Most companies use a WIKI of some sort. If it's not software-based then it's the lady who's been in the office for over thirty years. They are useful when they serve as an organizational memory. One problem is that organizational memory tends to take a particular shape based on the biases of the system maintainers. ...
Fukushima nuclear disaster and systemic pathology
I found a journal article that looked at the Fukushima disaster in Japan from a systemic perspective. It argues that there were three main organization-oriented problems leading to the disaster: 1. The power plant was built in a known earthquake zone. 2. Aging of plant equipment, and intentional concealment of associated problems. 3. Deterioration of governing organizations to ...
Nifty screen sizer for web interfaces
This tool is a nice quick check for what a page looks like on a continuum of screen resolutions. http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/ Using it has reminded me of two things: 1) How important top-left is. 2) How great gear can lead to blindness. I never have to scroll on my octo-monitor, pixels-forever, V8-powered display system. Suddenly, a beleaguered middle-aged bureaucrat bursts ...
The simplest problem-solving heuristic
Sometimes the most powerful ideas are also the simplest. They are overlooked because of their simplicity. A simple and powerful heuristic for general problem-solving is the idea that things are they way they are because they got that way. In other words, history matters. That's obvious! Yes, it's logically obvious. But in the throws of problem-solving, we ...
What To Do If You Can’t Solve a Problem
One of the most useful problem solving heuristics I've come across is this one: If you can't solve the problem you're working, you're working on the wrong problem. The “normal” approach to problem solving is to assume that you are either capable or incapable of solving a problem. When confronted with the problem you jump ...
Short Essay On the Design Mindset
I've just put up a short essay on the most fundamental aspect of designing, any sort of designing.
The Cost of Better Information
Many well-intentioned IT pros assume that the basic problem of management is lack of better information. If you're in the business of building information systems, better often implies more, and better certainly implies sooner. Here's a news article about the side-effects of giving ubiquitous medical information access to medical professionals. We've created a beautiful map of you, and ...
Intended Unintended Consequences
There's been a national stir recently over Alabama's tougher immigrations laws. Many have cited the unintended consequences of the law which sought to protect American workers but ended up hurting American business. It's a textbook case of pushback. But what if the stir wasn't an unintended consequence. Unless the law was created by total shut-ins, ...
Market Mismatch Madness
There are lots of ways problems can develop from solutions. A very common one is when a solution doesn't have a rich enough model of its application context. Case in point, Groupon flooded a small English bakery with more than eight thousand orders during a promotion. The bakery normally handles 100 orders per month. It's ...
Balloons are Smarter
The notion of a "war on terror" has always been vague. Terrorism is an approach to political change necessitated by an extremely weak position. If a small group cannot overthrow a government because they lack broad political support, or an army, they may try to apply pressure in other ways. It may not even be ...
Systems geek marinated in people problems