Saturday, April 25, 2020

Wisdom of the Lockdown


The wisdom of the #coronavirus  #lockdown is illustrated by a simple fact: in a normal year, with no lockdowns, 20,000 to 50,000 Americans die of the flu in a year. #covid19 has just killed 50,000 Americans in less than 2 months, DESPITE lockdowns.

© 2020 Praveen Puri

Friday, April 24, 2020

Supply chains need flexibility and Strategic Simplicity® in times like these. I just read an article on how some farmers are destroying potatoes in Wash. state, while frozen fries are scarce in Wash. DC. Why? Institutional suppliers (for schools, etc) have no demand, but they don't have the systems, buyer connections, and FDA labelling to switch to in-demand retail markets


© 2020 Praveen Puri

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Yes, Of Course We Need to Lift The Quarantine


All the recent media articles saying "We have to open up" are getting repetitive. Almost everyone acknowledges that. The key is they need a plan—appropriate for the local situation. Because, unless the public feels confident and safe, opening businesses won't help because people will be wary, and hesitate to travel, shop, etc

© 2020 Praveen Puri

Thursday, April 9, 2020

IoT and the Environment



On balance, I believe that IoT will be worse for the environment.  Appliances and machinery that today have life spans of 10-20 years will now be fitted with technology that becomes obsolete every 18 months.

While I advise my consulting clients to design IoT in a modular format (so that much of the technology can be swapped out without needing to replace the item itself), the fact is that, after several iterations of improvements, the underlying machinery will have to be upgraded.  So, the end result is that components, many with toxic chemicals, will end up in land fills sooner.


© 2020 Praveen Puri

The Biggest Content Marketing Mistake That Companies Make

The biggest mistake is not creating content that gives specific value, as opposed to generic background information that can be found on multiple sites, through googling.  Rather than create the umpteenth article on "5 Trends in Artificial Intelligence", drill down and focus on a specific problem, i.e. "How to Identify That Your Recruiting AI is Discriminating Against Women Engineers".  

We learned this when I was a tech product manager and start-up CEO.  Now, as a consultant, I see my clients continuing to struggle with this, but the issue is even more important today, because we are in the Attention Scarcity Age, where we are saturated with content and info.

© 2020 Praveen Puri

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Who Should Handle RPA?


RPA needs to be handled by both IT and the line of business.  The line of business has the content knowledge about what the RPA needs to automate, while IT has the process knowledge for implementing RPA.

For example, without line of business involvement, IT might miss entering the proper data for less common, yet important, business cases.  Without IT involvement, the line of business might create a fragile RPA without error handling, that easily breaks down if the network slows down.

© 2020 Praveen Puri

Lock Puzzle




© 2020 Praveen Puri

Saturday, April 4, 2020

Strategic Simplicity® and Covid19 Stimulus


Instead of all the fed programs, all the rounds of stimulus, and individual checks, they could have kept it simple. Just set up a temporary agency for business of all sizes, where they could send proof of their weekly earnings for January, and their weekly earnings now, and the agency would pay them the difference, as long as they keep everyone on the payroll who was their in January. It would still cost trillions, but it would have been a lot cleaner, and you wouldn't be having all the cascading effects of people not paying rent, etc.

© 2020 Praveen Puri

Friday, April 3, 2020

Stop Navigating Obstacle Courses At Work



Once upon a time, a certain work flow in your business might have been optimal.  Things changed, however, and now it feels like you are navigating obstacles and hurdles—which slow down completion of the task.

This results in a common cycle.  Inefficiencies slow you down, so you have less time, so you put off streamlining the task, and you slow down more.

At some point, you need to step back and, as the saying goes "work on your business instead of in the business."  You must simplify and streamline the task.  It's always better to do it sooner than later.

© 2020 Praveen Puri