Posts

Rebirth of the Digital Twin

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The term "digital twin" has been popping up a lot lately.  Serious deja vu .   I recall it being used years ago in engineering, manufacturing and academic circles, but not the popular press.  Not back then.   Curious .   Is there a DT rebirth going on? Apparently so... Source:  Google Trends According to NetworkWorld... A digital twin is a digital representation of a physical object or system. The technology behind digital twins has expanded to include large items such as buildings, factories and even cities, and some have said people and processes can have digital twins, expanding the concept even further. The idea first arose at NASA: full-scale mockups of early space capsules, used on the ground to mirror and diagnose problems in orbit, eventually gave way to fully digital simulations. But the term really took off after Gartner named digital twins as one of its top 10 strategic technology trends for 2017 saying that within three to five years, “billions

Toronto Pearson Airport: a microcosm of eroding Canadian values?

We Canadians are a complex lot.   A rich mix of ethnicities connected through shared ideals and core values.   Values such as politeness.   “You Canadians!   You are so nice!”   Being honest with ourselves, we know that our values are laced with an underlying passive aggressiveness.   Our ‘PA nature’ if you will.   Kept in check, a little PA is all good; merely a counter-point to our politeness and friendliness, giving it a bit of spice.   Left unchecked, it is a caustic soda that eats away at the very fabric of who we are. In my recent travels through Pearson Airport, I stepped into puddle after puddle of caustic soda, eating at the very ‘souls’ of my shoes.   Little things.   It wasn’t the lineup through security.   It was security’s complete disinterest in simply grabbing the backlog of empty X-ray trays to help travellers from tripping over each other in the pile up. It wasn’t the brutally slow Tim Horton’s Express Line.   It was the dawn-of-the-living-dead look behind the

Choosing Risk over Uncertainty

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As U.S.  citizens approach election day, let's hope a voting majority sees the merits of risk over uncertainty. Citing Frank H. Knight (1921) and "his classic distinction between risk and uncertainty"... ...risk applies to random outcomes that investors can model with known probabilities, while uncertainty applies to random outcomes with unknown probabilities.  An investor is typically willing to confront risk but may be paralyzed in the face of extreme uncertainty. Source:  James Rickards, The Death of Money

Helping to improve the lives of people living with brain injury.

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This June, the B.C. Brain Injury Association (BCBIA) will be holding its AGM. As a BCBIA board member, I'm excited to say 2016 has been a very productive year. We'll be sharing the highlights and offering a taste of what we have planned for 2017. Here are some details: June 22, 2016 4:30PM  to  5:30PM  Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre 181 Roundhouse Mews Vancouver Join us for the BCBIA's Annual General Meeting!  By attending the meeting you will have a chance to learn more about what goes on behind the efforts of the BCBIA, share in last year's milestones, meet other BCBIA members and connect with others in the brain injury community.

The Company Lifecycle - from Russia with love?

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Is the cycle of life for a company universal? Recent research from the Russian retail service sector suggests some strong commonalities. Four fundamentals of expansion "In this book we tried to find and explain characteristics, features and reasons of expansion of the service sector in Russia over the last decade. And our research was based on four fundamental points." 1. New management approaches "Firstly, over the last hundred years the world economy has gone through a revolution in the service industry. Greater significance of human factor and automation demands of companies to change management approaches since traditional management theories based on manufacturing experience which dominated in the 20th century are least appropriate for service companies. " 2. Defined stages demand different management systems "Secondly, any service company as well as any company in the world passes through defined stages of growth, progress and regression d

Still looking for that Dream Job?

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Are we happier at work these days? Recent research by Professor Rob Goffee, emeritus professor of organisational behaviour at London Business School, and Professor Gareth Jones, visiting professor at IE Business School tells us... Nope, we're as disengaged as ever . Not an encouraging thought given how much of our adult life we spend working. So, what does that dream job look like? When Goffee and Jones asked, we told them we want DREAMS.      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  \\  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  \\  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~      Are DREAMS too much to ask for?   I find the proposed DREAMS framework heavily focused on the individual and his or her relationship with the corporation.  While these desired concepts certainly resonate - why wouldn't they? - seemingly overlooked is our desire to collaborate with each other, to work better together, to engage with our co-workers in meaningful ways. Share what you think. Here's a recent PO