Thursday, February 25, 2016
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Clean energy could save hundreds of billions in health costs every year
As an advanced economy, the U.S. is expected to lead in making the required emissions reductions, which would be roughly 80 percent by midcentury compared with 2005. This would entail moving a large portion of U.S. power generation off fossil fuels and shifting the majority of our vehicles to electric power.
Part of the difficulty in turning our pledges into tangible actions is creating enough motivation to drive a wholesale transformation of our energy and transportation systems. Global climate change is typically perceived as a problem that’s mostly in the distant future and worse in other parts of the world, so is not prioritized relative to whatever pressing issues are dominating current political discourse. In essence, many people believe climate change mitigation policies require a change in our lifestyle and paying costs now for benefits that predominantly go to people living elsewhere and in future generations.
But focusing on the immediate health benefits of moving to cleaner energy has the potential to change the way people view climate change. In the authors study, they found that slashing emissions from transportation and power generation would prevent about 175,000 early deaths caused by air pollution in the U.S. by 2030. They also concluded that the health benefits would be valued at US$250 billion per year, likely more than the cost of changing the energy system. These benefits alone likely exceed the costs of the transition to clean power generation and transportation. Adding in the monetary value of the longer-term, worldwide climate impacts, such as damages to infrastructure, agriculture and human health, benefits roughly quintuple, becoming between five and 10 times larger than the estimated implementation costs.
Clean transportation could prevent about 120,000 premature deaths by 2030 and about 14,000 annually thereafter. Importantly, these benefits are realized almost immediately and largely within the U.S. We then put a dollar value on these benefits based on economic analyses that reveal how much society is willing to pay to decrease the risk of premature death, for example through occupational safety or health care. By not including environmental impacts in the economy, we are leaving out the most efficient way to create incentives to decrease pollution.
Citation: http://theconversation.com/clean-energy-could-save-hundreds-of-billions-in-health-costs-every-year-55265
Part of the difficulty in turning our pledges into tangible actions is creating enough motivation to drive a wholesale transformation of our energy and transportation systems. Global climate change is typically perceived as a problem that’s mostly in the distant future and worse in other parts of the world, so is not prioritized relative to whatever pressing issues are dominating current political discourse. In essence, many people believe climate change mitigation policies require a change in our lifestyle and paying costs now for benefits that predominantly go to people living elsewhere and in future generations.
But focusing on the immediate health benefits of moving to cleaner energy has the potential to change the way people view climate change. In the authors study, they found that slashing emissions from transportation and power generation would prevent about 175,000 early deaths caused by air pollution in the U.S. by 2030. They also concluded that the health benefits would be valued at US$250 billion per year, likely more than the cost of changing the energy system. These benefits alone likely exceed the costs of the transition to clean power generation and transportation. Adding in the monetary value of the longer-term, worldwide climate impacts, such as damages to infrastructure, agriculture and human health, benefits roughly quintuple, becoming between five and 10 times larger than the estimated implementation costs.
Clean transportation could prevent about 120,000 premature deaths by 2030 and about 14,000 annually thereafter. Importantly, these benefits are realized almost immediately and largely within the U.S. We then put a dollar value on these benefits based on economic analyses that reveal how much society is willing to pay to decrease the risk of premature death, for example through occupational safety or health care. By not including environmental impacts in the economy, we are leaving out the most efficient way to create incentives to decrease pollution.
Citation: http://theconversation.com/clean-energy-could-save-hundreds-of-billions-in-health-costs-every-year-55265
5G networks will do more than just speed up your smartphone
This year’s Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain had a panel of industry executives talking about how 5G could impact big data, healthcare and more. 5G is expected to be 100 times faster than 4G LTE, as well as have approximately 1,000 times the data capacity. Mark Zuckerberg said it best when he said “a 5G user could download a two-hour film in one second”. Being able to quickly download large amounts of data will definitely benefit mobile users but also enable the healthcare industry to develop and integrate this technology into more wearables and other devices that will lead to more big data analytics.
