Overview of GE’s Change Acceleration Process (CAP)

Originally posted on Bob Von Der Linn's HPT Blog:

In 1989-90, under the direction of Jack Welch, GE launched “Work-Out” – a team based problem-solving and employee empowerment program modeled after the Japanese quality circles model that was in vogue at the time.  Work-Out was a huge success and Welch was frustrated by the rate of adoption through the business.  Welch, the visionary, realized that GE (and everyone else!) was entering an era of constant change, and that those who adapted to change the fasted would be the survivors.  He commissioned a team of consultants (including Steve Kerr, who was to become GE’s first Chief Learning Officer) to scour industry and academia to study the best practices in change management and come back to GE with a tool kit that Welch’s managers could easily implement.  The result was the Change Acceleration Process, commonly referred to within GE simply as “CAP.”[1]

The Change Effectiveness Equation

The team studied hundreds…

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Logarithms Explained, and the Associative Property of Multiplication

Originally posted on The Trickle-Down:

So much advanced math relies on a firm grasp of basic Algebra and Algebra II.

Today, lets take a look at logarithms!

So what are logarithms? Well, first let’s look at exponential equations, such as $latex 2^x = y$ where the 2 is a base. We all know that for example, $latex 2^3 = 8$. A general form is $latex b^x = y$ where b is the base. Well, with logarithms, the format is $latex log_b y = x$. So for $latex 2^3 = 8$, we would express that with logarithms as $latex log_2 8=3$. Fun, isn’t it! The logarithm is the number that the base is raised to a power by to equal a given number; in the example above, the base 2 is raised by the power 3 to equal the number 8.

So the tricky part is that you get rules like $latex log_b y + log_b…

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Jeff Bezos on Leading for the Long-Term at Amazon

Harvard Business Review:

Wish Bezos did more of these…

Originally posted on HBR Blog Network - Harvard Business Review:

An interview with Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com. For more, see The 100 Best-Performing CEOs in the World.

Download this podcast

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The Fast Fourier Transform

Originally posted on Math ∩ Programming:

John Tukey, one of the developers of the Cooley-Tukey FFT algorithm.

It’s often said that the Age of Information began on August 17, 1964 with the publication of Cooley and Tukey’s paper, “An Algorithm for the Machine Calculation of Complex Fourier Series.” They published a landmark algorithm which has since been called the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm, and has spawned countless variations. Specifically, it improved the best known computational bound on the discrete Fourier transform from $latex O(n^2)$ to $latex O(n log n)$, which is the difference between uselessness and panacea.

Indeed, their work was revolutionary because so much of our current daily lives depends on efficient signal processing. Digital audio and video, graphics, mobile phones, radar and sonar, satellite transmissions, weather forecasting, economics and medicine all use the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm in a crucial way. (Not to mention that electronic circuits wouldn’t exist without Fourier analysis in general.)…

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Predictive Analytics and Spurious Correlations

Originally posted on kenneumeister:

The spurious correlations site has a lot of interesting charts showing various arbitrary combinations of trends that show strong correlations and yet have no rational basis that suggest causation.  Also, the site has a nice feature to explore other correlations by using the hyperlinks on the chart titles to find other trends that correlate with that topic.  Hidden at the bottom of the main page is a link to an entertaining video that nicely discusses how correlations are different from causation.   Some of my discussion concerns the points he makes in the video.   His video expresses an optimism that humans will always be in the loop to insert sanity after just a brief moment of belief that there could be a causal relationship behind such compelling correlations both in graphic form and in statistical values.   The evidence I see is that optimism is misplaced as illustrated by…

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Data Analysis Learning Path on SlideRule

Originally posted on Data Science 101:

SlideRule is a new startup focused on being on online learning hub. One of the sections of the site allows experts to create “learning paths” for a topic. Well, Claudia Gold, data scientist at Airbnb, created a learning path for data science titled Data Analysis Learning Path . The learning path covers: topics, timelines, resources, and links necessary to acquire the skills needed to be a data scientist.

Happy Learning.

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script to quickly find out which spid is using most CPU and/or IO and what that SPID is doing

Technorati Tags: SQL Server,CPU,DBA

Hey Guys,

This is a bit off-topic, and specific to SQL Server, but this script has been very useful to me when the server is running slow.  Run the first part up to the 2^nd dashed line all together and then use the identified SPID(s) in the queries below the line to see what it is doing:

------identify spid with highest cpu and io usage-----
SELECT spid, sum(cpu)as cpu
into #temp1
FROM master.dbo.sysprocesses
group by spid
WAITFOR DELAY '0:0:0.3';
SELECT spid, sum(cpu)as cpu
into #temp2
FROM master.dbo.sysprocesses
group by spid

select t3.spid, t4.cpu - t3.cpu diff
from #temp1 t3 inner join #temp2 t4 on t3.spid = t4.spid
order by diff desc

SELECT spid, sum(physical_io)as physical_io
into #temp3
FROM master.dbo.sysprocesses
group by spid
WAITFOR DELAY '0:0:0.3';
SELECT spid, sum(physical_io)as physical_io
into #temp4
FROM master.dbo.sysprocesses
group by spid

select t3.spid, t4.physical_io - t3.physical_io diff
from #temp3 t3 inner join #temp4 t4 on t3.spid = t4.spid
order by diff desc

drop table #temp1
drop table #temp2
drop table #temp3
drop table #temp4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--NOW, to see what the process is ACTUALLY DOING:
--same as Activity Monitor (use from ANY db)
select * from master..sysprocesses where spid=73

--same as 'details' from Activity Monitor
DBCC inputbuffer(73) --from any db

--interesting - similar to above, but with variables, if used, instead of actual values (e.g. @strDate)
--*PLUS* this shows you the CURRENT procedure running, not just the wrapper procedure like above
--SQL2000:
DECLARE @Handle binary(20)
SELECT @Handle = sql_handle FROM master..sysprocesses WHERE spid = 73
SELECT * FROM ::fn_get_sql(@Handle) --seems to cut off text at some point
--SQL2005 (doesn't always return same as sql2000 format)
SELECT session_id, text
FROM sys.dm_exec_requests AS r
     CROSS APPLY
     sys.dm_exec_sql_text(sql_handle) AS s
WHERE session_id = 73