Carsons Post http://carsonspost.com Always in Development posterous.com Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:22:26 -0800 I also accept the scientific consensus on global warming, but admit the following could change my mind http://carsonspost.com/i-also-accept-the-scientific-consensus-on-glo http://carsonspost.com/i-also-accept-the-scientific-consensus-on-glo

what would cause me to change my mind. No matter what your position on this issue, I think everyone can agree that people who are unwilling to change their mind, no matter what, are irrational. It is for that reason that from now on, anyone who wishes to challenge the scientific consensus on climate change here on this blog MUST clearly state:

  1. Why they don’t accept the conclusions arrived at by the overwhelming majority of scientists.
  2. Why they think the vast majority of scientists are wrong.
  3. What would change their mind and make them accept anthropogenic global warming and why they chose those criteria.

It seems only fair that I also answer these questions.

via mind.ofdan.ca

I think this is an astute observation, and I have also decided to show that my ideas are not rigid, and I could be swayed to re-evaluate my position on climate change. If we all do this, maybe it will be easier to find consensus.

I'm not a scientist, nor do I have any business dabbling in science. I know enough about climate to know that as systems go it is insanely complex. So complex that decades of intense study by very, very smart people, and weather forecasts are still often incorrect. That is how complex the matter is. We can't even predict if it will rain today and get it right 99% of the time.

Anything this sophisticated has to be handled with caution. There has to be wide risk tolerances that if things go wrong we can recover. So if there is a chance that we might be messing with the climate and causing some adverse affects, we need to think about how this can be mitigated. That is risk management. This would be important if there was an outside chance that climate change is real.

However, there is more than an outside chance that climate change is real. If your doctor said you had cancer, you'd go for a second opinion. If you went to 100 doctors and ninety-nine of them said you had cancer, then you're going to have to go with the prognosis. That is risk management. If 99 engineers in 100 tell you not to cross the bridge, risk management says: "don't cross the bridge".

However, I am not inflexible. My mind might be changed. If someone could convince me that our world wasn't actually real, and that it was a manifestation of ideas, as in the philosophical school of idealism, then I might be more playful with the importance of the state of this risk. After all, it is a deferred risk, and presumably my idealised children's futures are not at stake here anymore. If fact the notion of climate change then becomes an arbitrary concept to explore within the realm of ideas. However, as yet I don't believe this to be true, and doubt that it will be Vaclav Klaus, Fred Perry or the brain trust behind Fox News who are going to provide this revelation.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:22:20 -0700 Checking Out the New Library http://carsonspost.com/checking-out-the-new-library http://carsonspost.com/checking-out-the-new-library

Man using eReader in cafe

The eLibrary at a glance

  • Free eBooks and eAudiobooks can be downloaded 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
  • If you live in Surrey and you're not already a library member you can join the library online
  • Choose from popular best sellers and non-fiction including biography, travel, humour and computing
  • You can download up to three eBooks and eAudiobooks and have them for two weeks, after which they will just disappear from the device to which you have downloaded them
  • There is no need to return the eBooks to a library and no late fines to pay. You can borrow the same books again after this period if no one else wants to borrow them
  • Books can be downloaded to PCs, Apple Macs, e-readers and some mobile phones, and there are plenty of titles to choose from
  • Now all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the titles that we have on offer.

via surreycc.gov.uk

Last night I went to the library and checked out Ian McEwan's Solar, a book which I am really enjoying. What was interesting was that I was taking advantage of Surrey Library's new ebook service, so the whole trip to the library and back with book, the arduous part of the trip, was done on the couch with my iPad.

While the actual library is a UX mess, and browsing a complete nightmare, the actual process was okay. I found the book accidentally through the popular listing, thankfully, as I was about to give up. The best way to go about using this service might be to think of a book you want to read, then search for it to find it directly. I'm going to feed-back the awful mess that is the browsing function, as this could be a much more pleasant experience.

Note that Surrey Library is one of many UK libraries taking part in this project, so it is likely that if you live in the UK, your local library also has ebooks on offer, with the same mess of an organisation system.

