เอมกับเอ๋ กินไก่ต้มโสม กัน ว่ากันว่ารสชาติจืดเอามาก ๆ ต้องเติมซีอิ๊ว พริก ลงไปทำให้ค่อยกินได้อร่อยหน่อย นับว่าเป็นอีกประสบการณ์ดี ๆ ที่เกาหลี
สำหรับผู้ที่มีสิทธิได้รับการบรรเทาผลกระทบการปรับราคาขายปลึกก๊าซปิโตรเลียมเหลว (LPG) ภาคครัวเรือนสามารถดำเนินการในการขอรับสิทธิได้ตามนี้ ที่น่าแปลกใจคือผู้ไม่มีกระแสไฟฟ้าจะไปมีปัญญาอะไรในการใช้มือถือส่ง SMS ทั้งในการสมัครและรับสิทธินี้
สรุปขั้นตอนการลงทะเบียนสิทธิโครงการบรรเทาผลกระทบ LPGตาม PPT และรูปภาพ
อ้างอิงจาก กระทรวงพลังงาน
กลุ่ม
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รายละเอียด
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กลุ่ม Media
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การนำเสนอแนวทางในการพัฒนาและนโยบายการใช้พลังงานในประเทศนอร์เวย์ โดยมีแนวคิดในการบริหารจัดการพลังงานอย่างยั่งยืนที่ประสบความสำเร็จของประเทศนอร์เวย์
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กลุ่ม Techno
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โครงการโรงไฟฟ้าพลังน้ำขนาดเล็กท้ายเขื่อนชลประทาน 6 แห่ง รวม 78.7 เมกะวัตต์ ได้แก่
โครงการโรงไฟฟ้าพลังน้ำเขื่อนป่าสักชลสิทธิ์ กำลังผลิต 6.7 เมกะวัตต์
โครงการโรงไฟฟ้าพลังน้ำเขื่อนขุนด่านปราการชล กำลังผลิต 10 เมกะวัตต์
โครงการโรงไฟฟ้าพลังน้ำเขื่อนเจ้าพระยา กำลังผลิต 12 เมกะวัตต์
โครงการโรงไฟฟ้าพลังน้ำเขื่อนนเรศวร กำลังผลิต 8 เมกะวัตต์
โครงการโรงไฟฟ้าพลังน้ำเขื่อนแควน้อย กำลังผลิต 30 เมกะวัตต์
โครงการโรงไฟฟ้าพลังน้ำเขื่อนแม่กลอง กำลังผลิต 12 เมกะวัตต์
Loxley-AGT offers flood simulations
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กลุ่ม Politics
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แผนพัฒนาการเศรษฐกิจและสังคมแห่งชาติฉบับที่ 1 (พ.ศ.2504-2509)
กำหนดแนวทางหลักในการพัฒนาประเทศ โดยเฉพาะการลงทุนในสิ่งก่อสร้างพื้นฐาน ในรูปของระบบคมนาคมและขนส่ง ระบบเขื่อนเพื่อการชลประทานและพลังไฟฟ้า ตลอดจนสาธารณูปโภคต่าง ๆ โดยหวังว่าปัจจัยที่เป็นโครงสร้างพื้นฐานเหล่านี้จะเป็นตัวกระตุ้นให้เกิดการขยายตัวทางเศรษฐกิจ กล่าวคือ ส่งเสริมบรรยากาศเพื่อให้มีการลงทุนในภาคอุตสาหกรรม ในขณะเดียวกันก็เป็นตัวกระตุ้นให้เกิดการขยายตัวของพื้นที่เพาะปลูก
แผนพัฒนาการเศรษฐกิจและสังคมแห่งชาติฉบับที่ 2 (พ.ศ.2510-2514)
ความเหลื่อมล้ำทางรายได้ที่เพิ่มขึ้นนี้ส่วนหนึ่งเป็นผลสืบเนื่องมาจากแนวทางการพัฒนาในระยะของแผนพัฒนาฯทั้งสองฉบับที่ผ่านมา ซึ่งเน้นโครงการก่อสร้างปัจจัยพื้นฐานทางเศรษฐกิจ เช่น ถนน ไฟฟ้า เขื่อน ท่าเรือ โทรศัพท์ เป็นต้น โดยตั้งอยู่ในความเชื่อพื้นฐานที่ว่า การเพิ่มการผลิตของประเทศจะต้องอาศัยปัจจัยพื้นฐานเหล่านี้ ปรากฏว่าโครงการเหล่านี้ก่อให้เกิดประโยชน์แก่ประชาชนบางส่วน เนื่องจากไม่สามารถส่งประโยชน์ให้ถึงประชาชนอย่างทั่วถึง ผู้ได้รับประโยชน์จะเป็นผู้ใกล้แหล่งที่จะใช้บริการพื้นฐานและมีปัจจัยการผลิตพร้อมมูล ซึ่งส่วนใหญ่อยู่ในอุตสาหกรรมและพาณิชยกรรม จึงเห็นได้ว่าแต่ละบุคคลมีโอกาสที่จะได้รับประโยชน์จากการเพิ่มผลผลิตและรายได้ของตนจากการบริการและการลงทุนของรัฐ ไม่เท่าเทียมกัน จึงส่งผลให้ช่องว่างทางเศรษฐกิจและสังคมของประเทศเพิ่มมากขึ้น ส่งผลให้มีการกระจายรายได้ที่แตกต่างกันมากขึ้น
