Ellis Valley

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Hmmmmm.... Coffee

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Form over function: Does powerpoint result in dumber decisions?

I was forwarded a link to an article on SmartPlanet that proposes:

• Dumber decisions are made due to power point, example being the military;
  
  
  
  • Officer used to make 2 - 4 decision per day
  
  
  • Today important decisions are presented in 20 - 60 slides
  
  
  • Previously decisions were consultative and deliberate vs today's immediate and broadcasted
  
  
  
  

The use of dot points is a deliberate attempt at irony, not that I've been brainwashed due to years of prepairing and absorbing such presentations.

I really found two points ideas (maybe I have been brainwashed by powerpoint) that stuck with me. The first is from retired Marine Colonel T.X. Hammes lamenting on the use of powerpoint may have resulted in the oversimplification of the issues involved in a decision:

“Bullets are not the same as complete sentences, which require developing coherent thoughts. Instead of forcing officers to learn the art of summarizing complex issues into coherent arguments, staff work now places a premium on slide building,”

The second idea that will stick with me is the effort being placed in powerpoint maybe as much as the effort that used to be placed in making deliberate decisions.  So it is possible that we are not gaining efficiency from the powerpoint process.  Any efficiency gain is that some lower level staffer can prepare the powerpoint from an outline of an immediate decision, instead of the decision maker spending time considering the matter.  Resulting in form of presenting a decision being more important than the function of the decision.

And I'm wondering if Scott Adams read any of the same pieces given his latest comic:

InBox Zero

When I discovered there are these independent (although now more commercially focused) audio shows distributed over the internet directly to iTunes, yes I'm writing about podcasts, one of the first tech related podcasts I listened to was This Week in Tech (TWiT). One of the contributors to TWiT is Merlin Mann. And for this guy I found out about the most powerful tool for being an "information worker" - InBox Zero. I was in a new job for about 6 months when the google video on InBox Zero appeared on the web, so I only had several thousands emails in my inbox. Implementing InBox Zero was needed to reinstate some sanity when it came to email.

 These days emails are so under control they represent only 30 minutes per day of work; yet in that 30 minutes I deal with the 30 or so emails that made it through my various filters. The email filters remove the less important non-work related email from my attention. The stuff from friends is auto forwarded to my personal account. The stuff I'm CC'ed on or I get because I'm on some corporate mailing list (basically the "For Your Information" emails) go to a folder that I quickly scan on a Friday afternoon and then flush. I have an important rule with email; if you want me to take action include me in the "To" field, don't "CC" me on an email requiring action and expect something to be done. This rule has burnt me twice in two years, which is less painful than the hours of scouring hundreds of emails per week.

 So back to Merlin Mann. He disappeared from the podcasts I listened to. Apparently hiding away working on a project and only surfacing on the net to do the You Look Nice Today podcast (which I subscribe to, but rarely listen to). The project turns out to be a book on InBox Zero. It is incredible about what you can an advance for. I kid, the concepts he discusses in the video about the book are sound, but I'm not going to be able to succinctly describe it here (as I regularly fail at being succinct in my posts). So if you want a corner name for the process of getting something done with the masses of information you need to process and then potentially act on check out the videos embedded in this post.

 

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District 9

This movie has the balance of making you think and action like a computer game.

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Maltese Falcon

I recently stumbled across TED - www.ted.com

 This is a dangerous website. Videos from the TED conferences; which I'm now convinced I want to go to.

 In the piles of videos I found Adam Savage's obsessions presentation, the video below. I suffer from the same appreciation of "objects and the stories that they tell", unfortunately unlike Adam Savage I lack the skills to build or sculpt them.

 Also for those who haven't met me (the 6 billion plus of you out there) I talk at the same pace as Adam does in this video.

 

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Aussie Public Debt Accrual

 I enjoy the works of 10,000 pennies on YouTube. His explanation of large numbers and highlighting the issues in "political math" are interesting. The video above is a particular favourite, so much so I've tracked down the data to do a version for Australian national public debt.

 For comparison purposes I've normalised the gross debt for inflation. Like 10,000 pennies I have not considered the GDP (an indicator of the ability to pay back the debt) nor net debt, as the Australian Federal Government lends money to the states and thus the federal government is at times a middle-man to the state's debt.

 While ours (Australia's) debt accrual is not at as dramatic as that for the US, I have been surprised in a few places. Now that I've done the number crunching, I need to come up with the route across the country to make the presentation interesting.

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iPhone and study

I wish the iPhone and 3G data networks were developed 10 years ago when I was studying full-time. I've been working on a project and needed some information; the only university with it readily available is Murdoch. So I went to the library and took pictures with the iPhone. Then uploaded those images to EverNote. I get home to the notes being on my desktop and as they've been OCRed by EverNote, I can search for content in the pictures. Although I wouldn't have been able to afford this technology as a student, so it is probably a moot point.

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Bicycle for your mind

A cool video about how Steve Jobs saw computing years ago; as the tool that allows our brains to achieve more. Now that we jump at our computers beck and call (from emails, alarms reminding us of meetings, net based workflow at work), I wonder if we are the tools that will allow computers to achieve more.

 

 I wouldn't have been aware of this video if it wasn't for yesterday's post on MacTalk - http://www.mactalk.com.au/2009/08/12/youtube-wednesday-blast-from-the-past/

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New Comic Pic

Some days there is nothing better to day then play with Photo Booth on the iMac. Damn rain on my day off.

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Epic Fail

I've just watched Adam Savage's Defcon 19 talk.  The talk was about the importance of failure and how it shaped his career.  I find it conflicting that failure is important to growth, yet there are very few environments that allow for failure.  Although maybe the lesson is only learnt when the consequences of the failure are felt.  And failure safe environments only bread more failure instead of teaching lessons from failure.

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Test photo boo

via AudioBoo

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Around the World in 80 Hours

I ordered a bunch of t-shirts from Think Geek.  The shirts went from Edison, New Jersey, to Perth, Western Australia (via Germany, India, Thailand and Singapore) in less than 80 hours.  I still find how small the world really is incredible.