News You Can Use: 8/10/2016

sn_turbo_Charlotte Coneybeer

  • The Scientific Reason Why Coworking May Be The Future Of Work

    It turns out that coworking spaces’ hallmarks—like funky design features—are far less important than their social structures, where workers feel a sense of individual autonomy that’s still linked to a sense of collaboration, the Michigan team told me in interviews. Most coworking spaces, for all their variation, tend to strike that careful balance between those crucial needs—in ways that neither solo freelancing nor the traditional office experience usually provide.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061515/the-scientific-reason-why-coworking-may-be-the-future-of-work

  • When You Fix Problems With Mid-Level Managers You Fix Everything

    But when executive leaders take the time to communicate with mid-level managers regularly, performance and satisfaction improve, a 2016 survey of millennials conducted by Gallup suggests. Among those who said their manager holds regular meetings with them, 44 percent said they are engaged, compared with just 20 percent of those who don’t meet with managers regularly.

    The solution is simple — facilitate consistent communication between mid-level and senior managers to keep middle leadership in the loop, consider their ideas, and listen to any problems or concerns they have.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/279058
    sn_likeaboss

  • Most CEOs are planning to kill their companies

    Two thirds of CEOs don’t think their companies can keep up. The actual question focused on the fact that CEOs are focused on innovating through acquisition rather than organically. But the translation is they have no confidence in their organization’s ability to innovate. This is a significant problem for every employee because it implies the CEOs feel a large portion of their firms are unwilling or unable to perform. Acquisitions should be the exception not the rule, yet the opposite appears to be true. Now it is unlikely that 75 percent of firms can’t execute so this is likely a blend of CEOs not understanding what is being done and organizations that are being restricted by policy, culture, or practices (like Forced Ranking, which kills innovation). But it certainly doesn’t bode well for job security.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3096091/leadership-management/most-ceos-are-planning-to-kill-their-companies.html

  • On that note: Top-paid CEOs aren’t very good at their jobs

    The authors, who studied 429 large U.S. companies over a 10-year period, summarized their findings this way: “Has CEO pay reflected long-term stock performance? In a word, no.”

    The report found that average shareholder returns over the decade were 39% higher when a company’s CEO was in the bottom 20% of earners compared to a CEO in the top 20% of earners.

    The trend even holds across sectors.

    Companies where CEOs were paid above the average in their sector “significantly underperformed” companies where chief executives were paid below average, according to the researchers.

    http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/27/investing/ceo-pay-performance-msci/index.html?section=money_topstories

  • Fitbit data has been utilized for various clinical trials

    Fitabase has collected over 2 billion minutes of data from users who actively wear their Fitbit activity trackers to measure sleep, activity and more. Such data has been pulled for studies on spine surgeries like that of the Northwestern Medicine and the University of California San Francisco’s work.

    https://www.engadget.com/2016/07/28/fitbit-data-has-been-utilized-for-various-clinical-trials/

Photo: Charlotte Coneybeer

News You Can Use: 7/27/2016

sn_goldengate_Denys Nevozhai

  • What might Brexit mean for procurement?

    For example, if the UK followed the Norway model it would be a member of the European Economic Area (EEA) and remain bound by the EU procurement directives. By contrast, if the UK adopted something like the Swiss model of bilateral agreements with the EU (see here for more on the different models) then the EU procurement directives would not apply. However, the UK would very likely have an obligation under those bilateral agreements to put in place a similar regime.

    http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=d035f483-bccb-46dd-ae53-8858d4e8b222

  • How To Hold A Productive Meeting In Seven Minutes Or Less

    There’s no sitting down during these meetings; everyone stands up because it forces people to move and think a little faster, without the luxury of getting too comfortable. The best time of day to run these meetings is around 11:00 a.m. or 2:00 p.m., because this is when energy levels start to ebb. Part of your goal with a daily huddle is to boost those energy levels. You may even choose to run one from 10:55 a.m. to 11:02 a.m. and again from 1:55 p.m. to 2:02 p.m.

