. Aza on Cooperation and Team Size
9. Design Thinking in Medicine
10. On Designing a Watering Can for Little Hands
11. Queueing Theory and Visual Management
12. An Interview with the Inventor of “Clocky”
13. Bad Breath but Good Design
14. What is Ethnography

Articles on Leadership:

1. Overmanaged and Underled
2. Colin Powell on Leadership
3. Team or Staff?
4. Tipping-Point Leadership
5. Abraham Lincoln on Leadership
6. How to transform an Organization: Chime-in Before Buy-in

Please articles on Queueing Theory below:

• Queueing Theory: Part 1
• Queueing Theory: Part 2
• Queueing Theory: Part 3
• Queueing Theory: Part 4
• What is Waste?
• On Time-Traps and Waste
• Call Centers as Queueing Systems
• Travel Time & Waste
• Little’s Law for Product Development
• YouTube’s Queueing Properties
• Psychology of Queueing and Disneyland
• Queueing, Disneyland, and FastPass
• Multi-Tasking Leads to Lower Productivity
• Queueing Theory and Terrorism
• On Queueing Theory and Elevator Mirrors
• Psychology of Queueing, Haunted Houses, and Halloween
• The Variability Tree
• Attitude and the Psychology of Waiting - The Psychology of Queueing

Articles on Operations, lean and six sigma, please visit the links below:

• Managing Constraints Under Peak Volumes
• Order Pipeline of Events
• On Game Theory
• Applied Regression Analysis
• 5S
• Click-to-Ship Processes
• Kanban Sizing and “Pull”
• Lean at Krispy Kreme
• Theory of Constraints and Camping
• Lean for Software Development
• Don’t Waste the Customer’s Time
• Featuritis and the Focus on the Customer

Motorola (MOT), the inventor of Six Sigma, is in big trouble. Even though it invented Six Sigma, this is a clear example that shows how Lean or Six Sigma are not a cure-all for corporate woes, but that good leadership and a winning strategy are key in a competitive world — Lean or Six Sigma is necessary, but not sufficient.

The Art of Exclusion

Michael Porter (Porter’s Five Forces) argues — I believe correctly –, in his seminal work, What is Strategy, that Operational Excellence is necessary but not sufficient. What is needed — even still and always — is a winning strategy. In his article, he argues that the essence of strategy consist of two related propositions:

1. strategy is engaging in activities that are different than the competition
2. strategy is engaging in activities that are similar than the competition, but perform better than the competition

Regarding (1), Porter argues that, regarding (1), the firm must choose a position — one that sets the firm apart from its competitors; a position that makes the firm and its products or services uniquely and competitively different and leads to a sustainable and profitable competitive advantage. Porter then claims that an important aspect of strategy is deciding what NOT to do — the art of exclusion.

Regarding (2), a firm will undoubtedly engage in activities that are similar than the competition. For example, take a traditional internet retailer — a firm in that space will usually have a front-end store and a fulfillment back-end. To set the firm apart on similar activities from its competitors requires that the firm perform those activities better — with better quality, lower costs, with better service, and deliver quicker than the competition.

Deploying a Lean or Six Sigma culture within your firm is essentially an activity borne from (2) — but it is not a panacea; by itself, a culture of Operational Excellence will find itself lacking in a hyper-competitive world.

Necessary but Insufficient

While Motorola might remain one of the hallmarks of Operational Excellence, it has, over the years, essentially failed to engage in activities that are uniquely and competitively different than the competition. Speaking as an outsider, it appears that Motorola has continued to run an efficient business, producing products and services with few defects and delivering on-time, but products and services in a market that has changed to demand less and less of Motorola products, in favor of competitors products, such as the Apple (AAPL) iPhone.

The Need for Leadership

The theme, I see, with most corporate problems, overwhelmingly points to Leadership. The OPPOSITE of long-term thinking, inspiring, visionary, humane, collaborative, reflective, selfless, nurturing, interested, responsible, and mobilizing is what seems to be what most companies elevate to the Chief Executive position.

