Erik on Software

New Book Review: "The Threshold"

New book review for The Threshold: Leading in the Age of AI, by Nick Chatrath, Diversion Books, 2023:

Copy provided by Amazon.

In the introductory pages of this book, Chatrath states that "this book functions as a first foray into exploring what good leadership looks like in the present and coming ages of AI. John McCarthy defined AI as the science and engineering of making intelligent machines. I hope to expand your concept of what it is to be a human leader in a time that challenges our former ways of being with technology. Where technologists start with the question 'What can we automate?' and ethicists start with the question 'Should we automate this?', I start with the leadership question 'How can leaders promote flourishing as technology advances?' This book therefore equips you to forge a new synthesis between machines and humanity in the face of future technology-related disruptions. This new synthesis, which I have termed 'threshold leadership', is the subject of this book."

The author later states that "Things that ideally should not happen unfortunately happen all the time in organizations. Is there an individual who thinks, 'Oh my, I should not have done this'? Sadly, I have found this ownership of error to be rare. Software product developers are often so removed from the consequences of their work that many don't even think of themselves as leaders who have a disproportionate impact on the world. As one senior leader in a large tech company recently told me, 'For all I know, I might have been in a situation where I contributed to an AI algorithm written wrongly,' Looking down she added quietly, 'Do I even know?' This is not about throwing software developers under the bus. The reality is that software developers don't have any say in, or any perspective about, what they are building. They often work on a very small slice of a bigger vision."

Chatrath mentions that threshold leadership is actually a fifth metaphore that follows the four discussed in a 2014 book by Frederick Laloux called "Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage in Human Consciousness": "wolf pack", "army", "machine", and "family". The wolf pack leadership approach is typified by executives who disregard others, disconnecting their thinking from their full humanity, and prioritizing short-term personal success and wealth. In contrast, leaders at the army stage of leadership often slump into superficial, derivative thinking who cling to norms too tightly, instead of bringing their whole selves to their thinking. The behavioral therapy that provided support for the army leadership approach also paved the way for the machine stage, in which leaders usually live in the future, hardly ever making it back to the present, pursuing growth just for the sake of growth. Interestingly, Laloux likened this pursuit, or condition, to be akin to, using medical terminology, a "cancer". The family leadership approach, however, views formal structure to be less important than values and inspirational purpose, with leaders comfortably drawing selectively on the benefits of earlier stages.

The author comments that "in the recent past fewer than 10 percent of leaders have progressed beyond machinelike approaches to leadership", and that "each step leaders take - from wolf pack to army to machine to family to threshold - moves them further from merely cognitively led leadership models and onward to embodied thinking, thinking-as-feeling, and thinking with all you have got." According to the author, "threshold leaders will contribute most and will be most satisfied in an era where distinctions between humans and machines disappear", and that "the new story is of connecting thinking and being via four pathways: cultivating stillness, thinking independently, embodying intelligence, and maturing consciousness", each topic of which is dedicated to a separate section of this book, with three chapters apiece. 

Based on the dog ears that I created over the course of reading through this book, I found the first two sections on cultivating stillness and thinking independently to be more interesting than the latter two sections, with the first chapter (entitled "Coding Error") in the second section (entitled "Thinking Independently") the most dog eared relative to all the other chapters. Chatrath summarizes this chapter by stating that it "investigates why human independent thinking matters as AI improves", considering "three interruptive thinking disrupters, before starting to explore what independent thinking looks like practically." It makes sense why this particular section chapter might stand out for me, considering my software engineering career which thrived working as a consultant for a wide variety of firms from startups to multi-billion dollar corporations. 

The three interruptive thinking disrupters that the author covers were taken from a group of fourteen identified by Nancy Kline and her colleagues. While Chatrath fails to mention where readers can find out more about the complete list, it appears that these interruptive thinking disrupters are covered in a book by Kline entitled "The Promise that Changes Everything: I Won't Interrupt You." In his discussion on persuasion, the author mentions in closing that threshold as profound truth means at least three things: (1) "being at ease with, even seeking out, the sometimes contradictory contribution of different disciplines, (2) inviting others into the conversation, regardless of how they currently relate to belief or faith, and (3) nurturing openness and provisionality as to what latest AI and other scientific experiments show. And in his discussion on this third aspect of threshold as profound truth, he states that "this provisionality is the heartbeat of science, as later discoveries frequently disprove or reshape earlier 'certainties.' "

A mantra many heard earlier this decade is to "just follow the science", but the mantra "just follow the scientists" is probably more accurate because research, and opinions based on research, varies over time, keeping in mind the challenges in determining whether research has really been performed and what this research looks like on the ground. Quite some time ago, I recall an article in The Economist magazine stating that computer science really lies at the base of all the other sciences. While I realize this may have been a controversial article, especially because most sciences came before computer science, and many would argue that computer science is not truly a science, I know as a software engineer that the application or data engineering code I write will process data, that the inputs and outputs are based on rules, and that tests can be written to determine whether these inputs and outputs meet expectations, but with use of AI (including all its subsets, such as ML), there aren't hard rules like those that exist with application or data engineering code, because models take the place of rules. 

While I've never watched the Black Mirror series before because I don't watch much television, Chatrath mentions that the Black Museum episode explored the assumption that a person's value is no more than what is reducible to equations. "This assumption is similar to the assumption that 'you are just your brain' - or, similarly, 'your value lies 'only' in your brain. In the context of advancing technology, these assumptions arise frequently and persuasively. The assumptions matter since, in the words of essayist and novelist Marilynne Robinson, 'whoever controls the definition of the mind controls the definition of humankind itself.' " The author later comments that "the assumption that you are just your brain often rests on a philosophical view known as materialism, which is the view that the observable physical world is all that exists. The word 'observable' is key. Materialism can also include the belief that science is the only way to truth, a belief known as scientism. A significant number of scientists and philosophers think that scientism omits vital parts of reality."

After covering the inevitable that "all scientists, whether neuroscientists or computer scientists, have belief or faith", and that "it is important to consider what is persuasion and what is established fact", Chatrath in his closing statements on persuasion that professor Frank Wilczek, recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, accepts the fact that no current AI research enables AI to get close to two "big advantages" that human have over AI (connectivity and interactive development), but unfortunately takes a leap of faith in the following sequence: (1) "human mind emerges from matter", (2) "matter is what physics says it is", (3) "therefore, the human mind emerges from physical processes we understand and can reproduce artificially", and (4) "therefore, natural intelligence is a special case of artificial intelligence." While the author explains that these first two statements are "beliefs or worldview statements, not testable scientific hypotheses", however, he doesn't explicitly address these second two statements. Perhaps this is the case because these first two are foundational to the other two, but it's important that people understand why Star Trek featured human transporters will never be built.

The author repeatedly argues for the "practicality" of what he seeks to lay out in this book, but unfortunately, I don't think he ever achieves this goal. The "threshold resources" sections he provides at the end of every chapter were written with good intentions, but I don't find these to be very inspirational, mainly because these are written very dryly: largely a series of bullet points, with no diagrams. I received this book from Amazon a week or so prior to publication date, and while ChatGPT had already become a short-lived phenomena by late-2022, the output of these sections feel at first glance to be generated by ChatGPT. But the assembly of words Chatrath has written is novel, not to be replicated by current day AI. As a takeaway for the author, perhaps he could expand on these end-of-chapter sections to form a companion guide to this book.

New Book Review: "Running with Purpose"

New book review for Running with Purpose: How Brooks Outpaced Goliath Competitors to Lead the Pack, by Jim Weber, HarperCollins Leadership, 2022:

Copy provided by Amazon.

One of the unique aspects of this book is the author's explanation of the history and purpose behind writing it in the first place. The push he needed to "commit, sit down, and write a book", in his words, came from Warren Buffett. The reason to write this book, was to tell the world about the Brooks story: "through focus, creativity, and hard work, the Brooks team has created an exceptional company, and I want more people - especially runners - to know about the brand." And from his perspective, the following are the most interesting angles about the Brooks story: (1) it's a great turnaround story, (2) it's a great David-and-Goliath, competitive strategy story, (3) it's a "purpose-driven" brand building story obsessed with runners, (4) it's a story about running with respect to the Brooks market and the author's "forty-year addiction to it", (5) it's a story about the Brooks dedication and commitment to helping managers develop into leaders, and (6) it's a story about the author's own personal journey, in which the reader might find useful lessons.

This book is broken down into 11 chapters to which Weber has interestingly associated a soundtrack, hearkening back to the music which filled his childhood home, as well as the playlists he has used during his many long runs over the years: (1) "Stumbling Out of the Blocks" - Bob Dylan's "Tangled Up in Blue" and Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir", (2) "Picking Up the Pace" - Led Zeppelin's "Ramble On", (3) "Pivot #1: Running Only" - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Running Down a Dream", (4) "Becoming an Authentic Leader" - Bob Dylan's "My Back Pages", (5) "Defining Moments: The Great Recession and an Earthquake in Running" - R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World as We Know It", (6) "Meeting the Oracle of Omaha" - Bob Dylan's "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and Pink Floyd's "Money", (7) "Pivot #2: Performance is Timeless (We Zig When They Zag)" - R.E.M.'s "Stand", (8) "Finding Another Gear While Navigating Global Disruptions" - Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime", (9) "Hitting a Wall: Fighting Cancer" - John Mayer's "Say" and Gregory Alan Isakov's "Second Chances", (10) "Filling the 'White Space' with Trust" - Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" and Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'" and "Chimes of Freedom", and (11) "On Your Left! Running Fast in a New Decade" - Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' "Can't Hold Us" and Jakob Dylan's "Something Good This Way Comes."

While as a lifelong runner I enjoyed reading the entire book, I especially liked the first five chapters comprising part 1, as well as chapter 9 and the 2-page conclusion ("Life's Short, Run Long"). After being a loyal ASICS customer for many years following a recommendation by my high school running coach, during which time I gravitated at an early point to the GEL-Nimbus shoe model, I became disappointed one year when ASICS decided to massively increase the toe box size of this model, resulting in my experimenting with a handful of brands in an attempt to find a substitute. Brooks was one of the brands I tried, and I tried several shoe models. However, after discovering Altra, a newcomer on the scene, I have been a loyal Altra customer ever since, due to its "footshape" toe box, zero drop from heel to forefoot, incredible fit, and superior traction that has met my needs as a trail runner. While I didn't particularly like any of the Brooks models I tried, one thing that has stuck with me is its "Run Happy" ethos: "when you finish your run in a happier place than when you started." I run every single morning for a reason, and this ethos sums it up quite nicely! This book caught and held my attention because it revolves around my favorite daily activity, sharing the story of one individual's journey, both personally and professionally.

Chapter 5 is an especially good read, due to the following series of sequential sections concluding the chapter: "Clinical Insight: Each Runner Has an Individual Run Signature", "Brooks's Battle Cry: Run Happy", "Bringing the Run Happy Ethos to Runners", "Performance Product + Run Happy = $1 Billion Idea", and "Running Is Too Big to Be Owned by Just One Brand." I personally wasn't aware of the paper that Brooks published on its "Run Signature" philosophy, based on years of scientific research. A biochemist studied the footfall of each of the 24 runners competing in the 10k finals of the 2012 Olympic Team Trials held at the University of Oregon. He made use of a high-speed camera on the side of the track to capture those footfalls, subsequently analyzing them side by side. What he showed is that each runner strikes the ground in a unique way, and each runner has their own personal stride, like a fingerprint. These findings informed Brooks's "Run Signature" philosophy that the only "right" way to run is the way one's body naturally wants to move. 

The two-page sidebar on what "Run Happy" is all about is in my opinion the climax of this book if a nonfiction book could have such a point. Here are a few snippets from the sidebar (numbers in this list are mine). Run Happy is (1) "a feeling, an attitude, a spirit that lives in the hearts and minds of all runners - young or old, fast or slow, male or female, master or newbie," (2) "feeling powerful, connected, passionate, energized, fast, peaceful, ecstatic, committed, free, and unstoppable," (3) passing the runner up ahead of you, in touch with something deep within, a high five with a complete stranger", "morning's first light on your favorite trail", and (4) "the best part of the runner's day, the part that understands that the worst day spent running is better than the best day at the office." With respect to this last snippet, I can personally attest that a good early morning trail run sets me up for my entire day, and enables a good night's sleep. My morning productivity getting work done at the office (whether at home or elsewhere) is extremely high for several hours following a run, as long as no unnecessary meetings get in the way.