    Also:

    But there’s a formula that helps keep things brief and to the point. Every update is done the same way, and each business area answers the same questions:

    • What are you working on?
    • What were you working on last week?
    • What are you stuck on?
    • Is there anybody that you’re hiring?

    The next phase involves the team sharing any missing systems and venting their frustrations. This is a time for people to speak up about an area that’s apparently broken or where they’re stuck. Bear in mind, this is not the venue to solve the problem. This is the space for people to address the problems they face.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061605/your-most-productive-self/how-to-hold-a-productive-meeting-in-seven-minutes-or-less

  • One Googler’s Insider Guide To Using Google Docs At Work
    I didn’t know Google Docs could do Macros….#hyped

    TURBOCHARGE GOOGLE SHEETS WITH POWERFUL FUNCTIONS AND PIVOT TABLES
    Sheets is way more than just a way to throw a quick table or list together. It has over 340 powerful functions, including dozens that other spreadsheets don’t offer, such as Google Translate, which lets you automatically translate one language to another.

    We’ve also designed Sheets to offer advanced pivot table functionality, including the ability to define custom Calculated Fields. And Docs and Sheets both support custom scripting and advanced API functionality via Apps Script, which is Google’s equivalent of macros. Basically, if your job entails a lot of number crunching, Sheets can handle it.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061482/one-googlers-insider-guide-to-using-google-docs-at-work

    Yes.. the video is very wee (“let’s save the world!”), but the upvote question feature is on point.

  • Why this is a great time to be a supply chain professional

    Enterprise software that was traditionally installed, configured, and implemented behind the firewall resulted in a large amount of “shelf ware”. This was partly due to conflicting priorities on IT organizations wherein projects got deprioritized resulting in shelved software, and partly due to software vendors offering incentives towards bulk purchase of these modules which take years of implementation. This resulted in a significant gap between the capabilities vendors introduced to the market and the consumption of the same by the user community.

    However, “pay as you go” SaaS based delivery models are enabling companies to consume software in bite sizes and immediately start deriving value. SaaS delivery model is also easing the pain associated with upgrades. This goes a long way in ensuring user satisfaction. Satisfied users will demand and consume more innovation perpetuating a positive reinforcement cycle. This creates tremendous opportunities for supply chain professionals, especially those who like to explore newer frontiers.

    https://blog.kinaxis.com/2016/07/great-time-supply-chain-professional/

  • Strategically Discussing Strategy

    Strategy isn’t just doing more.
    Often, it means doing less. As Bob Shrum, Presidential campaign guru, once warned me “people in our business have a tendency to complicate common sense.” He was right. We throw in unnecessary processes, services that clients don’t need — all in the name of strategy. Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter said strategy is fundamentally about choices: You can’t be all things to all people.

    https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/278063

Photo: Denys Nevozhai

News You Can Use: 7/20/2016

sn_cat_Martina Misar-Tummeltshammer

  • How To Use A Mass Exodus At Your Company To Advance Your Career

    Taking on new or more challenging work. “If there are projects you would like to pitch in on because it would be rewarding or enhance your skill set, this could be a time to do that,” she says. And now you can make a strong case for why you’re up for the task.

    After all, you may have some more leverage than you did beforehand—at least of a certain sort. “If people are leaving,” Crawford says, “they kind of need all hands on deck. That would be one more positive way to get your fingers in more areas you may not have otherwise.”

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061287/hit-the-ground-running/how-to-use-a-mass-exodus-at-your-company-to-advance-your-career

  • How To Stop Checking Email On Vacation

    If you’re finding it hard to refrain from email, set “unplugging goals,” suggests Gabby Burlacu, human capital management researcher at the software company SAP SuccessFactors. “Learning to completely unplug from work takes time and focus,” she says. “Finding hobbies or activities while you’re on vacation and making a commitment to solely focus on those while you are engaged in them can go a long way.”

    It can also be helpful if you sort email, says Webb. He takes 10 minutes a day, while he’s waiting at the airport or riding in a cab, to filter email into the folders he set up before he left: “Action Required,” “File,” and “Read Later.”