นโยบายการพัฒนาเทคโนโลยีสะอาด http://www.egat.co.th/images/stories/demo/tech/CDM_ONEP270850.pdf
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การ Econ
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ปัจจุบันลาวมีเขื่อนที่สามารถผลิตกระแสไฟฟ้าได้แล้วจำนวน 14 แห่ง ซึ่งสามารถผลิตไฟฟ้าได้ 2,540 เมกะวัตต์ โดยเขื่อนที่มีขนาดใหญ่ที่สุดของประเทศในขณะนี้คือ "เขื่อนน้ำเทิน 2" ด้วยกำลังการผลิต 1,070 เมกะวัต
ต้องยอมรับว่าในช่วงไม่กี่ปีมานี้ "ลาว" เป็นประเทศหนึ่งในอาเซียนที่น่าจับตามองอย่างยิ่ง เพราะแม้ในช่วงที่หลายประเทศทั่วโลกได้รับผลกระทบจากวิกฤติเศรษฐกิจและการเงินโลก แต่ประเทศเล็กๆ ที่มีประชากรเพียงแค่ราว 7 ล้านคนแห่งนี้กลับไม่ได้รับความกระทบกระเทือนแต่อย่างใด มิหนำซ้ำเศรษฐกิจลาวยังสามารถเติบโตได้อย่างรวดเร็วอีกด้วย โดยพบว่าในช่วง 5 ปีที่ผ่านมา (ปี 2007-2011) ลาวมีอัตราการขยายตัวทางเศรษฐกิจเฉลี่ยสูงถึงเกือบ 8% ในแต่ละปี เทียบกับค่าเฉลี่ยรวมของประเทศในกลุ่มอาเซียนซึ่งอยู่ที่ราว 6% นอกจากนี้ รายได้เฉลี่ยต่อหัวประชากร (GDP per capita - PPP basis) ของลาวในปัจจุบันยังได้ปรับตัวสูงขึ้นไปอยู่ที่ 2,865 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐฯ ต่อคนต่อปีแล้ว เทียบกับช่วง 5 ปีก่อนหน้าซึ่งอยู่ที่ประมาณ 1,900 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐฯ ต่อคนต่อปี หรือเพิ่มขึ้นถึงกว่า 6% ต่อปีเลยทีเดียว หรือกล่าวอีกนัยหนึ่งคือ "คนลาวกำลังรวยขึ้น" นั่นเอง
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Stakeholder
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การประท้วงของชาวบ้านเขื่อนปากมูลต่อโครงการ 3.5 แสนล้านที่หน้าทำเนียบ
The firm later planned to nearly double the capacity of the dam to generate about 1040MW of electricity. Studies showed that the dam could cause floods in the area and that about 61,000 acres [25,000 hectares] of farmland was exposed to the risk.
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This was an email conversation with my advisor, Dr. G. Padmanbhan of NDSU
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First day, opening speech was under the topic Convergence of Nanotechnology and Microbiology: Emerging Opportunities for Water Disinfection Integrated Urban Water Management, and Risk Assessment, Prof. Dr. Pedro J.J. Alvarez, Rice University, USA (http://www.nwri-usa.org/documents/Alvarez.pdf)
A series of results of studies related to uses of Nanotech and Microbiology was presented, an eye opening talk for me as various techniques were tested and finally used to treat drinking water in rural areas, this really started the feel of what is about to come in the following days.
