Misc. Ramblings

Actually, now that fellow Daynoter Phil does occasional longer posts, I don't know if he has relinquished his title of Man of Few Words. But not much of interest is going on over here in the Seto Shack.

However, there are a couple of sports events in town this weekend. First up is the American style football Hula Bowl (see the site here) on Saturday on the island of Mau'i. It will be broadcast on ESPN at 9:00 p.m. (EST).

The second is the National Football League Pro Bowl (see their site here) on Sunday, ABC 5:30 p.m. EST.

On the other hand, school work has heated up a bit as we try to gather information about how other states handle their retirement systems. My eleven loyal readers know that I am in my last semester working on a Masters in Public Administration. Our final paper is a group effort to help the Hawai'i Employees Retirement System increase operational efficiency.

Right now, we're contacting other state systems as well as starting to contact local state agencies that have dealings with the system.

Speaking of graduating, it's amazing how much it costs. You pay $15USD for a diploma, $55 for a cap and gown, $25 for a hood (that colorful piece of material that hangs around the neck and kind of reminds me of a woolen muffler). Then there's the announcements ($1.35 a piece) and thank you cards ($7.50 per 10). And for the high rollers, a custom matted frame for the diploma starting at $105 and going up over $200. Now if I can only graduate.

Speaking of working in groups, it's interesting they work, or don't work as the case may be. In my first year, we had a class in which we were given a test. The test was a list of about 10 questions dealing with surviving in a mountainous region during the Winter. After answering the questions on paper, we broke into groups and tried to combine the expertise of each group member to come up with a list of answers to the same questions.

The point of the exercise was to show that by pooling the experience/education/knowledge of the group, you would come up with more right answers than you did by taking the test relying only on your own knowledge. Well, you can probably guess the outcome of my group. I scored significantly higher on my individual test than our group did collectively. Now, perhaps this is an indication that I was not very persuasive in getting my group members to believe I had the right answers.

Or perhaps there are situations in which the expected synergy does not occur (see just about any of the current NASA projects). But in any case, all that I learned from that experience was that I should probably rely more on myself than others.

Such seems to be the case in the group I am in now. To me, our task is well defined and doable. If I were assigned to do this at work, I would be able to complete it, by myself, in about three months. But with this group, we will be lucky if it's done in six. And when it is done, the quality will be much lower than if I did it myself. Now, I realize this may sound arrogant and self-centered, but it also happens to be the objective truth.

If it is the reality, I am not encouraged by this because committees are how everyone in large agencies seem to organize themselves to solve problems. While I understand and support the assertion that problem solving should include the stakeholders involved, I'm not so sure relying solely on their input and judgment will result in the optimal solution.

In fact, I wonder if it almost guarantees it won't. It seems to me committees, more often than not, end up being a waste of time and resources. But perhaps I am being too harsh. Perhaps the problem is most committees are not led by people trained in facilitating meetings so the meetings do not stay focussed or disciplined. Or perhaps its something else.

Whichever the case, the next few months will be very frustrating for me. But regardless of how others seem to have problems figuring out what to do, I know what my tasks are and I will remain focused on accomplishing those tasks.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Working with the legislature is sometimes like walking in a minefield - one misstep can lead to a very bad day. Such is the case as our group of graduate students begins to survey members of the legislature as to their opinions on the employees' retirement system.

Many legislators don't like taking positions, or at least they don't want to publicly say what their positions are. One reason is because doing so will alienate one group or another since most issues have at least two sides. Another may be the legislator's opinion differs from the those of the majority of constituents in his or her district. And finally, stating one's opinion leaves a paper trail. A trail that an opponent can then twist and use to their advantage.

If forced to state their opinion, many will switch to Plan B - issue a non-statement. That is, something that sounds like an opinion but really doesn't take a stand one way or the other. If pressed further, they may hunker down and support a study, in the hope that the issue will die down and go away by the time the study is completed. But if forced into a corner, she may come out shooting.

It is at that point that things get interesting for those within range. I fear that we have entered such a killing field but hope we can pass through quickly and not loose any precious bodily fluids.

As a side note, be aware that corporate leadership tends to act in similar ways. In fact, things are actually worse because there isn't any public accountability. So don't think you can avoid these problems by staying in the private sector. <G>

MOVE ALONG, NOTHING TO SEE HERE

I'm kind of tired. I take that back, I'm not kind of tired, I am very tired. Things are very busy around here. Our school project is due in about five weeks and things are going very slowly. I'm going to list some of my ideas of why I think they are going so slowly so that others that follow can learn from our mistakes.

