In a recent blog post, Andrew McAfee suggests a model for developing superior business processes may have been discovered in the world of chess.

In 1997, IBM created a computer that was able to beat the world champion Garry Kasparov for the first time and it only cost them $10 million to do it! Today, because of computing advances, commercially available chess programs running on standard hardware can consistently beat even the best human players. The cold, calculating precision of the machine is just too much for the human player.

Our deep-rooted mistrust of the coldness of machines prohibits us from turning over our most trusted decision-making to them. In the 2004 movie I, Robot, Will Smith’s character, Detective Del Spooner expresses this sentiment while describing an incident where he was rescued from a sinking automobile by a robot. The robot decided to save the detective instead of a young girl in the same situation based on a calculation of chance of survival. Regarding the girl’s low chance of survival compared to his own, Spooner says:

11% is more than enough. A human being would have known that.

Is there any reconciliation between man and machine? Surprisingly, McAfee points to recent research that a partnership between man and machine is not only possible, but may be the most powerful combination available. In chess competitions allowing any combination of humans and machines, it was found that a human plus a weak laptop were able to consistently beat even the strongest computers.

McAfee’s post is fascinating and worth a read. I encourage you to check it out.

Did Garry Kasparov Stumble Into a New Business Process Model?

So what do you think? Is it possible for humans to embrace a partnership with computers?

I’ve recently been introduced to a useful tool that helps me make better decisions based on business strategy and value. The great thing about this tool is you don’t have to be a manager or executive in order to use it. People at every level of an organization make decisions in their day-to-day activities that can have profound effect on organizational success. This tool is called the Purpose Alignment Model and it was created by CIO Niel Nickolaisen. Using this model, teams can discover the purpose and strategy of their overall organization, and then make decisions based on that purpose.

The Purpose Alignment Model

The model consists of two axes with regions divided into four quadrants. First, the “‘market differentiating” axis displays the degree to which a particular activity differentiates you in the marketplace. In other words, this activity helps you gain market share. These are the things that make you “different” or “special”. The second axis is the degree to which activities are mission critical. In other words, while they don’t help you gain market share, these activities are important and the business will be put at risk if they are not done well.

About the Quadrants

• The highly differentiating, highly mission critical activities are the truly differentiating activities of the organization. These are the activities where the organization needs to excel and innovate and be the best. Creativity and experimentation in tactics and analytics to measure the success of these activities should abound in this quadrant.
• The highly mission critical, low differentiating activities are “parity” activities. While these activities are highly valuable to the organization, they do not derive their value from being unique or special. On the contrary, these activities derive value from adhering to industry best practices and standards and being simplified as much as possible.
• Highly differentiating activities that are not mission critical require some thought to determine if they should be taken on or not. These are opportunities to partner with another entity to add this capability and eventually move it into the “differentiating” quadrant.
• Finally, anything that doesn’t differentiate you and isn’t mission critical is something you should stop doing.

Applying the Model

The first thing you have to do is determine the one or two things you do that are truly differentiating for your organization. Yes, it will be only one or two things. You can’t be the best at everything.

The next thing you do is find out where your activities fit into the model and agree to treat them accordingly. Don’t be disheartened that a lot of activities fall into the “parity” quadrant. Just understand that simplifying and standardizing parity activities will free capacity for you to use your creativity to excel at your differentiating areas.

More Information

I’ve just provided a brief introduction to this model here and I highly recommend the following resources for more information.

Breaking the Project Management Triangle – InformIT article

Four Things a CIO Can Do To Deliver Immediate Business Value – Video presentation hosted on on24.com. Requires registration with an email address to view. It is about 50 minutes in length but very entertaining. This is the only place I know of where this presentation can be viewed. I searched for a YouTube version with no luck.

What do you think of Nickolaisen’s model? In what ways do you think it might help your organization make better decisions? Do you disagree with the model? Do you think I need art lessons? Please feel free to share and comment.

