My Digital FootPrint

I wrote about the original reactions to COVID here , in that post I reviewed how we had responded and the cost to human by examining Burnout and Breakdown.  These are the first two B’s.  Burnout being the rising at 6 AM walking 23.5 steps to the computer, 12 hours of zoom calls. 37 steps via the fridge back to bed and repeat.  A few unable to escape the workload and demands of being able to work from home.  Breakdown being two working adults in a one bed flat with young children, desperate to work but unable. Lacking private space and with a burden or threat of losing their paid role, breakdown becomes a reality for far too many families.   Blue-collar workers have done the same job, the same role, having the same breakfast and lunch, driving the same route to the same office for 20 years.  The repetitive nature leads to call centre levels of boredom.  White-collar workers have lost travel, flexibility, meeting people and all aspects that gave th...

Are KPI’s innovations nemesis? Apple’s underlying philosophy is about “ better .” It is likely that if Apple’s executives were leading the response to COVID19, they would not be planning for a “Return to Normal” or creating a “New Normal,” they would be focussed on how to make what we have better! The demands of complex judgment, coupled with changing requirements in a volatile environment, determine that stability is prioritised over change, as risk is already difficult enough to explain and manage.  Outstanding leadership in 2020 is to focus on making one thing better; it must make a difference whilst adjusting other concerns for better outcomes.  Therefore, what is the one stand out priority that demands attention and focus that delivers “ better ?” Throughout lockdown, I have remained focused on how to provide data that has provenance and lineage to the Board, the aim to improve decisions and get to better outcomes.  Central to the thinking was a linkage between meas...

Organisational fitness is being capable to do the job efficiently and creating growth but fitness does not equally deliver effectiveness, sustainability or long-term survivability.  The latter being characteristics of organisational wellness.  Best outcomes require both fitness and wellness, however, fitness is easier to deliver, measure and reward. Balancing the ease of short-term measurement with long-term consequences is a critical task for leadership. “Fitness” in human terms is a means of doing repetitive exercises with the aim of maintaining or improving physical condition, it is focused on physical health. We can measure a person’s level of fitness. “Organisational Fitness” is an approach to understanding current efficiency and performance of the company based on qualitative measurement. Organisational fitness provides metrics for the critical areas of systems and processes and through KPI’s enable management and reporting by comparison.  Fitness is seen as physi...

The unimagined: unimagined  Your mind will have already assumed that this chapter, from its title, is presenting the unimagined outcomes, a discourse to overly optimistic viewpoints.  It is reasonable that anyone reading a book on Pathways to General AI will have interrupted the word, “unimagined” within this context. Before you skip this chapter as you are a believer that AI is the future or don’t need another comfort blanket chapter speaking to the fearful of AI,  this chapter is neither. It is not a wild fantasy of the possible nor is a negative chapter of the unknown risks and likely machine run apocalyptics. This chapter presents a matrix which enables the holder of either viewpoint to debate and discuss the unimagined together.  However, to reach the matrix we have to create a framework first, which gives the reader a clear and coherent communication tool to position imagined AI initiatives.  THE SIMPLEST ECONOMIC MODEL Figure 1 presents a straightforward...