More Big data in healthcare will allow healthcare professionals to make better strategic decisions on how to cut costs and deliver care more efficiently. This analysis could also lead companies to find cost savings by analyzing insurance plans to find what amount of insurance reaps the most reward for employee health, thus reducing sick leave and increasing productivity as well. This revolution in technology will usher in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT).
The Internet of Things will be invading every corner of our lives as 5G technology becomes available to the mass market. A report compiled by Will McKitterick, a senior research analyst at Business Insider speculates at trends that will occur as 5G becomes a reality. Key points relate to the challenges that the wireless communications industry will face.
The report finds that customers will continue to become more loyal to their wireless carrier, even as competition increases. Carriers will focus more on discounted data packages to lure in new customers and change from discounting mobile-devices to financing them. Increasing competition between wireless carriers will continue to lengthen the smartphone replacement cycle, challenging mobile software and handset developers. The report also speaks to the fact that mobile subscriber growth is slowing as the market becomes saturated with better, longer-lasting devices which will drive the wireless industry to find new sources of revenue in connected tablets, cars, and IoT devices. As 5G becomes a reality we will begin to see wireless carriers vying for the new spectrum to expand their reach. The age of 5G will also create new legal and ethical challenges which we will surely see making their way through the Judicial system over the next decade.
Source: Business Insider
More Big data in healthcare will allow healthcare professionals to make better strategic decisions on how to cut costs and deliver care more efficiently. This analysis could also lead companies to find cost savings by analyzing insurance plans to find what amount of insurance reaps the most reward for employee health, thus reducing sick leave and increasing productivity as well. This revolution in technology will usher in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT).
The Internet of Things will be invading every corner of our lives as 5G technology becomes available to the mass market. A report compiled by Will McKitterick, a senior research analyst at Business Insider speculates at trends that will occur as 5G becomes a reality. Key points relate to the challenges that the wireless communications industry will face.
The report finds that customers will continue to become more loyal to their wireless carrier, even as competition increases. Carriers will focus more on discounted data packages to lure in new customers and change from discounting mobile-devices to financing them. Increasing competition between wireless carriers will continue to lengthen the smartphone replacement cycle, challenging mobile software and handset developers. The report also speaks to the fact that mobile subscriber growth is slowing as the market becomes saturated with better, longer-lasting devices which will drive the wireless industry to find new sources of revenue in connected tablets, cars, and IoT devices. As 5G becomes a reality we will begin to see wireless carriers vying for the new spectrum to expand their reach. The age of 5G will also create new legal and ethical challenges which we will surely see making their way through the Judicial system over the next decade.
Source: Business Insider
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Making a Meal Out of Project Management
Project management lessons can be found in different areas of life. Take a waiter or manager at a restaurant, they solve project management challenges every day at every table.
Consistency- Each project (table) should be given appropriate time and effort. With projects, priority should be given to projects with strategic value and deadlines must be considered. In this case both projects (tables) were of equal importance and needed equal treatment.
Communication- The restaurant was upfront about the delays. When projects hit a problem PMs should communicate with stakeholders about delays and actions being taken. The truth lands you in less trouble than lies and cover ups.
Transparency- The restaurant was quick to take responsibility. They followed through with the promise and the meal was on them. The waiter was open about the situation and keeping customers updated.
Planning- In IT projects you need the right staff just like a kitchen. Failure to do this risk completing the project. In project management every skill and part of the process can now be bought in as a service.
Control- At the restaurant the staff was not fully in control of the situation. No control means no assurance of success. Milestones need to be laid out and checked along the way, whether it’s a complex IT project or planning your meat and vegetables to be ready at the same time.
Task Management- Work needs to be delegated to individuals and their progress needs to be managed. It’s important to stay on top of the to-do list as the restaurant was clearly not. Not staying on task can cost money, just like how the restaurant ended up paying for the meal in the end.
Process- When you deliver something you must offer what is needed with what you deliver. If you deliver a steak you give them a steak knife. If you deliver a new IT system, you need to offer training and support.
