Maxwell’s Demon: Planning for Technology Obsolescence in Acquisition Strategy
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
4M ago
Imagine a chamber divided into two parts by a removable partition. On one side is a hot sample of gas and on the other side a cold sample of the same gas. The chamber is a closed system with a certain amount of order, because the statistically faster moving molecules of the hot gas on ..read more
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Big Data and the Repository of Babel
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
6M ago
In 1941, the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) published a short story entitled “The Library of Babel.” In the story Borges imagines a universe, known as the Library, which is described by the story’s narrator as made up of adjacent hexagonal rooms. Each of the rooms of the library is poorly lit, with one side acting as the entrance and exit, and four of the five remaining walls of the rooms containing bookshelves whose books are placed in a completely uniform style, though the books’ contents are completely random. The randomness includes what seem to be the absurd ..read more
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The Need for an Integrated Digital Environment (IDE) Strategy in Project Management*
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
6M ago
Putting the Pieces Together To be an effective project manager, one must possess a number of skills in order to successfully guide the project to completion. This includes having a working knowledge of the information coming from multiple sources and the ability to make sense of that information in a cohesive manner. This is so that, when brought together, it provides an accurate picture of where the project has been, where it is in its present state, and what actions must be taken to keep it (or bring it back) on track. Looking Back to the Dawn of Digital Starting in about the early 1990s, wi ..read more
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Alito and the Unraveling of Originalism
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
2y ago
During the current period of internal debate on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the public was provided a draft of the thinking of the “conservative” justices of the Supreme Court on the issue of abortion and personal liberty through a leaked version of Justice Alito’s draft majority opinion. I use quotes around the word conservative, because the decision is anything but conservative in its scope and effect. Furthermore, despite much hand-wringing, the document provides much needed insight into the thinking of the Court majority on an issue of great public weight: the issue of p ..read more
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Send in the Clowns–Putin, Trump, the Fifth Column, and the importance of history
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
2y ago
When Benito Mussolini was seen on newsreels in the United States it was as a “rotund, strutting clown, who struck pompous poses from his Roman balcony and tried to upstage Adolf Hitler when they first met, in Venice in 1934.” Much of this impression was established thanks to Charlie Chaplin’s 1940 film “The Great Dictator,” where the Il Duce character was effectively lampooned by the actor Jack Oakie. This reinforced the widely held public prejudice in England and among many Americans that “Mediterranean Peoples,” especially Italians, were inferior oafs, unintelligent and clownish hotheads. In ..read more
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Shake it Out – Embracing the Future of Program Management – Part Two: Private Industry Program and Project Management in Aerospace, Space, and Defense
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
3y ago
In my previous post, I focused on Program and Project Management in the Public Interest, and the characteristics of its environment, especially from the perspective of the government program and acquisition disciplines. The purpose of this exploration is to lay the groundwork for understanding the future of program management—and the resulting technological and organizational challenges that are required to support that change. The next part of this exploration is to define the motivations, characteristics, and disciplines of private industry equivalencies. Here there are commonalities, but a ..read more
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Shake it Out – Embracing the Future in Program Management – Part One: Program and Project Management in the Public Interest
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
3y ago
I heard the song from which I derived the title to this post sung by Florence and the Machine and was inspired to sit down and write about what I see as the future in program management. Thus, my blogging radio silence has ended as I begin to process and share my observations and essential achievements over the last couple of years. Some of my reticence in writing has been due to the continual drumbeat of both outrageous and polarizing speech that had dominated our lives for four years. Combined with the resulting societal polarization, I was overwhelmed by the hyper-politicized environment wh ..read more
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Innervisions: The Connection Between Data and Organizational Vision
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
4y ago
During my day job I provide a number of fairly large customers with support to determine their needs for software that meets the criteria from my last post. That is, I provide software that takes an open data systems approach to data transformation and integration. My team and I deliver this capability with an open user interface based on Windows and .NET components augmented by time-phased and data management functionality that puts SMEs back in the driver’s seat of what they need in terms of analysis and data visualization. In virtually all cases our technology obviates the need for the exte ..read more
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Potato, Potahto, Tomato, Tomahto: Data Normalization vs. Standardization, Why the Difference Matters
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
4y ago
In my vocation I run a technology company devoted to program management solutions that is primarily concerned with taking data and converting it into information to establish a knowledge-based environment. Similarly, in my avocation I deal with the meaning of information and how to turn it into insight and knowledge. This latter activity concerns the subject areas of history, sociology, and science. In my travels just prior to and since the New Year, I have come upon a number of experts and fellow enthusiasts in these respective fields. The overwhelming numbers of these encounters have been ..read more
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Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New: Data Transformation Podcasting
Life, Project Management, and Everything
by Nick Pisano
4y ago
Robin Williams at Innovate IPM interviewed me a few weeks ago and has a new podcast up to cap off the year. The main thrust of our discussion, as it turned out, which began as a wide-ranging one, settled on digital transformation and the changes and developments that I’ve seen in this area over the last three decades. I met Rob at a recent Projects Controls conference. He is a professional, curious, and engaging individual who quickly puts one at ease. We both found a lot in common regarding our perspectives on project management and project controls and I agreed to the podcast interview. O ..read more
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