The Paradox of Skill

How much success can be attributed to skill or luck? The Paradox of Skill is simply this –  the closer in abilities two people are, the larger role luck plays in determining the outcome.  Olympic sprinters are extremely skilled and the differences in their abilities are minute.  So a very minor thing, like an inopportune…

Digital Vitrum Flexile

There is a story (and significant debate on whether it is true) that during the reign of the Roman Emperor Tiberius, a man invented flexible glass (vitrum flexile).  He was given an audience with the Emperor and demonstrated the unbreakable qualities of the glass by throwing a drinking vessel to the ground.  The vessel was…

Overcoming Quackery and Other Tails, er, Tales

In my early days, someone once remarked to me that you really did not have to worry about someone stealing your ideas.  Odds were, you would have to metaphorically shove it down someone’s throat to get them to use it.  The introduction of change always starts with a new idea. So what is the life…

The Perpetual Motion of Business Intelligence

One of the primary purposes of Business Intelligence is to learn something about an organization. Like all learning, it never ends.  An answer leads to new questions. In essence, Business Intelligence is like perpetual motion – it never ends.  It is this spiraling causality that makes Business Intelligence activities different.  Projects have a defined goal and an…

Agnostic Boxes

My response to the question “What kind of people do you hire?”  Also refer to the Agnostic Pirates.

The Rewards of a Job Well Done

“There is no credit for preventing something that did not happen.” – David S. Alberts Much of the management activities in an organization is preventative – to prevent something bad from happening. The natural inclination of leadership is to view that everything operating correctly is the norm. So a lot of preventative activity is simply…