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Tag: management
“Use the difficulty”
Michael Caine talking about rehearsing a play where other actors improvising had got carried away.
âThey started throwing things, and he threw a chair, and it lodged in the doorway. And I went to open the door, and I got my head around, and I went [to the director], âIâm sorry, sir, I canât get in.â
“He said, âWhat do you mean?â
“I said, âThereâs a chair there.’
“He said to me, âUse the difficulty.’
âI said, âWhat do you mean?â
“He said, âWell, if itâs a comedy, fall over it. If itâs a drama, pick it up and smash it. Use the difficulty.â”
What happens when you set targets – examples
(Updated 25/5/2016)
1. Ambulance response times (see Bevan and Hood, 2006)
Statistically unlikely spike exactly at the target suggesting something has happened to the data.
2. Phonics test scores (see Dorothy Bishopâs blog post)
A higher score is better performance. Thereâs a dip just below the pass mark of 32 and then a big spike, suggesting scores have been changed.
3. Call centre response times (see Caulcutt, 2004)
âThe Times reported in October 2003 that the telecommunications regulator, Oftel, intended to investigate the workings of one of the newly established directory enquiry companies. According to the report: âSixty call centre workers at the 118 118 directory enquiries service will be sacked in an attempt to head off a scandal over staff who deliberately gave out wrong numbers to boost their payâ. Why did they do this? It appears that the motivation was provided by a bonus system that rewarded employees for dealing with calls in less than 40 seconds.â
4. Final high school exam scores
Matura scores in Poland, 2013. To pass you need 30% or above.
(See here, spotted via @MaxCRoser.)
5. “‘G4S cheats’ made 1,000 FAKE 999 calls to boost performance figures”
“Staff at scandal-hit G4S boosted performance figures by making hundreds of fake calls to a 999 centre run by the firm.
“Five employees have been suspended after allegedly making more than 1,000 âtest callsâ â many reportedly at quiet times when they could be picked up quickly.
“Without them G4S would have missed key targets of answering 92% of calls within 10 seconds in November and December 2015, so incurring a financial penalty.”
In general, Goodhartâs (1975) law applies: âAny observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposesâ
References
Bevan, G., & Hood, C. (2006). Whatâs measured is what matters: targets and gaming in the English public health care system. Public administration, 84(3), 517-538.
Caulcutt, R. (2004). Managing by fact. Significance, 1(1), 36-38.
Goodhart, C. A. E. (1975). Monetary relationships: A view from Threadneedle Street. In Papers in Monetary Economics, Vol 1, Reserve Bank of Australia.
GCHQ’s director’s Turing speech – a research team manual?
Just read the (4 Oct 2012) speech about Alan Turing, given by Iain Lobban, Director GCHQ, at the University of Leeds.
Fantastic stuff in there. Here are some excerpts.
On learning to solve problems
“…Â [Turing] reported to Bletchley Park as agreed and immediately started working with [Dilly] Knox [expert on the Enigma cypher …]. Knoxâs influence on Turing at this time is immense. The older veteran cryptanalyst shared everything he knew about Enigma with Turing, who eventually used this knowledge to write the first four chapters of his treatise on Enigma […]
“…[Turing]Â was happy to learn from Dilly Knox, happy to use that knowledge as the foundation for what he would develop subsequently, and was diligent in recording what he had learned and how he developed that into new areas so that others could profit from his knowledge just as he had profited from that of Knox.”
“Knox could only take Turing so far and his quest for experience-based understanding of the cryptanalysis of Enigma took Turing to France in January 1940…”
Team work
“There are lots of different ways in which people can work as part of a team. Turingâs way was to take in other peopleâs ideas, develop and build on them, and then pass the product on to other people to be the foundation for the next stage. He took the idea of electromechanical processing of Enigma messages from the Poles but developed their idea into something radically different. When Welchman later enhanced the Bombe with his diagonal board, Turing was among the first to congratulate him on this major improvement. Turing was part of the team, and shared in the success of the team.”
Respecting diversity
“I strongly believe a Sigint agency needs the widest range of skills possible if it is to be successful, and to deny itself talent just because the person with the talent doesnât conform to a social stereotype is to starve itself of what it needs to thrive.”
“I donât want to pretend that GCHQ was an organisation with twenty-first century values in the twentieth century, but it was at the most tolerant end of the cultural spectrum. In an organisation which valued the skills and characteristics that difference can bring, Turingâs homosexuality was less of a talking point than his insights into the complex crypt problems of the day. When he was put on trial, Hugh Alexander, the Head of Cryptanalysis at GCHQ went, with official approval, to speak as a character witness on his behalf, saying in court that Turing was a national asset.”
Exploiting serendipity
“Geoffrey Tandy was posted to Bletchley by the Admiralty in a spirit of helpfulness: his posting officer had understood him to be an expert in cryptograms, a word still used in the Admiralty at that time to mean messages signalled in code. In fact he was an expert in cryptogams: non-flowering plants like ferns, mosses and seaweeds. But while this knowledge might not have appeared to be of much use, Tandy became expert in German naval Enigma and because of his work on seaweed was able to provide unique advice on the preservation of cryptologic documents rescued from the sea.”
The role of management
“Part of my job is to continue to foster that atmosphere: to attract the very best people and harness their talents, and not allow preconceptions and stereotypes to stifle innovation and agility.”