Later in the afternoon, a panel discussion “Green Economy Concept and Policies - Pathways to Sustainable Development” (http://new.unep.org/ozonaction/Portals/105/documents/events/green-economy-side-event-fotiou.pdf), I’ve learnt several new ideas about Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) or the concept of green economy, especially on the idea of clustering which has proven to be the most efficient way of pushing towards green economy, the talk emphasis that multidisciplinary of both science and arts should be used and integrated. Also looking from a macro and international perspective point of view was refreshing and showing that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and others have been through it already. Although, having talked with other researches – they believe it’s too big and far from what they are and that should be left for UN people to pursue instead. I guess there is a gap there still.
On the second day a panel “Sustainable Consumption and Production Policy for Waste Management”. IMO, this was an extension of the previous panel discussion, but rather more focused on real practice, from various type of communities – a very good example to state that not only one solution solves all problems – leaving the audience to think how their research/interest can contribute to the activities needed to achieve SCP. Again, the idea of policy making and enforcement has been launched here.
IMO the highlight was the afternoon talk from Siam Cement Group’s CEO on the topic of Green Industry Initiative for Sustainable ASEAN Economic Community (http://www1.siamcement.com/pdf/SD-Guideline-Eng.pdf) where he shares the story of how he drove SCG’s business with the believe of going green since day 1. How he managed to create a culture (in the DNA and mindset) and RD plan towards SCG’s success of being one of the top companies awarded Dow John Sustainable Index (DJSI). Such an inspired speech and thinker to work with. My thoughts were, how can we breed this kind of great visionary, thinker and leadership, and how can we download his experience and skill for the next generation – to have a successor like him in other businesses.
And finally, the final panel on the topic of Opportunities and Impact of ASEAN Economic Community on the Environment: Future Research Needs, this was more or less the ideas for researchers to take for their researchers, the speakers did a really good job in thinking the research areas that would still be needed, although the majority focused on policy and integration regional matters – to a level that I think would be too big for researchers in our instituted, but yes these are thinkers, series of researchers and collaboration would therefore be needed to achieve those topics however, I’m glad that we also had people from UNU and influencers from TRF, BASEL and IGES to support if one dares to stand up and take the challenge, and example was also given from one of the panel discussion on her work.
Apart from that I had a chance to listen to various works undergoing by young researchers, also meet with various fields of academic people e.g. (a joke that I posted on my FB that “Being surrounded with a room full of PhD, is an exciting feeling!!”)
My teachers and colleagues e.g Dr. Somporn, Dr. Manaskorn, Dr. Sabatini, Dr. Khan, A. Akiko Dr. Thunyalux, Dr. Sumana, Dr. Thantip– which I conveyed your regards to, that you encouraged me of coming here to present our work.
Researchers worldwide that I’ve personally talked with – very inspiring thoughts exchanged:
Dr. Yasushi Kiyoki – Fac. Of Env and Info Studies, KEIO University, Japan
Dr. Shiori Sasaki – Graduate School of Media and Governance, KEIO University, Japan
Dr. Tjandra Setiadi – Dept. of Chem. Eng, Institute Technology Bandung, Indonesia
Dr. Petros Gikas – Dept. of Env. Eng, Technical University of CRETE, Greece
Mr. Mohammad Helmy, Indonesia Solid Waste Association, Indonesia
Mr. Aboejoewono Aboeprajitno, Basel Convention Regional Centre for South-East Asia (BCRC-SEA)
Dr. Mario Tabucanon, United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies
Ms. Kubota Rieko – Center for Material Cycle and Waste Management Research, Japan
Dr. Chanatip Pharino – Dept of Env. Eng. Chulalongkorn Univ, Thailand
Dr. Annop Wongrueng – EHSM, Chulalongkorn Univ, Thailand
Dr. Alice Sharp – Dept of Common and Graduate Studies, SIIT, Thailand
Originals : https://www.dropbox.com/sc/sykmfeb0rsqsd6e/8CraPqCaGq
In summary, I really like to complement the organizers for their efforts in holding this event, this conference was a “gold mine” for networking and ideas, of which I believe has to be refreshed and revisited from time to time to remind oneself of the mainstream you’re in and not to be lost in only your current research, especially in the vast dynamics of world economics and environmental policies with trans-boundary trades. It is therefore our job as young energetic researchers to realize and reduce the gap between what we’re doing and the goal we’re aiming upon. And yes, I will do anything under my strength to carry on the mission that Dr. Somporn mentioned in the closing speech to contribute to the success of the community of scholars.
