August 3, 2013
People Needing People
April 1, 2013
When The Solution Is Worse Than The Problem
When The Solution Is Worse Than The Problem
December 21, 2012
Building Happiness, One Contribution At A Time
There was an interesting editorial in the Wall Street Journal (20 December 2012) comparing people who win the [Powerball] lottery to those on social entitlements.
The author, Arthur Brooks stipulates that money unearned--"untethered from hard work and merit"--does not make people happy.
Brooks states that "Above basic subsistence, happiness comes not from money per se, but from the value creation it is rewarding."
And this seems to jive with the concept that the greatest producer of happiness aside from social relationships is doing meaningful and productive work (and generally good deeds), not having lots of money and things!
In terms of winning the lottery (big) and not finding happiness, there was another article to this effect in Bloomberg BusinessWeek (13 December 2012), about someone who won the $314 million Powerball jackpot and had at one time been the largest lottery winner in history--but in the end, he found nothing but misery (lost his granddaughter, wife, money, and ended up a substance abuser) and wished he had never seen that "winning" ticket. Instead, he appreciated his previous life when he was known for his "good works," and not just his money!
According to Brooks, "While earned success facilitates the pursuit of happiness, unearned transfers generally impede it." And CNN reports that now more than 100 million Americans are on welfare, and that "does not include those who only receive Social Security or Medicare."
The result as Brooks states is the fear is that we are becoming an 'entitlement state," and that it is bankrupting the country and "impoverishing" the lives of millions by creating a state of dependency, rather than self-sufficiency.
So are social entitlements really the same thing?
No. because without doubt, there are times when people need a safety net and it is imperative that we be there to help people who are in need--this is not the same as someone winning the lottery, but rather this is genuinely doing the right thing to help people!
At the same time, everyone, who can, must do their part to contribute to society--this means hard work and a fair day's pay.
However, With the National Debt about to go thermonuclear, and the fiscal cliff (in whatever form it finally takes) coming ever closer to pocketbook reality, the country is on verge on confronting itself--warts and all.
We all woke up this morning, and the world was still here--despite the Mayans foretelling of the end of the world today. Perhaps, the end was never meant as a hard and fast moment, but rather the beginning of an end, where we must confront our spendthrift ways and historical social inequities.
While we cannot erase decades of mismanagement, what we can do is continue the march to genuinely embrace diversity, invest in education and research, help those who cannot help themselves, work hard and contribute, and build a country that our grandparents dreamed of--one that is paved in opportunity for everyone!
Let us pray that we are successful--for our survival, prosperity, and genuine happiness. ;-)
(Source Photo: here with attribution to Brother Magneto)
Building Happiness, One Contribution At A Time
October 10, 2011
Growing America's Jobs
ABC News reported tonight of a home builder in Montana making a house entirely from American made products--as difficult as they are to find.
Growing America's Jobs
September 10, 2011
Kamikaze UAVs
Kamikaze UAVs
April 9, 2010
Apple’s Self-Sufficiency Model
Apple has an amazing self-sufficiency model, where they have only 6 desktop support analysts for 34,000 worldwide employees, 36 helpline agents for 52,000 computers, only 38% of their IT budget is for baseline operations and 62% for innovation, and their IT spend is just .6 of 1%. These are numbers that most CIOs dream of. And of course, that’s only the beginning of the Apple story…
There is no doubt about it Apple is firing on all cylinders. Apple has become a $50 billion a year company building and selling technology products that consumers are salivating for—whether it’s a MacBook, iPhone, or the new iPad—everyone wants one, and I mean one of each!
Apple’s slogan of “Think Different” is certainly true to form. It’s reflected in their incredibly designed products, innovation in everything they do, and the keen ability to view the world from their user’s perspective.
Here are some amazing stats on Apple (heard at the Apple Federal CIO Summit, 8 April 2010):
- Apple as the highest gross revenue per square foot in retail at $6250.
- Apple’s online store is the most visited PC store and is a top 10 retail website
- iTunes has over 125 million user accounts and does 20,000 downloads a minute
- The iPhone 3GS is ranked the #1 smartphone in customer satisfaction by JD Power Associates and has over 150,000 apps
- Apple processes over 1.9 million credit card transactions per day
- Apple’s MobileMe has over a million subscribers
- Apple is ranked #1 in customer satisfaction by Consumer Reports, 10 years in a row.