Emulating Gary Convis

Gary Convis was recently brought in to be the CEO of Dana Corporation (DAN), an $8.7 Billion manufacturer of auto parts. Convis is a 40 year veteran of the auto industry and a former executive at Toyota. Dana Corporation is a struggling giant, currently in bankruptcy. When asked what words of wisdom he has to impart to his new team members at Dana Corporation, he said this:

“manage as if you have no power”

For me, that statement elegantly summarizes the the essence of Leadership — the type of Leadership that is capable of satisfying both (1) and (2) above.

+++++

Articles on Leadership:

1. Overmanaged and Underled
2. Colin Power on Leadership
3. Team or Staff?
4. Tipping-Point Leadership
5. Abraham Lincoln on Leadership
6. How to transform an Organization: Chime-in Before Buy-in

Please articles on Queueing Theory below:

• Queueing Theory: Part 1
• Queueing Theory: Part 2
• Queueing Theory: Part 3
• Queueing Theory: Part 4
• What is Waste?
• On Time-Traps and Waste
• Call Centers as Queueing Systems
• Travel Time & Waste
• Little’s Law for Product Development
• YouTube’s Queueing Properties
• Psychology of Queueing and Disneyland
• Queueing, Disneyland, and FastPass
• Multi-Tasking Leads to Lower Productivity
• Queueing Theory and Terrorism
• On Queueing Theory and Elevator Mirrors
• Psychology of Queueing, Haunted Houses, and Halloween
• The Variability Tree
• Attitude and the Psychology of Waiting - The Psychology of Queueing

Articles on Operations, lean and six sigma, please visit the links below:

• Managing Constraints Under Peak Volumes
• Order Pipeline of Events
• On Game Theory
• Applied Regression Analysis
• 5S
• Click-to-Ship Processes
• Kanban Sizing and “Pull”
• Lean at Krispy Kreme
• Theory of Constraints and Camping
• Lean for Software Development
• Don’t Waste the Customer’s Time
• Featuritis and the Focus on the Customer

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An article in the Wall Street Journal's Business Technology blog reports on research that James Anderson conducted for NEC. The research found:

someone using a larger monitor could save 2.5 hours a day. But James Anderson, the professor in charge of the study, tells the Business Technology Blog to take that result with a grain of salt: It assumes that someone will work non-stop for eight hours, which no one will, and that the tasks they perform will all benefit from a larger screen, which isn't always the case. But things like moving data between files are ideally suited to bigger or multiple screens. Anderson, who uses a computer with two 20-inch screens and one 24-inch one, recommends that businesses take the time to match employees with the proper size screen based on job requirements.

From Business Technology : Bigger Computer Monitors = More Productivity
Referenced Wed Mar 12 2008 18:48:39 GMT-0600 (MDT)

I interested that they found no benefit from monitors larger than 24 inches. Task related I'd suppose. I've gotta say, I love 30 inch monitors. Love them.

I'd love to see a similar study on programmers. I'd bet the results are the same.

Tags: gear productivity

Just left Jono Bacon’s presentation on “The future of the Linux Desktop”. He’s quite an awesome presenter. Afterward, I went down to the exhibit floor and got to say hi to Tom Callaway and actually met Thomas Chung from the Fedora Project. Both of these guys have such exuberance and joy, I love being part of the fedora project.

The next presentation was ‘ifdown -a Now! Becoming productive offline’, by Don Marti. It was awesome! He spent a bit of time talking about git, ikiwiki, blosxom, OfflineIMAP, Mairix and some ssh config rules to help productivity. There is some definite things that will help me become more productive with these tools.

The next presentation I attended was the video codecs presentation, but what was being discussed was stuff I’d already learned. So I headed over to ‘10 Years of GNOME’, with Ken VanDine (also the creator of Foresight Linux). GNOME features are definitely getting cooler, and discussions about Gimmie and the OpenSuse SLAB menu were held. Ken wants to see more involvement in the GNOME project, called GNOME Love. If you love GNOME, they’re making it easy to share the GNOME Love.

I was able to catch the last half of the Second Life presentation as its always been a curiosity to me.  I’m thinking of actually running it and seeing what its all about.  Thanks Liana!

At the end of the day, I skipped the reception in favor of a spirited talk with the folks from BakBone, then spent time talking with the organizers of SCaLE and was able to chat with the developer for the conference management system here.  Looks like they’re open sourcing there django app too, so we might be able to work with them too.