In discussing his bout with cancer, the author surprised me by mentioning Viktor Frankl's "Man's Search for Meaning", mainly because I've just recently read two other phenomenal books related to the topics addressed by this other author: Donald Miller's "Hero on a Mission: A Path to a Meaningful Life" and Joshua Coombes's "Do Something for Nothing: Seeing Beneath the Surface of Homelessness, through the Simple Act of a Haircut". Additionally, I mentioned in my review of Jack Perconte's "The Success Trail: Learn to Win with a Marathon Runner's Mindset" that several years ago, the author of "The Purpose Driven Economy" sent me a copy of the book for my review when it was first published, and in many ways, I think Perconte's book could be realistically titled "The Purpose Driven Run." Interesting suggestion for a book title, if I do so say myself, especially when considering that Weber's book is titled "Running with Purpose", and my review of Perconte's book was published in January 2022, which is 4 months before Weber's book was published. I tend to prefer my title because it follows the pattern initially established by "The Purpose Driven Life", although I also like the fact that Weber's publisher chose to use a verb rather than a noun, and as I concluded in my review of "Hero on a MIssion", the experience of meaning requires action.

New Book Review: "Hero on a Mission"

New book review for Hero on a MIssion: A Path to a Meaningful Life, by Donald Miller, HarperCollins Leadership, 2022:

Copy provided by Amazon.

Just after I had first started reading through this book, someone commented to me that they had also started reading another book, entitled "Man's Search for Meaning", by Victor Frankl. In response, I remarked on a coincidence: Frankl's book is not only cited throughout "Hero on a Mission", the author of this other book is actually cited at the outset within the introductory pages. While I had heard about Frankl's book, I had also never felt any interest in reading it, because I've not only already read numerous war-themed autobiographies, I've also heard spoken accounts directly from victims of the second world war and immediate post-war period from my own family members, who suffered extreme hardships.

However, upon hearing about Frank's book again, I took a closer look to determine whether I might want to read it as a personal follow-up to "Hero on a Mission", and came to the same conclusion. In my view, the differentiator between these two works is the practicality that Miller seeks to provide to readers. Frankl's account of his experiences is provided in the first part of his book, and a paper on logotherapy is provided in the second part, but at this point I'm not interested in hearing more war stories or theories about a particular life philosophy, and am instead interested in hearing what logotherapy, the therapy created by Frankl, might look like from a practical perspective as applied to one's life.

Miller doesn't explain logotherapy in his introduction, but explains Frankl's pragmatic, threefold formula to experience a life of meaning in the third chapter: (1) "take action creating a work or performing a deed, (2) experience something or encounter someone that you find captivating and that pulls you out of yourself, and (3) "have an optimistic attitude toward the inevitable: challenges and suffering you will experience in life." And later in this chapter, the author makes these three elements more relatable as he discusses the life plan he has been using for the last ten years, a plan that continues to evolve, and a plan without which he feels his personal story would "devolve in entropy and ultimately a narrative void. The existential vacuum."

(1) "Life invites us to be important and necessary. If we wake up each day and have a task to accomplish, especially a task in which other people are involved or without which other people might somehow suffer, we become necessary in the world. We sense we have a purpose (because we do). By requiring a work or a deed, I think Frankl was saying: Get yourself a great reason to wake up and get out of bed in the morning. If you do, it will help you avoid the existential vacuum."

(2) "We should acknowledge that we are not alone in this world and in fact the world and the stories unfolding upon it inspire awe. We all know the greatest experiences we have in life are dramatically enhanced if they are shared with others. According to Frankl, to experience meaning, we should get involved with a small group of people we love and who love us, or we should find something that invites our focus beyond ourselves to the beauty of the world around us. A lone walk through the forest is good for the soul just as a trip to a gallery can offer inspiration and a sense of mental expansion. The point is this: encounter something that pulls you out of yourself so that you world becomes larger."

(3) "While I've found each of the three elements of Frankl's formula helpful, it's this last one that helped me transform the most. Essentially, Frankl argued there was no negative event that could happen to us that could not be somehow redeemed. "Redeemed" is my word, not his, but I think it's fitting. By redeemed I mean that, as humans, we are able to take the most painful of tragedies and turn them into something meaningful. Frankl believed that while tragedies should be acknowledged and grieved, they can also produce something beneficial. This doesn't mean tragedies are good. Nobody wants or should have to experience a tragedy. It only means that from the ashes of our tragedies we can create something beautiful, and by creating something meaningful with our pain we begin the process of healing our wounds."

Just recently, I mentioned in my review of "Do Something for Nothing: Seeing Beneath the Surface of Homelessness, through the Simple Act of a Haircut", by Joshua Coombes, that one of the author's passages reminded me of Romans 5:3-5: "...we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame...". Interestingly, these verses also correlate with the third part of Frankl's formula. The hardships my family has experienced have been extremely challenging, and in the midst of these experiences, seemingly unbearable. But what's this? Hardship is actually the first step in a sequence, if we permit the rest of this sequence to play out. 

The author's presentation is broken down into sixteen chapters across a story's three acts: (1) "how to create a life of meaning", (2) "create your life plan", and (3) "your life plan and daily planner." In the first act, the author discusses the four roles we play in life - the victim, the villain, the hero, and the guide - followed by a focus on the hero, who accepts their own agency, chooses a life of meaning, and knows what they want. In the second act, the author discusses the eulogy, short-term and long-term visions, and the daily planner, and in the third act lays out the templates for each of these tools.

One of the most impactful chapters for me is the fourteenth chapter. While the role of the guide is discussed earlier in the book, the focus up until this point is the role of the hero. "Life requires experts. We need people around us who know what they are doing and can save us from our own mistakes. In a way this book has been deceptive. It has taught you to become a hero on a mission even though the hero is not the most evolved role. The most aspirational role for any of us is the role of guide. So why spend so much time teaching people to live as heroes when the goal of life is to become the guide? The reason is, of course, that we cannot become guides unless we have lived as heroes on a mission."

The author later comments that "Victor Frankl's ideas do not ensure that life will go well for us. They simply ensure that we experience meaning whether or not life goes well. His theories, after all, were crystalized in a concentration camp. Mental, physical, and spiritual competence happens when we move into the challenges life offers us. Victims do not face these challenges because they cannot. Villains cause many of these challenges. Heroes walk into and through the challenges and are transformed in the process. Guides, then, teach heroes all they know about how to surmount the challenges. Guides teach us how to have courage because they have lived a life of courage themselves. The reason we want to live as heroes on a mission is, the more we do so, the sooner we will transform into guides."

Subsequently, Miller presents the four characteristics he believes are most critical to develop in order to help others: experience, wisdom, empathy, and sacrifice. I particularly appreciated his explanations of wisdom and sacrifice, perhaps because, while I personally feel as though I'm well on my way in all these areas, I also feel more developed in the other two areas. On wisdom, for example, the author comments that "we know a hero is going to have to gain strength in order to meet the villain as an equal. The hero will have to be strong and wise, and the only way to gain strength and wisdom is to fail and then succeed, over and over." While as a software developer and innovator the need for failure comes naturally for me in the workplace, I can't say the same for life in general.

In the closing paragraphs of the sixteenth chapter, as he wraps up his presentation, the author makes some especially profound statements. "Life can be very difficult, I know. There are tragedies all around us. There is darkness. But don't forget, there is also light. We get to participate in the making of that light. When the existential vacuum comes for you, and it will, remember there is a hope that is very real in the world. We can always make meaning." Interestingly, Frankl focuses on "meaning", and Miller periodically uses the term "purpose" somewhat interchangeably, but he clarifies his intent in the third chapter, something for readers to ponder: "meaning feels like purpose."

"When I experience meaning, my life feels as though it is playing an important role in an important story. I have never been able to prove that sense of purpose is justified, but it hardly matters. When I am experiencing meaning, it *feels* as though my life is a story that is interesting to myself and also good for the world." While I don't particularly care for this explanation, I also value Miller's further thoughts on the subject. "How many people sit in church pews hearing lectures about God only to return home and feel restless? And why? Perhaps it is because we do not experience meaning by studying meaning. Rather, we experience meaning by taking action. Even Jesus said *follow* Me rather than *figure Me out*. What if the experience of meaning requires action?"

New Book Review: "Do Something for Nothing"

New book review for Do Something for Nothing: Seeing Beneath the Surface of Homelessness, through the Simple Act of a Haircut, by Joshua Coombes, Akashic Books, 2021:

Copy provided by Amazon.

The subtitle to this book provides a great summary for what this book is all about, albeit from a limited perspective: "seeing beneath the surface of homelessness, through the simple act of a haircut." The introduction furthers this thought by stating that "this book isn't about homelessness, it's about humans and showing up for one another where we can." However, as a longtime consultant I also view this book as a phenomenal demonstration of the pro bono experience, which is distinct from traditional volunteerism: using one's professional skills to provide services to those who are unable to afford them.

I've personally performed both volunteer and pro bono services, but while I've served individuals in need as a volunteer, I've never served individuals in need as a pro bono consultant, instead serving mediators situated in-between myself and the end recipients. And my lack of experience in this area is why I especially appreciate what Coombes has to share in this book. Not only does the author actually carry out a professional service, cutting hair, but he spends time with individuals before, during, and after providing service to get to know each individual. And in my view, this is a great example of why transformational relationships are so much more powerful than transactional relationships.

In the world of consulting, I've often been advised that transactional relationships are inferior, but in the end it's always an expectations-filled, give-and-take business relationship. Not so with what the author demonstrates in this book, which puts to shame much of what I've seen during my lifetime, regardless of intent. Coombes spends some serious quality time with each individual, always trying to empathize with their circumstances and never outwardly judging. Some backstories provided by the author's "customers" are so especially moving that it has caused me to recount some of my own encounters with the homeless, and why I can't stand the imposters I've seen on city streets.

This book walks the reader through the author's meetings with 35 individuals on city streets across 14 global locations in the US, UK, France, Netherlands, Mexico, Australia, and India. It seems the fact that 40% of these individuals are located in the US speaks more to the interests of the author to visit from his base in the UK, partially because of his connections in the US, but this aspect of the book drives home the fact that homelessness exists everywhere, even amongst the affluent.

And as such, Coombes also surfaces the reality that homelessness can happen to anyone, even the affluent, by passing along the stories each individual has shared with him. David, for example, described his experience as "surreal". "There's no way I would have seen myself sitting here...no way at all. I've realized how we trick ourselves into believing that we're in total control of our lives, and we're really not. There's so much that can happen to a person that you ain't got no say, or no control over. It's frightening...it's really frightening. I see people walk past me and I get the odd person with a look of disgust on their face, but mostly I see fear on their faces, because they don't know how you got here, and they're scared they that could be here also."

In some cases, customers share glimpses of what their lives were like before homelessness. Emma, for example, doesn't ask for much. "Although sometimes I feel like saying, 'Forget this life, just end it,' I don't have the guts to do that, and I feel like that's basically the same thing as saying, 'Don't do it.' Because, all I need is a place or a room and I'll be happy. I could go in, close my door, and be back to normal life, doing normal things: waking up, having a coffee, taking the dog for a walk, coming home, doing some housework. I was doing embroidery before and getting really into gardening."

And in the midst of homelessness, there is also much optimism even whilst recounting past abuse. Two homeless individuals, Lavane and Nick, even found love for each other. "I'd been abused as a child at the hands of my dad...The last place I thought I'd find real love was on the streets, but then Nick came along...Before Nick, I was married for ten years and I had a really bad relationship. There was a lot of domestic violence. I left after he put me in a hospital for the second time. That's when I became homeless...I never met anyone who had loved me that way. He didn't care what people thought of him. He was unashamedly himself. I loved him for that - even when he smelled bad! He lived his life and had his flaws, like we all do, but his heart was good. He showed me a different way. He showed me how to live on the streets and how not to be frightened. It really gave me back my confidence. I really fell in love."

Before April 2020 when I first started cutting my hair due to salon closures, I had convinced myself that I enjoyed talking with those who cut my hair. While these weren't transactional relationships, money still exchanged hands and I don't recall ever hearing anything profound. In writing about his time with Tony, Coombes demonstrates a far different experience, and combined with the optimism so prevalent throughout, it provides a moving story. "Tony meant every word, I could feel it. They cut through more than any 'motivational speech' I've seen delivered onstage." As explained by Tony, "I've come a long way, man. My dad's an alcoholic. It wasn't pretty. My mom was everything to me. She died back in 2000. I know she's looking down on me and I take a lot of strength from that. I want to put out a message to inspire people that I'm a survivor. I'm living with cancer, on the street, and I'm still smiling. So be optimistic."

The story Dennis has to tell is perhaps especially moving. "It sounds crazy, but my thing is, even though I'm struggling, I think God put me here to help other people. You know, because everybody I've helped has got themselves together and moved on, and I'm good with that...I had seen everything - apartments, cars, and all that. So, I understand it's not easy to be out here every night. People with no money, getting high just to stop what's going on in your brain. I'm trying to learn to give without wanting - without wanting anything in return...Why is it so hard to want to see the next man do all right? If I see the next man down, I've gotta try and bring him up. Even if it's just a little bit. So he knows there's at least one person out there who's not just trying to get one over on him. That's where my heart is at. Maybe it's my age that's humbled me and brought me to that point. I dunno."