- Apple is ranked the most innovative company by both Fortune Magazine and Business Week.
Here are some of Apple’s self-proclaimed keys to success:
- Steve Jobs—A leader who makes it all happen
- Innovation—Rethink things; “If nothing existed, what would it make sense to do?”
- Consumerism—Focus on the entire customer experience and make it excellent
- Avoiding complexity—Simplify everything so that it completely intuitive to the users and be good at deciding what you are not going to do.
- Attention to detail—This involves creating an immersive experience for the consumer that permeates the design process.
- “The concept of 1”—Build consistency across products; standardize, simplify, and architect around commonalities.
- Learnability—Users should be able to quickly learn their technology by watching others or by exploring
- People—Smart, motivated employees and a special emphasis on their intern program
While the key factors to Apple’s success are not a recipe that can simply copied, they do offer great insight into their incredible accomplishments.
Next stop for Apple seems to be taking their success in the consumer market and making it work in the enterprise. This will go a long way to addressing users concerns about their technology at home being better than what they use at work.
Apple’s Self-Sufficiency Model
June 13, 2008
What Goes Around Comes Around and Enterprise Architecture
As an enterprise architect, I have always wondered about the trend of outsourcing our manufacturing jobs out of country-- where as a nation we erode our manufacturing base and ship this capability to China, India, Mexico, and other countries where labor is plentiful and cheap.
Yes, in the short term we are taking advantage of the lower costs of manufacturing in other countries, but long term, I always questioned the viability of this strategy thinking that surely every nation needs to maintain a core of critical manufacturing and service capabilities and infrastructure to guarantee self-sufficiency, protect itself from eventual global disruptions, and ensure the continuity of its existence.
I believe that some day (and maybe relatively soon), we will regret the near-sightedness of our decisions to move production abroad for the sake of the dollar today.
Interestingly enough, I read in the Wall Street Journal today, 13 June 2008, that “stung by soaring transport coasts, factories bring jobs home again.”
“The rising costs of shipping everything from industrial-pump parts to lawn mower batteries to living-room sofas is forcing some manufacturers to bring production back to North America and freeze plans to send even more work oversees.”
I thought to myself—Hallelujah!
No, I am not happy that oil prices are soaring and that inflation is looming everywhere, but I am cautiously relieved that perhaps, we as a nation will wake up in time to secure our economic interests at home and not send our entire manufacturing base and capabilities out of country.
Ironically (da!), the further we move our factories away, the more it costs now to ship the goods back home.
“The movement of factories to low-cost countries further and further away has been a bitter-sweet three-decade long story for the U.S. economy, knocking workers out of good-paying manufacturing jobs even as it drove down the price of goods for consumers. But after exploding over the past 10 years that march has been slowing. The cost of shipping a standard 40-foot container from Asia to the East Coast has already tripled since 2000 and will double again as oil prices head toward $200 a barrel…In the world of triple-digit oil prices, distance costs money.”
The other thought that always kept coming to mind was that as we continue to move manufacturing abroad, the increasing demand for labor would drive the cost of labor up, and eat away at the cost differential making the overseas move a moot point.
Again, I read today in the Journal the story I always felt was bound to be told and to continue to unfold: “The cost of doing business in China in particular has grown steadily as workers there demand higher wages and the government enforces tougher environmental and other controls. China’s currency has also appreciated against the dollar…increasing the cost of products in the U.S.”
One problem with trying to bring the jobs back home…
“Much of the basic infrastructure needed to support many industries—such as suppliers who specialize in producing parts or repairing machines—has dwindled or disappeared.”
What goes around, comes around. The jobs (some) are coming home (although net-net, we’re still losing manufacturing jobs). As a country, we‘ve benefited in the short-term from outsourcing, but in the long-term, I believe we’ll have done ourselves a good deal of harm.
Does this sound unfamiliar?
Think national deficit—big time. Think gargantuan problems with social security, Medicare, health care, and so on.
All too often, we behave with short-sightedness and like infants, the desire for immediate gratification. But as enterprise architects, I believe we need to think long term and often defer gratification for long-term competitiveness, self-sufficiency, and survival.
What Goes Around Comes Around and Enterprise Architecture