    “I don’t respond to messages while on vacation, unless I feel it’s imperative,” he says. “I simply process the emails for action upon my return.”

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061451/how-to-stop-checking-email-on-vacation

  • Creative Office Design Won’t Make You Better At Your Job, But This Might

    Del Toro found this reassuring. The employee hadn’t asked permission to move the furniture, but the fact that she had done so anyway pointed to a feature of ViaSat’s work environment that no designer can account for directly—its culture, which prizes curiosity and the freedom to find alternative ways of doing things on your own initiative. That couch still sits by the window. It’s already the most popular space for people to meet. But del Toro won’t be surprised or perturbed if somebody six or 12 months from now moves it someplace else.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061170/the-future-of-work/creative-office-design-wont-make-you-better-at-your-job-but-this-might
    sn_openoffice_everyonecanhear
    sn_somewheretohang

  • Tensions rise over LTE using Wi-Fi channels

    Unlicensed LTE is designed to give mobile operators more spectrum to work with as they try to serve subscribers in crowded places. Verizon, T-Mobile USA and other carriers have talked about rolling it out as soon as the end of this year.

    But some backers of Wi-Fi, including the Alliance, have said LTE-U could make it hard for wireless LAN users to get a packet in edgewise. Fans of the new technology, including Qualcomm, say it won’t add any more interference than a new Wi-Fi access point would.

    http://www.cio.com/article/3088987/tensions-rise-over-lte-using-wi-fi-channels.html

  • The Skills It Takes To Get Hired At Google, Facebook, Amazon, And More

    Four things: General cognitive ability . . . Not just raw [intelligence] but the ability to absorb information. Emergent leadership: The idea there being that when you see a problem, you step in and try to address it. Then you step out when you’re no longer needed. That willingness to give up power is really important. Cultural fit: We call it Googleyness, but it boils down to intellectual humility. You don’t have to be warm or fuzzy. You just have to be somebody who, when the facts show you’re wrong, can say that. Expertise in the job we’re gonna hire you for.

    http://www.fastcompany.com/3061237/the-skills-it-takes-to-get-hired-at-google-facebook-amazon-and-more

Photo: Martina Misar-Tummeltshammer

News You Can Use: 7/13/2016

sn_tracks_Kaique Rocha

  • The Millennials Balancing Their Parents’ Job Searches With Their Own

    This represents a generational role reversal, prodded perhaps by labor-market forces that favor younger workers over older ones. Although the jobless ratedropped below 5 percent last month, figures specific to older workers tell a different story. A recent study found that 55 percent of Americans over 50 plan to work past the age of 65, primarily because they cannot afford to retire sooner. And, as of December 2014, job-seekers over the age of 55 had been unemployed for an average of 54.3 weeks, nearly twice as long as their younger counterparts.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/06/the-millennials-balancing-their-parents-job-searches-with-their-own/488621/

  • Applying Supply Chain Management to Deliver Faster with Higher Quality

    DevOps loves Deming… Agile has its roots in Deming, as does Lean, and does DevOps… as does TQM and SixSigma… This is just a fuller embrace of what DevOps already loves in Deming.

    More specifically to development, Lean introduced the 8 types of Waste and culture to manage and reduce waste which comes at the cost of delivering code, delivering value, and pleasing/delighting your customers. Software supply chains introduced an unmeasured – and therefore unmanaged – form of waste. Managing out elective re-work can massively improve developer productivity. A Fortune 100 insurance company achieved a 20% boost in developer productivity in the 1st year.

    For Operations, using higher quality projects can reduce service interruptions – as can avoiding elective attack surface of older and known vulnerable versions of otherwise high quality projects. Further, using fewer total versions of the projects you’ve chosen can reduce operational variance in production – improving quality of service delivered.

