Category: Industry News

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News You Can Use: 6/7/2017

  • How Amazon hopes to win the cloud by hiring older engineers

    In my own experience, AWS teams have a healthy mix of older and younger employees. Still, AWS leadership isn’t driven by millennials, but rather by graybeards (James Gosling, Adrian Cockcroft, Tim Bray, and Andi Gutmans are just a few people called out by Governor). Management at most companies will tend to skew a bit older, but AWS is notable for how those people are discovered. As Governor noted: “Some other older companies have older distinguished engineers because they grew up with the company. AWS is explicitly bringing that experience in.”

    http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-amazon-hopes-to-win-the-cloud-by-hiring-older-engineers/

  • Will basic income mean the end of work? Nope.

    In fact, some of this rhetoric could be missing the mark. The evidence from many trials of unconditional cash transfers, including basic income plans, finds little evidence that work (or the desire to work) disappears in conditions of free money. In almost all cases, giving people regular payments hasn’t dampened their thirst for employment. In fact, UBI is a bit like the lottery, says Ioana Marinescu, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, author of a recent paper looking at the relationship between cash transfers and behavior. We may imagine that lottery winners all decamp to Florida (or similar) and sit by the pool all day. Actually, most lottery winners keep clocking in (though presumably less despairingly than before).

    https://www.fastcompany.com/40423154/will-a-basic-income-mean-the-end-of-work-dont-get-too-excited

  • AI Can Now Self-Reproduce—Should Humans Be Worried?
  • Aecom and IBM create “scorecard” to help cities prepare for disasters

    The scorecard is structured around the UN’s 10 Essentials of Disaster Resilience, a list that enables city administrations to identify priorities for investment and to track progress over time. The goal is to guide cities towards optimal resilience by providing a set of assessments that cover the policy and planning, engineering, organisational, financial, social and environmental aspects of disaster resilience.

    http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/news/aecom-and-ibm-create-scorec7ard-he7lp-ci7es/

  • I just want to say one word to you: Data

    You need a strategy: Tom Choi, executive director of CAPS Research, said that as procurement managers are tasked with looking downstream for ways to add value to their customers, a digitized ecosystem is crucial for business success. At the same time, the upsurge of Big Data and analytics technology (there are something like 163 platforms that an organization could subscribe to for data) has been rapid and radical, especially the increase in unstructured data from social and media outlets that does not easily fit in a box. Choi’s advice: Create an analytics team; convert your data into a form you can use; and then launch small projects that work or fail quickly. Use those learnings to start again.

    http://www.scmr.com/article/i_just_want_to_say_one_word_to_you_data#When:14:30:00Z

Photo: Tony Lam Hoang

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News You Can Use: 5/31/2017

  • Twitter’s VP of Europe: The glorious open-plan office dream is dead

    One 2014 study found we’re 15% less productive in open-plan workspaces, we have more trouble concentrating and we’re twice as likely to get sick with no walls to stop the spread of coughs and illness.

    “We perceived offices as having hierarchy, the boss had a better office, but in fact the truth is that offices, cubicles and little spaces were far better for our productivity and for getting your job done,” Twitter’s vice president of Europe, Bruce Daisley, told The Memo.

    Open Offices exist due to cost:

    “There are two reasons why offices are open plan, one is that we ripped down the walls of hierarchy, but two is because it’s a lot cheaper. We can fit lots more people in open plan,” says Daisley.

    And, sadly, that’s the reason why open-plan is here to stay.

    https://www.thememo.com/2017/03/15/twitter-vp-of-europe-bruce-daisley-the-glorious-open-plan-office-dream-is-dead/

  • Comcast tries to shut down pro-net neutrality site

    Internet advocacy group, Fight for the Future, says Comcast sent it a cease-and-desist order demanding the group take down Comcastroturf.com on the grounds that it violates the company’s “valuable intellectual property.” The site appeals for help identifying what it claims are fraudulent comments posted on the FCC’s own site, supporting FCC chairman Ajit Pai’s plans to rollback net neutrality rules. Many comments have already been flagged as spam, or posted under people’s names without their permission. (It’s not the first time something like this has happened.)

    https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/24/comcast-tries-to-shut-down-pro-net-neutrality-site/

  • Why Controlling the Masses Through Media No Longer Works
  • IBM’s Remote Work Reversal Is A Losing Battle Against The New Normal

    In a study published in Harvard Business Review in 2014, remote workers proved both more productive and more loyal than their peers onsite. In fact, IBM’s recent policy switch goes against its own research. In both a 2014 white paper by IBM’s Smarter Workplace Institute and in a conference panel the company hosted just weeks ago, its own experts suggested that remote workers tend to be happier, less stressed, more productive, more engaged with their jobs and teams, and believe that their companies are more innovative as a result of flexible work arrangements.

