GSA Inspector General Finds Something Obvious
July 3, 2019
I read “GSA IG: Federal Acquisition Service Ineffective in Administering Enterprise IT Modernization Contract.” Startling. Amazing. Shocking.
The write up explained:
The IG said that FAS failed to ensure that the Transition Ordering Assistance task order met the requirements for the EIS information technology modernization initiative, resulting in “high rates of spending with minimal transition progress.” Other findings include deficiencies in planning and management, invoicing and contractor performance assessments.
How does one address the shortcomings?
Easy.
Get in the consultants. Form a team. Work up “metrics for work completion”. Make sure these are in line “with budget concerns.” Then everyone implement “interagency agreements.”
Who knew that solving a problem would be so straightforward.
Why do these problems exist? Maybe consultants and staff struggling to deal with certain types of complex interactions.
What happens to projects underway as these recommendations are followed? Maybe more inefficiency, delays, and waste.
Camus might have dropped Sisyphus as his hero and substituted the GSA’s Inspector General?
Stephen E Arnold, July 3, 2019
Machine Learning: Whom Does One Believe?
June 28, 2019
Ah, another day begins with mixed messages. Just what the relaxed, unstressed modern decider needs.
First, navigate to “Reasons Why Machine Learning can Prove Beneficial for Your Organization.” The reasons include:
- Segment customer coverage. No, I don’t know what this means either.
- Accurate business forecasts. No, machine learning systems cannot predict horse races or how a business will do. How about the impact of tariffs or a Fed interest rate change?
- Improved customer experience. No, experiences are not improving. How do I know? Ask a cashier to make change? Try to get an Amazon professional to explain how to connect a Mac laptop to an Audible account WITHOUT asking, “May I take control of your computer with our software?”
- Make decisions confidently. Yep, that’s what a decider does in the stable, positive, uplifting work environment of a electronic exchange when a bug costs millions in a two milliseconds.
- Automate your routine tasks. Absolutely. Automation works well. Ask the families of those killed by “intelligence stoked” automobiles or smart systems on a 737 Max.
But there’s a flip side to these cheery “beneficial” outcomes. Navigate to “Machine Learning Systems Are Stuck in a Rut.” We noted these statements. First a quote from a technical paper.
In this paper we argue that systems for numerical computing are stuck in a local basin of performance and programmability. Systems researchers are doing an excellent job improving the performance of 5-year old benchmarks, but gradually making it harder to explore innovative machine learning research ideas.
Next this comment by the person who wrote the “Learning Systems” article:
The thrust of the argument is that there’s a chain of inter-linked assumptions / dependencies from the hardware all the way to the programming model, and any time you step outside of the mainstream it’s sufficiently hard to get acceptable performance that researchers are discouraged from doing so.
Which is better? Which is correct?
Be a decider either using a black box or the stuff between your ears.
Stephen E Arnold, June 28, 2019
Google Maps: A Metaphor for the Here and Now Google
June 28, 2019
In a way, I have some sympathy for the GOOG. The company, allegedly an online search service, demonstrated the inherent irrelevance of its systems and methods. I read the allegedly true story “EasyAsk Drive 7-% More Revenue” which was the headline displayed over the CNN story about Google Maps directing more than 100 individuals to a muddy field. Yep, the ad covered up the story. That’s our here and now Google.
Sure, the story was amusing even if the title was obliterated in a quest to get me to license a product in which I have zero interest. According to the write up:
Technology isn’t always foolproof, as about 100 Colorado drivers learned when Google Maps offered them a supposedly quick way out of a traffic jam.
That’s a refreshing assessment of a really screwed up mess.
I learned:
The alternate route took drivers down a dirt road that rain had turned into a muddy mess, and cars started sliding around. Some vehicles couldn’t make it through the mud, and about 100 others became trapped behind them.
Google explained the problem this way:
“We take many factors into account when determining driving routes, including the size of the road and the directness of the route,” the company said in a statement. “While we always work to provide the best directions, issues can arise due to unforeseen circumstances such as weather. We encourage all drivers to follow local laws, stay attentive, and use their best judgment while driving.”
I love the royal we.
Let’s review the flaws this single incident and news story reveal:
- Just bad information. Google Maps direct people to routes which are not passable
- Sheep like humans. Humans depend on Google to do the thinking for them and end up with incorrect information
- Talk down rhetoric. Google explains the problem with parent type talk.
