Complex Problem Management From My Alma Mater

One of the most wonderful places where I ever committed consultancy was PA Consulting Group.

I still had hair, was in the midst of transitioning from pure telephony into distributed computing/networked computing. PA was rocking & rolling in the United States, and brought a hugely successful history of management consulting from the "scientific management" school.

I learned from silverbacks such important koans as "a good manufacturing facility is an undramatic manufacturing facility," which gives one a new perspective on the "hustle and bustle" of work which is, in fact, churning.

I picked up a piece by PA Consulting:

Conventional project management techniques are unsuited to complex projects that behave dynamically and often contain considerable rework.

More at PA Consulting

Netting it out: the article provides a worthwhile taxonomy for figuring out "whazup".

Other lessons learned from PA: minibar operations principles, the difference between cabinets and closets, and project fu.

Market Information Networks For Local Farm Products

As an example of the pervasive effect of information networks, a Google search of "Black Locust Flooring" produces links to WoodPlanet.com, a national electronic for buyers and sellers of all types of wood products.

The point: even "old timey" businesses may benefit from networked exchanges, whether for growth or survival.

This piece is, frankly, a placeholder dealing with the issue of "how big" and "what tech" and "who plays" in the context of Local Food issues.

There seem to be emergent "big dogs" in the link lists (notably, Localharvest.org has the attraction of being, as a rule, pretty agnostic and having enough scope to have some effect) and the technology promises to be très amenable to Web 2.0 mojo.

Local Harvest's underlying data sources also leverage non proprietary CSV (comma separated value) files; sort of a lingua franca for data visualization.

Current Limitations and Issues

One notable affect of the listing systems: minimal transparency and problems with authentication of participants.

While limiting, I'm thinking we'll see more "regionalism" for the information, with some accommodation of bid/ask mechanisms (eBay4Beets) and some other incentives to increase the participation of regional, many times (but my no means always) technology averse producers and consumers of Local Good Eats.

The idea of local, well, it has a lot to do with local.

There seem to be systemic disincentives for collaboration from the perspective of public funding sources (grants) and the Jack Russell terrier behavior involving "turf".

So, an organizing cry around this issue validates the IWW and One Big Union vis a vis regional and US Domestic market opportunities.

Ok. Time to think.

Blogger Buzz: Blogger @ Pixelodeon

Blogger Buzz: Blogger @ Pixelodeon

I so would have ranted to LA friends to get to this Pixelodeon film festival....

Nomadic Computing Approaches

Just how lightweight and cheap cost-effective can computing be?

I've resurrected an HP-620LX as a starting point... and have gained experience in stretching the capabilities of the Concord IQ Mini (which, as a USB attached camera surprises me for a thing bought from a rack at a Rite-Aid in 2000 or so for about $20.)

I look at some things as vade mecum... in lieu of true reference I settle for pencil stub and quartered paper. Also in the getaroundtoit plan to use vade mecum or equivalent as a text reader once I take the time to get (just) smart enough to fiddle with it.

But the little HP affords (admission) solitaire (I promise I'll stop after one more game) and the ability to read materials from gutenberg.org et.al. so I can get smart on rereading Hamlet (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern actually do have a few lines more than I recalled) and gems like Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses.

[NB: Friends will notice that my phobia of being stranded in a place with nothing to read remains constant as Polaris.]

The keyboard is a bit of a learning curve, and short trimmed fingernails seem necessary (but not sufficient) for results at any kind of speed.

At least I have a charming redhead to support me in my various geekly quests.

Other role models for this: Steve Robertsand his many projects around nomadic "systems" and players to be named later... I gotta get the Sunday Paper.

-30- for now.

Williamson County Airport (MWA) Hub To LAS

Significant Good News Pending... oh pretty please!

Allegiant Air looks to be coming to Williamson County Airport, as reported in The Southern.

Both Las Vegas and Orlando provide serious trade show venues in(my interest)software and networks. LAS has great access into West Coast (eg, San Jose, Seattle...) and Orlando in kind has flights "everywhere".

Don't even get me started on Theme Parks and Cheap Slots.

But business: that's my story and I'm sticking with it.

The direct connections from Williamson County would be a strategic asset for this region.

NB: I also hope that this closes out landfill plans and the bird hit issue.

What a difference a paragraph makes: Ohio Broadband

So there it is: backbone, anyone?

Authorizing Connections to the Broadband Ohio Network.

Because a primary goal of updating the State’s data network services is to ensure that there is viable access to superior broadband services in all parts of Ohio, including access for non-state entities, I am directing the Broadband Council to authorize connections to the Broadband Ohio Network, when it becomes available, to both governmental and non-governmental entities.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland

Discussion (wear your aluminum hat) at slashdot and the Massachusetts $25 Million rural broadband funding initiative covered at broadbandreports.com.