Reading, 2015-2016

Michael Stone, May 29, 2016, , (src), (all posts)

Contents

Business Dynamics

Link: Amazon

Author: John Sterman

Summary: Dynamic complexity, state, stock-and-flow diagrams, differential equations.

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Thinking Points

Link: Amazon

Author: George Lakoff

Summary: Frames are useful.

Related fun:

Systems-Theoretic Early Concept Analysis

Link: pdf

Author: Cody Fleming

Summary: STAMP for PowerPoint.

Related fun:

Never Split The Difference

Link: Amazon

Author: Chris Voss and Tahl Raz

Summary: To influence, connect first by listening with empathy, mirroring, and labeling. (Also, watch out for “black swans” – “pieces of information that change everything”.

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Value Stream Mapping

Link: Amazon

Author: Karen Martin and Mike Osterling

Summary: Mise-en-place. Then build current and future high-level dataflow graphs, labeled with process time (PT), lead time (LT), percent-complete-and-accurate (%C&A), and inbound, in-process, and outbound queue length information.

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The Lean Six-Sigma Pocket Toolbook

Link: Amazon

Author: Michael George, David Rowlands, Mark Price, and John Maxey

Summary: Memory aide; outline.

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The Complete Lean Enterprise, 2nd ed.

Link: Amazon

Author: Beau Keyte and Drew Locher

Summary: Worked example of VSM.

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High-Output Management

Link: Amazon

Author: Andy Grove

Summary: Output. Manufacturing processes, inspections. Indicators. Skill & motivation.

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Just Enough Research

Link: A Book Apart

Author: Erika Hall

Summary: Overview of user, product, organizational, and competitive research w/ focus on high power-to-weight ratio qualitative techniques.

Related fun: Design Research Methods, Design Kit

The Failure of Risk Management

Link: Amazon

Author: Douglas Hubbard

Summary: Actuaries, war quants, economists, and management consultants approach risk management differently.

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The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work

Link: Amazon

Author: John Gottman and Nan Silver

Summary: Divorce is predictable and results from loneliness incident to loss of emotional intimacy following sustained failure of repair attempts; hazards include harsh startups, criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling.

Related fun: undergraduate and graduate textbooks; basically the same kind of math as Business Dynamics above.

Systems Performance

Link: Amazon

Author: Brendan Gregg

Summary: tbd.

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Site Reliability Engineering

Link: O’Reilly

Editor: Betsy Beyer, Chris Jones, Jennifer Petoff, and Niall Murphy

Summary: tbd.

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Transaction Processing

Link: Amazon

Author: Jim Gray and Andreas Reuter

Summary: How distributed systems work.

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Timely + Differential Dataflow

Link: Frank McSherry’s blog

Author: Frank McSherry, Martin Abadi, …

Summary: Efficiently computing output differences from input differences.

Related fun: pijul

The Rickover Effect

Link: Amazon

Author: Theodore Rockwell

Summary: Get over yourself: humanity solved much harder political, bureaucratic, and engineering challenges in the fifties.

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Organizational Culture and Leadership

Link: Amazon

Author: Edgar Schein

Summary: tbd.

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Engineering Security

Link: pdf

Author: Peter Gutmann

Summary: tbd.

Related fun: