On Counter-Intuition.

As anyone who knows me will attest - I love knowledge and facts.

People who DON'T like me might say that such knowledge is useless and has no value.
Maybe they're correct.
I don't know.

...But what I do know is that some of the BEST and most fun knowledge is that which is counter-intuitive.

Knowledge that goes against the grain of intuition. Knowledge that makes you scratch your head and say "HOW can that be?". THE most classic example of counterintuitive knowledge is "The world is NOT flat", and the concept of Heliocentrism. Poor Gallileo was condemned (though not excommunicated) for this fact - but yet ultimately prevailed hundreds of years later, with formal declaration from the Vatican, on Halloween, 1992.

Other examples of counter-intuitive facts are:

- The Monty Hall Problem

- The earth is Closer to the sun in January than it is in June.

- English is not the official language of the USA

- Michael J. Fox's middle name is Andrew

- The positions of letters on a regular (QWERTY) keyboard are designed to slow you down.

- If you have a room of 23 people, there is a 50% chance that 2 of them have the same birthday.

- Matter increases in density as it gets colder. Why does ice float?

- Some aggressive animals will leave you alone if you "play dead".

- John Hanson was the first President of the United States. In fact there were six other Presidents of the United States before George Washington. Technicalities remain, but this is a fact.

- There were 4 musketeers in "The Three Musketeers" and Zero Monkeys in "12 Monkeys"

- Sound can travel 4.3 times faster in Water than it does in Air.

- Alaska has the United States' Northernmost, Westernmost, and Easternmost points.

- To go from Los Angeles, California to Reno, Nevada , you have to travel WESTward.

... and then finally (in my opinion) the GRAND-DADDY counter-intuitive fact of them all - THE REASON I wrote this blog entry.. and the one that can change all of our lives....

Reduction in Taxes Increases Government Revenues, and creates a healthier economy.

Hope you're listening, White House. Please burn some calories and validate that last one. It's important.

A Quote from Me.

The young search for the definition of "life".
The wiser are concerned with the "meaning" of life.

-jay patel

Little Morsels of PM Goodness

I wanted to make a list of some things which are often overlooked but very valuable components of project management. I don't prefer the word "nuggets"... so I'll call them "morsels".

Don't overlook these, especially in larger projects:

- Stakeholder Analysis - Know who you're going to be working with, their interests and potentially the reason why they might not like you -- then figure out a way to make them your allies.

- Project Charter - Know what you have to accomplish, what you are delegating, and who has what authority to do what. At a minimum, without a project charter each new participant after kickoff will be "lost in the sauce".

- You have to have purpose and you have to be excited. Without these, your project may be executed successfully, but you will not make meaningful contribution nor will you gain a real sense of achievement. Those are the two things that will make "it all" worthwhile.

- A coach-like manner and enthusiasm - Coaches can pat you on the back, and they can yell at you - but either way you know they love you, and you will go the extra mile for them. As a project manager, don't you want to have people like that on your project ?

- A way of measuring tactical success. You need to plan early on the success metrics of the project. They can be driven by reports from MS Project (hard metrics), a collection of change requests organized by type (derived metrics), an analysis of feedback from the team at certain intervals (soft metrics), and even financial reports on your project burn (hard metrics as well).

- A change Management process - A change in the direction, scope, budget, or resourcing of a project which is sizeable (you decide the threshold) is necessary to (a) make sizeable changes less arbitrary and (b) track the events in an organized manner so they can be minimized where possible. A change management process helps you learn from your mistakes, and helps prevent them to a degree right from the beginning by reducing project chaos.

- A sponsor who will "go to bat" for you. You may have to work to earn this, but it's best to ensure as much support as possible by pledging all your energy prior to the project start.

- Strong Key Learnings Process - Learn from your mistakes and please - don't make them again.

- A Document Repository - Please don't store your documents on your laptop - you know the one you leave unlocked at your desk when you go out to lunch. Could be a career-ender ! And make sure your document repository allows you to do some kind of version controlling.

Killer Robots and Killer Microbes

Two great movies - "War of the Worlds" and "I, Robot" - born of even greater books by yet even greater writers (H.G. Wells and Isaac Asimov) pondered on the destruction of human life - but from different angles.

Asimov pondered the possibility of Robots created that decide that they don't need humans and attempt to destroy humans. Asimov proposed that each Robot created should be created with three inherent "laws" from which they could not deviate:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

He starts the book "I, Robot" with the three basic laws, then goes ahead and smashes to pieces these rules with interesting fiction on how the rules can be broken, or simply would not suffice their intended protection. The book leaves us with a refreshed respect for humanity, and even for robots. The basic "aftertaste" still remains - robots can one day decide to destroy us, and may succeed.

The other book - War of the Worlds - has the primary theme of an alien invader destroying humanity, but also a secondary theme of destruction by microbes (the fate of the aliens, thankfully). Aliens are destroyed by the simple influenza virus because they dont have the resistance we (neanderthal-like) humans have adapted over millenia. This "death by microbe" I propose is a fate that not only for the fictitious aliens, but one that does still lurk around the corner for us humans - moreso again through the recent work of "artificial life" or "synthetic cells" or whatever you want to call it.

In recent news, a tenacious scientist named Craig Ventner has been lauded (and criticized) for creating "synthetic life".

His supporters have called him "ambitious", "genius", and have even credited him with potentially "saving the environment" with his algae-based research. His detractors have called him a "monster", "dangerous", and probably most painful to him among all monikers "insignificant and unoriginal". I believe what he has done can either save the planet or destroy humanity - sound familiar ?

Bottom line: looks like we have something else to worry about - Ventners first "artificial cell" is actually borrowed from a microbe/virus that can be harmful to goats, but his institute states that they've "removed numerous markers" which makes it harmless to goats even "if it were accidentally released" into the environment.

I bet goats don't want to find out for sure.

But why be cynical - let science move forward and hope that those with access to technology like Mr Ventner's are pursuing greater good, and not goat-killing vengeance.

At least Mr. Ventner is having some fun with easter eggs.

So what do we worry about now ? Nuclear Weapons ? Robots taking over ? The "Ventnerenza" virus ?

And to put the icing on the "what's important in life" cake, Lady Gaga is on Larry King this week. "Life" goes on. For now.