Innovative Bar Menu

Because when you've had a couple of cocktails there's nothing like a little Chef Boyardee.

F-22 Raptor: Too much of a good thing?

I'm not a big airplane geek, but this video of the Raptor is absolutely astonishing. (Link, 7:00min). It looks like the plane can stop in mid-air and juke left or right. Truly an awesome display of technology.

But when you read this article by David Axe it seems the military also has a strong interest in a plane that they recently retired.

"The {OV-10} Bronco aligns perfectly with the recent trend towards dirty, low-intensity war requiring constant air support. With the bureaucracy focused on prestigious, high-priced buys of stealthy fighters, the low end of the force structure has suffered at precisely the moment when those kinds of forces are badly needed."

So this begs the question, does the Raptor exceed the needs of the military? Sure it's bigger, better, faster, but what good does it do you when the actual conflicts on the ground need something else.

When the current market (in this case the military brass and contractors) is over servicing the needs of the users (boots on the ground) than the stage is set for a disruptive innovation. In this case it's easy to see why drones are so desirable.

The Checklist: The New Old Innovation

I despise paperwork. I love clarity more. It's well worth the effort to set the standard up front rather than try and reconstruct what went wrong later.

That's why I love the checklist.

The checklist save lives.

The checklist saves lots of money.

(If you don't believe me, click on the link above.)

The silly thing about the check list is that it is only a piece of paper with common sense steps written on it.

The power of the check list (or standard work to use a lean manufacturing term) is that it is a contract between two parties. It explicitly defines what's required, when it's required, and who is required to do it.

When you have a check list, and follow the checklist, ambiguity dissolves, arguments disapate, behaviors change. It should be noted that getting folks to follow the checklist is really the key to success. Drawing up the checklist isn't really that hard.

Sure it takes time and effort to develop the checklist. But it enables things to be done one way, the right way, the same way everytime. Everything else is just an abstract argument.

Neat Idea

On a plant visit recently I was given one of these expiring visitor badges. At the beginning of the day the badge is white. After a period of time the badge expires. For large organizations this is a great way to tell who should be there and who should not.

The Solution Is Beautiful

“When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.” - Buckminster Fuller

One of the weird things about design is that you get a intuitive feeling when you know you have a great answer to the challenge.

This happened to us the other day. We went through an exercise where we defined the problem and generated different possible solutions. I wasn't enthralled with the solution set, but didn't have a better answer either.

Well, after letting the problem gestate the other day (a great description on how and why this works can be found in William Duggan's book) a much better idea evolved. It solved all of the tough issues that we were facing. When we looked at it on paper, it felt "right".

I'm not sure that this ephemeral quality of feelings directly translates into the quantitative linearity of business but it is an indispensable element of success.

Whale Facts

Things that quite possibly only interest me...

Yeah, But They Can Afford It.
New York spends $2,283 per capita per year on Medicaid. The rest of the country averages $1,026.1

The Good Thing About a Recession?
From USA Today: The Federal Reserve on Thursday [12-11] released it latest quarterly look at consumer and business finances showing that households reduced their debt levels 0.8% at an annual rate in the July-September period, the first drop on records that go back more than 50 years.2

The Record on the PGA for Consecutive Birdie Puts?
Eight3


1 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/nyregion/11hospitals.html
2 http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-12-11-net-worth_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip
3 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/sports/golf/09golf.html

Best of 2008

In case you missed something here is the best of 2008.

JANUARY
Bad Action Beats Good Ideas
Do or do not. There is no 'try'.

FEBRUARY
Do what you can do.
When you are facing the right direction all you need to do is keep walking

MARCH
Big doesn't always mean right
The herd is often wrong.

APRIL
Big doesn't always mean right: part two
Just because all the smart guys are doing it doesn't make it right or sustainable

MAY
Dead project managers no longer manage projects
Dead project managers tell no tales or 'How to stay alive'.

JUNE
Your customer is changing
Today's consumer looks a lot different than before.

JULY
Innovation politics explained
Innovation is a social process and therefore political

AUGUST
What you need to manage a project
Required elements of project management

SEPTEMBER
Competency Vs. Interpersonal Trust
Just because you believe they can do it doesn't mean you believe they will.

