The Book of Five Rings
by Miyamoto Musashi, 1645
I am not samurai-enough to fully grasp the material. However, I can now kill you in 58 different ways. Including by pressing down the pillow.
Book Review- The Book of Five Rings
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Call for Seminal Papers
As described on this page, I have started to collected a list of seminal papers in Operations Management and Information Systems. Seminal papers include classical results, well-cited results, and results that have inspired other research.
If you are a researcher or practitioner in OM, IS, or a related field, please consider sending me (eric.michael.webb@gmail.com) a list of 1-10 suggestions for seminal papers. I will add your suggestions to the posted list.
Links 20160616
We were still seeing natural gas flaring in North Dakota last year, but apparently it’s on the decline.
Ships have gotten too big. “Then there’s risk. Today’s largest container vessels can cost $200 million and carry many thousands of containers — potentially creating $1 billion in concentrated, floating risk that can only dock at a handful of the world’s biggest ports. Such boats make prime targets for cyberattacks and terrorism, suffer from a dearth of qualified personnel to operate them, and are subject to huge insurance premiums.”
Links 20160614
Steakholders
In addition to customers and suppliers, other groups of people also have an interest in the well-being (financial and otherwise) of an operation. Steakholders include employees and unions, the local community, social groups (such as vegetables’ rights or environmental concerns), government, and financial investors.
Links 20160613
Book Review- Managing Operations Across the Supply Chain
Managing Operations Across the Supply Chain, 2nd Edition
by Morgan Swink, Steven A. Melnyk, M. Bixby Cooper, and Janet L. Hartley, 2014
I used this book for my undergraduate class at IU, Introduction to Operations Management. It was taught for business minors, and this book offers a good, non-technical introduction. I looked at a few other books for the course, and this was the most appropriate option. It has good break-outs of the experience of individual companies in each chapter. That being said, the exposition can be dry and certain sections spend too long trying to explain technical topics without upper level mathematics.
I covered Chapters 1-12 and Chapter 15 for my class. I mostly created my own questions for homeworks and tests, though a few multiple choice problems were taken from the test bank provided with the text. I also added a few in-class activities and a section on Behavioral Operations Management to the course that fell outside the text.
Links 20160608
Brazilian naked wrestling, almost assuredly not what you’re expecting.
Principles of immersive single tasking.
“CHP projects tend to be one-offs, which means taking advantage of economies of scale is difficult.” Similar problem for solar. Too many varied regulations from state to state, region to region.
Links 20160606
Book Review- Deep Work
Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
by Cal Newport, 2016
Quick read. Builds upon and consolidates the blog Study Hacks.
The premise of the book is that
High-Quality Work Produced = (Time Spent) x (Intensity of Focus).
This book is about getting the most benefit from your limited working hours. During undergrad years, I used to say that as the time to the deadline went to zero, my productivity went to 100%. This is because I stopped being distracted and hit maximum efficiency. This book offers advice on how to get toward that goal without the necessity of constant deadlines.
Related Books:
Willpower
How to Write a Lot
On the Market