This short(ish) post is a follow-up to my last post on GTD and the higher levels of altitude David Allen speaks about. What I have learned, through journaling, is that there is a common background melody to my life. Whatever I am involved in, and if you look at my LinkedIn profile you can see … Continue reading What is the problem you are here to solve?
Category: Stream of Consciousness
Conducting a multi-location risk analysis for audit planning purposes in a small audit shop
The baseline As CAE of a small audit shop in a complex environment, I have to comply with the IIA standards like any other CAE. The performance standard for planning purposes is of course "2010 - Planning", which states that "The chief audit executive must establish risk-based plans to determine the priorities of the internal … Continue reading Conducting a multi-location risk analysis for audit planning purposes in a small audit shop
About the iPad Mini’s lack of retina display
I really don't see what all the fuss is about. True, the screen is not mind boggling beautiful as the retina iPad or, for that matter, the retina MacBook Pro. That is not the point. The point is the following. It. Does not. Matter. Unless you are a visual professional doing most of your creative … Continue reading About the iPad Mini’s lack of retina display
The responsibility of living on the edge of the abyss
Umair Haque got me thinking. Again. It's getting to be very disconcerting. I seriously need to either stop reading his stuff or start writing more in response to his articles. I'm not out of the woods on that one yet. The trigger article this time? His article on how to fix your soul. It dates … Continue reading The responsibility of living on the edge of the abyss
Outcomes and the problem you are trying to solve
A project is defined, in part, by its outcomes. They describe us what it looks like at our intended project destination, in terms of where we are but also in terms of what we have learned, gained, developed. By defining good outcomes, we actually develop a great way to regularly check whether we are still … Continue reading Outcomes and the problem you are trying to solve
Perfectly put
Once in a while, just once in a long while you come across a blog post so to the point, so well written, that it stops you in your tracks and you hear yourself thinking, almost aloud: "They're talking about me!" I had that experience with Stephen P. Anderson's "What is User Experience?". It says … Continue reading Perfectly put
The impact of learned helplessness on audit recommendations
Learned helplessness in organisations has become an agent of the resistance Ron Ashkenas wrote a very interesting article on the HBR blog a while back: in "Learned helplessness in organisations" he addresses the "external" excuses that process owners manage to come up with in order not to change their process. To quote him: "This phenomenon … Continue reading The impact of learned helplessness on audit recommendations
How many possible worlds can you see?
I’ve been thinking about the entire subsection of GTD which relates to better definition of outcomes and ultimately better results. The storytelling and delegation post can be considered as a couple of ideas aiming to solve a subset of that entire issue, which can pretty much be summarized as follows: “How do I make sure … Continue reading How many possible worlds can you see?
The advantages of risk and evidence based reengineering
I've expanded on a post I wrote for my old reengineering blog in 2010. Enjoy! I’ve seen a lot of failed reengineering attempts. There are a lot of reasons why reengineering exercises fail and it’s not the purpose of this blog post to evaluate all possible reasons. What I do want to discuss, briefly, is … Continue reading The advantages of risk and evidence based reengineering
Wall Street traders are hackers
A quick post on a very interesting article I recently read by the hand of Mark Cuban. It compares Wall Street traders to hackers. You can find the link by clicking on this blog post title. I found it quite interesting to learn that any regulatory measure runs way behind. From an internal control point … Continue reading Wall Street traders are hackers
Exploring The Black Box 