To solve the DRM mess that electronic library books is obviously going to be, UK libraries are using Overdrive Media Center. This is an App which uses some kind of Adobe ePub DRM service - not sure what happens, all I know is that the Overdrive App is required for viewing, but you can also take out audiobooks as well. There are Overdrive apps for iPhone and Android as well.

The Overdrive app is okay. Much better than the library experience. I was able to read the whole first chapter of the book with relative ease, which I understood to be about 60 pages, according to a message on the status bar. However, it is difficult to know if this was 60 pages as I was viewing them, or 60 pages in the actual book form.

The annoying thing about the Overdrive App is the text density. There are clear examples on other apps of what a well researched, pleasurable reading experience looks like. Text density is so important, as is the font. Unfortunately, its all serifs or nothing, and you must read the book in Times New Roman (or something like that), single spaced, unjustified. Switching back to a quality reading App like Kindle, Read it Later or Instapaper shows how much more pleasant this experience can be. Honestly, it is such a simple thing to get right.

To it's credit, the Overdrive app does allow a sepia background and font scaling, so I was able to bump up the text size to make it easier to read. It has a built in rotation lock, which is handy. I had five pages left in the chapter when my wife came to bed, and the Overdrive App allowed me to dim the screen and switch to "night mode" so I could sacrifice future vision to finish the chapter.

All in all, an experience that is satisfactory, and probably better than I was expecting. It is great being able to use the library, and to expand my reading selection. I was looking forward to reading McEwan's novel, so I am very pleased that I could read it here. I'm most likely to check back with the library if there is a popular book I see on Amazon that I would like to read. However, for classic books, I'll download a copy from the Gutenberg Project to read in Readmill, my favourite reading app. I still can't see myself kicking Kindle any time soon either.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Sun, 23 Oct 2011 12:05:43 -0700 Personal data is your friend http://carsonspost.com/personal-data-is-your-friend http://carsonspost.com/personal-data-is-your-friend

Previous posts discuss how to use a personal data gathering layer on top of existing processes in order to recover interesting facts about your workflow with little additional effort. This was done by either adding a personal data layer to your timesheet process, or by including digital checklists in your everyday workflow. 

Marissa Mayer of Google says data is apolitical. This is a very useful idea. I used to walk into a review with only the sentiment of how I felt about how my work was going. I recieved information about my progress, and the discussion was about broadly emotional issues. That can still happen, but if I come into a meeting and say: "I have spent 20 hours in the past month supporting people in a way which is unrelated to my role, and now we are late for this deadline", the cause and effect are more obvious. It is possible the two are not related - but we are starting to ask better questions.

Most importantly, this data collection can happen as a side-effect of existing processes. It can even support those processes and improve them. With timesheets, I improve my accuracy from within an hour to within 15 minutes. Why? It was useful to me to use a more refined data set - for the questions that I had about my time, rather than carrying out a bureaucratic process. The result was that I stripped out the time spent figureing out what is useful to do next, and understood more about how I can be really effective. 

Data is your friend. The sentiment is important, as it includes parts of intuition that can be used to ask questions of the data. They should be used together to improve how we work, and what we get out of it.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Sun, 16 Oct 2011 12:04:03 -0700 Getting timesheets to work for you http://carsonspost.com/getting-timesheets-to-work-for-you http://carsonspost.com/getting-timesheets-to-work-for-you

For a long time, I hated timesheets. Filling them out was a chunk of time which looked like this:

When? Really? I'm trying to find the emails... not sure. That must be right. It can't have taken that long. Well, I don't remember working late, so it must have only been this long.

Problematic as I was over-worked but not feeding back to the business that I was too busy working on the 80% and not getting to the meaningful 20%. Then I made timesheets my friend.

I realized that timesheets were a process problem for me, rather than anything useful. The probably weren't useful to anyone, because they were not 100% factual. So, it was key to me that I find a solution to them, and made them useful. 