This reminds me of Romans 5:3-5: "...we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame...". In my 2015 presentation on how to use one's skills to benefit a non-profit for a consultancy's annual technology conference, I walked through 16 takeaways I gained from my pro bono consulting work for 5 different non-profits. My fourth takeaway: "Encountering beautiful clients with relatively low prestige jobs is common." I highly recommend this book if you're interested in starting your own journey to meet such clients.

New Book Review: "The Success Trail"

New book review for The Success Trail: Learn to Win with a Marathon Runner's Mindset, by Jack Perconte, Second Base Publishing, 2021:

Copy provided by author Jack Perconte (former professional baseball player).

As a lifelong runner, I've read many running books over the years, and this one differentiates from all the others due to its probably being one of the most down-to-earth. As a former professional baseball player and runner of 14 marathons and counting, Perconte noticeably maintains his humbleness throughout. He states plainly that his experience should not intimidate the reader, even going so far as to stating in the opening pages that he wasn't a great baseball player, and that he didn't even become a runner until he was middle-aged. That said, becoming a professional baseball player obviously means that someone has already reached elite status relative to the competition, and he writes from experience successfully finishing over a dozen marathons (even though he admittedly still ponders how someone can run a marathon in less than 2.5 hours, considering less than 5 hours a miraculous feat).

The fifteen chapters in this book revolve around mindset: (1) "The Forward Mindset", (2) "The Courageous Mindset", (3) "The Commitment Mindset", (4) "The Planning Mindset", (5) "The Health Mindset", (6) "The Beginner's Mindset", (7) "The Identity Mindset", (8) "The Athlete's Mindset", (9) "The Happy Mindset", (10) "The Winner's Mindset", (11) "The Acclimating Mindset", (12) "The 'In the Zone' Mindset", (13) "The Patient Mindset", (14) "The Hero's Mindset", and (15) "The Analytical Mindset". Each of these chapters follows a relatively consistent pattern that can be summarized as a dream sequence conjured by the author followed by a quote by a well-known individual, the author's experience, how the author's experience might relate to the reader's experience, and short stories about marathon legends and the author, concluding with important takeaways for the reader from each of these stories.

Beginning in the second chapter, Perconte starts laying out what he views as the "stairway to success" a few steps at a time. As the author mentions in the dream sequence at the outset of this chapter, "confusion and anxiety reign with no destination; goals are imperative for achievement and avoiding pointless wandering and wasting time...the success trail needs a solid foundation; laying pavement will smooth the road to the starting line." While the author doesn't explicitly state as such, the stairway to success essentially answers the question posed in the first chapter: "Do you ever wonder what it takes to do something noteworthy?" And I find it very clever that 26.2 steps are laid out across the remaining chapters, a bit reminiscent of the 26 chapters of Meb Keflezighi's "26 Marathons: What I Learned about Faith, Identity, Running, and Life from My Marathon Career", which symbolized that runner's 26 marathon competitions.

One of my favorite steps is probably the second-to-last: an honest analysis of performance. I've always, always been negatively impacted on my runs by negative thoughts. While I naturally work through and purge built-up negative thoughts during my runs (and so I need to actually reference my thoughts in order to do so), it is the persistent negative thoughts that always cause problems. Perconte offers retroactive solutions, although unlike his solutions many of my negative thoughts are admittedly unrelated to my actual running. "Even though one may have solid reasons for underperforming, excuses and negativity diminish the effort. When answers to 'why' come, it is valuable to frame them in ways that make you feel like you overcame them. Instead of saying, 'The weather slowed my time,' I say, 'I battled some horrible conditions and made it.' Instead of, 'Cramps kept me from the time I hoped for,' it is, 'I learned today I must hydrate better to prevent cramps.' Winners analyze in a positive tone."

In reading through this book, I can relate to much of what the author has to say. I've done my own informal mental "fact-checking" against my personal running experiences, and I can attest that I share many of the same conclusions as the author. For example, in the concluding pages of the third chapter the author comments about the inspiration that running has provided him, a phenomena I don't think non-runners will ever understand until they give running a real chance. "Research studies give many convincing reasons to run and be physically active. The one that motivates me the most is why I recommend people run - the mental stimulation it creates. Whenever I get into a mental rut and the fruitful ideas dry up, movement on foot makes my brain thrust into a higher gear. Exercise brings out my cerebral functioning, as it helps me think, imagine, create, love, pray, reminisce, hope, and feel alive."

The software engineer in me appreciates the "Employ a Start-up Scheme" at the outset of the fourth chapter. From my experience, even though the agile movement may have started in the software development community the key is incremental improvement over time for any of life's endeavors. Over the years, folks have commented to me that they had "tried" running in the past, and upon further discussion I've found that this usually meant they tried running for a very short time period, not really giving it a chance. While as an adult I personally get highs on a frequent basis while running, I never experienced these while I was competing as a student athlete. If I had given up running at an early age, I simply would never have experienced getting a runner's high. But now that I regularly experience these, I have another motivator to keep running. These experiences remind me of a presentation I gave several years ago about using one's skills to benefit non-profit organizations: in my conclusion, I stated my last tip: "Don't quit, but know when to move on." Seriously, don't simply quit for no good reason! You might very well be close to reaching your next milestone goal, but you'll sadly never know if you bow out too early.

The author briefly mentions his use of mantras in the concluding paragraph of the tenth chapter. As I mentioned in my review of "Still Running: The Art of Meditation in Motion", I personally use a mantra as the point of focus while running. I typically use even-numbered phrases that correspond to a sequence of strides, and in recent years often count, with the most recent being a mantra of "1, 2, 3, 4". However, when I do this I am actually doing so to zone out. In fact, I've often commented to others that time seemingly passes by much more quickly when I do this. Now, thinking back to my beginnings as a runner in grade school, I was explicitly coached to focus on my breathing. However, once I got this down I found it distracting to be consciously aware of my breathing, so over time removed this practice from my repertoire. It's interesting that Perconte's mantra examples, "Relax, Breath, Improve" (the acronym of which speaks to his professional baseball career) and "Pace, Focus, Confidence", both consist of odd-numbered phrases that are each multiple syllables, so I'm wondering how he breaks down these words in his head. Perhaps I'll reach out and ask him! After all, he did reach out to me to send a copy of this book for my review.

I'm in agreement with Perconte's philosophy that when one strives to go high and far, life is purposeful, the way it should be. And I personally believe that life is like running a race. I've often been asked about my races by those who didn't discover running until adulthood, and I'm always very clear that I no longer race due to burnout. But I continue to run every single morning throughout all four seasons of the Chicagoland area, usually on the trails-over-rails network that is literally only a block from my residence, or on my Precor treadmill when the weather is unbearable or I need a break from the much, much more rigorous outdoor run. However, races provide goals, bringing meaning to many runners. The marathon distance in particular to which this book caters is especially meaningful to many. Several years ago, the author of "The Purpose Driven Economy" sent me a copy for my review when it was first published, and in many ways, I think Perconte's book could be realistically titled "The Purpose Driven Run". I greatly enjoyed reading this book, and sincerely think that all runners (especially those interested in running a marathon for the first time), will find benefit reading this book.

Past Book Review (December 30, 2020): "Still Running"

New book review for Still Running: The Art of Meditation in Motion, by Vanessa Zuisei Goddard, Shambhala, 2020:

Copy provided by Amazon.

In her introduction to this book, Goddard discusses the concept of "zazen", seated meditation, as the main path to liberation in Buddhism, and then quickly follows up by explaining that zazen isn't about being quiet, or just about focusing or even gaining insight on the meditation cushion, as it should function in our everyday lives. She is also quick to explain that what she presents here is not limited to running, as walking, swimming, and bicycling are also excellent forms of moving zazen because of their repetitive, meditative nature. She comments that running has been her main form of exercise for thirty-five years, and as a longtime runner myself who began by running competitively in school for ten years and often meditates while running as an adult, I think I might be able to provide some perspective.

She subsequently explains the transition between stillness and movement, being and doing. "First we need to learn to move into stillness to make contact with our basic clarity and wisdom. Then, from that stillness, we must move out into activity, letting that clarity inform the way we live day to day. This is the functioning of compassion. And while I wouldn't claim that jogging a few miles a day will lead to enlightenment or compassion, I do see running meditation as an excellent entry point into the deep exploration of the nature of body and mind within daily life. Running zazen - which I call still running - can show us that fundamentally there is no difference between stillness and movement, body and mind, self and other. And this, the Buddha said, is the realization that leads to the end of suffering."

This book is broken down into 14 chapters: (1) "practice", (2) "intent", (3) "commitment, (4) "discipline", (5) "body", (6) "effort", (7) "breath", (8) "mind", (9) "pain", (10) "creation", (11) "stillness", (12) "movement", (13) "silence", and (14) "credo". At the conclusion of each chapter, Goddard provides a sidebar on how to practice what is presented, and explains her intent prior to the practice provided in the first chapter. "Zazen is the heart of the path of self-exploration. Without some form of meditative practice, it is very difficult to see ourselves clearly. So let's start by paring things down to the bare essentials - body, breath, and mind - and on this stable ground build the foundation for a strong running zazen practice."

The author furthers her thoughts on "practice" in the first chapter. "To practice means to perform an activity or skill repeatedly in order to improve our proficiency in it. Spiritual practice is the constant and deliberate turning of our attention toward the fundamental questions of a human life. Who am I? What is life? What is death? What is reality? What is truth? In Buddhism, these questions are addressed primarily through the practice of zazen. But we can also apply this concept of practice to other areas of our lives. To practice an activity means to do it with focused attention and a deep desire to be awake to and within it. It's a desire to understand what is happening, not just on the surface of things but at a fundamental level - the level of ultimate reality. So to be awake means to see that reality clearly. It means not taking our thoughts, our ideas, our beliefs, or our actions for granted. Not assuming that we know and understand what we haven't carefully studied and deeply pondered."

While I can relate to much of what Goddard shares because of my many years as a runner, I also often found our views diverging as I read what she has to say here. For example, in her practice at the end of chapter 11, entitled "moving into stillness: move into stillness by focusing on a mantra as you run", I can relate to her suggestion to use a mantra as the point of focus while running. I typically use even-numbered phrases that correspond to a sequence of strides, and in recent years often count, with the most recent being a mantra of "1, 2, 3, 4". However, when I do this I am actually doing so to zone out. In fact, I've often commented to others that time seemingly passes by much more quickly when I do this. Now, thinking back to my beginnings as a runner in grade school, I was explicitly coached to focus on my breathing. However, once I got this down I found it distracting to be consciously aware of my breathing, so over time removed this practice from my repertoire.

The author comments that a mantra is intended to keep focus, but quickly follows up by explaining that you shouldn't lose track of what you're saying, or repeat them automatically without much awareness. I personally see no value in being aware of one's mantra, but I suppose one's view will differ based on objective. When I count, it is to focus on my running and to block out my surroundings, but apparently, Goddard is instructing the reader to focus on the mantra itself. Interestingly, she closes her explanation of this practice by sharing that Gandhi used to say that repeating the name of God has more power in it than an atomic bomb. However, I would instead say that the name of God itself has the power, not the repetition of it. In-between repetitions of my current mantra, I choose instead to pray. The author mentions body, breath, and mind, but doesn't mention soul. It's not clear how the author is able to answer the question "What is truth?", but somebody else once said "I am the truth", "the truth shall set you free", and to "be still and know that I am God".

New Book Review: "Executive Presence for the Modern Leader"

New book review for Executive Presence for the Modern Leader: A Guide to Cultivating Success and Thriving in the Workplace, by D. A. Benton, Rockridge Press, 2021:

Copy provided by Amazon.

The author mentions in her introduction that in conjunction with a new business venture she had started, she took on a personal research project to ask every CEO she met the following question: "If two people start in their careers with similar experience, intelligence, and ambition, why, over time, does one get to this level and one only get to that?" Her research was later published in an article which called this ability "executive charisma", something she came to call "executive presence". According to the author, "this book will work for you whether you are an aspiring or current leader, whether you are hoping to land a great job, thrive in your current role, or secure a promotion. It will help you build the career you dream of. This is the most up-to-date, accessible, and practical guide to developing your own executive presence to thrive in the ever-changing workplace. The lessons I've learned have given me a very good life, and I hope they provide the same to you."

