Google is all up in my grill

Google is now cruising down country roads in Sonoma County... amazing.

Glad the lawn was mowed!

Eliana's iCarly Song!

Eliana has been asking me to upload a video to the iCarly website for weeks! She's excited at the thought of being on TV.

Knowing When to Push Back

Some great stuff from Harvard Business Online. This comes from there "50Lessons" videos. This quick clip is an example of "push back" with a customer. (You'll dig Phil's accent, too.. Imagine him saying "I can't hold her,Captain", while your listening).

But, when is it time to push back within the company? This is just as difficult. It's about knowing the unwritten rules... knowing all the players. Timing is everything. Patience is a virtue, at times.... but, there is a limit.

"Catch ball" is a term used in Hoshin Kanri planning. (Policy Deployment).... Where the two way communication should allow for some "push back" against unrealistic objectives set from above. In a company that historically doesn't play this way, I think we still figuring this part out.
...It's a process.. It doesn't happen over night! So, in some ways the command and control model is in place under the guise of the Hoshin language.
But there is hope.... in the name of continuous improvement!

Blog-O-Rithm ... Informative thought...and other random stuff

The Chain Theory

I bought the book "The Goal", The Theory of Constraints, Eliyahou Goldratt for 70 cents on Amazon! Now, I just have to read it ...

Smarty Splash

Splash
Originally uploaded by SdPanek

Eliana said, "Daddy, what's the middle number in the world.... I think, maybe it's 50, I dunno... Or maybe it's googleplex, is it?"

She's a smartypants, we talk about math sometimes..... and a lot of other interesting stuff.

Teen toob toss!

Work Hard, Play hard.

I've also decided that it's fine to not own an expensive boat, a million dollar vacation home, and a pair of waverunners.... We get caught up in ownership... I can use those things a couple times a year for a fraction of the headache. I'm getting smarter all the time. I also discovered that it's harder to get up on one ski than it used to be!

Corporate Genetic Food

We should be concerned. We're in the middle of a food supply experiment. Interesting that the intellectual rights of the food can be purchased, for a year...

I remember Paul Hawken from the book Magic of Findhorn,
I have a lot of catching up to do,he's wriiten a bunch more books. I appreciate his perspective. Definitely click the video.

Importance of Value Stream Mapping

A fundamental to "Seeing" a process.
I've seen Process maps that don't do much good because there is so much detail that they're painful to look at! ....and others that don't have enough detail to reveal the issues. ... There's clearly is benefit to mapping and analyzing the value stream.

We've gone through some basic training, but need to get to the next level with this.
I'll be digging deeper on this in Houston with Optriprise.

This basic video is from SME

The SPAM Generation. US is fourth behind China, Brazil, and Turkey.

Not a race to first place. This from Technology Review reveals where the bulk of the mess comes from. It's a crying shame we don't have better control over this.

....Makes me think of a Monty Python song. (See Below!)

The comments thread had a few good nuggets, too ...

Education Shiladie on 05/29/2008 at 1:05 PM

The number one reason these things spread like they do is people being completely ignorant about the internet. These are the people who are the reasons spam is so prolific: People who: 1. use the 'To:' field 2. click links (ANY LINKS) in an email 3. run windows and don't keep an up-to-date anti-virus on it (there are many free ones!) 4. reply to spam 5. have unsecure passwords (12345, password, nascar, jesus) Currently there are multiple bot-nets that are orders of magnitude more powerful then the world's largest supercomputers, and it won't stop unless people plain and simple smarten up.

Guzzler CraigsListings on the Rise.

Gas prices spur Craigslist car & truck listings growth 120%

"My Suburban gets 120 MPG (*per person when fully loaded)." buy a burb and pass the hat!
That's the heading I'd like to use when I list our family 'burb' for sale. The teenagers have their own cars and we could probably live with something a little smaller, cheaper and minivanish..... But, I'm still getting complete minivan resistance from Suzanne. She drove one for over a decade and has been spoiled by Burb.

Funny, it tooks years to convince her to try our first Burb. Now she's hooked. Push might soon be coming to shove.

The Craiglist sale ads for trucks and SUVs are increasing right along with the latest gas prices. We'll probably do something within the year, but I still think 120 mpg ain't bad.

RFID News, Global Food Crisis, and other appocolyptical thingies

photo by Kristin Smith

I love technology... but this weirds me out. Should I worry now, or wait until they're mandatory at birth?

• RFID Journal

"For $149, a consumer can have a passive 134 kHz RFID chip, compliant with the ISO 11784 and 11785 standards, implanted in his or her arm, with the transponder's unique 16-digit ID number linked to a database containing that individual's medical records and, if they so choose, a living will." .... read more in RFID Journal

• Behold a Black Horse: The Global Food Crisis.

"According to the United Nations, global food prices rose 35 percent in the last year...."
..."Rising oil prices have also had caused food prices to rise...."
"...This situation has not received enough media attention, prompting some to label it the "silent famine."....read more by Dr. Chuck Missler

• Housing Prices Drop at Fastest Pace Ever - April 29, 2008 (MSNBC)

Housing prices dropped in February at the fastest rate ever, reflecting that the housing slump is gaining momentum and showing no signs of letting up.

Read More in: The Decline of the U.S.

...Watch, next I'll be concerned that Obama is a Charismatic world leader!

Is it getting warm and why are we in this hand-basket?

Blog-O-Rithm ... Informative thought...and other random stuff

Quotes ... Leading through Change

"Whosoever desires constant success must change his conduct with the times."

— Niccolo Machiavelli

"People don't resist change. They resist being changed!"

— Peter Senge

"Your success in life isn't based on your ability to simply change. It is based on your ability to change faster than your competition, customers and business."

— Mark Sanborn

"Innovation—the heart of the knowledge economy—is fundamentally social."

— Malcolm Gladwell



.. Just a few quotes that seemed timely.