วันก่อนได้มีโอกาสอ่านบทความ ชวนเด็กฉลาดมาเป็น Startup ของผศ.ดร.การดี เลียวไพโรจน์ ซึ่งได้จุดประเด็นว่า การเติบโตของ Startup ต่าง ๆ มักเกิดจากเด็กปานกลาง โดยที่เด็กฉลาดส่วนมากเลือกที่จะทำงานเป็นพนักงานมากกว่า พร้อมทั้ง ตั้งคำถามว่ามีทักษะสำคัญอะไรบ้างน่าจะมีสำหรับเด็กเก่งเหล่านั้น ในฐานที่เจอ startup มาหลายแบบและได้มีส่วนในหลาย startup จึงขอแสดงความเห็นเพิ่มเติมในประเด็นทักษะดังนี้
1. ความคิดเชิงตรรกะ – จริงอยู่ว่าตรรกะมีความสำคัญ แต่กลับได้รับการสอนน้อยมาก คงมีเฉพาะวิชาคณิตศาสตร์บทหนึ่งเท่านั้นที่สอนตอน ม.4 เทอมต้น นอกนั้นแทบจะหาเรียนไม่ได้เลย โดยส่วนมากมุ่งไปที่เน้นการท่องจำสูตรและการนำสูตรไปใช้เท่านั้น ดังนั้นหากเด็กไม่แสวงหา (ซึ่งเด็กฉลาดมักจะถูกปลูกฝังให้มุ่งแต่ผลสัมฤทธิ์ทางด้านคะแนนและการสอบ) ก็จะเป็นการยากที่จะมีทักษะ logic thinking และแทบจะไม่มีโอกาสที่จะมี fuzzy logic ได้เลยเพราะพื้นฐานไม่มั่นคง ซึ่งเป็นคุณลักษณะที่สำคัญมาก ๆ ของการ Startup เพราะจะต้องเจอกับความไม่แน่นอนค่อนข้างมาก
2. People skill – จะสังเกตได้ว่า Startup ที่ประสบความสำเร็จในระยะหลัง ๆ จะต้องอิง Mass market เป็นส่วนมาก และเช่นกันเด็กฉลาดกลุ่มนี้ได้ถูกสร้างจากระบบการเรียนการสอนที่เสมือนปลูกฝังให้มีความเห็นแก่ตัว เพราะการเรียนเน้นไปที่การท่องจำและการใช้ tips and tricks ในการแก้ปัญหา ไม่เน้นการทำงานเป็นทีมหรือคำถามปลายเปิดแต่อย่างใด ตัวอย่างที่พอจะยกตัวอย่างได้คือ มหาวิทยาลัยบางมด ที่ให้คะแนนนิสิตแค่ 0 กับ เต็ม (ได้มีโอกาสถาม อ. พบว่าท่านมีแนวคิดว่า คำตอบมีแค่ผิดกับถูกเท่านั้น – แนวคิดนี้น่ากลัวมาก) อีกทั้งในระยะหลัง ๆ การเรียนการสอนมุ่งไปที่การทำตาม KPI ด้านการศึกษามากกว่า เช่นจำนวนเด็กที่จบฯ ทำให้อาจารย์มีความจำเป็นที่ต้องให้ความสนใจกับเด็กปานกลางมากกว่าเด็กฉลาด จึงกล่าวได้ว่าแทบจะไม่มีการสร้าง skill นี้เลย
3. Risk taker – ขนาด think out of the box ยังยาก จะหวังให้เป็น risk taker นี่แทบจะลืมไปได้เลย เด็กฉลาดมักไม่เคยล้มเลวหรือพลาดอะไรในชีวิตการเรียน ไม่มีเกราะป้องกันความล้มเลวจะเลือกที่จะทำงานตามคำแนะนำของคนรอบข้างในองค์กรที่มีความมั่นคงมากกว่า
ผมเห็นด้วยในตอนท้ายของบทความว่า กระบวนการเหล่านี้เกี่ยวข้องกับหลายฝ่าย ซึ่งผมว่าหากเรารอกลไกทางสังคมเหล่านั้นก็แทบจะหมดหวังเลยทีเดียว
Although most of the projects we’ve done are successful, there are a couple that failed and yes, we’ve learned from them. Summarized here are 5 points we learnt from failed projects.