This 150-page book is broken down into 7 chapters: (1) "Executive Presence", (2) "Leadership Styles", (3) "Emotional Intelligence", (4) "Communication", (5) "Comportment", (6) "Appearances", and (7) "Authenticity". While the author doesn't define "executive presence" in her introduction, she argues at the beginning of the first chapter that "there is an unwritten code of behavior among successful executives. They don't admit it. It's almost as if they don't want to talk about it for fear of jinxing it. They may even deny that a code of behavior exists. But it's there. It's executive presence. It doesn't matter how you feel about it; what matters is how your colleagues perceive you. The good news is that it can be learned." In later chapters, she discusses a variety of leadership styles, emotional intelligence as the trademark of a good leader, why communication is more than the words one verbalizes or writes, not leaving to chance what others see about oneself, the power of appearances, and identifying roadblocks and adjusting approach as situations change.

It wasn't until I was asked by a Chief Architect to take on the work of a recently departed Director of Architecture several years ago that I heard the term "executive presence", and it so happens that one of my colleagues at the time used this expression to describe a quality she saw in me. Admittedly, I wasn't quite sure what she meant. I had spent the bulk of my software delivery career in hands-on software architecture and development roles, increasingly working with executives over time, but nobody had explicitly commented on this topic. In retrospect, however, it makes more sense why my roles continued to evolve. While I arguably continued to remain a top technologist throughout my career, my relatively stronger communication skills, discussed in chapter 4, were often cited as one of the core attributes which helped set me apart, with the attributes and behaviors described in the following three chapters also periodically mentioned in passing along the way.

A book such as this would have been more beneficial to me at an early stage of my career, if I had wanted to focus on leadership rather than building software. But what does "leadership" actually mean? At some point in my career, I started hearing clients call their managers "leaders", but these are two different concepts: managing isn't the same thing as leading. As a longtime consultant, it was interesting to witness many clients in leadership positions who had little to no software development backgrounds, which is ironic because unless one is able to relate to the work that is being done it is almost impossible to be an effective leader in the field. A mantra that I've heard in the field over the years is that "leaders lead, others do". What does this really mean? A better mantra that I've heard is "lead by example", implying that in order to be a leader one not only needs to be able to do the work, but actually do it. Fortunately, in the consulting world I had enough people around me who understood all of this. Something to think about if you are early in your career exploring possible paths ahead of you.

All of this said, the two chapters of this book I most benefited from are chapter 2 ("Leadership Styles") and chapter 3 ("Emotional Intelligence"). I think many of the situations I recounted earlier are probably due at least in part to emotional intelligence, something everyone (including myself) can continue to improve, and I always appreciate learning about how different approaches can end up being effective, having learned over time to be careful not to view any particular method as "the" way but simply "a" way. If anything, Benton has provided me with these reminders. The author presents several leadership styles ("visionary", "coaching", "affiliative", "democratic", "pace-setting", and "commanding"), and I enjoyed the included self-assessment along with her recognition that it can be most helpful for people such as myself to possess some traits exhibited by every style. However, to speak to a traditionally introverted ambivert such as myself, the author should arguably weave personality into her next presentation to better speak to a wider audience of readers.

New Book Review: "Python Programming for Beginners"

New book review for Python Programming for Beginners: A Kid's Guide to Coding Fundamentals, by Patricia Foster, Rockridge Press, 2020:

Copy provided by Amazon.

In her one-page "How to Use this Book" introduction, Foster states that "this book will teach you the basics of Python programming", and "it's going to teach you how to think like a coder!" The material is broken down into the following ten chapters, followed by half a dozen pages comprising debugging tips, a glossary, and a list of suggested web resources: (1) "Welcome to Programming!", (2) "Python: The Basics", (3) "Variables", (4) "Data Types", (5) "Data Structures", (6) "Conditionals", (7) "Loops", (8) "Functions", (9) "Turtle Module", and (10) "Game On: Putting it All Together". 

The author's presentation is organized well, introducing topics which build upon each other along the way, and the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter are colorful, catering to pre-teen children interested in programming fundamentals. Unfortunately, there are also many issues along the way. While I initially made an effort to ignore these issues, I started taking notes after finding myself losing track. Children working through this book, and those guiding them, will likely not notice these issues unless acquainted with programming themselves, in which case they also will likely not be in the target market for this book.

Foster comments at the outset in chapter 1 that "a program is a bunch of code designed to solve a human problem". While she follows this statement with a decent conceptual explanation of programs, which have goals carried out by a sequence of step-by-step instructions, as a longtime developer and architect I know that many programs are definitely not about human problems: many programs simply do not have end user humans in mind. The author also tackles some tricky words (e.g. for "algorithm" and "compile") at much too early a stage, and it would have likely been better to leave these out of her presentation.

Discussing integrated development environments (IDEs) in chapter 2 is also arguably covered much too soon, because this topic doesn't teach the basics of Python programming, not does it teach how to think like a coder, the two primary goals laid out in the introduction. For the pre-teen beginner, it makes sense to initially use what is provided out-of-the-box when downloading and installing Python for the first time, rather than getting too sidetracked on available options. I'm in agreement with the author's two primary goals. Understand the basic programming process first, and then use your experiences to help guide you.

During the author's explanation of variables in chapter 3, the f-string is introduced. Essentially, f-strings are a way to format strings, and the author demonstrates how to use these to keep track of variable values by printing them during program execution. Interestingly, however, the "How to Install Python" section in chapter 2 specifically comments about all the different Python releases currently made available, going so far as to state that the specific release used by the reader to execute the code presented in this book doesn't matter as long as you "make sure the first number after the word  'Python' is a 3". Not so: the f-string was not introduced until Python 3.6, so if a prior 3.x release of Python is used, this functionality simply won't work.

In chapter 3, during the presentation on the order in which Python math operations are carried out, the author mentions that the BEDMAS acronym can help figure this out, that "B" stands for "brackets", and that brackets are evaluated first. But the example used during this discussion is "n = ( 3 + 2 ) * 4". So where are the brackets in this example? In revisiting the text which led to this discussion, I saw that in a sidebar 15 pages earlier a distinction was made between "round brackets" and "square brackets". In my many years of professional experience, I've never heard anyone refer to parentheses (i.e. "parens") as "round brackets"!

The "Alien Socks" example just three pages later that uses the equation "num_socks = num_martians * martian_legs / 2" doesn't make use of any parentheses. In this case, it doesn't technically matter how the math operations are grouped, but it's advised for new programmers to get in the habit of making code more readable, in this case making use of the equation "num_socks = num_martians * ( martians_legs / 2 )" because the emphasis is on pairs of legs in the story problem. Perhaps not coincidentally, the final calculated value in this story problem is an integer, but new programmers should understand the difference between floating point and decimal numeric data types, and the subsequent two-page discussion on numbers in chapter 4 doesn't discuss this topic.

While I didn't come across any book examples that are wrong, per se, some are likely to be awkward or confusing. For example, in chapter 6, during the discussion of "if-elif-else" statements, three variables are presented: "is_winter", "is_fall", and "is_summer". While I appreciate the variable naming convention that makes use of an "is" prefix to indicate a boolean data type, why isn't "is_spring" defined? One can argue that the program example assumes possibility of the Spring season, and indeed the explanation for this example mentions all four seasons, and that the season of Spring is assumed if not Summer, Fall, or Winter, but what's this? The branching logic only explicitly checks for Winter and Fall, and if not Winter or Fall, Summer is assumed. A perfect example of a bug for chapter 2.

Another confusing example is "Find the Buried Treasure" in chapter 7. The story problem leading up to the code that is presented states that buried treasure can be found in a beach that a crew of pirates has separated into 100 sections assigned the numbers "1" to "100". However, the code permits values of "0" to "100" as guesses. Why? Neither the story problem nor the code provides an explanation. While I've made some guesses as to why a value of "0" can be guessed, it would have been helpful for the author to either explain why this is the case, or simply remove the ability to choose "0" as a guess.

This book periodically makes use of built-in Python functions, but only haphazardly makes use of these in the code that is presented. I found it surprising, for example, that in the "Anagram Checker" example of chapter 8 neither the functions "upper()" or "lower()" are used. The code is simple, comparing two string variable values to each other to determine whether both are comprised of the same letters. At the end of this example, the author states that "to a computer, uppercase and lowercase matter a lot", so "keep this in mind when comparing anagrams!" A perfect time to introduce these two functions!

While chapters 9 and 10 introduce some important concepts, and are likely intended to provide some fun, I personally think these chapters should either have been left out or reworked to provide more substance. In reading through the book to this point, I noticed that objects had not yet been introduced, and unfortunately, the beginning of chapter 9 provides full disclosure: "this book won't show you how to define your own objects". Likewise, the "Spaceships and Aliens" game in chapter 10 might be entertaining, but players choose 4 digits (i.e. single integers), but these are stored as strings that aren't evaluated by the code to ensure that integer values are chosen. Another perfect example of a bug for chapter 2.

This book is the third introductory programming book that I've reviewed in recent months, joining "Tanmay Teaches Julia for Beginners: A Springboard to Machine Learning for All Ages", and "Coding Concepts for Kids". Of these three, I view "Coding Concepts for Kids" as the best, but it doesn't teach a programming language, instead opting to teach how to think like a coder. Interestingly, this is the second stated goal of "Python Programming for Beginners", but it is very simplistic, targeted at younger readers. The book reviewed here is a good attempt, but in my opinion doesn't meet either of its two goals.

New Book Review: "Coding Concepts for Kids"

New book review for Coding Concepts for Kids: Learn to Code without a Computer, by Randy Lynn, Rockridge Press, 2020, reposted here:

Copy provided by Amazon.

I'm in the midst of reviewing a few programming minded books targeted specifically at children at middle school (intermediate school, junior high school, lower secondary school) age or younger, with this text by Lynn at the lower end of this range, explicitly stated to be ages 5 to 7. I think this is an accurate age range for the average child, as the author illustrates several basic programming principles using a very light amount of abstraction that never gets into actual code or pseudocode. 

The content is broken down into several chapters: (1) "Hello, Coders!", (2) "Awesome Algorithms", (3) "Lots of Loops", (4) "Creative Conditionals", (5) "A+ Optimization", (6), "Delightful Debugging", and (7) "Very Valuable Variables", followed by a 4-page answer key to all problems presented throughout the book, and single pages dedicated to a glossary and additional resources that essentially point to ScratchJr and Scratch (scratch dot mit dot edu), code dot org, and raspberrypi dot org. 

As a long time technologist, I was first exposed to programming a few years into grade school as resources such as this simply weren't available at an earlier point in time. I think the author presents their material in a very fun manner that very gently introduces the concepts of algorithms, loops, conditionals, optimization, debugging, and variables along the way. The illustrations are very well done, always relating to the material being presented so as not to confuse young learners. 

Lynn makes some great statements in their introductory chapter. "Learning to code is a little like learning how to write. You can't write a book before you've learned your ABCs, right? You can learn how to code on a computer, of course. But it's smart to begin learning without a computer. That's because being a great coder starts with being a great thinker." That said, there are some subtle issues with what the author presents, and while these likely shouldn't prevent using this book, some new in this field may wish to reference my list as they work with their children.

First, the author makes a misstatement at the outset. "Computers can be a lot of fun, and you know what's even more fun? Using your creativity to invent something totally new! That's what coding is all about." While developing new software is a lot of fun for many technologists such as myself, and much can be learned doing so, in reality most coding taking place in the workplace is not associated with developing new software, but maintaining or evolving existing software.

Second, the "Codeo Rodeo" problem in the second chapter might confuse some children (and those guiding children through this book). I came up with at least three solutions, and the answer key only lists one. The number of possible solutions is even greater than three if not restricted to the shortest possible route, and the problem statement doesn't explicitly state whether there are any obstacles across which Al (one of five "Coding Crew" characters in this book) cannot traverse to get to their goal.

Third, the "Laugh-a-Loop" problem in the third chapter is also problematic. After explaining why steps of instructions might need to repeat, the author presents a simple "Run the Code" example and then progressively adds more complexity. A good pattern that repeats throughout the text. However, after just explaining what a "loop" is intended to mean in this simple example, the definition of it changes for the "Laugh-a-Loop" problem, with no explanation given, based on the answer given in the answer key. Not good. 

Fourth, the "Hidden Toys" problem in the third chapter has a similar problem to the second aforementioned issue. The problem statement doesn't explicitly state whether Spot the Bot is to find their toys one at a time, or all in one swoop. Based on the way the problem is presented, it appears as though the bone, ball, and teddy bear are to be retrieved separately, starting from the same spot on the lawn. At least, this is one interpretation of what needs to be done. It's clear from the answer key that Spot the Bot is to find their toys all in one swoop.

Note that this isn't an exhaustive list, so similar problems have similar issues. Again, these issues are very subtle, and shouldn't prevent using this book. However, for what it's worth these issues demonstrate the reality of problem solving in the real world: there almost always exists more than one possible solution for a given problem, and problem statements typically need to be reworked or reimagined so that the solution which ends up being followed actually solves the intended problem. Despite these issues, well recommended for the stated target audience.