    At a time when smaller cities and rural areas are struggling, it’s backward-looking for a major corporation–especially one with such deep experience in remote work–to implement a policy that could take jobs away from regions that need them most. By demanding its employees flock to IBM’s urban headquarters, the company isn’t just sapping everyplace else of highly skilled talent, it’s also contributing to depopulating the communities where those remote workers live, and depressing local economies as a result.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/40423083/ibms-remote-work-reversal-is-a-losing-battle-against-the-new-normal

  • Hedge funds vs. Silicon Valley

    “At tech companies, the permeating value is that they’re about trying to make the world a better place, whereas at hedge funds it’s about making more money,” Mr. Epstein said.

    Nina Kuklisova, a quantitative associate at a large financial-services firm in New York, said she gets between three and five inquiries a week from recruiters about job opportunities at other finance firms and technology companies. The 27-year-old, while not actively looking for a job, said she is open to switching to the tech sector. However, negative feedback from friends employed in tech gives her pause.

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/battle-royale-hedge-funds-vs-silicon-valley-1495637466

Photo: Khachik Simonian

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News You Can Use: 5/24/2017

  • Former Google worker barred from Uber’s self-driving division by court

    A judge has ruled that Uber can keep working on its autonomous vehicles with one key condition: autonomous vehicle lead Anthony Levandowski must be removed from any of Uber’s LiDAR-based efforts. Prior to joining Uber, Levandowski worked for Google’s Waymo division and allegedly took some 14,000 documents pertaining to LiDAR and other self-driving tech on his way out the door. He’s still employed by Uber according to TechCrunch, and has voluntarily removed himself from the autonomous division as of late last month.

    TC also reports that the presiding judge ruled that information from Waymo essentially made its way into Uber’s tech by osmosis, “regardless of whether any documents were actually found on Uber computers and devices.”

    https://www.engadget.com/2017/05/15/uber-google-waymo-anthonylevandowski/

  • Supply chain toolkit: How managers prepare for the next crisis

    A tremor hit Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture last year. Hundreds of buildings fell, thousands of people were injured, and, for days, the world watched as a city destroyed picked itself back up. But the ripple effects of the quake spread beyond the island nation to global stores and dealerships as companies like Toyota and Sony halted production due to inventory shortages. Sony later reported the event cost the company over $1 billion.

    http://www.supplychaindive.com/news/crisis-management-supply-chain/442273/

    “The first thing to do is go out there and get some education,” Schlegel says. “There’s a huge body of knowledge out there, a huge, emerging body in supply chain risk management.”

    Step two, Schlegel says, is building that always-hot supply chain buzzword: visibility. And that’s where mapping and monitoring come in. “Most of us don’t have it, whether upstream or downstream.” It’s not just about who suppliers are, or the price, but where they are located, he says. “You have to know where your suppliers, customers, DCs and contractors are. What you don’t know in the global supply chain will hurt you.”

    http://www.supplychaindive.com/news/operations-crisis-management-supply-chain/442218/#

  • Net Neutrality Update: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (NSFW)
  • How To Decline An Opportunity At Work That You Might Want Later On

    The message you want to get across is that you’d like to say yes, but unfortunately, this isn’t the best time for you. The tricky part is: That’s the same thing people say if they want to decline, but think punting comes off nicer than a flat no.

    To separate yourself from them, keep in mind that you have a totally different motivation. Their goal is to be nice–and hope the other person forgets about them. Your goal, on the other hand, is to share that you’re interested, but genuinely can’t make it work.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/40421338/how-to-decline-an-opportunity-at-work-that-you-might-want-later-on?

  • The working dead: IT jobs bound for extinction

    “Previously, job seekers with high-demand technical skill sets and expertise were mainly hired into IT departments,” he says. “Nowadays, traditional IT skill sets are in demand across a wider variety of departments—from engineering and product management, to business intelligence and even design.”

    Instead of lurking around the server room, many sys admins can be found in marketing or sales departments managing their companies’ CRM implementations, notes CompTIA’s Stanger. But he adds that IT admins can still remain relevant by attuning their skills for the cloud-mobility-IoT era.

    http://www.infoworld.com/article/3196022/it-careers/the-working-dead-it-jobs-bound-for-extinction.html
    Not sure if I agree with everything on this list, but an interesting conversation starter. 

Posted on

News You Can Use: 5/17/2017

  • LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman: To Scale, Do Things That Don’t Scale

    “Over the last 20 years, I’ve worked on or invested in many companies that scaled to 100 million users or more,” says Hoffman. “But here’s the thing: You don’t start with 100 million users. You start with a few. So, stop thinking big, and start thinking small.”

