Tralfaz

Author: gander

  • Life with a Thinkpad and Win 10

    Life with a Thinkpad and Win 10

    With my new gig, I was issued a sparkly new Lenovo Thinkpad T450 (must have gotten the tail end of the run, as it was revved to T460 shortly after I started) with a reasonable sized SSD, 8G ram, a decent screen, and the expected accouterments.

    About the same time, my employer began rolling out Windows 10 on the desktop, so I am part of that world now. Prior to this, I had been using Windows 7 since 2010, and had become comfortable, passing up the whole Win 8 and 8.1 in the interim.

    First thoughts were that I hated it. No, it wasn’t forced the “metro” interface that came with the initial launch of Win 8, and which turned off all the enterprise IT people I knew, but it still had some of that flavor that, well sucked. (more…)

  • Right Wing Talking Point: Solyndra

    Right Wing Talking Point: Solyndra

    One thing I get tired of reading is the abuse piled on the Obama Administration by the Republicans (really, more specifically the Tea Party wing) about how the DoE loan guarantee extended to alternative energy companies was wasteful, and little more than political fluffery to reward a loyal demographic.

    Alas, this story has been debunked over and over, yet the response “What about Solyndra?” is their rallying cry.

    So, what about Solyndra? It was a startup that was taking a unique view of how to build efficient solar power modules. Using a thin film process, known as CIGS, to create efficiency somewhere between the then principal technologies, polycrystaline silicon, and monocrystalline silicon cells. PolySi cells were 15 – 18% efficient, and monoSi cells were 20 – 22%. (more…)

  • Innovation Management

    Innovation Management

    As I research the Innovation process in preparation for a potential training program around Innovation Management, there are several thoughts that are swirling in my head.
    Being a long time technical marketer, I am familiar with many of the “Chasmista’s” methodologies (loosely the body of thought inspired by Geoffrey Moore and his seminal work “Crossing the Chasm”), the concept of disruption, innovation, “tornado” markets are all well captured.

    But I have also read practical marketing advice from Theodore Levin (in “The Marketing Imagination”) that innovation is often difficult, and that the leaders in innovation are frequently not the dominant force in the market, that often it is better to get the second bite at the apple (let someone else do that difficult work, and apply their learning to have cost, scale, or other advantages – The irony being that Apple often is seen as an innovator, but in reality, they are far better at that second bite.) (more…)

  • Data Scientist / Data Engineer

    Data Scientist / Data Engineer

    As part of my assignment, I have been researching a couple of hot roles in the digitization or digital transformation sphere, that of Data Engineer and Data Scientist. This fascinating trek down the rabbit hole has been quite illuminating.

    One of the backbones of the digital transformation is the advent, and rise of this little thing called “Big Data”. With Software taking over the world, compute power becoming ubiquitous and practically free, just about every part of modern life creates data that can be leveraged in myriad ways. From tracking your browsing history so that if you research Chicago Deep Dish pizza pans, the next time you log into Facebook, you will see ads from Amazon or Sur la Table for hard anodized, non-stick deep dish pizza pans. (more…)

  • Digital Transformation and the GOtV efforts

    Digital Transformation and the GOtV efforts

    As I have been focused on the various roles of digital transformation, researching how it affects individuals across the organization, I stumbled on an interesting article in the NY Times that embodied the phenomenon in a way that hadn’t occurred to me.

    This article was around the ground game of the coming election (2016 US Presidential) in Las Vegas Nevada. Shadowing a doorbell ringer, a person who goes door to door to remind people of the importance of voting in the election. An offhand reference to this doorbell ringer consulting her smartphone to find the next target of her efforts. (more…)

  • Customer Success

    Customer Success

    Customer success. When you hear it, what does it call to mind? Your customers winning in the market? The warm thought that you have helped them achieve their goals? That your technology is delivering quantifiable benefits to your customer’s bottom line?

    Yes. To all of this. However, there is a more formal definition that is gaining currency. But, before we get to that, let’s digress a bit and talk about Digital Transformation, and how that is causing significant disruption in the modern business world.

    Digital Transformation, what is it?

    (more…)