Public Institution Planning and Budgets Planning for the future can seem like a waste of time when just keeping the lights on is a struggle. Budget cuts are hitting many public institutions, including schools, colleges and universities. The gut reaction is to put the future on hold and deal with the present. That approach has some major drawbacks. First, if you don’t have … [Read more...] about Public Institution Planning and Budgets
Strategic Planning
The Internet’s Uncertain Future
Anyone who claims they can accurately predict the Internet’s future is at minimum wrong, definitively delusional and perhaps borderline psychotic. The Internet is influenced by many things, and any attempt to extrapolate outcomes from current trends in destined to failure. If that is true, then how does an organization plan for its future? The answer is scenario planning. The … [Read more...] about The Internet’s Uncertain Future
Science, Uncertainty and Being Right
The October 2010 Scientific American reports on an exclusive poll about trust in science. For the most part, people trust scientists, but not at the highest level, especially when it comes to things that non-scientists have personal experience with. At the low end of the trust rung were food safety, vitamins and supplements, genetically modified crops, pesticides, … [Read more...] about Science, Uncertainty and Being Right
Augmenting Strategic Planning for Dummies
Overall, I like Erica Olsen’s Strategic Planning for Dummies, but I am not a fan of the scenario planning overview, which comes rather late in the book. Here are some thoughts for readers that they should consider when using Olsen’s text. Strategic Planning for Dummies covers scenario planning in a very cursory way on pages 291-294. It provides a high-level overview, which … [Read more...] about Augmenting Strategic Planning for Dummies
Strategic Measures: Toward New Measurement for a Sustainable, Knowledge Economy
New Measurement Sustainable Knowledge Economy As America grasps for innovative ways to exit the recession, we have forgotten a fundamental business reality: measurement determines behavior. Ask any salesperson if their bonus structure determines which products they lead with or not. The problem with America’s national investments is that they say green, but they shout … [Read more...] about Strategic Measures: Toward New Measurement for a Sustainable, Knowledge Economy