- Desperate advertisers. Marketers are paying to put their message in front of people indifferent to the annoyance a person like me experiences when an irrelevant ad covers up the headline of something that interests me.
The drivers are not the only ones stuck in the mud. Quite a mess.
Stephen E Arnold, June 28, 2019
Bilderberg Attendees
June 28, 2019
Who attended the exclusive Bilderberg meeting this year?
It is the most prestigious and consequential meeting you may never have heard of, and it has been going on since 1954. The Bilderberg Meeting is an annual conference where elites from Europe and North America discuss the fate of the world. Originally formed to avoid another World War, the gathering includes some 120 to 150 of the world’s top movers and shakers in politics, industry, finance, academics, and the media. This year’s meeting was held in Dresden, Germany, the first week of June and, thanks to From the Trenches World Report, we know who was invited—just see the “Bilderberg 2019 Annotated Members List.” Blogger Video Rebel introduces their roster:
“I prefer an in depth look at the participants which is why I have been doing annotated Bilderberg participants lists for several years. This year has lots of AI experts. As usual lots of military experts and bankers plus media and politicians. But lots of experts in populist revolts and movements. Based on their invitations to attend, they seem to want to co-opt gender studies, Gays, Greens and the Trump administration.”
We are interested to see the increase in AI experts; that makes sense right now. Navigate to the write-up for the full list, but here are some names that caught my eye: Jared Cohen, Jared Kushner, Eric Schmidt, and Peter Thiel. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall for some of those conversations!
Cynthia Murrell, June 24, 2019
Google: Hunting for Not Us
June 26, 2019
There was a dust up about song lyrics. As I recall, the responsibility did not fall upon the impossibly magnificent Google shoulders. A supplier may have acted in a manner which some “genius” thinks is a third party’s problem. Yep, a supplier.
I just read “Tracing the Supply Chain Attack on Android.” The write up explained that malware with impossible to remember and spell names like Yehuo found its way on to Android phones via the “supply chain.” I don’t know much about supply chains, but I think these are third parties who do work for a company. The idea is that someone at one firm contracts with the third party to perform work. When I worked as a “third party,” I recall people who were paying me taking actions; for example, texting, visiting, emailing, requiring me or my colleagues to attend meetings in which some of the people in charge fiddled with their mobile devices, and fidgeted.
The write up digs through quite a bit of data and reports many interesting details.
However, there is one point which is not included in the write up: Google appears to find itself looking at a third party as a bad actor. What unites the “genius” affair and the pre installed malware.
Google management processes?
Yes, that’s one possible answer. Who said something along the lines that if one creates chaos, that entity must address the problems created by chaos?
But if a third party did it, whose problem is it anyway?
Stephen E Arnold, June 26, 2019
Google Walk Out Leader Walks Out
June 26, 2019
Is diversity possible at Google?
Not too long ago, Claire Stapleton led a series of walkouts at Google related to policies that are sexist towards female employees. Since Stapleton staged the walkouts, she claimed she faced a growing amount of hostility at her job. The Inquirer investigates more in the article, “Googler Who Lead Mass Walkout Leaves The Company Due To ‘Manager Hostility.’”
Stapleton was a YouTube marketing manager and had worked at Google for twelve years. Ever since she took a stand against Google’s sexist policies, Stapleton said that Google has become more hostile toward her. She specifically used the term “scarlet letter” in reference to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book of the same name about a woman who bore a child out of wedlock. The scarlet letter term is ironic, because of that connotation. Stapleton decided to leave to escape from the stress and shame. She also is pregnant and did not want the stress to harm her unborn child.
Google said something different:
“We thank Claire for her work at Google and wish her all the best. To reiterate, we don’t tolerate retaliation. Our employee relations team did a thorough investigation of her claims and found no evidence of retaliation. They found that Claire’s management team supported her contributions to our workplace, including awarding her their team Culture Award for her role in the walkout.”
Google’s response is the standard, inoffensive HR copy. It is impressive that Stapleton’s management team awarded her the Culture Award. Even if Google praised her efforts, the company could still ostracize her. It could have been Google’s entire plan to place undue stress on Stapleton, until she could not handle the pressure anymore and needed to leave for her sanity. This is a nasty business tactic and it is not new, but it is a shame that it is still being used. Stapleton may continue to push for equality and diversity. She was good enough to get hired, but not good enough to stay: Is that a fair assessment?