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1. Lack of executive support – either lack or none, the outcomes are still the same, no sponsorship to decide and drive when needed. We often find that team members, especially in the Asian culture, don’t take ownership or responsibilities of these projects. Working on their normal routine task is their comfort zone and they don’t want to come out of it. Without encouragement and challenges from executives, things never get done.
2. Overlook business process – either with the charisma of the word “automation”, customers gets lost and skips the fundamental activities of acquiring data, hence business processes of which either never was there or is thee but changes from time to time depending on the understanding of the person working with the process. Project that aims for automation quickly and sloppy won’t last long.
3. Data governance – thing like terminology and taxonomies, data stewardship, decision rights, accountability, corporate policies and standards if often overlooked and skipped as they believe it’s straight forward.
4. Try doing too much – Big bang approach with an “I have a dream” mindset, not only does this consumes too much resources, but the focus is lost and success, even a milestone meet is not appreciated.
5. Part-time contribution – Main project staffs often have their main job to take care with no replacement, when month-end comes, the project room is vacant. Assigning someone to take care of his/her duties during the entire project is a must, as these staffs will engage in the design, develop and deliver/rollout of the project internally.
After the latest update during March, 2013, noticed a runtime error as follows
Runtime error 216 at 12FC4BE had something to do with the explorer http://support.microsoft.com/kb/259279
And from the Event Viewer, the error shows the faulting module name is ShellMenu.dll
Initially, tried to install but failed with several crashes
Faulting application name: Au_.exe, version: 1.1.4.8, time stamp: 0x4bc06cd3
Faulting module name: ShellMenu.dll, version: 1.0.4813.4096, time stamp: 0x51362963
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00004fbe
Faulting process id: 0x1b50
Faulting application start time: 0x01ce24eceb5eee1c
Faulting application path: C:\Users\kitipan\AppData\Local\Temp\~nsu.tmp\Au_.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Program Files\4Sync\ShellMenu.dll
Report Id: 2befc7ab-90e0-11e2-bba5-1c6f65d70e71
Had to install the app and then remove it successfully.
Two senior management consultants are chatting with each other between meetings:
"I heard we managed to staff the new project in New Jersey. Sounds like a good team — I don't know the junior guy, do you?" says the first.
"I don't know Greg yet either," says the second. "But I'm relieved we were able to secure somebody, given how short-staffed we are. I know he's got lots of experience doing this type of assignment, but I'm not sure if it's something he loves or if he's just in a rut. I'm hoping it's the first, of course — it could be like pulling teeth otherwise, since this is going to be such a tough engagement. We'll see, I guess."
Senior executives in professional firms aspire to match the right people to the right work, but here, these senior executives don't have enough to go on. Facing pressure to staff a project quickly, there's little to stop them from assuming that Greg wants his next assignment to be just like projects he's done in the past.
But what if that's not so? How would they know? They have no idea how his past achievements relate to his future interests and development goals. Greg has not done a good enough job telling his own story in this company and so he's allowed other people to define him.
Greg, in short, lacks a career narrative.
This is not surprising. In recent years, much has been written about the importance of career narratives for mid-career and senior professionals, particularly those making a career transition. But, we'd argue, they're even more important for younger professionals who don't yet have a multipage CV or a high-powered headhunter in their corner. What, then, makes for an effective narrative?
First, it should be easy to remember and retell. The whole point is to give your colleagues a narrative that quickly comes to mind whenever they're asked about you, preventing them from making assumptions and drawing conclusions on their own. Two or four sentences, maximum.
Second, it should meaningfully link your past successes to your near and long-term development needs and suggest the kinds of assignments that would help to achieve those objectives. Those goals might certainly be developmental (to test a particular skill; gain experience with a certain tool or methodology; explore a specific industry). But they can also be more personal (limit travel to spend time with family, for instance).Think of it as a "sound-bite resume" — on hearing it, senior professionals should have two reactions. First, they should be interested in working with you. Second, they should know if it makes sense for you to work with them.
Third, your narrative needs to hang together with the right combination of honesty, humility, and personal flavor. Doing so creates an authentic and compelling career narrative. Narratives that just articulate a string of successes are not credible and are not likely to be repeated. Similarly, boilerplate chronicles without any personal flair rarely get traction.