Timesheets are data points, and data like this is very useful. It occurred to me that while the business was using my timesheets to identify my performance from a business aspect, I could use the timesheets in the same vein. However, I could ask different questions:

  • What are my actual hours, and is too much expected from me? 
  • Do I need additional support? Can a more junior member take parts of my work away to be more cost effective and time efficient?
  • How much time do I spend in meetings, and what is the cost of that?
  • How effective are my proposals? Where do I need to improve my time costing?
  • How can I improve my time management? 

At the time, my timesheet was an Excel file. So I copied the data in how it was laid out and put it in my own file. This was my output sheet. Essentially, I would copy and paste, as values, the data from my file into the layout of the actual Timesheet spreadsheet (I worked with the guy who developed the timesheet in order to ensure this worked properly). 

Then, on another tab in that spreadsheet I had my time entry. So, instead of entering directly into the timesheet, I had an intermediate which I could use to record what I personally wanted to know. I simply made sure that this data was translated to the output sheet in a way which aligned to what the official timesheet wanted to know.

This meant I could break down tasks into smaller chunks but also associate that time with questions I had. I started to understand more about my working habits, because I could work with real data to find out more about what was going on. As I had copied a significant amount of historical timesheet data, I was also able to, from the start, see what had not worked in the past and look at improvement in many key areas.

There were some interesting and very useful side effects to this:

  • My timesheets were updated daily, because I was interested in the process.
  • I was much more confident in talking about how I was being used in the business. I was able to indentify situations where I was been used inefficiently, and really make a stronger case for support.
  • I valued my time much more. It meant something to me; it was quantified. If I had a meeting that wasn't mutual benefitial, I could really understand it's negative impact. I was getting feedback on proposals I had prepared.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Tue, 11 Oct 2011 02:11:28 -0700 How well is the commercial real estate sector embedding sustainability? http://carsonspost.com/how-well-is-the-commercial-real-estate-sector http://carsonspost.com/how-well-is-the-commercial-real-estate-sector - http://www.joneslanglasalleblog.com/greenblog/?p=3414
via ifttt

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:02:07 -0700 Checklists: some useful data points? http://carsonspost.com/checklists-some-useful-data-points http://carsonspost.com/checklists-some-useful-data-points

Previously, I wrote how I've been using checklists in order to make life easier. In that post, I described how I've started creating checklists out of Google Spreadsheet forms in order to improve some of life's little processes, leaving more of my thinking available for more fun things than remembering if I've finished things correctly or in the right sequence.

There is a terrific sideline benefit to using Forms with Google Spreadsheets. These checklists become instant data points. By arranging your checklists in a certain way, you can start to recover the data from them, and this can be useful in many circumstances.

I'm not saying that the checklist assisting me to ensure I have my daughter's swimming things will provide any useful information in the long run. These kinds of checklists are quite binary - so all that is important is that they have been complete. I use the Form Builder app on my Android phone for these kinds of the more disposible checklists - you could equally use paper. I don't, simply because I'm more likely to keep my phone with me that a stack of checklists.

However, there are some instances where checklists can become useful data points. I have a checklist for my work outputs. In this, I include vital information like who I worked with, the amount of time it took and who reviewed or edited the report. I include this information for two reasons:

  • The more varied the checklist form inputs, the more engaged you are in entering the information. This improves accuracy (think of the "yes, yes, yes" attitiude you can have when tired, etc), and usefulness.
  • I feel this kind of performance information can be useful feedback. How long does it take to write a report. In the past, I have been pretty optimistic about how long this takes, and this has lead to working late and some timing issues. By harvesting this actual data, you are better able to predict time and improve planning. 

This data is also interesting as it provides the framework for performance improvement. I would like to cut down the amount of time that a report takes to write. Now that it is actually measured and can be plotted over time, we can see if these improvements are happening. That this data is already being entered into a spreadsheet means that charts can be made to reflect this information immediately. In fact, these charts can be presented as Gadgets on my iGoogle page - making for a helpful performance dashboard.

This information is also useful in discussions over personal development and workplace reviews. In order to make the most of these kinds of arrangements, I find it useful to bring this kind of information into these reviews with me. It certainly grounds the discussions in fact. If there are misunderstandings over performance, it means that you as an employee have useful information to add to the conversation, which might make your perspective on the matter more compelling. 