Negotiation- When the staff offered the free drink and where rejected they weren’t sure what to do next. They didn’t think the free drink would be turned down. Negotiation is often undervalued and overlooked project management skill that the best PMs have in abundance.
Leadership- In a busy kitchen or IT project the difference between leaders and managers is apparent. Project managers who improve their leadership skills find their motivational and communication skills develop organically.
Critical Thinking- This is essential to making good decisions. This is consideration on the pros and cons of different solutions before selecting the best move. Critical thinking is like a muscle and the more you use it the stronger and more effective it becomes. The restaurant weighed the pros and cons of waiving the bill but did not do this for the other customers.
Quality Control- Quality is now being prioritized as a core skill. Quality deliverables in a restaurant would be “compliments to the chef” or a nice tip. For IT projects this would be on-time delivery, on or under budget completion, and end user satisfaction.
Retaining a Sense of Humor- Projects can and will go wrong, and meals can get messed up. Humor can diffuse tense situations. You won’t display to your client you find humor in project delays, but sometimes having a laugh can help relieve pressure. This can make the staff more effective afterwards.
This relates to our course because we have been talking about project management. We talked about how to approach and deal with management and this article puts a real life example to what we have learned. I think being apply to apply what you have learned in class to real life examples is important because it makes topics easier to understand and apply it to other situations.
As an MIS major I feel like this will apply to us because everyone will use these skills in their careers. Though this restaurant is not full of project managers, we were still able to find how it connects. Also I know some MIS majors that will be going into project management and knowing something like this will help them improve their skills. This can also make someone a better citizen because these don’t have to be skills only applied to careers, these are skills anyone can use on a daily basis.
Restaurants are not the only ones dealing with project management. Can you think of any examples of project management in everyday life?
Citation:http://www.cio.com/article/3031697/project-management/making-a-meal-out-of-project-management.html
Say a restaurant is short staffed in the front of the house and is also short staffed in the kitchen. It takes 40-minutes to get food. How did the restaurant handle this? They apologized and offered a free drink. Though not all the customers appreciated this. One table waited 40-minute for some soup and the offer of a free drink was met by, “we just bought one.” The result was a disgruntled customer who probably won’t be back and will take to social media to complain. Another table waited 40-minutes for food and were also offered a free drink. They accepted the free drink and then were told there was an error with the system and the restaurant explained it was their own fault, the meal came at no charge. The end result was a happy customer.What can we learn from this experience?
Consistency- Each project (table) should be given appropriate time and effort. With projects, priority should be given to projects with strategic value and deadlines must be considered. In this case both projects (tables) were of equal importance and needed equal treatment.
Communication- The restaurant was upfront about the delays. When projects hit a problem PMs should communicate with stakeholders about delays and actions being taken. The truth lands you in less trouble than lies and cover ups.
Transparency- The restaurant was quick to take responsibility. They followed through with the promise and the meal was on them. The waiter was open about the situation and keeping customers updated.
Planning- In IT projects you need the right staff just like a kitchen. Failure to do this risk completing the project. In project management every skill and part of the process can now be bought in as a service.
Control- At the restaurant the staff was not fully in control of the situation. No control means no assurance of success. Milestones need to be laid out and checked along the way, whether it’s a complex IT project or planning your meat and vegetables to be ready at the same time.
Task Management- Work needs to be delegated to individuals and their progress needs to be managed. It’s important to stay on top of the to-do list as the restaurant was clearly not. Not staying on task can cost money, just like how the restaurant ended up paying for the meal in the end.
Process- When you deliver something you must offer what is needed with what you deliver. If you deliver a steak you give them a steak knife. If you deliver a new IT system, you need to offer training and support.
Negotiation- When the staff offered the free drink and where rejected they weren’t sure what to do next. They didn’t think the free drink would be turned down. Negotiation is often undervalued and overlooked project management skill that the best PMs have in abundance.
Leadership- In a busy kitchen or IT project the difference between leaders and managers is apparent. Project managers who improve their leadership skills find their motivational and communication skills develop organically.