OCTOBER
Know thy customer
It's about knowing the customer better than they know themselves.

NOVEMBER
Updrafts and downdrafts
Luck matters

DECEMBER
Accountability
You need to be able to talk about the cold hard truth.

Wegmans Operational Excellence

Regular readers know of my long standing love affair with Wegmans, the Rochester, NY, based grocery chain. What makes the company so great is their willingness to try new things, an unwavering commitment to quality, and rigorous process discipline.

An example of their process discipline is the Items Per Minute board; here they list how fast each cashier is checking out the customers. This board will be posted in every store and it tells the cashiers that items per minute matters, a lot.

This makes perfect sense. If, as a company, I am efficient in checkout then I need less registers (capital) and less cashiers (expense) to collect payment. Note that at Wegmans cashiers not only scan the product they bag it and place it in your cart.

Fast checkout also provides the customer with a positive experience; it doesn't take as long to check out (which is also the exact moment that a customer decides that they no longer want to be in the store).

By contrast consider my last experience I had at the local Giant. Heather was talking to Stacey (my cashier) about how big a douche (her word, not mine) her Dad was being. Stacey was a nice enough friend to stop working (and checking out is when I no longer want to be in the store) to discuss this with her friend. Stacey also didn't bother to place any of the items into plastic bags and looked dumbfounded as I stood waiting. Eventually she relented, haughtily overstuffed the bags, and I went on my merry way.

At Wegmans they place the items in a bag, in a cart, in half the time. They get to realize the cost savings of using less people and I get a better experience.

Innovative Propaganda

The Wall Street journal reported today that Gazprom, the Russian Government's natural gas company, has set up a website to explain the argument with Ukraine over natural gas. Hopefully a YouTube video with Russian speaking groundhogs (sub-titled of course) dancing to Janet Jackson music is not next.

The far more interesting question here, other than the interesting use of technology to further a political agenda, is why bother? You're Russia. You have nuclear weapons, lots of tanks and guns; why not go North Korean style and denounce the Ukraine as a bunch of jerks?

Neat Idea

How about a spot to place the obligatory serving spoon? Brilliant.

Happy 2009

The past couple of days has been spent reconnecting with family and friends a ritual that grew out of my early days in manufacturing where we had a plant shut down and has since been reinforced since we moved out of town.

With such links reestablished I'm excited about 2009 and like any good Internet blogger offer my 2009 predictions.

1. The Economy Will Suck: There is no way that we see a quick rebound. We simply have not hit bottom on our current downward spiral. The US economy has been built to support consumer deficit spending and needs to readjust to the new reality (hopefully).
   
   
2. Kodak Ceases to Exist: The company is simply not making enough money to cover expenses and their access to new capital is limited. Their profitable 2008 was based on a tax refund from the Government and a joint venture R&D reimbursement. Kodak is either sold or files for Chapter 11.
   
   
3. China Flexes Its Muscles: This is actually an easy one to call. They are too big and too rich to not try and have a say in the world. Their recent mission to fight sea piracy is but one example. The ramifications in geo-political circles are huge; imagine them getting involved in the middle east? Thank God they need us to buy stuff.
   
   
4. Buffalo Makes The Playoffs: In a much disputed call Buffalo Bills owner Ralph Wilson has retained three season coach Dick Juron. This is a good move. Miami has shown this year that it is possible come from nowhere to win the Division.
   
   
5. Nothing Will Happen With Social Security: The system is not going to run out of money next year so Congress doesn't need to do anything. Things are not setting up well for the average American. Social Security is currently a giant Ponzi scheme. There is no money in a lock box anywhere, it's being pulled from current revenues. Add on to this the fact that the American Government spends more than it makes. And it wants to spend more by taking over health care. And pensions have gone the way of the Do-Do Bird forcing Americans to take responsibility for their own savings (which is at a negative rate) which will place a greater dependence on Social Security.
   
   
6. American Innovation Thrives: Currently there is no better system in the world for rewarding good ideas and punishing bad ones. Look for "breakthrough" advances in alternate energy and medicine.