Employing the “magic” of digital technology toward systemic awareness across the space of the enterprise and the continuum of operational time.

(Continued from [The Awakened Enterprise Part 1]: Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity compose a fog of war in decision-making for human and machine minds alike. Further confined by pragmatic timeframes to act and justifiable expenses to inform, The Awakened Enterprise vision suggests a system of knowledge stewardship to capture and communicate decision provenance metadata as a strategy for mitigating the VUCA environment.)

“It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backward” — Lewis Carroll

Mindfulness Against the VUCA World: The Awakened Enterprise

Mindfulness refers to a…

Decisions drive the actions that shape our experience —the most consequential use of our senses, our memory and our mind merits a technological boost.

Let’s start with what is clear and obvious. We each make decisions that intimately impact not only the present moment, but the future as well. We make those decisions limited by what the present moment exhibits to us and our past has collected. …

For nearly two decades, I have found myself in the position of communicating opportunities to advance the state of the art in science and engineering through the use of digital models.

These opportunities clash with centuries of well-established empirical practices for scientific discovery and technology development via the scientific method. However, the scientific method in itself does not preclude the use of digital models in the way we have traditionally performed physical testing and experimentation — so long as the results can be sufficiently trusted and understood as a proxy for the real world problem.

Goal: A Rubric for Model-based Strategies

The existence of a framework…

A new discussion in the DARPA Polyplexus, “Alternative Credentialing Models Across Business and Post-secondary Education” inspired me to share a concept I think persistently relevant: the essential role of community colleges in the Future of Work.

Back in 2014, for an AACC Workforce Development Institute plenary aimed at shaking up community college provosts, I introduced a notional “future resume” where a candidate had no degree per-se, but demonstrated credentials competitive with BS candidates: qualified education, relevant work experience and coursework from top-tier currucula.

Community Colleges: Local, Focused and Affordable

Community colleges are an essential safety net for training and education as our workforce increasingly requires reskilling…

The economic stresses of the travel ban, quarantine & social distancing policies force the U.S. to confront realities previously obscured in ideological political spin. For example, intense debate of “lives vs. livelihood” consider whether there is an acceptable human sacrifice to hasten return of the financial status quo. We can self-isolate in our preferred news bubbles and take their messages at their word — until our direct life experiences begin to contradict. At that point, anyone rational should ask questions.

1. Should Healthcare be delivered as a business?
2. Why is healthcare so tightly tied to (and limited by) your employer?
3. How…

It is March of 2020. You are most likely working differently right now than you were at the beginning of the year, and noticing differences in how that feels.

The rat-race of business-as-usual is like an energized flywheel of momentum. We throw ourselves into our jobs as the activity and urgencies of everyone around us compel — and this drives a frenetic productivity across the workforce.

But the necessary responses to the Covid-19 pandemic have sent a shock through the system. In one direction, health care workers are called upon to sacrifice their time even more deeply, while trusting they…

Part of my job is writing about technology. I know how hard it is to restate what you think is obvious when you are an expert.

I am not an expert in biology or immunology, but I am closely connected with scientists and health providers.

So I have an outsider’s ignorance to restate for them a few things I think have not been stated — and may be helpful.

1. Your body develops learned defenses against viruses. This can be done by contracting the actual disease or getting a vaccine. …

Beyond technical factors, recognize dependencies on culture and leadership.

“Where there is no tie that binds men, men are not united but merely lined up.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Often the legacy on which application of the concept of Digital Thread intends to improve has evolved and optimized within structural, budgetary and technological constraints that persist in a metaphorical warp of the business fabric. The Digital Thread is the weft which strives to interweave processes and informational assets spanning organizations. Without senior executives addressing incentives and cultural mores, organizational silos will strongly and consistently prioritize investments with locally-focused impact.

Implementation

Because the inherent value of Digital Thread manifests through integration…