Google interview question of the week

What's the next number in this sequence - - 10, 9, 60, 90, 70, 66 . . .?

The Petraeus Way

Another good book out on General David Petraeus - - All In: The Education of General David Petraeus (2012) by Paula Broadwell and Vernon Loeb.  The book details "The Petraeus Way" in the context of strategy development.  He feels that strategic leaders and thinkers need to engage in four strategic tasks.  These are:

1. Getting the big ideas right - - Counterinsurgency in Iraq was the big idea, and the big idea was right.
2. Effectively communicating the big ideas - - Petraeus is a master of communicating via all the media mediums and with Congress.  To quote the General - - "The enemy has to know we have the will to prevail."
3. Overseeing the implementation of the big ideas - - Execution, Execution, and more Execution.  "Those on the ground must have all the support they need when they are in a tough situation."
4. Capturing best practices and lessons and cycling them back through the system to help refine the big ideas - - Sort of the three "Ls" - - Listen, Learn, Lead.  Then you recycle.

Infrastructure improvements and the need for speed

One thing should be clear to the voting public and political aristocracy (and is probably not).  In the Age of Globalization and complex distribution chains - - the adequacy of public infrastructure is going to matter more.  Where the word "more" is not linear - - "more" is exponential. 

The current issue of the Economist highlights this in California Ports: The fickle Asian container.  Improvements to the Panama Canal will change the speed and efficiency equation in such a way that it provides opportunity to the East and Gulf coasts and produces risk at West coast port operations.  The article states the following:

"The risk comes from the Panama Canal, which the Panamanians are digging wider and deeper.  In an inexorable shipbuilding trend, each generation of freighters is larger than the previous one.  So the canal today accommodates only ships that carry up to about 5,000 containers, whereas large freighters already carry 12,000, and the largest carry even more.  This is why it is currently best to move a box form Guangdong Providence to New York by floating it to Los Angeles or Long Beach, then putting it on a train.  But the digging in Panama is about to change the calculations."

Improvements to the canal (and dredging projects in the port cities of Miami, Savannah, and Charleston) have created a new matrix that makes the "unload in LA and ship to NY" slower.  This is the important part - - innovation in products such as the iPhone and innovation in the Apple production/supply chain need to be matched by innovations in the supporting infrastructure.  From automated loading/unloading port facilities, to faster rail networks, to deep and modern ports - - the future should be rather obvious.  You cannot invest and innovate only on the product side of the equation.  To remain competitive on a global scale, a country also requires investment and innovation in infrastructure.  Where some of the infrastructure is public infrastructure.

The future belongs to the swift and creative - - where the swift and creative are good at working around bottlenecks and cutting regions and countries out of the logistics picture.

A Future That Needs A National Plan

The Winter 2011 issue of The Bridge has a special issue on sustainable water resources.  One particular article, A Plea for a Coordinated National Water Policy by Gerald E. Galloway Jr., should be read by all water resource planners and engineers.

Provided below is a list of our national water challenges outlined in The Bridge:

• In 2002, 49% of the US was experiencing moderate to severe drought.  Since then, drought has become commonplace in many more places across the country - - Texas and the Southwest are prime examples.  Like many parts of the Southwest, Texas faces a future of population growth and limited water supplies.
• The 1970s goal of providing fishable, swimmable, and drinkable water throughout the nation have never been realized.  We have yet been able to deal with the problem of nonpoint-source pollution.
• Over the last five decades, average annual flood damage has increased in spite of significant federal investment in structural and non-structural programs to reduce flood risk and lessen the impact of flooding when it occurs.
• Much of the U.S. inland waterway infrastructure is outdated and appreciably slows barge traffic.  In addition, many ports, harbors, and channels are not competitive in today's deep-draft shipping environment.
• Riverine and coastal ecosystems remain at risk as floodplains and wetlands are subject to increasing pressure by developers or are disappearing as a result of anthropogenic activities that have undermined their stability.
• Human activities over the last century have severely damaged ecosystems in many places in the United States, including the Everglades, coastal Louisiana, the Chesapeake Bay, the upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, and the California Bay Delta.
• Lack of understanding of the water-energy nexus (this is a huge problem in my opinion).  Water needs energy and energy needs water.  We unfortunately continue to treat these as two separate systems.
• Groundwater provides 18% of the nation's urban water supply, yet we are a long way from understanding and protecting this valuable water resource.
• We don't do watershed planning.  Projects and resources are not identified and deployed on a watershed or basin level.
• Texas and Oklahoma are slowly marching toward prolonged litigation around interstate water rights.  Management of interstate waters is problematic - - decisions are frequently made by judges and courts without any knowledge or background in water resources planning.
• The ASCE grade tells us a lot - - a D or D- in the water infrastructure sections.  Funding is short to the tune of nine zeros.
• The United States has not undertaken a comprehensive water assessment since 1976.  We have a complete lack of knowledge regarding the current conditions.

Management Strategy Development and Gamification

Look to a future in both engineering and management where software written for the games industry is put to more serious uses - - the "gamification" of key organizational processes.

Andrew Hill in his Financial Times On Management column (Great gifts for all the managers in your life - - December 20, 2011) came up with his own management tool for the Era of Gamification:

"Call of Duty: Modern Strategy 3.  Available in Wii, Xbox, PS3, S&P 500, and FTSE 100 formats, the new edition of the most popular console game in corporate history, does not disappoint!  In single-player mode, you can still lead your company to world domination, while taking over weaker rivals and destroying new entrants - - all against an apocalyptic backdrop of burning platforms and bleeding-edge technology.  The real excitement is in the online multiplayer version, however, where you'll be forced to collaborate with people you've never heard of, from places you've never visited, or face bankruptcy or worse (NB: 18 certificate - - strategy is not for the squeamish.)"

The Mozart of Modernism

A new documentary is out on famed British architect Norman Foster - - How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?

Finding Your Extra

Friedman is correct, Average Is Over (Thomas L. Friedman, New York Times January 25, 2012 - - Average Is Over).  His column is not targeted at engineers - - but engineers would be wise to read and understand the implications - - whether your collar is blue or white, the Age of Average has/is ending.

"In the past, workers with average skills, doing an average job, could earn an average lifestyle. But, today, average is officially over. Being average just won’t earn you what it used to. It can’t when so many more employers have so much more access to so much more above average cheap foreign labor, cheap robotics, cheap software, cheap automation and cheap genius. Therefore, everyone needs to find their extra — their unique value contribution that makes them stand out in whatever is their field of employment. Average is over."