Miscellaneous Notes

'Business Objectives Equation': An Emerging Model

Let's agree that generally a business has four objectives, and let's express those objectives as a summation, thus:

Efficiency + Productivity + Profitability + Growth ^[1]

How does this 'equation' relate to the functional areas of business?

Well, the production/operations/R&D functions of business will ideally focus on efficiency and productivity; the finance/accounting/sales/marketing functions will focus on profitability; and the strategy function will focus on growth (or stability, or renewal, as the case may be). Naturally, there will be overlaps in these set of relationships (e.g. production will have to understand corporate strategy to understand how daily operations fit into the overall picture, etc.). The challenge facing the discerning business is really to optimize this very simple equation.

[Perhaps someday, I will expound on this seemingly simple proposition to account for the various complexities and constraints that businesses do in fact face.]

[1] A business could conceivably have other objectives. I refer here though to the corporate entity whose objective is to maximize profit. Also, another important objective -- effectiveness -- is subsumed under the productivity objective.

17 July 2006

Some Interesting Observations

The following are two observations that essentially say the same thing about the state of computing and information technology today, but appear at first glance to be contradictory. In any case, both ring a clear message of truth, and the discerning IT professional will do well to listen.

Observation 1:

Most people affiliated with corporate information technology ... will assume "business-facing" roles, focused not so much on gadgets and algorithms, but on corporate strategy, personnel, and financial analysis. -- Gartner.

Observation 2:

The real value of [information technology] is [increasingly] less in acquiring a skill in technology tools ... than in [managing] complexity, [navigating] and [accessing] information, [mastering] modeling and abstraction, and [thinking] analytically in terms of algorithms, or step-by-step instructions. -- Edward D. Lazowska, University of Washington.

Some things I'm interested in...

Core Analytics

These are tools and applications used to provide business users with better metrics, or to define or analyze a past or current state... Core analytics include queries, reporting, analysis, etc.

Predictive Analytics

More mathematically complex than core analytics, these are tools and applications that are used to determine the probable future outcome of an event. They includes data mining, clustering, decision trees, market basket analysis, regression modeling, neural networks, genetic algorithms, text mining, hypothesis testing, decision analytics, etc.

Evolution of a Personal Career Mission Statement

Observe how my Personal Career Mission statement has evolved:

OLD: My personal career mission is to master the leading business software development tools, to achieve an in-depth understanding of business application development, and to continually find new ways to apply these to solving real business problems. (Circa Fall 2004/Spring 2005)

NEW: ...to understand business from an integrative perspective -- drawing on the various functional areas of business; and from a strategic standpoint: how those functional areas -- particularly information systems -- can be used to drive corporate mission. (July 2005)

While the old PCM statement emphasizes deep, narrow skills (business applications development, specifically), the new PCM statement favors a broad, high-level understanding of business; business, seen from a strategic, integrative perspective; leadership.

I credit my internship at Accenture for this change in perspective.

Proud to be an IDS Major!

"... Whereas the Computer Science major focuses on software and its efficient development and subsequent implementation, the Information and Decision Sciences major must consider all of the components of an information system:

• hardware
• software
• networks
• people
• data
• procedures

[The IDS program at UIC] is built on a core based on courses in [the various functional areas of business: accounting, finance, management, marketing, economics, ... ], statistics, operations management, programming, databases, and networking with a capstone integrative course in Competetive Strategy."

Web Application Development Approaches to Consider

• .NET platform, pages in C# or ASP.NET, connect to MS SQL Server
• Scripting language (like PHP), connect to Postgre SQL or Oracle
• Java Server Pages (JSP) with Oracle on Linux

Running a Low-Budget Server (on Free, Open-Source Technologies)

• Pentium class PC
• Mandrake (Linux flavor)
• Postgre SQL (open source RDBMS)
• Apache (Web server)
• Uninterrupted Power Supply
• Mirrored Disks on Separate Controllers.

Words of Phil Greenspun, PhD, MIT

I read this on PG's Web site, and could not help but to jot it down. I have interspersed the original text with my own paraphrases to make it more, well, universally relevant -- or, at least, relevant to me.

"It [ought not to be] about application programming¹ or data processing... . Systems Analyst [ought not to be] the sort of job to which ... [an Information Sciences major] should aspire ... . [An IDS major's objective] ought to be learning to deal with complexity and abstraction ... and then [systems] architecture, artificial intelligence [e.g. Business Intelligence (BI)?], modeling, theory, [statistics], ... mathematics. ... The idea is to learn how to make [systems] faster, more efficient, and more intelligent."

¹ The reference to it not being about application programming is especially pertinent to me... You would think PG was talking directly to me if read my old personal career statement.

Hmm...

“I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? And I awlyas thought slpeling was ipmorantt.”

- Spam.

An interesting proposition

“To err is human; but to get even -- that is divine.” Alan Shore, The Practice.

Bonus

“Sometimes we must accept what happens to us, even if we don't want to. But sometimes we must fight back even if we are afraid.”