Critical Thinking- This is essential to making good decisions. This is consideration on the pros and cons of different solutions before selecting the best move. Critical thinking is like a muscle and the more you use it the stronger and more effective it becomes. The restaurant weighed the pros and cons of waiving the bill but did not do this for the other customers.
Quality Control- Quality is now being prioritized as a core skill. Quality deliverables in a restaurant would be “compliments to the chef” or a nice tip. For IT projects this would be on-time delivery, on or under budget completion, and end user satisfaction.
Retaining a Sense of Humor- Projects can and will go wrong, and meals can get messed up. Humor can diffuse tense situations. You won’t display to your client you find humor in project delays, but sometimes having a laugh can help relieve pressure. This can make the staff more effective afterwards.
This relates to our course because we have been talking about project management. We talked about how to approach and deal with management and this article puts a real life example to what we have learned. I think being apply to apply what you have learned in class to real life examples is important because it makes topics easier to understand and apply it to other situations.
As an MIS major I feel like this will apply to us because everyone will use these skills in their careers. Though this restaurant is not full of project managers, we were still able to find how it connects. Also I know some MIS majors that will be going into project management and knowing something like this will help them improve their skills. This can also make someone a better citizen because these don’t have to be skills only applied to careers, these are skills anyone can use on a daily basis.
Restaurants are not the only ones dealing with project management. Can you think of any examples of project management in everyday life?
Citation:http://www.cio.com/article/3031697/project-management/making-a-meal-out-of-project-management.html
TopCoder: Overview of Competitions
Before you begin to post your comments about the TopCoder case, you might find this 6-min video an interesting overview of the kinds of competitions clients request. You'd be surprised at the variety - and might even be interested in a challenge or two.
Agile Software Development Catches On in the Mainstream
This Wall Street Journal article explained the continuous adoption of Agile methodologies in the mainstream and told success stories of certain companies that just recently replaced their traditional methods with Agile methods. It spoke about how Insura Humana, one of the largest health insurers in the U.S., recently transitioned to Agile so that they can be more rapid and responsive to feedback from customers and handle the increasing amount of data available in the healthcare ecosystem.
Using Agile and Devops, they can update or completely build their mobile applications in a much shorter time period. Humana has many large clients and in an array of different industries and Humana believes that if they can decrease the amount of time it takes deploy software, it will make them more competitive. The Devop methodologies of having business and IT closely collaborate with constant feedback loops in order to deploy software that is more aligned with the business requirements is just making its way into the mainstream.
Agile first started in the tech industry, but is now making its way into other industries and is already making a large impact and will continue to positively affect companies who make the transformation. Another example that the article used was Chico’s and their adoption of Agile methodologies. They switched in response to the need of being able to build mobile applications very quickly because of their industry lag in allowing customers to access information on their tables or smartphones. Chico’s CEO told the CIO journal “the magic words: faster and less expensive.” And followed up by explaining that his team was able to build software that allows the employees within their many retail stores to easily access a given customer’s history of purchases. This software also included new features such as new sorting capabilities, searching, and other useful tools for employees, which can be accessed from a tablet or smartphone.
This article is relevant to our course because it shows the true transition from traditional to more adaptive models and its' expansion into the mainstream as a more common method that is not just used by high-tech companies. We have learned much about Agile methods and this article revealed just how much more efficient and effective agile methodologies are in comparison to traditional models, and gave some first hand examples of the success companies have found with this group of methodologies. In the past, learning agile methodologies in college may have only been useful if you were planning on working at a high tech company after graduation or in the near future. This article shows that the material we are currently learning in this course is useful no matter what industry you are in and we can apply this knowledge to wherever we decide to work in. Another significant aspect of this article is that us students should be focusing more on agile methodologies instead of traditional methods because it is becoming apparent that it is the better choice.
As a future MIS professional I find this article significant because it shows the importance of agile methodology and the positive consequences that can happen if you enter the workplace with a strong knowledge of the principles within adaptive system development. Even better, if you have experience using agile methodologies in a course project or internship before you enter the workplace. I also learned that if I am capable in multiple different types of agile development I will be building knowledge on which ones work best with certain requirements while others are still debating if they should use traditional or not.