An example of a poor narrative would be this:
"I wanted to work in biotech, so that's why I joined the firm. I've had a lot of experience in labs, and I'm still considering graduate school."
While it has the virtue of being short, this narrative doesn't connect this person's experiences to any goals that could be furthered by work within the firm. He mentions his initial interest in "biotech" but doesn't explain how that interest is evolving and what additional experience he's therefore seeking. As a result, it fails to make clear what type of assignment he would ideally be staffed on.
Make a few tweaks, though, and we have a powerful career narrative:
"I worked in labs through college and entered the firm with a strong interest in health care clients. I've had the opportunity to develop my quantitative financial skills in the comfortable context of health care. Now I'd like to test those skills with other commercial clients to determine what industry most interests me over the long term. That said, given my wife's and my family commitments, I'd really like to work locally if possible."
The narrative now clearly demonstrates a string of successes (experience in labs, completing several project assignments, a growing family) which lead to a development goal ("determine what industry most interests me over the long term") and a need ("I'd really like to work locally"). And all this in four sentences!
Fourth, once you've crafted your narrative, the next step is to share it, in the course of meeting and getting to know your colleagues. Seek out informal opportunities to tell your story. A reflective moment sitting in the airport with a senior colleague or sharing a cab with a teammate are occasions when people might ask, "How's everything going?" And when they do, they'll be giving you a perfect opportunity to share your career narrative.
As you talk to more and more people, it will become increasingly likely that the kinds of conversations they'll be having about you when you're not in the room will work in your favor. Perhaps a senior exec will hear your story from one of his juniors and identify a development opportunity that perfectly fits your needs. Maybe a senior partner will hear about your set of skills and geographic constraints from one of your managers and offer you a perfect, local project assignment.
Finally, once developed, your narrative should never be set in stone. It needs to be regularly updated, as you achieve more and your needs change. Ensuring that senior staff understands the logic behind your career aspirations — and that they are not surprised by them — will go a long way toward maintaining top executives' respect and support.
Sharing your personal narrative isn't just good for you — it's good for the people who hear it, too. As Heidi Gardner's research on teams shows, an important factor that can depress team performance is a phenomenon known as "expertise dissensus" — that's when team members who actually have markedly different views nevertheless think they all agree because they've made unwarranted assumptions about one another. By disseminating your story, you can give people a far more accurate view of who you are, which can avert potentially crippling coordination challenges, interpersonal friction, and misunderstandings down the road.
Too often, junior professionals rely on formal mechanisms for getting the word out about their achievements and needs — in particular, formal staffing processes, periodic performance reviews, and professional social networks. While these are all excellent resources in career development, they are rarely a match for the informal chatter that's already going on in hallways, rental cars, and restaurants. By inserting your career narrative into those conversations, you can help ensure that when people talk about you — and they will talk about you — they're saying the right things.
A few months ago, I wrote a column asking if the dimensions of data quality, such as accuracy, consistency and timeliness, are real. I pointed out that there are no generally accepted definitions for the dimensions, no generally accepted exhaustive list of them and no generally accepted methodologies for measuring each one.
Since the column was published, I have been "encouraged" to say something a little more positive on this topic – something that will help practitioners deal with the daunting problems of data quality. I agree that being negative is not that helpful, although it is refreshing to have a frank conversation about what really underlies terms that are often thrown about our industry.
The Road to Abstraction
One argument in favor of having dimensions of data quality is that data quality is such an enormous space that we cannot deal with it effectively unless we break it down into subareas. I think it is better to say that data quality represents a large, complex set of issues and that we need to tease out individual types of issues, each with its own specific problems and requiring its own specific methods to deal with it. This is more of a bottom-up approach.
However, it seems to me that the first view prevails. The top-down approach is repeatedly taken, with attempts made to break data quality up into different dimensions. Here I am talking from experience: I have seen this approach first-hand at a number of conferences and industry initiatives.
What this top-down approach focuses on are abstractions, and we need to understand abstractions to appreciate what is going on. There are many different classes of abstraction, but the one involved here is the process of turning a property into an object. This is a source of argument among philosophers, going back to Plato, who believed that such abstractions really exist in some part of the universe, just as much as material objects do.