As a database developer, I normally focus on data structures and code, and not on database administration. Recently, I worked on a small project where I had to take on the database administration role as well. As such, the project reached a point where I had to make a backup of the data mart I had built. Later on, at lunch, I shared the experience with another developer friend.

Me: I just backed up a database.

Friend: How did you make sure the database was in a consistent state – or whatever it is? I hear that’s really difficult.

Me: I shut down the database.

Friend: Oh, then you cheated.

Me: How is that cheating?

Friend: What if the database had to be available 24×7? Then you’d have to take the backup with the database running – and that’s more difficult.

Me: But my database doesn’t need to be up 24×7. I have two users. I told both of them the database would be unavailable for a little while and had it back up in about fifteen minutes. No big deal.

The point my friend was trying to make was that if I had taken a hot backup, I would have learned a new marketable skill. I’m all for gaining new skills and always looking for opportunities to learn new things. However, I don’t believe in unnecessarily complicating a process in order to do so.

In this particular case, it wasn’t necessary for the database to run 24×7, so I shut it down to take a backup. If the database did need to be up 24×7, I would have taken a hot backup. Even in that case, I wouldn’t invent a hot backup process unless it was absolutely necessary. Most likely, I would consult the documentation and user forums of the particular database engine to mimic a procedure or best practice created by someone else.

In a classroom setting, using the easiest techniques or copying someone else’s solution may be considered cheating. If these practices are still considered cheating in business, then I will cheat whenever possible.

I don’t play golf, but I recently heard a golf-related anecdote I felt was worth sharing.

Prior to taking his shot, an avid golfer pulls out a fancy (and no doubt expensive) GPS unit and proceeds to calculate the exact distance to the hole. “Hmm. Is this accurate?”, he says, and then searches for the nearest distance marker as a quick calibration. After convincing himself he now knew the exact distance from his position to the hole, he began deliberating over which club to use. “Should I use the 6 or the 9?”, he asked his opponent.

Exasperated, his opponent said “you should just hit the ball!”

Finally, after selecting a club, the man walks over to his ball, waggles a bit, and swings. Pow! Straight into the trees and nowhere near the hole.

“You see! You should have just hit the ball. You’re not that good.”

Information Overkill

In this case, knowing the exact distance to the hole, or exactly the right club to use, made no difference to our golfer because he lacked the skill to consistently hit the ball in the intended direction. Instead of being concerned with high tech devices and the accuracy of his information, he would have been better served by practice – hitting the ball.

Personal Lesson

After hearing this story, I had to laugh at myself. When I decided to start this blog, one of the things I was sure of was that I would use web analytics and data to monitor its performance. I spent a lot of time making sure all of the technical aspects were in place. I created a Google Analytics account and added the java script tags. As I made tweaks to my site, I visited my analytics dashboard to make sure it was registering my activity. I then thought I should add filters on the IP addresses I normally use to access the blog so my activity doesn’t taint the results. Let’s see, there’s this computer, that computer, this work station I use sometimes, and what about my mobile device? Can I filter my phone from the analytics report? How do I identify my IP address? Do I need to contact my wireless provider?

I was really excited about the upcoming launch of my blog and was telling people about it. “Soon” I would answer when friends asked when the blog would be launched. Finally, my wife asked, “When are you going to post something?” It was then I realized my blog wasn’t going to ever be launched if I didn’t start actually doing the activity of blogging! I put my analytics activities on hold from that point and shifted focus to writing ideas.

Data Measures Performance…So Perform First

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in the importance of using data to improve performance. This blog isn’t called “The Data Whisperer” for nothing! I just realize from the story of our golfer friend and from my own experience, that data – no matter how sophisticated and accurate – cannot improve performance that is not built on actions that are consistently and correctly executed. Focus on hitting the ball straight before you worry yourself with accurate distance data. Focus on generating content, attracting an audience and building community around ideas before you worry about the accuracy of your web analytics!

Just hit the ball!

Now it’s your turn. Can you recall a time when you got caught up with the accuracy of information before establishing the correct actions? What did you do to get back on track? Do you still need to get on track?