New Book Review: "The Software Architect Elevator"

New book review for The Software Architect Elevator: Redefining the Architect's Role in the Digital Enterprise, by Gregor Hohpe, O'Reilly, 2020, reposted here:

Copy provided by Amazon.

While the title of this book makes use of the term "software architect", connotations will likely arise for many potential readers. Hohpe starts discussing the term "architect" at the outset, but it isn't until the end of chapter 4 ("Enterprise Architect or Architect in the Enterprise?") where he makes an attempt to simplify what he means with respect to this book, following his discourse on "enterprise architect(ure)". "My definition of EA also implies that some IT architects, who aren't enterprise architects, work at enterprise scope. These are largely the folks I refer to in this book. Because they are the technical folks who have learned to ride the elevator (chapter 1) to the upper floors to engage with management and business architecture, they are a critical element in any IT transformation."

"How is being an 'enterprise-scale architect' different from a 'normal' IT architect? First, everything is bigger. Many large enterprises are conglomerates of different business units and divisions, each of which can be a multibillion-dollar business and can be engaged in a different business model. As things get bigger, you will also find more legacy: businesses grow over time or through acquisitions, both of which breed legacy. This legacy isn't constrained to systems, but also to people's mindsets and ways of working. Enterprise-scale architects must therefore be able to navigate organizations (chapter 34) and complex political situations. Performing true EA is as complex and as valuable as fixing a Java concurrency bug. There's enormous complexity at all levels, but the good news is that you can use similar patterns of thinking at the different levels."

"For example, software architects need to balance their system's granularity and interdependencies: a giant monolith is rather inflexible, whereas a thousand tiny services will be difficult to manage and can incur significant communication overhead. The exact same considerations apply to business architecture when considering the size of divisions and product lines. Lastly, EA also faces the same trade-offs when having to decide which systems should be centralized, which simplifies governance but can also stifle local flexibility. Architecture, if taken seriously, provides significant value at all levels."

While I largely agree with what the author presents here, it's interesting that he includes "senior developer" in the list defining what architects are _not_ in his introduction to part 1 ("Architects"). "Developers often feel they need to become an architect as the next step in their career (and their pay grade). However, becoming an architect and a superstar engineer are two different career paths, with neither being superior to the other. Architects tend to have a broader scope, including organizational and strategic aspects, whereas engineers tend to specialize and deliver running software. Mature IT organizations understand this and offer parallel career paths." As a longtime engineer and architect who has seen and experienced a lot, I find it immensely beneficial for architects to not only have significant development experience, but have these skills close at hand.

Startups often have "senior engineers" but not "architects". During my career, I've been told by quite a few startups that they don't need architects. When I've asked them who chooses the tooling and technologies, who builds proofs of concept and prototypes, who designs their software and systems alongside other stakeholders, and who provides governance, they often draw a blank. In exploring their responses to me, it becomes clear that either (1) their senior engineers act as architects, or (2) their software and systems are already in production, and they are in maintenance or some other mode. The challenge with the former is that senior engineers often don't see the big picture, and the challenge with the latter is that software and systems should arguably be built as products, which means continued evolution should be expected to take place over time.

This book is presented in 6 parts: part 1 ("Architects"), part 2 ("Architecture"), part 3 ("Communication"), part 4 ("Organizations"), part 5 ("Transformation"), and part 6 ("Epilogue: Architecting IT Transformation"). Despite my prior comments, I think the ongoing industry discussion on the role of architects is desperately needed. I've read and written a lot on this topic over the years, so I especially appreciate the subtitle to this book: "Redefining the Architect's Role in the Digital Enterprise". As with software and systems products, architects should also evolve. The challenge here is that there simply aren't any industry standard definitions for many terms commonly used in industry, and this text provides a great effort at attempting to sort everything out. Much like the term "strategy", which I've also read and written a lot about, the second part on architecture follows closely behind the discussion on architects. And in my view, the topics discussed in the third part are the bulk of what tends to shy away some senior engineers from identifying as architects, as I have personally seen a lot of paper pushing architects in the past. As the book progresses into the last two parts, the chapters increasingly resemble disjointed, separately publishable articles, although the author makes a good attempt at tying everything together.

Hohpe actually mentioned when this book was headed to the printer that it is admittedly an evolution of the "37 Things One Architect Knows About IT Transformation: A Chief Architect's Journey". At the time, he also stated that the term "software" snuck into the title because he edited the book to appeal to a broader audience of not just enterprise architects, but software architects looking for their next career step. All of this said, this work helps fill a large gap that has existed for many years, and I highly recommend it. While much of what this book presents will be common knowledge to longtime architects, especially those who have worked as consultants in both senior engineer and other leadership roles, what has largely been tribal knowledge is now arguably under one roof. Of course, not to be forgotten is that Hohpe brings his personal experience along for the ride, and as with any great book of this genre, execution eats strategy for lunch.

New Book Review: "Burn-In"

New book review for Burn-In: A Novel of the Real Robotic Revolution, by P. W. Singer and August Cole, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020, reposted here:

Promotional pre-publication advance reading copy provided by Amazon.

The back cover of this novel provides the following synopsis: "America is on the brink of a revolution. AI and robotics have realized science fiction's dreams, but have also taken millions of jobs and made many citizens fear that the future has left them behind. After narrowly averting a bombing at Washington's Union Station, FBI Special Agent Lara Keegan receives a new assignment: to field-test the first police robot. In the wake of a series of shocking catastrophes, the two find themselves investigating a conspiracy whose mastermind is using cutting-edge tech to rip the nation apart. To stop this new breed of terrorist, Keegan's only hope is to forge a new kind of partnership. With every tech, trend, and scene drawn from the real world, 'Burn-In' blends a technothriller's excitement with nonfiction's insight to illuminate the darkest corners of our chilling tomorrow." 

It appears, however, that the real robotic revolution is actually boring. While this novel is well-written, it likely won't engage readers unless they are completely unaware of recent advancements in the tech fields it seeks to cover. The idea to marry extensive nonfiction footnotes (about 25 pages in the promotional pre-publication advance reading copy that I was provided) with this fictional text is a good one, but in my opinion the content in most of these footnotes will likely be viewed as fairly commonplace to many. Character development is fairly week, and the politics exhibited by some characters increasingly tends to distract as the storyline progresses. Perhaps the content of this novel is better suited for a major motion picture, as the author tends to overdescribe the simplistic, and underdescribe the complex, and visuals might be the cure for what ails the writing. 

All of this said, the masses need more accurate depictions of technology, and this novel is a good attempt at moving in what very well could be the right direction. For example, as the authors mention early in this book while the robot (named "TAMS") is in the process of being introduced, "burn-in is defined as 'the continuous operation of a device, such as a computer, as a test for defects or failure prior to putting it to use'". Quite simply, however, the reason I don't typically review works of fiction is because evaluation can tend to be very subjective. I made an exception in this case because the authors here explicitly sought to blend their storytelling with the real world. At least, the real world from the perspective they aim to tell it, but they at least provide the hopeful statement (regardless of accuracy) that "technology is not destiny: AI's impact on the American worker will be decided not by AI, but by us...by the policies that we vote on and the organizations we choose to build".

New Book Review: "Julia for Beginners"

New book review for Tanmay Teaches Julia for Beginners: A Springboard to Machine Learning for All Ages, by Tanmay Bakshi, McGraw-Hill, 2019, reposted here:

Copy provided by Amazon.

As the author mentions in the preface to this book, the content he provides here is intended to work towards his goal of reaching out to and helping at least 100 thousand aspiring coders and to help them innovate along their journey of learning to code. He furthers his explanation by writing that this book is special because it specifically covers the Julia programming language, which was designed to solve a problem few languages today have the ability to solve: dealing with huge amounts of unstructured data. As he explains, the vast majority of programming languages were developed with goals not fundamentally aligned with ML (machine learning). In contrast, he argues that Julia is the first programming language to mesh together a number of individual technologies and techniques supporting the future of computing together in a performant, elegant, and easy way.

After walking the reader through an introduction and the steps associated with setting up a local Julia development environment, he presents various Julia constructs such as variables and input, conditions and iterations, arrays and dictionaries, functions, handling errors and exceptions, and reading and writing files, followed by a machine learning discussion and suggest next steps and reader resources to continue their programming journey. Most readers will likely be able to work through this book over a weekend, as it is less than 200 pages in length and provides all code inline with the text. Interestingly, the author does not provide the code in a downloadable repository, but the amount of code is minimal and I would expect young developers to likely learn more typing from scratch.

The author gently walks the reader through fundamental concepts at the outset, introducing simple code in the first chapter through a single statement program and use of the REPL (read-evaluate-print loop) interface provided by Julia much like other programming languages. Over the course of the first few chapters, the author introduces programs consisting of several statements, with chapter 4 ("Arrays and Dictionaries") introducing the first multi-page Julia program, and chapter 5 ("Functions") containing the longest multi-page Julia program, with its code snippets discussed along the way. And chapter 7 ("Package Management") presents introductions of several more advanced topics such as installing and usage of packages, multiprocessing, and calling code from other languages.

For someone completely new to programming, I think the author did a decent job introducing the Julia programming language. However, in my view this book exhibits at least two key issues. The first is that the book subtitle "a springboard to machine learning for all ages" seems to imply that readers will be taught ML. Unfortunately, ML is not introduced until chapter 9 ("How Machines Learn"), essentially the last chapter because chapter 10 ("Next Steps and Resources") is only 2 pages long and doesn't teach anything. As someone with a longtime software development career who has read many technology texts, I'm fairly certain this aspect of the book will disappoint many because it borderline misrepresents what this book is about.

Additionally, I think that many readers will feel this chapter is too disjointed from the rest of the book. The author starts by discussing evolutionary theory, which is largely irrelevant, and then states multiple times while choppily walking through several snippets of code that readers should not need to worry about whether they understand any of it yet. However, the author really never ends up providing any substantial explanations before the chapter ends, and then the book ends. If readers wish to learn Julia as their first programming language, this is the book that will help enable them to do so. However, an ML text it is not, and because this book provides such a gentle introduction, readers will quickly need to consult other resources.

The second key issue is the fact that new programmers are being targeted to learn the Julia programming language. In my view, Julia is absolutely not appropriate for new programmers because its adoption rate in industry is extremely low, and because it is largely not a general purpose programming language. I first learned of Julia back in 2014 when attending an annual software developer conference in St Louis, Missouri called "Strange Loop", and its adoption rate has arguably barely budged in the 6 years since. Sure its adoption rate has increased, but the adoption rate of the Python programming language has also increased, albeit in contrast with Julia exponentially increased, and is widely considered a friendly language that most new to development will benefit from picking up. Python is also considered a general purpose language that will help readers springboard into a wide variety of practical applications, including ML.

New Book Review: Rethinking Strategy

New book review for Rethinking Strategy, by Steve Tighe, Wiley, 2019:

Copy provided by author Steve Tighe.

The author mentions in his introduction that he feels this is the book he needed to read on his first day as foresight manager at Foster's. "As I sat at my desk on the first day in my new role I still clearly remember the feeling of being overwhelmed by the complexity of the task. Indeed, the one clear thought I had at the time was where do I start? The future appeared to me a vast, uncertain and unknowable black hole, seemingly awash with infinite possibilities. What was important? What was insignificant? And how would I know the difference? These were the questions running through my mind as I sat paralyzed at my desk surrounded by colleagues purposefully going about their roles.

"The difference, of course, was that my workmates fulfilled roles where the patterns of expectation and performance were well established. I, on the other hand, had seemingly stepped into the unknown. Such a role had not previously existed at Foster's, and corporate foresight managers were hardly prominent, so useful reference points were somewhat limited. What I needed at the time, and what every organisation needs today, is a framework for anticipating and preparing for future change. Something to help make sense of the patterns in the chaos." This book "aims to restore the loss of organizational agency by providing an innovative process for strategy development that is purpose-built for today's volatility and uncertainty."

"Central to this process is the art of developing scenarios and an appreciation for the anticipatory and transformational capacity that scenarios enable. Scenarios empower managers to generate original strategic perspectives, to reperceive the future environments in which they might have to compete, and to reconceive the organisation's role and functions within these futures. In doing so, internally generated scenarios help deliver that rarest of business assets, a unique strategic outlook that is fit for the future. Such an outlook is the source of organisational distinctiveness."

A couple months ago, I came across a social media post of an article by Dorie Clark published in Harvard Business Review entitled "If Strategy is So Important, Why Don't We Make Time for It?" Unfortunately, I found this article to be problematic, because for one, it doesn't even try to define "strategy". So I responded with the following comment: "if strategy is so important, why don't we define it?". Tighe, on the other hand, defines "strategy" at the outset: "a plan for action to achieve your goals in perceived future environments." While I tend to agree with Eisenhower that "plans are worthless, but planning is everything", in the sense that strategy should be an ongoing process, the author makes it abundantly clear throughout the rest of this book that this "plan for action" doesn't end. So in other words, strategy is actually planning for action to achieve one's goals in perceived future environments, even though the author later states that "strategy is not planning", mainly because, traditionally, the output of strategy is a plan. If you are at all confused by these last few statements, you have a taste of why Clark likely didn't even try to provide a definition. 

