Trust Me… November 2019
Operational Excellence by Design eNewsletter – October 2019
October 2019 Monthly Musing This is a generalization, but the real reason why most engineers rarely make good business people is because they are fixated on the perfect. They are terrified of what they do not know or understand – and even more terrified to release to those who do. Their idea of too much…
The Outliers Inn; Artificial Intelligence
Topic: Antlerboy (aka Benjamin Taylor) continues to be plagued by substandard internet, although right in the middle of London and across the street to MI-6, yet can only get ADSL service to his office. How can that be in 2019? Broadcasting from home is not possible because Antlerboy is too “afraid” to tell his wife to…
The sad reality of “quality” today: How innovation and growth creates waste and inefficiencies
In the late 1970s, “quality” began to evolve from its historically “Neanderthal” passive inspection approach to its current “Cro-Magnon,” more pro-active, project-based approach “bolted-on” to the current operational status quo. Joseph Juran was a pioneer in such efforts. Various subsequent adaptations such as Six Sigma and Lean evolved it further; but, over time, it has…
All the Ways Hiring Algorithms Can Introduce Bias
In today’s age, the question comes to fore: Do hiring algorithms prevent bias, or amplify it? This fundamental question has emerged as a point of tension between the technology’s proponents and its skeptics, but arriving at the answer is more complicated than it appears. HBR means that hiring is rarely a single decision, but rather…
Using Algorithms to Understand the Biases in Your Organization
Algorithms have taken a lot of heat recently for producing biased decisions. People are outraged over a recruiting algorithm Amazon developed that overlooked female job applicants. Likewise, they are outraged over predictive policing and predictive sentencing that disproportionately penalize people of color. Importantly, race and gender were not included as inputs into any of these algorithms. Should we be outraged…