This form of abstraction is illustrated in the following example. Imagine I am represented by a customer record in a database of Enterprise X. This record holds my date of birth. If the value is my actual date of birth, we can agree it is completely accurate. If the month and year of this value are correct, but not the day, then we can say it is reasonably accurate. If the year is correct, but not the month and day, we can say it is moderately accurate. If day, month and year are incorrect, we can say it is not accurate at all. We are using the term "accurate" to describe the quality of the relationship between the data value and the reality it is trying to represent.
Human beings then make the leap from using "accurate" as an adjective to using "accuracy" as a noun. Our language allows us to do that, but that does not mean reality has to go along with us. We have created a type of abstraction and this type of abstraction (a) is not instantiated, (b) does not bear properties and (c) cannot enter into causal relationships. The concept "dog" is instantiated in my pet Leo, who weighs about eight pounds and knows perfectly well how to manipulate me into feeding him. The concept "accuracy" is not instantiated anywhere. We do not see "accuracies" lying around in the universe, or having attributes like color or weight, and “accuracy” does not enter into causal relationships. We can say that the birth date example above "represents an instance of accuracy," but this is a bewitchment of our language. Just because we can say it does not make it so. It’s better to say the example "has the property of being accurate."
But We Need the Dimensions of Data Quality
So far, this is still of little help to the practitioner. We know that data quality is large and complex, and it is our duty to improve it as much as we can for the enterprises we work for.
Here, I think the bottom-up approach is better. This does not view a dimension like "accuracy" as an abstracted object with a single definition. Rather, each dimension is a complex area that has its own structure, problems and methods.
If I think about accuracy, I can ask a series of questions, such as:
- Is the thing being represented covered by the definition used for the entity/table in the database?
- Is the attribute of the thing being represented covered by the definition used for the attribute/column in the database?
- Does the thing represented by a record in the table in the database actually exist?
- Does the value held in the column of the record in the table in the database objectively represent the expression of the attribute of the thing?
- Does the value held in the column of the record in the table in the database subjectively represent the expression of the attribute of the thing to the extent needed to meet business requirements?
There are very likely even more questions pertaining to accuracy that can be asked. This shows that accuracy is a complex of many concepts, not a single concept. If you object that each question needs to be broken out as a different dimension, then you are going to end up with an awful lot of dimensions, as I have many such questions for each of the traditional dimensions. The traditional dimensions give the illusion that each is only answering one question, because somehow each has a single definition.
The questions cover the structure and problems of accuracy. Methods are another facet that needs to be addressed. Some methods include:
- Testing the entity/table definitions with data producers to see if they correctly classify instances to the entity/table.
- Checking that the attribute/column has not been deliberately repurposed by operational staff to hold something other than what the official definition describes.
- Sampling records and auditing that these represent real-world instances.
- Sampling data values and independently measuring the attributes of the things they represent.
- Sampling data values, independently measuring the attributes of the things they represent and comparing these to the tolerances allowed in each business use case.
The first sample data set is always the hardest, but it can roughly tell you how good the data capture process is.
How does he find time to meet with 10 customers a week and make his yearly quota in the first quarter?, a salesman wonders about his top producing coworker. I can barely find time to have five appointments a week and get all my paperwork done correctly and turned in on time.
How does she manage to champion strategic initiatives, network with executives, and only work 40 hours a week?, a manager ponders about his colleague on the corporate fast track. After a day full of project meetings, the best I can do is reactively respond to e-mail at night instead of proactively developing my department.
Here's the secret: Your colleagues that zoom ahead of you with seemingly less effort have learned to recognize and excel in what really counts — and to aim for less than perfect in everything else.
Most likely the highest producing salesman on your team spends less than half the amount of time that you do on filling out paperwork. Yes, it may be sloppy, but no one really cares because he's skyrocketing the revenue numbers. The manager who has caught the eye of upper management may send e-mails with imperfect grammatical structure and decline invites to tactical meetings. But when a project or meeting really matters, she outshines everyone.
If you're shocked and feel like this seems completely unfair, I'm guessing that you probably performed very well in school where perfectionism is encouraged.
I know. I was a straight-A student from sixth grade through college graduation who did whatever it took to produce work at a level that would please my professors. Admittedly, this strategy paid off as a student. My perfect GPA signified an exceptional level of achievement, and I was fortunate that in my case, it was rewarded with scholarships and job offers.