The material of this book is broken down into thirteen chapters across three parts: (1) searching, (2) learning, and (3) doing. After discussing the trouble with trends, the author details the theories and methods, acquired and developed over the past 15 years, that underpin his approach to designing strategy, followed by a transition from this theory of strategic design to its actual application, describing an end-to-end process for scenario-based strategy development and using successful case studies to illustrate business practicality. Fortunately for readers, Tighe spends fully 60% in the latter part on doing, as theory tends to be where many strategy authors tend to spend the bulk of their time, never venturing into practical execution.

About ten years ago, I began my foray into strategy by reading extensively on the subject, quickly moving to scenarios due to the practicality these offer, and have in years since been contacted by authors such as Rita McGrath, strategy professor at Columbia Business School, to review their books. After reading through "Scenarios: The Art of Strategic Conversation" by Kees van der Heijden, I was shocked that a senior executive with whom I was working at the time on a client engagement was not familiar with the concept of scenarios. I still remember the response that he gave when I brought this topic up in the context of a software development effort I was leading: "What do you mean, scenarios?" After providing an initial explanation, he closed this subject matter quickly: "We don't care about that."

Tighe comments on this very topic. "In the eyes of my (half-serious?) colleagues I was now the resident fortune teller, palm reader, crystal ball gazer (insert cliché of choice here). The truth behind their jibes points to one of the reasons for the lack of scenario usage in business: serious attempts to understand the future are confused with efforts to predict, and since prediction isn't possible, scenarios are either dismissed as an exercise in futility or else just not taken seriously. 'Can't predict, so why bother?' seems to be the attitude, as those who carry the futurist title are regarded with a skepticism usually reserved for snake oil salesmen." As the author continues later, "leaders prefer the illusion of certainty. It allows them to act quickly and decisively, to convey perceptions of control."

As someone who has read extensively on the subject of strategy, my favorite chapters are chapter 8 ("How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"), chapter 10 ("'What's next?' - Anticipating the future") which comprises over 20% of the book, and chapter 13 ("Making sense of the patterns in the chaos"). Specifically, I appreciated the author's coverage in chapter 8 of the four stages of competence (unconscious incompetence, conscious incompetence, conscious competence, and unconscious competence), the last of which leads to complacency. In chapter 10, I appreciated Tighe's matrices that plot relative degree of uncertainty versus relative degree of impact, and in which cases scenario development should actually be used for influencing factors. Lastly, in chapter 13 the author introduced me to the concept of memories that are not confined to the past, memories of the future, to an extent that I am interested in reading the related academic paper. Well recommended text for those new to scenario planning, and those searching for practicality in a sea of theory.

Manuscript Review: "Project Decisions"

An editor for a publisher reached out to me via LinkedIn on January 8, 2019 with an opportunity to provide input on the second edition of a book in exchange for a flat fee. I was given 1 calendar month to complete the review, and I submitted my feedback on February 9, 2019.

While I've reviewed quite a few technology and business texts over the years, including those at the request of authors and publicists, this was the first time I was paid to perform a review.

In addition to providing me the book manuscript in Microsoft Word format, the editor also posed a number of questions that she wanted me to address, so my deliverables to the editor were two-fold: (1) an edited book manuscript with my inline comments, and (2) a 4-page document that I wrote to address her questions. My work on this manuscript review, including a reading of the book, was performed in 1 calendar day.

At some point I'd like to write a post about all of the reviews I've performed directly for authors and publicists. Some colleagues have asked why I do this for (typically) no pay, just like I've been asked why I do pro bono work.

While my reasons for doing pro bono work differ, the following are my reasons in a nutshell why I perform these reviews: (1) to grow my network, including for a time when I might want to be published myself, (2) to develop my writing and editing skills, and (3) because I find it enjoyable to give back from my work experience.

The following is the text from my manuscript review, including the bolded editor questions.

---

Review by Erik Gfesser for Charlotte Ashlock and Sarah Modlin at Berrett-Koehler Publishers “Project Decisions: The Art and Science (Second Edition)”, by Lev Virine and Michael Trumper:

If possible, it would be great to also receive a digital copy of the manuscript with your inserted notes and observations. I will share your content review with the author and the editor on the project.

In addition to this document, I am also providing an edited manuscript with review notes constrained to the material added for the new edition, which is understood to be highlighted in yellow. My review of this new content could not help but make note of a considerable number of grammar and spelling mistakes. As a prolific reader and writer, I often get annoyed when coming across such mistakes in published material because my presumption is that the authors of such works should be better writers than myself. And as a reviewer, I tend to rate books lower simply because of such mistakes. Most books have a small amount of grammar and spelling issues, but it is extremely distracting to me as a reader when I need to additionally think through what I am reading simply because of the manner in which the material was written. As the manuscript provided to me is likely not the first draft, these issues should have been resolved by now, and I highly recommend that the second edition not reach publication until the notes I have added to the manuscript have been addressed. Note that my inline review notes were written during my initial walkthrough of the manuscript, so this document includes additional thoughts following this additional reading (apart from my notes on grammar and spelling issues, which are constrained to the manuscript).

What additions to the new edition are you the most pleased about? What do you think is most compelling about the new and revised version?

Page 23, 197-198

The evolution of Tesla Model 3 manufacturing over such a short time period is bound to be a classic example for a long time to come, regardless of whether this car model has long-term success. As an avid Tesla follower myself, I think it will, and as such I think this addition to the new edition is a good one and will remind the reader that they are reading a recently published book, a book attribute that some will undoubtedly find of value.

What are parts of the book you think are working less well? Please give examples of where you see this, and how you would revise it to make it work better.

Page 12:

The “Test Your Judgment” section includes a question which makes use of an example citing Kim and Kanye, and the text for the new edition qualifies these individuals as being Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. I recommend use of a different wedding couple, although I realize the intention is probably to make use of a well-known couple while still being as apolitical as possible. One of the reasons for this suggestion is to help prevent this book from becoming outdated when this couple's popularity fades away. I suggest use of a royal couple instead. What I'm not immediately clear about here is that if this phrase is what was added from the first edition, how anyone would have known when reading the first edition who "Kim and Kanye" might be in the remainder of the example.

Page 13:

Similarly on the following page, my presumption is that “Mike Zukkerfield” is a play on "Mike Zuckerberg", in which case I'm not sure why this name wasn't used to begin with, especially since "Kim and Kanye West" were already cited earlier. Why wasn't something like "Kim and Kanye East" not chosen if there is a concern about citing real individuals? Alternatively, I would choose another name here since Mike Zuckerberg is losing favor as of late with the public.

Page 39:

Inclusion of Figure 2.4 is understandable, but I recommend a photo that shows the car from a different enough angle so that the logo is not visible. The reality is that I naturally looked at the image before reading the sentences leading up to it, and already knew that the depicted car is not from Mazda, Toyota, or Kia simply by my not recognizing the logo.

Page 49:

I am not sure whether Figure 3.1 provides much value to the discussion other than possibly to help the reader visualize the relationships between the 3 components. If it is decided that this image does provide value, I recommend replacing it with one that more properly fits the word "Comprehensiveness", or using something like "Compre-" and "hensiveness" so that syllables are broken down correctly.

Page 63:

While the author should be careful in general when using drug firms as an example here, the author’s added remark for the second edition that “a significant number of drugs never make it through the approval process” should be used with caution. While this statement might be technically true, just keep in mind that many drugs are fast-tracked, the ramification being that some risks might not be discovered until a later point. In addition, my understanding is that drug firms have enjoyed zero liability for vaccine injury as of the 1980s. The number of injuries was getting so high at the time that firms threatened to stop making vaccines unless they were granted immunity.

Page 135:

It might be worth noting that not only can everything be benchmarked, but everything can be measured. The practice of measuring everything is an important one because I have often heard from others in the workplace that many aspects are not measurable. The reality is that everything is measurable, but it needs to be determined whether doing so is worth the cost, financial or otherwise.

Page 147:

I have extensive experience with agile processes (and have multiple Scrum certifications), and Figure 12.5 of the waterfall model is not accurate. Instead, this diagram represents how individuals have misinterpreted the model. While I am definitely not an advocate of traditional waterfall methods, keep in mind that each phase as originally defined was supposed to loop back to its prior phase to act like a feedback loop. The author who first discussed this model included these feedback loops, but others have since excluded. If you wish to include this diagram in the second book edition, I recommend either calling this out, or explain in the context of how the waterfall method is typically carried out.

Pages 201-204:

The “Event Chain Diagrams” section needs to be cleaned up, and I have a few recommendations with consideration for its inclusion within a broader “Basic Principles of Event Chain Methodology” section that lists six principles. What is confusing to me as a reader is why diagrams are listed as a principle, and if these are really a principle why section principle #3 is not explained prior to the diagrams of principle #1 and principle #2. I think it makes sense to explain diagram notation before the diagrams of these earlier principles, and as such I recommend either reconsideration of whether event chain diagrams are a principle or just a communication mechanism used for the methodology. Either way, perhaps an introductory sidebar should instead first explain how to read such diagrams. Additionally, the author should be consistent in their structure of each bullet point. For example, I mention in my manuscript notes that each bullet should follow the pattern of symbol followed by explanation. The author goes back and forth with this pattern and explanation followed by symbol, and I found myself restructuring each bullet point as I was reading through all of these, distracting myself from likely author intent.

Page 252:

The author’s list of technologies to solve problems with scarce resources should probably be framed within the context of the fact that these technologies also pose risks and costs. For example, as someone doing "big data" work I know that while this type of work can provide significant value to an organization, this is not always the case, with "small data" sometimes providing a more relevant solution. Additionally, the terms "big" and "small" in this context have been largely irrelevant for approximately the last 5 years and I don't make a habit of using them.

Pages 254-256:

Appendix A provides a table of risk and decision analysis software. I highly recommend that the paragraph preceding this table be elaborated to explain that every customer of such software will have their own unique requirements, so whether these will be of help is only a possibility. If the author has not already done so, I also recommend that research reports from firms such as Gartner and Forrester be consulted as input to this table to help ensure that a survey of software within the domains of quantitative project risk analysis software, enterprise risk management software, and “other” decision and risk analysis software used in project management covers enough ground, and that high-level considerations for choosing a software vendor be listed. Additionally, I would define the difference between the categories of the first two tables, because it’s not clear to me as a reader what distinguishes these two. The author should also consider breaking down these tables further or adding a column that indicates subcategory of software. Alternatively, every single entry in the first table is described as Monte Carlo software: if this type of software really dominates “quantitative project risk analysis software”, why not just describe this table as “Monte Carlo software” instead?

What themes and topics are missing from the new edition that you would really like to see added into the new edition? Where would you like the author to go into greater detail? Is there something the author does not discuss that you wish she had?

In reviewing what the author presents about “agile”, I think it’s important to note that the concept of agile is not a monolith. Additionally, not everyone views agile methodologies as forms of project management, with many going so far as to say that project management in many cases is not even needed, and I share this opinion. I strongly recommend going into much greater detail on this subject matter, since agile methodologies have had such a profound impact on how work is performed. For example, I recommend breaking down the agile universe a bit to discuss some of the key approaches. While agile methodologies were still relatively uncommon in 2007 when this book was first published, the ensuing 10 years have seen widespread adoption, for better or worse. As such, the author should include discussion as to the scenarios in which each of the key approaches is more appropriate, especially within the context of corporate culture, which I’ve found to be a weighty success factor.

Are there any parts of the revised manuscript that you would recommend cutting or shortening and why? What do you think is the least crucial information within the book, if cuts have to be made?

I would remove chapter 5 (“Creativity in Project Management”). Additionally, I would not add Appendix A (“Risk and Decision Analysis Software”) unless the author addresses my comments earlier in this document.

How does the new edition deepen and strengthen the themes and contributions found in the original work? What do you personally find most interesting in the work and most useful for your own work and life? What do you like least?

My own work has increasingly concentrated in three areas: enterprise architecture, data and database architecture, and custom software development. Since reading the first edition of this book, I have increasingly come to the conclusion that in all of these areas (which cover a significantly large portion of corporate technology work), I largely see no need for project management. As such, I personally do not find much practical value here for my own work. That said, I am always open to new ideas, and reading books such as this one provides different perspectives that will inevitably feed my evaluation of work approaches for clients in the workplace. And of course, not everyone shares my opinions, especially those working in firms who approach work in a traditional manner.

