Category: Technology

Categories
Education Innovation Network Reading Technology Vietnam War

Latest Read: The Pentagon’s Brain

The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top-Secret Military Research Agency by Annie Jacobsen. Her narrative is certainly compelling, describing the historical launch of ARPA. The name of the organization first changed from its founding name to DARPA in March 1972. Yet it was changing back to ARPA in 1993, only to be reverted back in March 1996.

The Pentagon’s Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America’s Top-Secret Military Research Agency by Annie Jacobsen

This book is addressing five categories of time: Cold War, Vietnam War, Operations other than war, War on Terror, and Future War. Researching newly de-classified materials make Annie’s book difficult to put down.

Cold war events beginning with Sputnik led to the formation of ARPA. Without over exaggerating, this group would be changing the world. There are so many brilliant physicists, scientists, and mathematicians, this book is literally a Who’s Who of brilliant minds called upon to drive the Pentagon’s mission.

Annie is a master storyteller. She clearly reveals Eisenhower’s administration was ill prepared for post war technology challenges.

Cold war hysteria in the State Department was certainly ripe after China fell to Mao in 1949. France would be defeated by an Asian guerrilla force in 1954. Certainly Sputnik only added to that hysteria in 1957.

Continue reading “Latest Read: The Pentagon’s Brain”
Categories
Design Education Reading Technology

Latest Read: Storytelling with Data

Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic. Above all, Cole explores a basic understanding of visualizing data. Based upon excel spreadsheet data Cole makes an honest attempt to teach how communicating visually is important. That is to say, this book is aimed at users exploring visual data models for the first time.

Storytelling with Data

While Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic succeeds in this delivery, the storytelling component is not as convincing. Storytelling is certainly no easy task. The challenge is even more important today as many tools provide visually appealing toolsets. Data visualization tools are misused unintentionally and results create confusing data patterns. I would leave the storytelling component to others.

Cole certainly references Nancy Duarte and I would lean heavily to Nancy to learn how to tell stories. Storylines do not require charts as a default rule. The best outcome for Cole’s work is to actually spin the lessons as a what not to do.

Storytelling with Data delivers the following key points. Certainly understanding context about your audience is the top priority. Secondly choose a visual data type that works for the data as Cole repeated avoiding pie graphs, multiple y-axis labels, and 3D at all costs. As a result, eliminating clutter, as suggested by Cole is a solid reference for removing everything that may hurt your story.

Continue reading “Latest Read: Storytelling with Data”
Categories
Artificial Intelligence Education Innovation Reading Technology

Latest Read: The AI Advantage

The AI Advantage: How to Put the Artificial Intelligence Revolution to Work by Tom Davenport. Tom has written several well respected books. Reading Competing on Analytics in 2008, provides me stellar view of business metrics. Keeping Up with the Quants and Big Data at Work both reveal deep insights every organization must absorb to understand predictive analytics and big data. Surprisingly, the AI Advantage falls flat by comparison.

the ai advantage

The book’s pitch is well researched, yet there is a surprising lack of unique cases compared to his three books above. Likewise, the opening chapter “Artificial Intelligence Comes of Age—Slowly” provides a general overview to IBM’s Watson. Small hits, and yet a larger unfocused ability of Watson to move the needle on cancer research.

The promise of AI’s subset, machine learning (ML) is very over-promoted across today’s IT sales marketplace. The opening chapter reveals some deep AI shortcomings that should not be ignored.

Meanwhile, examples throughout the book refer to the Robotic Process Automation (RPA), a somewhat flavor of machine learning. Likewise, this extends into Chapter 2: AI in the Enterprise, the impact of AI for knowledge workers. This type of technology advance is impacting a cognitive advantage in healthcare.

Surprisingly, The AI Advantage released in 2018. But the role of AI driven Deep Fakes is missing. Launched in 2014, Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) technology may indeed be the most contested application of ML.

16 Million views of a Deep Fake application on YouTube

While amusing for movies and celebrities, certainly there are significant impacts upon society regarding government, corporations, and foreign relations. Shockingly the manipulation of voice has already resulted in financial transfers to criminal organizations.

Continue reading “Latest Read: The AI Advantage”
Categories
Design Education Google Innovation Reading Technology

Latest Read: Work Rules

Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead by Laszlo Bock. Laszlo was the Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google.

Work Rules!

Bock’s audience is threefold: Managers, HR professionals, and Employees. For example, Bock is suggesting as managers, hire people smarter than you. Obviously, for HR teams insights on hiring, interviewing and keeping talented people should not be overlooked. Regardless of your organization’s mission or size. Above all, Laszlo’s “be a founder” sums up the type of hire every company strives to achieve, an employee who makes a meaningful impact across the organization.

Above all, I was looking to develop insights to Google’s Objectives and Key Results that impact their operations. Laszlo shares Google’s OKRs (as the general rule) must be specific, measurable, and verifiable. Surprisingly, they indeed push a high level of OKR transparency across the company.

Google OKRs are achievable, relevant, and timed. Data mining is why Google was shifting away from SMART goals. For instance, revising OKRs each quarter proves you need to run lean. Googlers certainly expect to set OKRs that far exceed their teams’ performance. Of course, with any data driven company, all project teams are focusing to aim for the moon. Even failing to achieve, they are still delivering a very good achievement.

Work Rules certainly illustrates a very deep look at the company’s evolution. Learning how they were stumbling offers key insights. For example, adopting benefits like on campus laundry services and nail salons that seems simply over the top for any legacy, old school company.

It’s enjoyable to see how a large tech company grew up so fast. Their practices in People Operations show the world how change is possible. They are stumbling from time to time. It helps to see the luster has worn off the company.

Continue reading “Latest Read: Work Rules”
Categories
Design Education Google Innovation Reading Technology TED

Latest Read: Measure What Matters

Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs by John Doerr. It is easier to understand during a pandemic how organizations should embrace OKRs in a time of dramatic change.

Measure What Matters by John Doerr

Firstly, Measure What Matters begins with John’s story of landing an engineering internship at Intel. Andy Grove is credited by Doerr as the father of OKRs. John was able to work alongside Andy and his team. Certainly this benefitted John in his career. Above all, Grove served as Doerr’s mentor at Intel and left a lifetime impression on the delivery of goals.

Above all, this offers new views against smartgoals or annual performance reviews. Doerr also shares how Adobe, upon viewing OKRs decided to completely shut down legacy annual performance reviews. COVID is a game changer that also helps move away from year long reviews.

At first glance, I have to admit that I was somewhat dismayed to see the name of U2’s Bono on the cover. That is to say many interview of musicians go off the rails. But Bono’s contribution will surprise any reader. His ability to convey his non-profit’s OKRs is very revealing that speaks to the depth and grounding of a business plan that you may not initially attribute to a world famous rock and roll singer.

Similarly there is an inspirational story is Nuna. John shares the story of Jini Kim. Her brother, Kimong was diagnosed with severe autism. While vacationing at Disneyworld, he suffered a severe seizure. At nine years of age Jini enrolled her family into Medicaid. Jini was a product manager at Google Health. Moreover Jini helped launch Google Public Data. When Jini left Google to launch her own startup, Nuna (Korean for big sister) her application of OKRs helped her company win the bid to fix healthcare.gov in 2013.

Likewise there is simplicity to OKRs. But a foundation of solid objectives is key:

  1. Exceptional Focus
  2. High degree of alignment
  3. Uncommon degree of commitment
  4. Tracking progress
  5. Transparent goal system
Continue reading “Latest Read: Measure What Matters”