The rules changed when I started my own business over seven years ago. I realized that doing A-work in everything limited my success. At that point I realized that I needed to focus more on my strengths. As Tom Rath wisely explains in his StrengthsFinder books, you can achieve more success by fully leveraging your strengths instead of constantly trying to shore up your weaknesses. Realizing the importance of purposely deciding where I will invest more time and energy to produce stellar quality work and where less-than-perfect execution has a bigger payoff has had a profound impact on my own approach to success and my ability to empower clients who feel overwhelmed.
As I talk with time coaching clients struggling with overwhelm whether they be professors, executives, or lawyers, a common theme comes up — they can't find time to do everything. And, they're right: no one has time for everything. Given the pace of work and the level of input in modern society, time management is dead. You can no longer fit everything in — no matter how efficient you become. (This conundrum is what inspired me to write a book on time investment).
In my time investment philosophy, I encourage individuals to see time as the limited resource it is and to allocate it in alignment with their personal definition of success. That leads to a number of practical ramifications:
- Decide where you will not spend time: Given that you have a limited time budget, you will not have the ability to do everything you would like to do regardless of your efficiency. The moment you embrace that truth, you instantly reduce your stress and feelings of inadequacy. For example, professionally this could look like reducing your involvement in committees, and personally this could look like hiring someone else to do lawn maintenance or finish up a house project.
- Strategically allocate your time: Boundaries on how and when you invest time in work and in your personal life help to ensure that you have the proper investment in each category. As a time coach, I see one of the most compelling reasons for not working extremely long hours is that this investment of time resources leaves you with insufficient funds for activities like exercise, sleep, and relationships.
- Set up automatic time investment: Just like you set up automatic financial investment to mutual funds in your retirement account, your daily and weekly routines should make your time investment close to automatic. For example, at work you could have a recurring appointment with yourself two afternoons a week to move forward on key projects, and outside of work you could sign up for a fitness boot camp where you would feel bad if you didn't show up and sweat three times a week.
- Aim for a consistently balanced time budget: Given the ebbs and flows of life, you can't expect that you will have a constantly balanced time budget but you can aim for having a consistently balanced one. Over the course of a one- to two-week period, your time investment should reflect your priorities.
Once you have allocated your time properly, you also need to approach the work within each category differently. As I explained above, trying to "get As in everything" keeps you from investing the maximum amount of time in what will bring the highest return on your investment. That's why I developed the INO Technique to help overcome perfectionism and misallocation of your 24/7. Here's how it works:
When you approach a to-do item, you want to consider whether it is an investment, neutral, or optimize activity. Investment activities are areas where an increased amount of time and a higher quality of work can lead to an exponential payoff. For instance, strategic planning is an investment activity; so is spending time, device-free, with the people you love. Aim for A-level work in these areas. Neutral activities just need to get done adequately; more time doesn't necessarily mean a significantly larger payoff. An example might be attending project meetings or going to the gym. These things need to get done, but you can aim for B-level work. Optimize activities are those for which additional time spent leads to no added value and keeps you from doing other, more valuable activities. Aim for C-level work in these — the faster you get them done, the better. Most basic administrative paperwork and errands fit into this category.
The overall goal is to minimize the time spent on optimize activities so that you can maximize your time spent on investment activities. I've found that this technique allows you to overcome perfectionist tendencies and invest in more of what actually matters so you can increase your effectiveness personally and professionally.
On a tactical level, here are a few tips on how you can put the INO Technique into action:
At the start of each week, clearly define the most important investment activities and block out time on your calendar to complete them early in the week and early in your days. This will naturally force you to do everything else in the time that remains.
When you look over your daily to-do list, put an "I," "N," or "O" beside each item and then allocate your time budget accordingly, such as four hours for the "I" activity, three hours for the "N" activities, and one hour for the "O" activities.
If you start working on something and realize that it's taking longer than expected, ask yourself, "What's the value and/or opportunity cost in spending more time on this task?" If it's an I activity and the value is high, keep at it and take time away from your N and O activities. If it falls into the N category and there's little added value or the O category and spending more time keeps you from doing more important items, either get it done to the minimum level, delegate it, or stop and finish it later when you have more spare time.
If you keep a time diary or mark the time you spent on your calendar, you can also look back over each week and determine if you allocated your time correctly to maximize the payoff on your time investment.
Such true..the overall goal is to minimize the time spent on optimize activities so that you can maximize your time spent on investment activities.