New Book Review: "Applied Predictive Analytics"

New book review for Applied Predictive Analytics: Principles and Techniques for the Professional Data Analyst, by Dean Abbott, Wiley, 2014, reposted here:

Copy provided by Amazon.

Abbott is sure to discuss his philosophy and approach at the outset. "This book describes the predictive modeling process from the perspective of a practitioner rather than a theoretician. Predictive analytics is both science and art. The science is relatively easy to describe, but to do the subject justice requires considerable knowledge of mathematics. I don't believe a good practitioner needs to understand the mathematics of the algorithms to be able to apply them successfully, any more than a graphic designer needs to understand the mathematics of image correction algorithms to apply sharpening filters well. However, the better practitioners understand the effects of changing modeling parameters, the implications of the assumptions of algorithms in predictions, and the limitations of the algorithms, the more successful they will be, especially in the most challenging modeling projects."

"Science is covered in this book, but not in the same depth you will find in academic treatments of the subject. Even though you won't find sections describing how to decompose matrices while building linear regression models, this book does not treat algorithms as a black boxes. The book describes what I would be telling you if you were looking over my shoulder while I was solving a problem, especially when surprises occur in the data. How can algorithms fool us into thinking their performance is excellent when they are actually brittle? Why did I bin a variable rather than just transform it numerically? Why did I use logistic regression instead of a neural network, or vice versa? Why did I build a linear regression model to predict a binary outcome? These are the kinds of questions, the art of predictive modeling, that this book addresses directly and indirectly."

Amazon provided me a copy of this book to review after it was first published, and since I have a personal policy never to write a book review until after it has actually been read, this review is unfortunately being written a bit late. It has been more than 4 years since this book was published, and because the field being discussed has evolved considerably during this time period, it is showing its age at least a little bit, but this is mainly contained to Chapter 12 ("Model Deployment"). Considerable strides have been made in the namesake task being considered in this chapter, model deployment, but much can be said for artifact deployment in non-analytics areas of work as well. However, it is in this chapter where Abbott also covers various deployment options, and one of my only grievances about the content the author has to share is his assertation that deployment of models to databases is actually a viable option. While I realize that some commercial products now provide this capability, modelers should follow the best practices of software development not to embed logic in databases.

After the author provides an overview of predictive analytics, he delves into setting up the problem, understanding data, and preparing data, followed by discussions on itemsets and association rules, descriptive modeling, interpreting descriptive models, predictive modeling, assessing predictive models, model ensembles, text mining, model deployment, and case studies. Potential readers of this book might be interested in knowing that the author references a process called CRISP-DM (Cross-Industry Standard Process Model for Data Modeling) throughout, mainly because custom processes typically fall in line with the steps outlined by this process, and it helps describe the most commonly applied steps in the process, arguably providing needed structure for practitioners that reminds them of steps that need to be accomplished including the documentation and reporting especially valuable for new modelers.

The chapters that I especially appreciated are chapter 3 ("Data Understanding"), chapter 4 ("Data Preparation") and chapter 5 ("Itemsets and Association Rules"), which in my view cover topics often skipped or downplayed by other texts. As the author comments in the summary to chapter 3, the processes involved in understanding the data after it has been collected cannot be rushed: "problems missed during data understanding will come back to haunt the analyst during modeling". Chapter 4 also provides warnings. "Do not consider data preparation a process that concludes after the first pass. This stage is often revisited once problems or deficiencies are discovered while building models." Additionally, "Overfitting the data is perhaps the biggest reason predictive models fail when deployed. You should always take care to construct the sampling strategy well so that overfitting can be identified and models adjusted appropriately."

The bulk of the material, however, is concentrated in chapters 6 through 11, and while the material on descriptive modeling, prescriptive modeling, model ensembles, and text mining is presented well, these discussions largely provide a survey of the different approaches, and in 2019 more details can be found elsewhere. One aspect that potential readers should keep in mind is that while the author focuses on the practical, this book doesn't provide any code and doesn't discuss any open source frameworks or commercial products. In a sense the author rises above such specific implementations, so come here for practical approaches and lessons learned, but not hard details beyond the functional. However, the functional is often what data professionals need, as I have often found from my own consulting experience that field practitioners often can't see the functional forest for the framework trees.

New Book Review: "Future Legends"

New book review for Future Legends: Business in Hyper-Dynamic Markets, by Janka Krings-Klebe, Joachim Heinz, and Jörg Schreiner, 2017, reposted here:

Just recently, I read a post submitted to a professional forum that someone had written on the subject of agility and why agility is not really what organizations need to succeed. This particular post attracted over a dozen comments from readers, and somewhere across the thread of discussion an individual remarked that an assertion another reader had made was correct with the given that agility was synonymous with speed. In turn, I responded by commenting that these two terms are actually not synonymous, and that agility is typically needed but cannot be considered in isolation.

This discussion recalled to mind that I have found myself needing to repeatedly define quite a few seemingly common terms for others in the workplace, as many terms summoned by those around me in conversation come prepackaged with assumptions, with conversation participants often not seeing eye to eye so-to-speak. The authors do touch on a number of terms with which readers may already be familiar, but their presentation was thoughtfully put together in a way that makes the risk of losing reader attention low. At the outset, the authors comment that their focus was to provide a collection of their insights and answers around five key questions in the hope that it will provide inspiration and hands-on guidance to business leaders and policy makers.

These five questions are the following, slightly reworded for clarity: (1) "What exactly makes digitalization such a powerful force in the marketplace?" (2) "What are the principles that make companies highly adaptive and innovative in the digital age?" (3) "How can the innovativeness of start-ups be combined with the scale of large organizations?" (4) "How do the practices of management need to change for a connected business?" and (5) "What could connected businesses contribute to solve income and opportunity disparities?"

After the authors discourse about the world being in a permanent state of change at a scale never previously experienced, they explain why businesses need to adapt to the connected age enabled by digital technology in order to remain relevant. The discussion then segues into why this connected age requires businesses to become engines for innovation, and is furthered by discussions on why hyper-dynamic markets challenge businesses, why management is no longer about optimizing the known, and why societal contracts from the industrial age cease to work in the connected age.

While I found the introductory claim by the authors to be correct that they deliberately stay clear of technical jargon (because they have found technical terms to be often burdened with theory and distracting in nature from key concepts), this is not to say that they do not take the time to provide explanations along the way. Quite the contrary, the authors lead readers in a manner that assumes a bulk of the material they have to present is being taken in for the first time. And as such, they likely leave very little room for misinterpretation by those in the business world.

One of the few areas in this book where I divert from this view is with regard to the brief mention of Scrum midway through the chapter 2, as successful reader interpretation is assumed. While I agree with the authors that such methodologies are often adopted in isolation within firms rather than adopted wholesale, and that the latter is preferable, what is not explained is that starting small can lead to success within a specific domain or context, albeit even if this strategy does not end up providing success for the business as a whole, as I have witnessed this with the practice of bimodal IT.

That said, the authors explain in chapter 4 that one popular approach in the transformation of a business is to set up separate business units that are then tasked to develop new business opportunities, and they have found the following from their research and experience: (1) business incubators more or less always act within the limitations of the corporation in which they belong, and (2) the options to scale the business that has been developed in an incubator also depends on the framework of the corporation, and unconventional business operations will not survive in a framework optimized for a completely different goal.

As a consultant, I especially appreciated the discussions on the opposing cultures of exploration and exploitation which permeate throughout the text. As the authors explain, any business needs to perform these two fundamentally different tasks. Exploration means the continuous search for unmet market needs and how to address them, or in other words, exploring the known. Exploitation means delivering solutions to the market at scale, or in other words, scaling the known. And businesses cannot typically perform both of these tasks very well, and so tend to favor one over the other.

Additionally, I enjoyed the last several sequential sections in chapter 3 (about 30 pages in length) that present how a connected business acts, the new logic of a connected business, and how a connected business deals with the dynamic. In contrast with many business texts which heavily comprise historical business cases and do not spend enough time abstracting what should be gained from these cases (or for that matter, explaining to readers that copying the strategies of competitors is not going to help them differentiate), for this particular subject matter I appreciated that the authors did not do so here, especially with regard to what they have to say in the section entitled "how to start a business in the future".

Toward the conclusion of this text, the authors comment that a connected business with its open system does not try to limit variety and dynamic, and on the contrary, these conditions fuel its business. They need exactly the opposite conditions of those that closed business systems offer. In asking Haier's CEO Zhang Ruimin how he managed to balance the chaotic entrepreneurial energy and the need to control, he answered: "We don't need to balance! An unsteady and dynamic environment is the best way to keep everyone flexible!" Of course, the authors backpedal a bit on his response and comment that this is not necessarily a statement that can be made more broadly, but I like it!

New Book Review: "Pricing Done Right"

New book review for Pricing Done Right: The Pricing Framework Proven Successful by the World's Most Profitable Companies, by Tim J. Smith, Wiley (Bloomberg Press), 2016, reposted here:

As the author (founder and CEO of Wiglaf Pricing) mentions at the outset, every offering of a given firm and every transaction a given firm has with its customers has a price. Somehow, all of these offerings and transactions have prices. Either these prices are the result of lengthy deliberations consisting of market research, competitive dynamics, highly researched algorithms, intense customer negotiations, and torrid management discussions, or just numbers that popped out of someone's head. In one way or another, pricing decisions get made. But how should prices be determined? What should inform pricing decisions? And who should be engaged in those pricing decisions? While the managerial challenges of of pricing are well known, what isn't so well known is how these challenges should be addressed. The author argues that executives need a framework that will help them shape their organizations, routines, staff, information management, and analytical tools that will guide the organization toward making better pricing decisions. This book presents the Value-Based Pricing Framework as a template for executives to use in managing pricing decisions throughout the organization. This framework codifies best practices for managing prices in profit-seeking competitive businesses, and was developed through direct interviews with practicing executives, reviews of the academic literature, and implementations of this framework in numerous firms.

The five key decision areas identified in the Value-Based Pricing Framework are (1) business strategy, (2) pricing strategy, (3) market pricing, (4) price variance policy, and (5) price execution. An organizational function called pricing analysis supports these key decision areas by informing, guiding, and stewarding pricing decisions across the organization. Specific repeatable processes to inform pricing decision areas or provide informational feedback loops to improve pricing decisions are built into the framework. Business strategy consists of the choices a firm makes to differentiate itself in a manner which serves customer needs more profitably than competitors. Pricing strategy refers to the manner in which a firm will manage prices through its price positioning plan, price segmentation plan, competitive price reaction strategy, and pricing capability strategy. Market pricing is the setting of starting prices for all offerings and transactions of a firm. Price variance policy determines the rules for granting discounts and promotions. And price execution applies the appropriate prices according to the rules developed by strategic and managerial decisions, and subsequently collects these prices from customers in a timely manner with minimal error. The author walks the reader through each of these areas in the remainder of his presentation, and additionally provides appendices on the economic origins of competitive advantage, as well as one-on-one interviews with Jesse Finch Gnehm of GE Oil & Gas and Robert Smith of Eastman Chemical Company on how their respective firms get pricing done.

The author provides a very succinct, well edited presentation that could have easily stretched to twice the length and gotten sidetracked on lengthy tangents like other business texts. While the diagrams are extremely well done and immediately reminded me of the line drawings throughout a book in another subject area called "Waltzing with Bears", I would be inclined to recommend being a bit more liberal with the visual presentation (the count is just over a dozen diagrams). While I mentioned earlier that the author walks readers through the Value-Based Pricing Framework, I think it is worth mentioning that the presentation really does start from square one. Oftentimes, material presented in this manner elsewhere is labeled "introductory", but readers can get sidetracked into thinking that this label is intended to mean that content remains at an introductory level, or subsequent texts need to be reviewed to access more advanced material. But this label is really typically intended to mean that a given author seeks to make sure readers have an initial foundation, rather than running the risk of drowning the unaware in a sea of information. In much the same manner, the small amount of math that is presented is limited to chapter 2 ("Value-Based Pricing"), chapter 4 ("Pricing Strategy"), and appendix A ("Economic Origins of Competitive Advantage"), and consists of just a few variables such as product price, variable costs, fixed costs, quantity sold, and maximum customer benefits.