Whitney Grace, June 26, 2019
Microsoft Security Consistency Involves Prohibition and Discouragement. Yeah, about That Security Thing?
June 22, 2019
I read “No Slack for You! Microsoft Puts Rival App on Internal List of Prohibited and Discouraged software” and had to laugh. Adobe Flash and Microsoft Windows have something in common. These are two of the “systems” which have been the super highway to exploits, hacking, and mischief for years. I am not sure the Mac is more secure; it is less popular. With forced installations, Microsoft’s software has emerged as a go to way for many bad actors to compromise systems. Yep, Word macros, Shadow Brokers’ code dumps, and freebie exploits explained by security researchers — quite a few pivot on Microsoft technology.
The write up explains that Microsoft has identified software which poses security leaks for the one time monopolist and all time champ of questionable browser technology:
- Amazon AWS. Yep, Amazon is a threat. A security threat? Only if those using the service fail to follow the recommended procedures. Plus Amazon is gobbling Microsoft’s mindshare by making it possible to run Microsoft on AWS. There you go.
- Grammarly. Don’t you love it when Word gets grammar incorrectly? Grammarly does some grammar moster correct. How do you solve the problem? Hey, just ban the Grammarly thing. Word’s method is Microsoftianish-like.
- Slack. Use Skype and be happy. Use Outlook and be happier. Use Zoom. Nope, strike that. And didn’t Microsoft try to buy Slack in 2016?
But “git” this: Microsoft owns another banned service GitHub. Now banning something you have owned since late 2018 is straight out of bizarro world.
Why not invest to “fix” GitHub? Why not make your own code less vulnerable to bad actors? Why not? Why not?
One of the TV shows has used the catchphrase, “Come on, man” to call attention to what I would call ill advised on field actions.
It is applicable to Microsoft’s new found concern for security.
Come on, man.
Stephen E Arnold, June 22, 2019
Building Trust: Current Instances of Dubious Credibility
June 20, 2019
I buzzed through the overnight email and scanned the headlines dumped in my “Pay Attention” folder. Not much of interest to me. Sure, Congress is going to ask questions about the new sovereign currency from the People’s Republic of Facebook. That’s going to be a rerun of the managerial version of “So You Think You Can Dance.”
I did spot three items which make clear the ethical swamp in which some companies find themselves lost. Let’s look at these and ask, “Yeah, about that bridge to Brooklyn you sold my mother”?
ITEM ONE: Vice reports that Twitter is working on a bug fix which tells a user, “You know that person you unfollowed. Well, good news, that person is now following you.” The write up “A Nightmare Twitter Bug Is Sending Users Notifications When They’re Unfollowed” states:
For several days, untold numbers of Twitter users have been getting push notifications whenever someone unfollows them. To add insult to injury, the notifications say the user has “followed them back” when in fact the opposite is true.
Yep, a bug, not another programming error, not a failure of code QA prior to pushing the ones and zeros to a production system, not an example of a senior management team looking for fire extinguishers. Just a bug. Forget the cause, and, of course, the Twitteroids are going to fix it.
ITEM TWO: The somewhat frantic and chaotic methods of YouTube are going to more attention. “YouTube Under Federal Investigation over Allegations It Violates Children’s Privacy” reports:
A spokeswoman for YouTube, Andrea Faville, declined to comment on the FTC probe. In a statement, she emphasized that not all discussions about product changes come to fruition. “We consider lots of ideas for improving YouTube and some remain just that — ideas,” she said. “Others, we develop and launch, like our restrictions to minors live-streaming or updated hate speech policy.”
Okay, let’s clam up and face facts: The methods used to generate engagement, sell ads, and stave off the probes from Amazon Twitch are just algorithms. Once again, no human responsibility, no management oversight, and no candid statement about what the three ring video extravaganza is willing to do with regard to this long standing issue.
ITEM THREE: Facebook’s crypto currency play aside, I noted this admission that Facebook users have zero expectation of privacy, and, if I understand Facebook’s argument, you will get zero privacy from our platform. Navigate to “Facebook Under Oath: You Have No Expectation of Privacy” and note this statement:
In a San Francisco courtroom a few weeks ago, Facebook’s lawyers said the quiet part out loud: Users have no reasonable expectation of privacy. The admission came from Orin Snyder, a lawyer representing Facebook in a litigation stemming from the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Now I am not sure this is an admission. It strikes me as a statement of a Facebook bedrock foundational principle.
