Link Roundup 10/9/2013

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  • Victory for Science – LA Times won’t be publishing letters of climate-change denials.  I find this interesting in light of Popular Science’s decisions.  Controversy aside, it’s a vote for responsibility over random yelling by people and acting like “all sides are equal.”  Wether this takes off is something to watch.
  • On the subject of calling out stupidity, and the possibility of economic meltdown, here’s six CEO’s who think Washington is stupid and are willing to say it.  Hopefully there’s enough pressure here.
  • Washington may be incompetent, but the publishing industry is actually . . . doing better than you may think.  Here’s a fascinating deconstruction you’ll want to read.
  • Also ever liked Asmov’s ‘Foundation’ but wished it was a manga?  Well now it’s going to be a manga.  I didn’t see that coming – and kind of wonder if that could lead to anime or movie adaptions.  It’s often been talked about but never done  . . . but this may be a gateway.
  • Get your hand on 1,661 pulp novels as free e-books!  Our culture preserved, like Hari Seldon would do . . . if he read novels with names like “Whip Hand.”  Know what?  I pushed that metaphor too far – but an interesting idea of how literature can be preserved.
  • From books to music, a Github for musicians?  That’s Splice, actually.  Interesting bit of innovation there – makes me wonder what else could be done with this method . . .

Finally, some job news

– Steven “Climate Change is Real Dudes” Savage

 

Make It So: Honey I Shrunk The Con (and Kraken Con review)

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Last weekend I went to Kraken Con in the Bay Area, doing one of my creative gameshows. Kraken Con (this year’s motto “New Squids on The Block”) is an attempt to do a small, one-day convention done twice a year.

They succeeded in my book. Massively.

It was a tight, focused, event. No wasted room, no wasted time – and no hurried pacing or inability to choose what to do. There was one (shockingly huge) dealer’s room, organized events, a nice relaxation spot/cafe, and a tightly run ship. No fluff, no mess, and no overload.

In turn, everyone I talked to was pleased and having fun. From artists telling me how it was even bigger than they expected to attendees mentioning how they enjoyed it, people seemed to really like this. Frankly it felt like a second or third year convention – and this was the first time it had run.

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The Second “R” of Reporting – Research

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OK last week I gave you the first “R” of my Seven “R”‘s of reporting – Report. In short, your first step when you take over a project is to just keep the reporting running no matter how backward, confusing, inaccurate, or bizarre it is. Doing that is important for many reasons, not the least of which is you may be terribly wrong that it’s got problems – that crappy, terrible report may actually work.

Face it, as smart as you are (and you do read my writings so I assume you’re smart) you may just be wrong.

But anyway, with the reporting running, we get to the next “R” – Research.

You need to start looking into how the reporting works. You do this of course so you, the Program or Project Manager, really know what’s going on, what’s being done, and what you have to douse that’s on fire. Hopefully it reveals, as previously, that all is marvelous but I’m not going to count on it.

So you need to do your second R, “Research.” Here’s the basics you need to look into:

  • What is the report supposed to do anyway?
  • Where does the data come from and what does it mean?
  • How is it transformed, analyzed, and understood?
  • Who does it go through and to?
  • Why was it included anyway?

If you can name all these things, even abstractly, about your current reporting structure, kudos. You are lucky, talented, or a complete liar. OK, no kudos for the last one.

The reason you do this research is simple, you want to know what all of this actually means. Not what people say it means, what it actually means. If some form is not filled out by calculations but by hand, you know there’s human meaning. If some date is reported but it’s not really what it means (“well it’s live but not tested” is one of my favorites) then you know.

You want to know what all of this information is supposed to tell you and really tells you.

Of course your urge may be “wait now I understand the data and it’s wrong” and go fix it. Nope, not ready yet.

Or it could seem the data is fine. Awesome. But it may still not be right.

See once you have done research and know what it’s all supposed to mean, you have to figure out how it hooks together, and that’s the next R . . .

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach.  He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, nerd and geek culture at http://www.nerdcaliber.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.