What it boils down to is this: Choose your group wisely. You must be compatible with them and they with you. Further, they must be focused and goal oriented.

• Are they as motivated as you? They must want to graduate on time, as much as you do (some are going on to get a PhD., so whether they get their Masters now or next year doesn't matter to them). Otherwise, they will not have that sense of urgency that is needed to complete the project on time.

• Choose good writers. Choose people who can write clear declarative sentences and who can string them together to express clear ideas. On the other hand, avoid those who write flowery, complex sentences that have no clear meaning or those who can not write in English.

• Know what your role needs to be for the group to be successful. Hence, choose people who can lead as well as follow (programs such as our tend to train people to be leaders, but having five leaders in a group is a recipe for disaster).

• Good communication is critical. Have regularly scheduled meetings with the group so that everyone has the opportunity to tell how things are going and problems can be identified early enough to solve them. Keep meticulous minutes of the decisions made in those meetings.

• Assignments don't get done by people who only talk. They get done by people who talk and then work. So avoid people who see the meetings as social gatherings rather than tools towards a goal. These types of people love to hear the sound of their voice and will take every opportunity to do so.

• Get people who have experience in the area of study. If you don't, these people will spend most of their time just trying to understand the lay of the land and will have little or no time to actually do any constructive work towards the project.

• Try to spread the assignments around so that everyone does their fair share. Note that fair share does not necessarily mean the same amount of work. Some will be more able than others. But everyone must understand that each has their own strengths and weaknesses and the work should be divided so it plays to each person's strengths.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Our Masters in Public Administration capstone group has less than four weeks to complete our paper so things may get very sparse around here. I will try to have something for you to read everyday but I can not guarantee anything.

No sooner do I talk about the low reliability of the RoadRunner service does the Verizon ADSL service go down. Or I guess I should say their DHCP server went down - same difference because if you don't get an IP address recognized by their routers/DNS/gateway you don't go anywhere. Sigh.

Fortunately, RoadRunner was up so I switched modems and all was well. Having redundant access to the Internet is especially important right now as we near completion of our thesis. We are sending drafts back and forth via email and the turn-around time for changes is measured in minutes. So, having access, whether through ADSL or cable modem is critical. Whether or not I need to have this kind of access once I finish we will have to see.

On a related note, our group made it our policy to send copies of everything to everyone, both when in hard copy and electronic. We did this for two reasons. The first is for redundant backup. Should disaster strike, like fire or flood (or dog eating our manuscript), we would have back-up copies stored in five locations. The second is should one of our group drop out, we would have all of the work product up to that point.

Thankfully, we have not had to make use of our backups but it is nice to know that we have them in place should we need them.

Have a Great Weekend Everyone - Aloha!

Today is the day. I plan to turn in the paper during lunch today. It is the last paper to do to complete my Masters of Arts in Public Administration. Yes, we will probably have to re-write some of it before graduation in two weeks, but the bulk of it is done. By bulk I mean 143 pages.

Hail them Mr. Sulu. The Star Trek convention is coming to town on May 31st. Scheduled to appear are George "Mr. Sulu" Takei, and Web Master Will "I'm not a dork, I just played one on TV" Wheaton. Tickets on sale now.

Aloha!

Our graduate school group had another busy weekend. On Saturday, we met from 8:30 a.m. to midnight working on the the second draft of our final capstone project paper. We've tried to cut the number pages down by focusing the writing so that it reads better but, its been slow going.

If you ever have the opportunity to write a substantive report, with a group of diverse people, run away as fast as you can. I have yet to see, and I've been doing this for almost 20 years, a well-written report done by a committee. The only way it works is if one person takes on the responsibility and does it alone. Yes, you take the input of everyone on the committee, but it has to be one voice. Otherwise, things get very confusing, very quickly.

When I began this process I noted we would have problems because of this committee form of writing and, indeed, that is what has happened. But, as with everything else during the last three years, it has been a learning experience.

We have until next week Monday to get the paper in a form that is acceptable to our professor.

Aloha!

Our graduate school group worked hard into the night trying to finish the third draft of our capstone thesis paper.

