Buying a laptop isn't as straightforward as it would seem. There are far too many variables and not enough understandable information. The goal of this entry is to clarify some of the confusion. I am sure this will be out of date, as soon as I submit it. I suppose the...
Not everyone thinks the days of e-mail are numbered. Robert Hamilton and Ben Bradley write in Darwin Magazine about the how ingrained e-mail is to how we work. And, rather than fight it, they suggest one direction may be in creating environments which work seamlessly with email. They focus on collaboration...
The TOC YahooGroup has been talking about Deming's Funnel, and a smart person finally asked what it was. A quick google nets a wide variety of explanations. Tampering and effects diagnosis from the QualityAmerica knowledge center was a useful verbal description. And Yonatan Reshef at the U of Alberta has a...
Interesting article from Kevin Desouza about knowledge transfer encouraged over ping pong and coffee.
Report from the top: Overview of the CKO Summit - Mary Lee Kennedy, Microsoft Director of Knowledge Network Group at the KMPro Chicago Chapter meeting 13 January 2004. Summary: Each year some of the top CKO's from around the globe meet in Ireland for a 'CKO Summit', an opportunity to discuss...
Frank Patrick has a piece today on the Otis Redding Theory of Measurement that he got from Fast Company via some Otis lyrics, "I can't do what 10 people tell me to do, so I guess I'll remain the same." Frank's summary: "Too many measures are not only distracting, but are...
Frank Patrick's Focused Performance Weblog What the Customer Wants -- In today's piece Laurent writes... "The most important thing I learned in 15 years could well be the realization that solving someone's problem with code involves listening to that person." This goes for problem solving without code as well. And as...
As long as everything has gone correctly, I am now incorporated in the state of Illinios as "Knowledge Jolt, Inc." I'll be selling consulting services in knowledge management, focusing on the pharmaceutical and chemical industries in order to exploit my formal training in chemical engineering and my history in the pharma industry.
In case you haven't seen this potential tool, Spike Hall mentioned PurpleSlurple as a way to get better URL's in your writing, so that readers need not hunt around long pages to find a specific reference. Another Weblogging (and Knowledge-Making) Tool: Purpleslurple I add PurpleSlurple to the weblogging tools I find...
In an excellent discussion on the CriticalChain Yahoo Group, Larry Leach mentions a point I hadn't put together before. "If you do not have a statistical basis for predicting the project end date, you have no basis at all." Essentially, even with a "unique" project, the elements of the project (the...
Thomas Vander Wal found an interesting article on a prototype e-notebook (not a lab notebook, software to record web-notes): Building a Web Based E-Notebook The Journal of Digital Information has an article on Implementation Challenges Associated with Developing a Web-based E-notebook by Yolanda Jacobs Reimer and Sarah A. Douglas. This Journal...
Denham Grey talks about PKM (personal knowledge management) PKM to me is a paradox - knowledge in my world is socially constructed - it is not about organizing your thoughts, learning to use tools or developing individual competencies - it is about dialog, community and collaboration. He has some interesting comments...
Lilia Efimova, aka Mathemagenic, is doing PhD research on weblogs and the connection to personal knowledge management.
In Jeff Angus' ongoing series on The Seductions (& Giant Sucking Sounds) of Metrics: The Average is Not the Territory, he talks about how it is easy to get distracted by The One Great Number (TOGN). Tip # 44: Don't be fooled. The seduction of a TOGN is understandable. And TOGN...
I had an interesting conversation the other day. An organization that does both research and manufacturing wants a system that will help them see knowledge across all their products. Does anyone know of such a monster?
End-of-year family activities have me checking my aggregated news from a dial-up connection. I suspect I will be posting less frequently than I like until the end of the year.
On November 17, 2003 Michael Shafer's computer found the 40th known Mersenne prime, 220,996,011-1! Michael is a chemical engineering graduate student.
This will be a short entry. Abbott Laboratories are the biggest Chicago-based pharmaceutical company. With all the trouble at Baxter and the departure of Pfizer (Pharmacia / Searle), they are pretty much the only large drug research firm in town. The only current reference to KM at Abbott is the work...
At an upcoming meeting, there will be talk about how good data management can support ongoing research. IFPAC04 Detailed Program (near the bottom of the page) Knowledge Management and Continuous Improvement Chairs: Ali Afnan, FDA and Chris Watts, FDA Real time or near- real time measurement tools typically generate large volumes...