Citation: http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2015/04/29/agile-software-development-catches-on-in-the-mainstream/
Using Agile and Devops, they can update or completely build their mobile applications in a much shorter time period. Humana has many large clients and in an array of different industries and Humana believes that if they can decrease the amount of time it takes deploy software, it will make them more competitive. The Devop methodologies of having business and IT closely collaborate with constant feedback loops in order to deploy software that is more aligned with the business requirements is just making its way into the mainstream.
Agile first started in the tech industry, but is now making its way into other industries and is already making a large impact and will continue to positively affect companies who make the transformation. Another example that the article used was Chico’s and their adoption of Agile methodologies. They switched in response to the need of being able to build mobile applications very quickly because of their industry lag in allowing customers to access information on their tables or smartphones. Chico’s CEO told the CIO journal “the magic words: faster and less expensive.” And followed up by explaining that his team was able to build software that allows the employees within their many retail stores to easily access a given customer’s history of purchases. This software also included new features such as new sorting capabilities, searching, and other useful tools for employees, which can be accessed from a tablet or smartphone.
This article is relevant to our course because it shows the true transition from traditional to more adaptive models and its' expansion into the mainstream as a more common method that is not just used by high-tech companies. We have learned much about Agile methods and this article revealed just how much more efficient and effective agile methodologies are in comparison to traditional models, and gave some first hand examples of the success companies have found with this group of methodologies. In the past, learning agile methodologies in college may have only been useful if you were planning on working at a high tech company after graduation or in the near future. This article shows that the material we are currently learning in this course is useful no matter what industry you are in and we can apply this knowledge to wherever we decide to work in. Another significant aspect of this article is that us students should be focusing more on agile methodologies instead of traditional methods because it is becoming apparent that it is the better choice.
As a future MIS professional I find this article significant because it shows the importance of agile methodology and the positive consequences that can happen if you enter the workplace with a strong knowledge of the principles within adaptive system development. Even better, if you have experience using agile methodologies in a course project or internship before you enter the workplace. I also learned that if I am capable in multiple different types of agile development I will be building knowledge on which ones work best with certain requirements while others are still debating if they should use traditional or not.
Citation: http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2015/04/29/agile-software-development-catches-on-in-the-mainstream/
Monday, February 22, 2016
Tech Musing #2: Some Comments from Tech Musing #1
For Tech Musing #2, you will post your articles on this blog (not a comment to this post), or on VoiceThread. No submissions on Blackboard.
Before Tech Musing #2 gets underway, you should read the comments I posted on your blogs and on Blackboard for Tech Musing #1. Yes, I re-read those, too. Sometimes your grade changed; sometimes it didn't. Here are some lessons to keep in mind:
Stop googling and read the blogs and links provided here, or find it on other links. Teach us something. Be entertaining. Stop worrying about the perfect rubric. Follow these steps and you'll be just fine. Comment here if you have other questions about this post.
Before Tech Musing #2 gets underway, you should read the comments I posted on your blogs and on Blackboard for Tech Musing #1. Yes, I re-read those, too. Sometimes your grade changed; sometimes it didn't. Here are some lessons to keep in mind:
- Provide a link. Points deducted for not having a link that is readable from the beginning to the end of the article (without having to join a website to read the full article).
- Make sure the article is current! This wasn't explicit in the description, but I'm making it explicit now.
- Provide a sufficient summary of the article. I read them, too. If the article has detail, provide that in the summary.
- Make sure your implications actually fit the article you just read. For example, don't assume that everything has project management implications, if the article doesn't mention it.
- Read what others have posted, so you don't use the same blog post. Points go to the first blog. Also, comment on what others have posted. You get credit for commenting, too.
- Some of you followed up on my comments, but not many. I am willing to be convinced about your points, if you want to offer them, or answer my questions.
Stop googling and read the blogs and links provided here, or find it on other links. Teach us something. Be entertaining. Stop worrying about the perfect rubric. Follow these steps and you'll be just fine. Comment here if you have other questions about this post.
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