We hope to be done by tomorrow afternoon but I'm not confident the changes we made will be enough for our professor.

In either case, graduation is Sunday so all we can do is all we can do...

Aloha!

Graduation was yesterday. It started a little after 2:00 p.m. and went to almost 4:30. I'm told, although I have not checked this, that over 400 students got their Masters, Doctorates, JDs, and MDs yesterday. I was one of them.

The commencement speaker was Dick Parsons, CEO of AOL/Time Warner. Parsons attended the University of Hawai'i for four years but apparently did not graduate from here. I'm not sure having someone from AOL is a Good Thing given the reputation it has but I guess Parsons was as good as anyone. It's interesting that Parsons is not the only Hawai'i connection to AOL. Steve Case was born and raised here, but then, you knew that.

Although I did graduate, we still have more work to do on our project. We have a few loose ends to tie up on the paper and then we need to do a presentation to the Board of Trustees of the Hawai'i public Employees Retirement System. The presentation will probably take place in June so we have until then to work on that.

I would be remiss not to thank the people who made my graduation possible. First, my mother and late father who instilled in me an appreciation for education. To my wife, who supported me through the difficult times. And to my professors who accepted nothing less than academic excellence. Thank you to one and all. I could not have done it without you. Mahalo.

PS. I was indeed remiss and forgot our group members. If it wasn't for their hard work, there wouldn't be a paper to turn in.

(Thanks to The Pompous Git for the reminder).

Aloha!

I picked up my grades for this last semester. To be more accurate, I logged in to check my grades as paper is no longer sent to students. In either case, I got an "A" for the final capstone project. My cumulative grade point average, on a scale from zero to four where the worst grade is zero and the best is 4.0, is 3.9. Out of all of the classes I took in graduate school, I had one "B".

Still, it's a lot better than my GPA in undergraduate school. During that time, just graduating was an accomplishment. My GPA then was something like 2.9 or 3.0. Not bad but not great. Or as one person put it, getting a "B" means either you are a "C" level person working very hard, or an "A" level person not working hard enough. I guess I was the latter.

In either case, the presentation went well yesterday. With that presentation, the only thing left to do is attend a debriefing with the other capstone projects to reflect on the experience and give suggestions on how the class could be organized better.

I don't know if I have anything that will help classes that follow us other than to let them know that conflict among group members is to be expected, but should not rewarded.

Graduates students have to have large egos. If we didn't we wouldn't be there in the first place.

In addition, it takes a lot of self-confidence and stamina to stay the course for three years. Students are pulled in different directions by the needs of your spouse, families, friends, and work.

To put everything aside and stay focused on school requires commitment. To graduate requires a rearranging of priorities to make school the top of the pile.

But when you put a group of such people together, you will have problems. This is further reinforced by classes that teach us to be leaders, not followers. Classes that say we are special and are being groomed for roles of responsibility and power. Classes that reinforce individualism, not working together.

Hence, if there is anything that I would say to the classes to follow it is this: Know your strengths and weakness, know your group members' strengths and weaknesses and try to arrange things so the strengths of each is put to use and the weaknesses are covered by others. In the end, if you can't work together as a group, you will never reach your goals - in school, work, and in life.

Aloha!

Fellow Daynoter Sjon commented on Michelle Wie being so young that the child labor laws in his area would probably prohibit her from turning professional (insert disclaimer here, neither of us are lawyers). There are child labor laws here too but I'm not sure what it says about turning professional. Wie must still otherwise adhere to all other laws, including staying in school. In fact, although she will be able to buy herself a Mercedes, she can't legally drive it by herself because she's too young to get a regular driver's license (she has what is called a "learner's permit" but that requires that a licensed driver be with her while she drives.).

Still, I think it is the right decision for her. Now is the time to make whatever money she will be able to make. Other than her obvious talent, the main reason she is so popular is that she is an oddity. I don't mean that in a negative way but the reason so many people are interested in her is that she is so young. I mean she is like a child prodigy who can play Mozart at the age of three and Carnegie Hall at the age of seven and is no longer known at the age of 18.

But she won't stay young forever. In fact, I think she has three more years in which she will be popular because of her age. After that, she will have to start winning tournaments to make a living (which she probably will be able to because she is so talented. But I'm not sure she'll have any endorsement deals worth eight to 10 million). But, I could be wrong. YMMV. Insert disclaimer here.

Aloha!