What do these three current items trigger in my mind? Let me answer that question, gentle reader:
- Large, powerful high technology firms say what’s necessary to get past a problem.
- Situational decision making creates what are unmanageable business processes.
- The senior managers and spokes humans are happy to perform just like the talent on “So You think You Can Dance.”
For me, that show show is becoming tiresome, repetitive, and the intellectual equivalent of chowing down on KryspyKreme chocolate- iced, glazed-with-sprinkles donuts. The music is getting louder, and the tune is “Deflect, aplogize, keep goin’.” Boring.
Stephen E Arnold, June 20, 2019
Alphabet Google: Reality Versus Research in Actual Management Activities
June 19, 2019
For a few months, I have been using my Woodruff High School Science Club as a source of ideas for understanding Silicon Valley management decisions. I termed my method HSSCMM or “high school science club management method.” A number of people have told me that my approach was humorous. I suppose it is. One former colleague from a big name consulting name observed that I was making official, MBA-endorsed techniques look like a shanked drive at a fraternity reunion golf scramble. (MBA students seem to be figuring out that their business degrees may open doors at Lyft or Uber, not McKinsey & Company.
Where the HSSCMM differs from “situational thinking without context” (this is DarkCyber jargon), Google research has identified best practices for management. However, HSSCMM is intuitive and easy to explain. My touchstone for management appears in the article “Google Tried to Prove Managers Don’t Matter. Instead, It Discovered 10 Traits of the Very Best Ones.” Google’s original goal involved figuring out if a sports team manager was important or not. Google’s brilliant analysts crunched numbers and found that coaches matter. The best ones shared some data-backed characteristics. Let’s compare what Google found with the HSSCMM.
I made an a MBA-influenced table to keep thoughts clear.
| # | Google Research Says | HSSCMM Approach | Observations |
| 1 | Be a good coach | Be arrogant because you understand differential equations | Google is working on discrimination |
| 2 | Empower | Others are stupid | The smartest person is in charge |
| 3 | Inclusive team | Exclusivity all the way. | Google hires best talent, and Google defines “best” |
| 4 | Be results oriented | Do what you want. Outsiders don’t get it. | Boost ad sales |
| 5 | Communicate | Don’t get it? You’re fired. | Explain YouTube is too big to be fixed |
| 6 | Have a strategy | React. Ignore the uninformed | Make quick decisions like buying Motorola |
| 7 | Support career development | Learn it yourself | Find a team or leave |
| 8 | Advise the team | Figure it out, or you don’t belong | First day at work confusing? Try flipping burgers |
| 9 | Collaborate | Work alone | Fix the problem or quit |
| 10 | Be a strong decision maker | Do what I say, dummy | Obvious, right? |
Answer this question: How many of the characteristics from each column match actions from Silicon Valley-type companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, etc.?
 |
| Which type of management method is exemplified in this allegedly true incident? The Google management research findings or the high school science club management methods? Answer: HSSCMM. |
As you formulate this answer, consider the decision making evidenced in this allegedly accurate article from 2017 about a Silicon Valley executive.
Stephen E Arnold, June 19, 2019
Alphabet: Employees and Shareholders Allegedly Spell Trouble
June 18, 2019
CNBC continues to generate “real” news. The challenge for me is that CNBC is a television service. Take note because I read “Alphabet Investors and Employees Are Planning a Joint Demonstration at Shareholders’ Meeting.” The title suggests a predictive story; that is, the event described has not happened, and I am not confident in people who predict the future. But that’s just me.
According to the write up:
The groups will try to pressure company stakeholders and leaders to vote on proposals that ban non-disclosure agreements in harassment and discrimination cases and tie executive compensation to its diversity goals. Another includes a proposal to publish a human rights impact assessment for its potential search engine with China called Project Dragonfly.
The targets, in my opinion, are the more obvious examples of what I call “high school science club management methods.” These work as long as the science club is small, homogeneous, and dismissed by other students as individuals unlikely to be captain of the football team, president of the student council, or realize that there is some value is attending the prom with another humanoid.
We noted:
Google janitorial staff and community group Silicon Valley Rising will also be there to vocalize their concern over wage gaps and the residential effects of its imminent expansion into San Jose.
Yikes. Can HSSCMM deal with people like service personnel and people who are mostly invisible?
CNBC did not speculate. If the write up is on the money, DarkCyber believes that the GOOG will pay attention to those who stir up memories of things past.
Stephen E Arnold, June 18, 2019
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