    Let’s also not forget that the same choices improve security with fewer incidents due to entirely avoidable, elective risk and attack surface. Further, when unavoidable attacks rear their heads, the tracking of which libraries went where (with versions) enable a significantly faster MTTI/MTTR (Mean-Time-To-Identify and Mean-Time-To-Remediate).

    https://www.infoq.com/news/2016/06/supply-chain-management-DevOps

  • Honeywell acquires Intelligrated for $1.5 billion

    Honeywell International Inc. said today it will acquire material handling automation provider Intelligrated Systems Inc. from its private equity owner for $1.5 billion, triggering a second wave of consolidation in the material-handling sector just two weeks after rival systems integrator Dematic Corp. was sold.

    http://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20170701-honeywell-acqiures-intelligrated-for-15-billion-dollars/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS-articles

  • An exclusive look inside Facebook
  • Penn State Is a Key Link in the Supply Chain

    Although the 27-year-old organization is still firmly rooted in traditional aspects of distribution, procurement and transportation, research efforts also focus on newer topics such as demand-driven supply networks, human behavior modeling and low-cost country sourcing.

    http://www.assemblymag.com/articles/93475-penn-state-is-a-key-link-in-the-supply-chain

  • Supply Chain Metric of the Month

    APQC defines procure-to-pay cycle time as the time required in days to pay suppliers, starting from the time that the purchase order is placed until the time that payment is made  to the supplier (e.g. procure-to-pay processing time). As shown in Figure 1, research from APQC’s Open Standards Benchmarking in procurement shows that top performing organizations have shorter procure-to-pay cycle times. Top performers have a procure-to-pay cycle time of two months, whereas bottom performers have a cycle time of about a month and a half. At the median organizations have a cycle time of 25 days to pay suppliers, or 11 days longer than top performers. However, organizations at the median have a procure-to-pay cycle time that is almost 3 week less than bottom performers.

    https://www.apqc.org/blog/chain-supply-chain-content-you-can-use-june-2016

Photo: Kaique Rocha

News You Can Use: 7/6/2016

sn_suitcases_Mike Birdy

  • Your Procurement Sucks … and Here are 3 Likely Reasons Why.

    Invoices. RFPs. Catalogues. It’s not the 90s anymore, it’s the teens. If you don’t have a modern e-invoicing, e-RFX, and e-Catalog/e-Shopping solution there’s no hope of you ever getting your Procurement on track because you’ll never be able to process the mound of paperwork that is getting bigger and bigger every day as your organization grows and more invoices go in, more RFPs go out, more suppliers respond, and more suppliers send you their catalogues that get bigger every year.

    http://sourcinginnovation.com/wordpress/2016/06/16/your-procurement-sucks-and-here-are-3-likely-reasons-why/

  • Flipping the office telepresence model
    sn_telepresence_getty

    If you haven’t encountered a telepresence robot before, they look surprisingly humble. There is some variety in appearance, but the basic elements are: a screen that functions as a “head,” a “leg” or a “neck” for turning the “head” and a set of gyroscopic wheels for traveling. The model we use is made by Double Robotics and is essentially an iPad on a leg with wheels. Though it may seem simple, the technology is quite remarkable in what it can do for bringing people together.

    https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/18/flipping-the-office-telepresence-model/

  • Last Week Tonight With John Oliver: Brexit Update (Absolutely Not Safe for Work!)

    Seriously bad language on this one… you have been warned. 
  • Tech culture still pushing out women, study finds

    The research was conducted by having more than 40 undergraduate engineering students keep bi-monthly diaries, providing the study with more than 3,000 entries to analyze. The results were published in a paper titled “Persistence is cultural: Professional socialization and the persistence of sex segregation,” in the May issue of Work and Occupations.

    http://www.networkworld.com/article/3084460/careers/tech-culture-still-pushing-out-women-study-finds.html

  • Supply Risk Management Can Not Be Siloed

    even though there may have been hundreds of smaller incidents in the supply chain that resulted in small fines, unexpected cost increases, disruptions, and minor brand damage, if no single incident has been severe enough to get the C-Suite’s attention, something else will always be higher priority

    http://sourcinginnovation.com/wordpress/2016/06/17/supply-risk-management-can-not-be-siloed/

Photo: Mike Birdy