Tom Callaway was in the Fedora BoF, so I was required to go by that at 8pm and annoy him.  Turned out, I spent the next 3+ hours discussing everything from PulseAudio, RPMS, RHCE and PackageKit to Obama, Iraq and Ron Paul and the value system of patents in our nation.  It was a great evening.

Its time to sleep and another day of SCaLE will be upon us.  See you all then…

Cheers,

Herlo

When I was in grade school, I used to bring my homework from and to school folded up in my back pocket. Life was simpler then. I always knew exactly what I had on my plate at any moment by checking my back pocket.

Fast-forward to the era of planners, PDAs, and productivity software. I've gone through all the phases. None of them fit, but I took something away from each. These days I know what I want, and none of the traditional solutions come close.

I want something analog, very simple, compact, and easy to put together. When I came across the Hipster PDA I thought I had found it, but I soon found that even the hipster wasn't easy enough. I didn't like even the smallest binder clips or paperclips because they had to be removed to actually use it. Rings didn't suit my fancy either. Loose index cards are of course a disaster. The supply of index cards got almost as unwieldy as the hipster itself. To top it all off, blank index cards alone wasn't quite enough structure. So it fell into disuse.

Then I found the D*I*Y Planner, most notably their Hipster PDA edition. This added some structure and beauty, so I gave it a try. I soon decided that printing onto index cards is completely infeasible without special equipment. So that was out, alas.

The other day, I came across PocketMod. Here was something not entirely unlike the homework in my back pocket. It had some structure, it was easy and simple and cheap. It was perfect, except… I don't want to visit a website and run a flash app every time I want to print one. What if the website disappears? And what if I want to add custom pages? (There's a Windows app for that but I don't use Windows.) Also, the printouts generated by the flash app aren't quite right—the fold points aren't on the center and so the end result is a little sloppy-looking. I wish the US used A4 paper, but that's beyond my control at the moment (though I might consider ordering some online…). So the pocketmod flash applet had to be replaced.

So I decided to combine the D*I*Y Hipster and some scripting magic, and the result is hipmod. Thanks to the magic of Multivalent (I was going to use pdftk but it's segfaulting on my laptop for some reason) I can now create hipmods including whatever PDF of interest I find lying around. See the README for more information. Here's a screenshot:

I was forced to upgrade to Leopard last week by a Tiger update gone bad. I'm not convinced I can blame Apple--I've updated my machine hundreds of times before with nary a fault and I was, without thinking about what was going on, installing a monitor and plugging and unplugging USB devices while the update was underway. I might have messed something up.

In any event, I had a problem that I couldn't find enough information to fix (something to do with a file locking problem in the IPv6 code, but I couldn't figure out the file name). Reinstalling the update didn't work. I could only boot into single user mode. So, since I wanted to upgrade to Leopard anyway and 10.5.1, the first Leopard update, had just been released, I decided to just upgrade to Leopard.

Normally I'd have done a fresh install, using a back up image as the machine to restore apps and users, but because I had a machine that wouldn't boot and my image was a few days out of date, I decided to just upgrade. Seemed to work fine--I've been using Leopard now for 4 or 5 days without noticing anything untoward. Things are speedy and stable.

Mail.app, Apple's mail application was significantly upgraded and so several add-on bundles I've come to rely on broke. MiniMail had an update that worked fine.

MailTags has a beta that kept hanging Mail.app, so I've uninstalled that for now. I'm hoping a working version is out soon since tags are my security blanket for finding email in the one-big-pile-of-old-email scheme I use for filing archived messages.

Letterbox was the mail bundle I've used the longest. It displays a three-pane mail view of mail with the selected message to the right of the message list rather than under it. I had no idea how much I'd come to like it. A Letterbox still isn't available and I was really hating email with the standard over-under configuration. Fortunately, I found a replacement: Widemail. I've only been using it for a few days, but so far, so good.

Tags: apple osx mail productivity

This guy's personal unit tests idea is pretty funny, but it does give one pause. I think he might be onto something there—it's probably much more productive to take stock of how you've done in the past day/week than to write/ponder todo lists for the coming day/week,at least as far as these sort of "maintenance" tasks go. Being aware is half the battle, or more, and I like the focus on "how did I do, where do I sit" versus "I'm going to totally do all these things today, yeah! Oh, right after I finish slashdot..."