As a consultant, I especially found chapter 7 ("Pricing Continuous Improvement and Analytics"), chapter 8 ("Organizational Design of the Pricing Specialist Function"), appendix B ("Getting Pricing Done with Jesse Finch Gnehm of GE Oil & Gas"), and appendix C ("Getting Pricing Done with Robert Smith of Eastman Chemical Company") of interest. For example, in Appendix B the interviewee (a global pricing leader) mentions that he is not using any of "the traditional, mainstream, pricing software vendors right now", but is instead "developing some tools for pricing analytics within enterprise-level business intelligence tools". Additionally, this interviewee says that "visualization tools tend to be the place where we are seeing the most value right now", and that "statistics are great when you've got enough data to push through it...but you run into a lot of N problems...if your N is a small order of magnitude, stats aren't going to do a lot for you...so the visualization is a big and important place for us...it makes the analysis tangible for people...they can consume it in a way that makes sense to them". In chapter 8, in laying out some key areas where software is supporting pricing efforts, the author rightly points out that such software should be used to supplement efforts of the pricing talent, not instead of the pricing talent, and warns that firms too often purchase pricing software without the talent to utilize it and understand its output, leading to poor results. The author recommends that firms develop the required talent first, and then identify the software needed to accelerate the output or reduce the costs of generating the output of their pricing talent.

New Book Review: "Future Value Generation"

New book review for Future Value Generation: Do You Need to Create New Business Logics?, by Daniel Egger, CreateSpace, 2016, reposted here:

Copy provided by author Daniel Egger.

According to Egger, most companies today strive to react with quick solutions when challenged by change, and at the same time, strive to design new opportunities for the future. Unfortunately, however, companies get disappointing results because (1) innovation merely attempts to solve past problems, (2) strategy locks in a static worldview, and (3) foresight too often explores what is possible, but not practical. In order to create new value (which the author refers to as "logic"), the author argues that companies instead need to integrate these three approaches.

In his introductory pages, Egger explains that organizations will lag if they do not add new competencies and new methods to prepare for change. "If they try to meet new challenges using the reasoning, arguments, and hypothesis of the past, they might solve the problem, but it will take increasingly more time. Without new organizational capabilities, they have less and less time to adapt these new challenges, which will increase in quantity and complexity. Urgent action is critical."

"If the organization is inactive, cultural distress builds up, leading to managing daily crises and fast, super-simplified decision making, a tactical response that cannibalizes mid- and long-term value generation. This way of responding to change drives the organization into constant waves of disorder, causing it to forget about creating purpose and exploring new opportunities that emerge. Interesting is that a focus on crisis management might save the day but will only postpone critical business decisions."

"The strategic relevancy for exploring the necessary changes to business logics and understanding the ongoing shifts only increases with time. A proactive attitude to the future is necessary. It leads to a higher level of agility and adaptation of the business logic to external change. Understanding the future means preparing strategic alternatives and counter-attacks before they are needed. By setting such a course, organizations identify risk and transform complexity into opportunity. We have to unlearn the old, and be open to and prepare for the new, not as a leadership development dogma, but as a strategic necessity, even if this demands hard decisions."

This book is broken down into 3 chapters. The first chapter lays the groundwork for value generation, and along the way explores the connections between change, opportunity, and design, as well as the importance that each brings to creating new business logics. The second chapter is dedicated to case studies, and the third chapter explores the integration of innovation, foresight, and strategy in order to make the organization more agile, facilitate decision making, and create new future value.

As an individual who has read extensively about innovation and strategy, the 6 pages that conclude the first chapter personally provided the most value to me. The bulk of these pages discuss the types of futures that exist: (1) possible futures, (2) plausible futures, (3) probable futures, and (4) preferred futures. While the author provides a well constructed table that describes each of these types of futures, the names of each are fairly self-descriptive.

As a consultant architect, it has always been interesting to see most clients focus on preferred futures: What do we want to happen? What makes sense for the clients and us? What advantage do we expect? At the opposite end of the spectrum, however, are the possible futures: What can we imagine will happen? What is the most revolutionary change? What could happen, but sounds strange? While the vast majority of firms cannot afford to spend resources to explore possible futures, most firms should invest in the exploration of plausible and probable futures.

While I personally do not typically benefit from reading more than a few case studies in a particular subject area, a majority of the dog ears that I created while reading this book were concentrated in the third chapter, so I know that the author has presented content here that I will plan to revisit in the future. One section of this chapter was especially interesting to me, because it addresses a type of future not included in the original four: the official future. Egger describes the official future as the set of underlying past assumptions, the "entrained thinking" of executives and influencers. In revisiting my earlier comment that preferred futures have typically been the focus of my clients, it is not a stretch to say that there is probably often overlap with the official futures in their respective firms.

Egger also walks the reader through the concept of "time ecology". Earlier in my career, I focused on the current state and future state for any given software application or enterprise architecture. As I matured, I came to realize that while there is only one true current state (even though I recognize that such a true current state often does not mesh with the official current state), there are likely many possible future states, some having higher probability than others.

As the author explains, time ecology increases awareness of what change is when in transformation. "Plotting out the shifts and researching their change in direction over time provide organizations with the ability to make better and more risk-aware decisions. A timeline and expansion of the time frame reduces the fallacy of the time perception. The longer view guides us to explore more implications for our business to create a sense of the changes over time." Especially interesting in this discussion is idea of the "backcasting exercise".

While many of the concepts in this book will not be new to many readers, Egger has made a good attempt at integration. That said, many reading this review are likely not to have encountered a number of these concepts in the past. This book is recommended to those falling in this latter group, or those trying to make some sense of how many of the innovation and strategy concepts they have encountered in their respective industries might form a cohesive framework from which to draw for tackling future projects. Even the closing field notes that the author provides on corporate innovation labs (which have often devolved into entities more akin to "innovation theater") provide insight: "Any self-respecting CEO now has a corporate innovation lab!"

New Book Review: "A Culture of Purpose"

New book review for A Culture of Purpose: How to Choose the Right People and Make the Right People Choose You, by Christoph Lueneburger, Jossey-Bass, 2014, reposted here:

The content presented in this work, while centering on building cultures of purpose in organizations, also focuses on sustainability because Lueneburger has determined from experience and research that sustainability provides the most reliable blueprint for assembling the building blocks upon which cultures of purpose are built over time. In this sense, sustainability is seen as a means to an end. As explained by the author, "purpose" introduces a shared intent with impact beyond the organization itself, a pledge to do what is thought to be right, going beyond profitable growth, shareholder value, or any other measure of whether things are being done right.

The author interviewed board chairpersons, CEOs, and chief sustainability officers during the course of writing this book, who have come to the conclusion that sustainability is a primary focus of new recruits who are looking not just for jobs but for meaning. As explained by the author in the introduction, mission-led companies vastly outperform the market, and so the time has never been so critical for leaders to focus on building cultures of purpose. The war for talent is real, and the talent economy is gravitating toward cultures of purpose where meaning is seen to be pervasive rather reflected in window-dressing policies about composting and charitable giving.

This book is organized into thirteen chapters across four parts that discuss placing leaders with a purpose at the core (about 40% of the content), hiring talent with a purpose at the frontier, building a culture of purpose, and taking action (one chapter at less than 10% of the content). Author discussion starts by identifying the competencies or acquired skills at the core of a culture of purpose, followed by detailing the key innate traits of people who make up a culture of purpose, addressing the broader attributes a culture of purpose needs to thrive, and developing an actionable plan to structure the building blocks of a culture of purpose.

As a reader, I probably found the most interest in the first part of this book, although I most valued the sidebars concluding almost every chapter, which list probing questions intended as follow-ups to author presentation, as well as red flags for which to look over the course of asking these questions. For example, the author provides the following as red flags after his chapter on openness: "The greatest challenge to openness is a tribal culture, which exacerbates low openness with a lack of balance. Balance, as a cultural attribute, describes the degree to which organizations not only include a diversity of perspectives, skills, and styles but also express, recognize, and leverage the resulting differences. And the less a culture is balanced, the more openness will suffer. If companies could get moldy, this would be how."

In contrast to a related book by Aaron Hurst that I recently reviewed, "The Purpose Economy: How Your Desire for Impact, Personal Growth and Community is Changing the World", Lueneburger provides a much narrower focus on sustainability as a means to an end, and concentrates heavily on organization level case studies rather than the larger economy, or for that matter, the individual. But in surveying all of the purpose-related texts in the marketplace, each has its purpose. This book is recommended to leaders of organizations looking at sustainability as a means to an end, and how to best draw and retain related talent, but if this is your focus, you will be well served by reading what Aaron Hurst has to offer as well.

The author provides some of his best thoughts in the epilogue, which will hopefully not be missed by readers who do not get to this point. "Throughout history, two conditions have caused cultures of purpose to wane: achieving their purpose or growing beyond the scale that can consistently contain it. Each of these two conditions brings up a key question to take on your journey. Regarding the first, what has to be true about your purpose for it to be itself sustainable? There's a fine balance between being aspirational and being quixotic. On the one hand, the purpose must be more than a cakewalk destination beyond which the bonds between the people reaching it will disintegrate."

"On the other hand, it cannot be so removed from reality that it fails to bond people together with a shared desire to achieve. The good news is that you have an actionable echo of your purpose in the quality of talent that flocks to you and stays with you: the people who make up your culture. As for the second condition, is growth - for example, growth in revenues - a reasonable strategic metric for an organization? It's certainly an effective metric for a cancer, but individual cancers are not around for long if they are successful."

"To be clear: there is nothing wrong with growth per se, but it should be a by-product of doing the right things, rather than the aim of doing things right. It's a good servant, but a terrible master. The kind of growth that markets have historically liked best - say, a steady 5 percent every year - is destructive to a culture of purpose because its constancy makes it the master of the organization. But here, too, we find good news. The steady-growth mentality is gutted by what we know about long-term value creation. Adherence to purpose trumps delivery of invariant growth."

New Book Review: "Data Science for Business"

New book review for Data Science for Business: What You Need to Know About Data Mining and Data-Analytic Thinking, by Foster Provost and Tom Fawcett, O'Reilly Media, 2013, reposted here:

As the authors discuss in the preface to this text, the content presented here provides a conceptual foundation for many well-known data mining algorithms, and is therefore not about algorithms or a replacement for a book about algorithms. "We believe there is a relatively small set of fundamental concepts or principles that underlie techniques for extracting useful knowledge from data." While this book does contain significant technical content, the conceptual approach that the authors take revolves around (1) how data science fits in the organization and the competitive landscape, (2) ways of thinking data-analytically, which help identify appropriate data and consider appropriate methods, and (3) discussions on extracting the knowledge from data that undergirds the vast array of data science tasks and algorithms.

Content is broken down into 14 chapters, followed by two appendixes which outline factors to consider when assessing potential data mining projects and provide another sample proposal beyond what was presented in Chapter 13 ("Data Science and Business Strategy"). After providing an introduction to data-analytic thinking, the authors present discussions on the following topics: the data mining process, supervised versus unsupervised data mining, identifying informative attributes, segmenting data by progressive attribute selection, fitting a model to data, overfitting and its avoidance, similarity, neighbors, and clusters, model evaluation, model performance, evidence and probabilities, representing and mining text, and analytical engineering, followed by some additional tasks and techniques which build on the foundation presented in earlier chapters, and a discussion of data science and strategy.

The content that the authors present will likely be weighty for many potential readers. While I do agree with the authors that the math is kept to a minimum, this weightiness will likely be due to the number of topics that are discussed as well as the detail of many of the discussions. In short, most will not find this book a short read, although I did find it curious how many book reviews were written so soon after the publish date. Readers who do not have time to read the entire text but are interested in this space might at minimum be advised to read Chapter 1 ("Introduction: Data-Analytic Thinking"), Chapter 2 ("Business Problems and Data Science Solutions"), and Chapter 13 ("Data Science and Business Strategy"), followed by the appendixes, before moving forward to the remaining chapters where a bulk of the material is presented.

As a consultant architect, I especially appreciated the discussion in Chapter 1 ("Introduction: Data-Analytic Thinking") on where data science fits in the context of other data-related processes in the organization, as well as its relationship with Big Data (it is refreshing to read material that presents the correct definition of the term, unlike some other publications in this space). In addition, I enjoyed the discussions in Chapter 7 ("Decision Analytic Thinking I: What Is a Good Model?") and Chapter 11 ("Decision Analytic Thinking II: Toward Analytical Engineering"). The other chapters that I especially appreciate include Chapter 3 ("Introduction to Predictive Modeling: From Correlation to Supervised Segmentation"), Chapter 4 ("Fitting a Model to Data"), Chapter 5 ("Overfitting and its Avoidance"), and Chapter 6 ("Similarity, Neighbors, and Clusters"). And now that I have listed these favorites, I realize that together they comprise half the text.

While I understand that this book is based on an MBA course that Provost taught at NYU over the past ten years, and "The Wall Street Journal" discussed just today that analytics is starting to be increasingly prevalent in MBA coursework, I am impressed at the level of detail in some of the discussions that the authors present, even though the varying language used in some of the segments seems to point to several different authors. As a visual thinker, however, it is the abundant level of diagrams that continued to grab my attention and bring me to understand them in light of the textual component of the discussions. Recommended reading for anyone new to data science or anyone concentrating in one area of the field that seeks better understanding of the big picture.