This was something I read in a book called The Art of Scalability, something I believe I'd always intuitively known but never had spelt out explicitly: that having additional hands (or brains) does not necessarily equate to a proportional increase of output - it is often less, especially at the start. The problem is relatively... Continue Reading →
You make it look so easy
I'll start with a quote I read today from the book Getting Ahead (Garfinkle, 2011) about a problem faced by people good at their craft. It made me smile because I this was the first time I'd seen it brought up anywhere and which I thought was one of those things I thought you just... Continue Reading →
When things look easy
I'll start with a quote I read today from the book Getting Ahead (Garfinkle, 2011) about a problem faced by people good at their craft. It made me smile because I this was the first time I'd seen it brought up anywhere and which I thought was one of those things I thought you just... Continue Reading →
Freely Sharing Information
I'm three quarters of my way through a book called Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal, a book on leadership, organisational structure, and a way of thinking that's so insightful I can't wait to finish reading just so I can start from the beginning again. Other than the Nassim Taleb books I don't think... Continue Reading →
A poor workman blames his tools
There is this idiom that goes something like this: a poor workman always blames his tools (a Google search reveals this might be better known as a bad workman always blames his tools, but I digress). Having grown up with the idiom oft-repeated to me by my mom, its grown to be such an innate... Continue Reading →
The Driest Joke in History
"Knock... knock," he managed to utter, as he lay dying on the desert floor, having gone without water for as long as the human body was capable, in an attempt to tell the driest joke in history.
On Facebook’s French Flag – Or: If one needy person, charity is done; if ten, none.
About a month ago what is now known (at least on Wikipedia) as the November 2015 Paris attacks happened, with more than a hundred people killed in mass shootings and suicide bombings. I vaguely remember first seeing reports on this on Facebook, thinking it was some sort of joke. It was unreal; classified in my... Continue Reading →
One problem with success
One problem with success is that if you get too much of it before you're ready, you'll never dare to try again. Having enjoyed the glory of success, it doesn't make sense to negate that glory through a subsequent attempt that might end with failure.
My thoughts on (sales) forecasting and predictive models
I need to have a data-dump on the sales forecasting process and forecasts. On optimistic and pessimistic forecasting: When forecasts are (consistently) too low: well-known issue that even has a name: sandbagging. You forecast lower to temper expectations. When you do get better results than the forecast you look like a hero. When forecasts are... Continue Reading →
Programming in Python
Did I mention that I am learning (and have learned) to program in Python at Codeacademy and am loving it? (Unbiased plug: if you want to learn to program, doesn't have to be Python, try Codeacademy!) Sometimes I think that I'm such a nerd: reading programming books in the train; programming for fun at night;... Continue Reading →
Donn, fragments 