    Adds Chesky, “It’s really hard to get even 10 people to love anything but it’s not hard if you spend a ton of time with them.”

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293393

  • Why ‘Vacation-Shaming’ Hurts You More Than Your Employees

    Gary Beckstrand, vice president of O.C. Tanner Institute, in Salt Lake City, described an acquaintance who worked for a smaller company where long hours and lots of work travel were common. “While she was very passionate about her work — in fact, she says she loved it — after three years and only one very short vacation mixed in, she was completely burned out and she left the company,” Beckstrand told me.

    “You lose great experience and talent with employees who leave, and it costs the company money to bring in and train a new person.”

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/293711

  • Irrational Thinking Is a Virtue, Not a Vice
  • DHS ‘likely’ to expand laptop ban on flights

    Expanding the ban to and from other countries, including European countries, is being weighed by DHS, according to various reports. There is also an internal debate at DHS about what to do about lithium batteries inside devices stored in the baggage hold of a plane that could overheat and catch fire, causing a catastrophic explosion, according to Reuters and others.

    Expanding the DHS ban would require a herculean adjustment for many business travelers, some accustomed to writing and editing reports and presentations for hours on long flights. Suggested workarounds include the ability to check out a lightweight laptop or Chromebook near an airport gate to use just for that flight. It would then be checked in after all data was erased at the end of the flight.

    http://www.computerworld.com/article/3196146/it-industry/dhs-likely-to-expand-laptop-ban-on-flights.html

  • Why your mom is the best CPO you know

    By the time my son was 5, I had learned a valuable lesson: the $30 double-reinforced-knee pants from the catalog were a smarter purchase than the $9 pants from the big-box store. Why? Because my son, God bless him, can wear holes in the knees of his pants in no time flat. The $9 pants seemed like a bargain, but I had to replace them often. After two winters of trying to find long pants in his size when the stores had transitioned to Spring duds, I realized that the better quality, more expensive pants saved me time, gas, frustration in the long run.

    https://www.jaggaer.com/mother-procurement-posts-mom-best-cpo-know/

Photo: Eva Darron

Posted on

News You Can Use: 5/10/2017

  • Microsoft’s CEO Just Gave Some Brilliant Career Advice…

    “I was reading it not in the context of business or work culture, but in the context of my children’s education. The author describes the simple metaphor of kids at school. One of them is a ‘know-it-all’ and the other is a ‘learn-it-all,’ and the ‘learn-it-all’ always will do better than the other one even if the ‘know-it-all’ kid starts with much more innate capability.”

    Going back to business: If that applies to boys and girls at school, I think it also applies to CEOs like me, and entire organizations, like Microsoft.”

    https://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/microsofts-ceo-just-gave-some-brilliant-career-advice-here-it-is-in-one-sentence.html

  • How to plan for future supply chain leadership

    To keep up with the growing demand for supply chain leadership, companies need to have a succession plan that helps them identify and develop new leaders who can replace existing leaders as they transition out of the company. Unfortunately, most have no such plan in place. According to a recent study from the American Management Association, only 18 percent of managers and executives have a succession plan in place to respond to a sudden loss of key executives—not nearly enough to keep business productivity up as people retire, despite the added number of supply chain undergraduate and graduate programs.

    http://www.supplychainquarterly.com/news/20170428-how-to-plan-for-future-supply-chain-leadership/

  • Alison Bing: ” High-impact Travel”
  • Tech employees quit their jobs mostly because of unfair work environments, study says

    The study looked at four main types of unfair treatment, behaviors and experiences: unfair people management practices, stereotyping, sexual harassment and bullying/hostility. As it turns out, turnover due to unfairness is a $16 billion per year problem, according to the study. The silver lining, as pointed out in the study, is that people would be down to stay if companies took steps to improve culture.

    Other takeaways from the study were that experiences differ dramatically among groups of people, depending on their race, gender and sexual orientation. For LGBT people and women, bullying was the main reason for reporting unfairness. For people of color, stereotypes were the main driver for leaving due to unfairness. Nearly one in four people of color surveyed (23%) reported being stereotyped at past jobs.

    https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/27/tech-employees-quit-their-jobs-mostly-because-of-unfair-work-environments-study-says/?ncid=rss

  • How to find friends when you move for your job

    Doing so takes a bit of creativity, plus courage to put yourself out there. Oh, and one other thing: “When you’re moving into a new community and trying to find your tribe, let your freak flag fly a little bit,” she says. It’s easier to find real friends when you’re sharing what you’re passionate about and not trying to fit in for the sake of making friends. Relationships built on false impressions aren’t the ones that are going to stick, anyway. And here are some ways you can find likely prospects.

    https://www.fastcompany.com/40413637/how-to-find-friends-when-you-move-for-your-job

Photo: Sam Burriss