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Workforce Management Tools

As everything gets more disconnected workforce management tools are going to become vital. I have a sneaking suspicion that in about 50 years people are going to think of the days when knowledge workers had to go into an office as “quaint.” Figuring out how to give your workforce this freedom and still manage them effectively is going to be pivotal, so any tools that can help with this are ideal.

squashed: generic1: Why are you guys so allergic to generalists? Academic disciplines have all kinds of crossover. It’s not that the chart crosses disciplines. It’s that the chart crosses disciplines and makes serious errors in all of them. It’s like math, but with no data. It’s like history, but it clings to a discredited narrative invented by a bunch of guys who wanted to see themselves as heirs to the Roman empire. It’s like a sociology—but it advances the absurd narrative that a strain of progress can be traced from Egypt, through Rome, to the Enlightenment in Western Europe. This chart could be done right. First, it would need a meaningful metric. Somebody’s vague impression of scientific advancement doesn’t cut it. Secondly, it needs a bit of rigor in how it chooses its periods. Does it take the scientific advancement of the world as a whole? In that case, it needs to consider China. Is it restricting itself to Europe? Then get rid of Egypt. Should you focus on a single country? Say, Germany? How was Germany doing during the Roman Empire? Did the arrival of Christianity make it better or worse? If the point of the chart is to make bald assertions and not back them up—that’s fine. But it’s presented as if it conveys useful information. It doesn’t.(via ageofreason) Graphs without Y-Units are rarely reliable. The Y-axis could be in units of negative advancement! It’s the pretentious equivalent of the stealing seagull!

squashed:

generic1:

Why are you guys so allergic to generalists? Academic disciplines have all kinds of crossover.

It’s not that the chart crosses disciplines. It’s that the chart crosses disciplines and makes serious errors in all of them. It’s like math, but with no data. It’s like history, but it clings to a discredited narrative invented by a bunch of guys who wanted to see themselves as heirs to the Roman empire. It’s like a sociology—but it advances the absurd narrative that a strain of progress can be traced from Egypt, through Rome, to the Enlightenment in Western Europe.

This chart could be done right. First, it would need a meaningful metric. Somebody’s vague impression of scientific advancement doesn’t cut it. Secondly, it needs a bit of rigor in how it chooses its periods. Does it take the scientific advancement of the world as a whole? In that case, it needs to consider China. Is it restricting itself to Europe? Then get rid of Egypt. Should you focus on a single country? Say, Germany? How was Germany doing during the Roman Empire? Did the arrival of Christianity make it better or worse?

If the point of the chart is to make bald assertions and not back them up—that’s fine. But it’s presented as if it conveys useful information. It doesn’t.

(via ageofreason)

Graphs without Y-Units are rarely reliable. The Y-axis could be in units of negative advancement! It’s the pretentious equivalent of the stealing seagull!

(this post was reblogged from squashed)

erockappel:

So, I recently directed a comedy video (*cough*PSA*cough*) starring Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green.  The video’s goal is to raise awareness of the giant budget cuts Schwarzenegger wants to impose on California Schools.  Say what you want about the video - you love it, you hate it - that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

The real reason I’m posting is to highlight this comment from FOD user, extra frenulum…

“Hey Brian,
I refuse to believe that your son doesn’t go to private school. In fact, I’m gonna find out, and if he does, I’m gonna make a video and call you out on it. Nothing I hate worse than a soap-box-standing pseudo-celebrity that pretends to care about issues he knows nothing about.

If your son, in fact, does go to public school, I’ll apologize and send this video to everyone I know.”

Unfortunately, Brian’s son does indeed go to public school, so extra frenulum is going to have to make good on his promise and send this video to EVERYONE HE KNOWS!  Why not just do a little research BEFORE you go on an insane rant? 

I got it bad…SOOOOO bad…

(this post was reblogged from erockappel)
“
As Congress and the people consider restructuring the American healthcare system, they must keep in mind that rationing health care may not be undeniable, but it is unavoidable. To claim that Congress will devise a new federal healthcare plan that will not involve rationing is like claiming that it will invent a triangle that doesn’t have three sides. Currently, within the private sector of health care, we have a large number of private insurance companies vying for the business of their customers. They ration health care on the basis of evidence-based medical necessity. The Obama health plan, the details of which are still being worked out, will also ration health care. The alternative to that is an accelerated escalation of aggregate healthcare costs. But the single-payer system to which Obama’s plan will lead will have no competitor and no pressing financial incentive to please its customers. No competitor for the single payer means no alternative for the patient. We can reasonably expect that a single-payer system of rationing will be largely implicit rather than explicit, and governed as much by cost and political considerations as by medical evidence. Such a system would likely combine the fiscal responsibility of the Postal Service, the customer friendliness of the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and the smooth efficiency of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. You can bet your life on it.

Eric Chevlen, M.D. - Confessions of a Health Care Rationer

This is a phenomenal discussion of how health care is inevitably rationed, by a doctor and insurance industry insider.

(via sds)

(via hilker) Of course it’s rationed. The question is by what criteria. The goal is the best health outcomes for the least cost. If that rationing means longer waits for less important procedures with the benefits being people living longer I’m fine with it. Right now it’s rationed on the wealth of the recipient, which isn’t the path the best health outcomes.
(this post was reblogged from hilker)
fringeelements: Now that’s just direct land ownership. On the land that is not directly owned by the state, people give up ~40% of the product of their labor to the state through taxation or inflation. Lets be sure to blame the problems we have on the small and shrinking portion that is still free, clamor for more mob rule and call it “democracy” and then say freedom really means free stuff. Wow and that’s just Federal. 84.5% in Nevada? Click for high-res photo

fringeelements:

Now that’s just direct land ownership.

On the land that is not directly owned by the state, people give up ~40% of the product of their labor to the state through taxation or inflation.

Lets be sure to blame the problems we have on the small and shrinking portion that is still free, clamor for more mob rule and call it “democracy” and then say freedom really means free stuff.

Wow and that’s just Federal. 84.5% in Nevada?

(this post was reblogged from fringeelements)

GOP Filibuster Record: Republicans Using Obstruction Tool With Astonishing Frequency

skybarn:

stfuconservatives:

(via entropywaits)

Obstruction Tools is what I’m going to call them.

The worst part is the voters are going to reward them for it.

“
Since businesses are obliged by zoning restrictions to locate far away from residential areas, most Americans drive to every store they visit. This means that store visits are often discrete trips that must be undertaken consciously and planned out ahead of time. As a consequence, shoppers will want to visit stores that carry the most diverse inventory—Wal-Mart, Costco, et al.—and avoid shops that specialize in one particular kind of good—the local paint store or flower shop, for instance.

Why Conservatives Should Care About Transit (via marco)

Good point, however it doesn’t enumerate why this is bad.

(this post was reblogged from marco)