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:40:36 -0700 Checklists: useful process prompts to make life easier http://carsonspost.com/68508294 http://carsonspost.com/68508294

 

Recently, I read The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande (see above for a link the the Amazon.co.uk listing). It makes for interesting reading, but the essence is this: checklists are great and can be used anywhere there is a process for better, more efficient results. There is a side lession in ensuring your Checklist works, and generally the book is useful in presenting anecdotal evidence for the success of well prepared checklists. 

I have my own anecdote: a whole decade ago I was following folly into the misguided idea to become a pilot. On reflection, a silly enterprise on the whole, and a gigantic waste of money. However, in the process I learned to use a checklist to go through pre- and in- and post-flight checks on the plane. Efficient, thorough and ensured I wasn't encumbered with trying to remember what to do next, and could get on with flying the plane, and enjoying that fun - and it was a lot of fun.

A couple years later in New Zealand, it appeared I had too much money again and decided to take up flying during my stay there and went about a license conversion. At this particular flying school, the school or instructor appeared adamant that I do not use my checklist. I argued with the gentleman. He argued back. So I never returned. I have better things to do when paying hundreds of dollars an hour than worrying about the completeness and correct sequencing of keeping a plane in flight.

So, I'm sold on checklists, and The Checklist Manifesto was useful in reminding me that they can be applied virtually anywhere where process is needed and routine is encouraged.

I started making my checklists on my iPad using the Tap Forms HD app (iTunes). This certainly provides a nice interface for the forms, and some good features. I like using it a lot but it requires the iPad to be with you. Also, I find creating long checklists to be quite time consuming.

Google Docs includes a form function, and this links the forms to a spreadsheet. A real winner. The forms can appear in an email or be behind a link. I also discovered the forms are usable on my Android phone, as well as the iPad and normal PC. This means the forms are kind of ubiquitous. Also, because the form is based on Google Spreadsheets, it can be developed on a full sized computer, making it that much easier. 

So, for more detailed checklists, I now use forms out of Google Spreadsheets. However, I also have Form Builder on my Android phone, which is a tiny little app which allows for basic forms to be developed. I use these for really simple checklists, like "do I have everything for swimming" for my daughters Saturday swim class. It doesn't rely on a connection - and the forms load really quickly. 

Between the two, I am starting to roll out checklists wherever I can. This makes my life so much easier, as I no longer have to wonder if I've forgotten anything. The activity of confirming from a checklist that I've got my swimming trunks may have raised my wife's eyebrows, but it has caused the relief that for several weeks now I seem to consistently remembered to pack a towel.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:11:30 -0700 Thinking. Different http://carsonspost.com/thinking-different http://carsonspost.com/thinking-different - http://blog.jaggeree.com/post/11096275230/thinking-different
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:11:28 -0700 Steve Jobs http://carsonspost.com/steve-jobs http://carsonspost.com/steve-jobs - http://ilovetypography.com/2011/10/06/steve-jobs/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_m...
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:50:00 -0700 Ethics and Global Climate Change http://carsonspost.com/ethics-and-global-climate-change http://carsonspost.com/ethics-and-global-climate-change
The moralisation approach undermines itself since it frames climate change narrowly in terms of righteousness. Inevitably deliberation about action gets bogged down in an interminable blame-game about what justice requires - who had their industrial revolution first, etc. Furthermore, the moral duties of different actors do not all point the same way: poor country governments have a clear and over-riding moral duty to help their citizens achieve the high quality of life which the West takes for granted, and which is inevitably energy (carbon) intensive. And then there is the practical economics: the world still has lots of coal, especially in the poor world, that can produce electricity at 3c per kwh (which renewables cannot possibly compete with without radical technological breakthroughs, even with the strongest moral rhetoric). No comprehensive global political solution to greenhouse gases is possible. We need to go back and think again.
via philosophersbeard.org

This rings true to me.

Recently, I have completely stepped away from the discussion about climate change, and refuse to engage on the topic. To me it's a non-starter. Anyone I would be potentially arguing the science over has little actual effect on outcomes anyway, and if we want to get the blood flowing then religion is always more interesting anyway. At least I might learn something.

The other problem with the focus on the science is that it does lead to the kind of discussion highlighted in the quote. I have also ended up moralising on the issue, which makes me uncomfortable. Hell, I have a pilot's licence and own a car. I'm little better than the next.

For a discussion about morals, again, religion is much more interesting.

In the end, it is more useful thinking about actions to take going forward, and also more interesting. There are a vast number of options available, several new and exciting markets that will explode in the next ten years. That's interesting to me.

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:56:42 -0700 Infographic: What's Really Happening At Solyndra http://carsonspost.com/infographic-whats-really-happening-at-solyndr http://carsonspost.com/infographic-whats-really-happening-at-solyndr - http://bit.ly/r7uLMR
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:56:35 -0700 The Open University is number one on iTunes U, surpasses 40m downloads http://carsonspost.com/the-open-university-is-number-one-on-itunes-u http://carsonspost.com/the-open-university-is-number-one-on-itunes-u - http://tnw.co/pSA1If
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:11:13 -0700 Edmund Burke and American Conservatism http://carsonspost.com/edmund-burke-and-american-conservatism http://carsonspost.com/edmund-burke-and-american-conservatism - http://bit.ly/nFaI3F
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Fri, 30 Sep 2011 13:11:07 -0700 Why is Sergey Brin so good at Angry Birds? http://carsonspost.com/why-is-sergey-brin-so-good-at-angry-birds http://carsonspost.com/why-is-sergey-brin-so-good-at-angry-birds - http://bit.ly/q5cfzj
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:26:05 -0700 Most popular infographics generalized http://carsonspost.com/most-popular-infographics-generalized http://carsonspost.com/most-popular-infographics-generalized - http://bit.ly/pZOs4K
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Thu, 29 Sep 2011 12:11:42 -0700 The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces http://carsonspost.com/the-social-life-of-small-urban-spaces http://carsonspost.com/the-social-life-of-small-urban-spaces - http://bit.ly/paWgYp
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:26:30 -0700 Wikipedia Unveils Probably the Coolest QR Thingy Ever Made http://carsonspost.com/wikipedia-unveils-probably-the-coolest-qr-thi http://carsonspost.com/wikipedia-unveils-probably-the-coolest-qr-thi - http://rww.to/nAzzdE
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:26:29 -0700 The Kimberley Process: The Final Chapter? http://carsonspost.com/the-kimberley-process-the-final-chapter http://carsonspost.com/the-kimberley-process-the-final-chapter - http://bit.ly/rsAfxs
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:51:43 -0700 Riots in London, where they local affairs? http://carsonspost.com/riots-in-london-where-they-local-affairs-44969 http://carsonspost.com/riots-in-london-where-they-local-affairs-44969 Picture from the Guardian compares the riots (white circles) with homes of the suspected rioters (red dots).
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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:51:41 -0700 Reading it Later with Evernote and Ifttt http://carsonspost.com/reading-it-later-with-evernote-and-ifttt-73333 http://carsonspost.com/reading-it-later-with-evernote-and-ifttt-73333 This idea was brought about to meet two challenges. The first is minimizing the number of apps on my phone. I had an explosion of them, which was fun for awhile. But now I'm in a contraction. I want a few really good apps rather than lots of single purpose apps. For example, by making Evernote a blogging platform I was able to eliminate the Posterous app (although the email app could have also been used). The second challenge was that I felt my reading process stopped once the item was read. So I read something interesting and want to comment. But then I have to do this, then that. Etc. Fiddling with my phone/iPad. Not ideal. I want to take a news item and quote it, expand on it, and do it within the same infrastructure as my other work. Evernote is my research inbox, so it seemed natural. Ifttt.com is a web tool that is in private beta. However, I requested an invite and received it in a couple days. Like Yahoo Pipes or Tarpipe, it's a really useful service for tying together the different parts of the web that...
via ifttt

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]]> http://files.posterous.com/user_profile_pics/352632/avatar.jpg http://posterous.com/users/10Fx0jl5Zyp Sam Carson Sam Sam Carson