Around the world with PhilosFX!

I enjoy seeing that people all around the world are finding PhilosFX. So far, people from 99 different countries have visited at least once. I wonder which country will be the 100th?

We've had 47 countries with 5 or more unique visitors. I wonder which of the following will be the 48th? Any guesses?

48.			Estonia	4			April 7, 2012
49.			Peru	4			March 30, 2012
50.			Bulgaria	4			March 27, 2012
51.			Iceland	4			March 8, 2012
52.			United Arab Emirates	4			March 6, 2012
53.			Hong Kong	4			February 29, 2012
54.			Serbia	4			February 21, 2012
55.			Slovenia	4			January 29, 2012
56.			Georgia	3			April 9, 2012
57.			Qatar	3			April 4, 2012
58.			Ghana	3			March 21, 2012
59.			Venezuela	3			March 2, 2012
60.			Iraq	3			February 23, 2012
61.			Cambodia	3			February 23, 2012
62.			Vietnam	3			January 8, 2012
63.			Cyprus	3			January 6, 2012
64.			Ecuador	3			December 2, 2011
65.			Saudi Arabia	3			November 18, 2011
66.			Chile	3			October 19, 2011

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Results Reflect Values

Once more, with feeling!

From a recent post come these bullets tying together  Pirsig (1974) Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZAMM), and Keeney (1992) Value-Focused Thinking (VFT):

• Values (Heart). Get the Values right, or the Numbers don't matter.
• Plan (Head). Get the Numbers right, or the Plan doesn't matter.
• Action (Hands). Get the Plan right, or the Results don't matter.

What we achieve is a function of what we think about and how we think about it (plus other stuff like skill, knowledge, and ability), What we think about in turn reveals what matters most to us. Not what we say matters most to us, but what actually matters most to us. Values are reflected in Results.


Decision-making should start with a long-term perspective. The motive for decision-making should be the fulfillment of deeply-held values, not the selection of problem-solving alternatives.

Focusing on values instead of alternatives opens the decision opportunity to different perspectives, and to more of an enterprise-wide or systemic impact.

The holistic approach of VFT inspires greater innovation and offers a better chance at attaining results in harmony with long-term objectives. VFT reduces the odds of misapplying resources to problems that are not constraining the system.

Merely solving the next problem that presents itself could be likened to putting the ladder up against the wrong wall. Put the ladder up against the wrong wall, and it does not matter how fast you climb!

Sometimes the decision situation calls for fire-fighting type of decision-making--purely reactionary and instinctive. VFT is not suited for that situation of high importance and high urgency. VFT is ideal for the high importance and low urgency situations. If a decision-maker has time to make a plan, and if the results have strategic import, then the decision situation warrants an investment in a deliberate, transparent, mathematical, data-fueled methodology.


Once more, with feeling, I present an expanded and annotated version of my three bullets:

• Values (Heart). Begin with a shared understanding of values. Values matter most. Problems come at the individual or decision-maker. Armed with a "data-fueled" assessment framework, the decision-maker can treat those problems as decision opportunities. With an understanding of the system's processes and an orientation on the system-wide effects, the decision-maker can then identify which decision opportunities are most important--and thus avoid expending resources on less consequential matters. The D-M must look at the numbers that matter from a values perspective. Get the Values right or the Numbers don't matter. 

• Plan (Head). Once a value-focused gap or decision opportunity is identified, an improvement plan can be crafted to close that gap. Fueled with performance data, the D-M can understand how all  underlying processes contribute to the system or enterprise. There may be several gaps or friction points across the enterprise, but VFT offers an approach for selecting projects and managing portfolios of projects to do the most good with constrained resources, For clarity, the D-M must define objectives in the common language of numbers.  Get the Numbers right, or the Plan doesn't matter.

• Action (Hands). What we do reflects what matters most. A plan must provide clear and achievable directions for accomplishing a mission. If the plan is unrealistic, the results will be unsatisfactory. Every living thing changes--and I certainly include individuals, teams, and organizations as "living things." The D-M must orchestrate change toward some shared goal. A sound plan, well-executed, gets results that matter. In the end, the results are the proof of the plan, and everything that went into the plan. Get the Plan right, or the Results don't matter.

What we do as individuals, teams, or organizations reflects our values. Does it not make sense, then, to express our true passions and guiding values deliberately up front, and then to organize our activities in support of realizing those values? And when our actions fall short and we do nothing to correct the situation, have we not in fact just lowered the bar?

Results accurately reflect the true values of any person, team, or organization.

VFT applies to all of the following topics or disciplines: 

• risk assessment and risk management, 
• decision-making and problem-solving, 
• project selection and portfolio management, 
• workforce alignment and organizational behavior, and
• group dynamics and human capital development. 

The Trip of a Lifetime

I am feeling today's quip from the "Keep Calm and Carry On" calendar.

• Fan of Dr Who (check). 
• Adventurer (double check). 
• Eccleston is a family surname, so I claim Christopher as a cousin (bonus). 

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing." --Helen Keller

Success...

Emerson nailed it.

Faces Around the Globe

Average men, per country, via @9gag

This poster, which I call Faces Around The Globe, has captivated my imagination. I have long been fascinated by the human face.
 

• The similarities are clearly unifying: are we not all part of one big human family? 
• At the same time, the differences call out our individuality, our uniqueness. 
• Somewhere in the middle, the attentive observer sees each person's family history and clan. 

My favorite book on the subject of the human face is Liggett, J. (1974) The human face. New York: Stein and Day.  http://www.amazon.com/The-Human-Face-J-Liggett/dp/0812817540


I have drawn a lot of portraits and was especially prolific in my High School days. I won many awards, and was even invited to join the debate team to present a speech entitled "How to Draw a Face."  I used the model from a Winston cigarette advertisement as my subject, and created a portrait on stage in four phases. I tried to make it look so easy that anyone could do it, much like one of those Walter Foster Learn to Draw books.


What I learned is that everyone can draw, but not everyone wants to draw.  Everyone can see the differences in people's faces, but not everyone wants to bring those differences into their consciousness and translate them into a two-dimensional representation.


To draw a person's face, either as a caricature or a portrait, one must first study the subject and compare it with a kind of generic human face. How is the subject different in aspects such as symmetry and proportionality? What aspects of the subject's personality are expressed in the physical form of the face?

Who am I, that I was born 

In such a time and place 

And to such parents

And with this face?

Could I have been anyone else?

Could anyone else be me?

Genes set the shape of my face

Is my face my destiny?

H/T to AC who tweeted:

 "I'd love to get a proper source / reference for that one."— Arthur Charpentier (@freakonometrics) April 2, 2012

Quest and the 8-bit Google Map

Quest Map of Groveton Woods and Environs

The Style Blog - The Washington Post: Google’s most fun April Fools’ Day prank ever? 8-bit Google Maps

On April 1, Google debuted its newest product, Quest, which uses Google Maps to take you on an 8-bit video game ad­ven­ture.

Of course, the date is a dead giveaway that this is one of Google’s famous April Fools’ Day pranks — and it may prove to be their most popular one yet.