As I was thinking about accounting and financials, I started thinking about how to structure and group activities within accounting and the following came to mind.
RAPARR
R - Record. The first step in any accounting step (I am not considering setups) is to record transactions.
A - Approve. Once these transactions are recorded, they need to be approved.
P - Post. Once transactions are recorded and approved, they need to be posted.
A - Audit. Transaction that are recorded and approved need to…
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Added by Mahesh Vallampati on October 26, 2008 at 12:21pm —
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At the risk of being pedantic, I hear us using the word Method and Methodology interchangeably.
AIM is a Method not a methodology. You ask what is the big deal.
The American Heritage Dictionary offers the following explanation.
In recent years . . . “methodology” has been increasingly used as a pretentious substitute for “method” in scientific and technical contexts. The misuse of the word methodology obscures an important conceptual distinction between the tools of scientific investigatio… Continue
Added by Mahesh Vallampati on September 1, 2008 at 7:00am —
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"DOCTORS should ask their teenage patients what type of music they prefer to determine if they are at risk of developing a mental illness or committing suicide, researchers say."
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on August 19, 2008 at 11:00pm —
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I received the link below from my son at ASU. It is written by Martin Wolf and posted on Bill Gates Creative Capitalism blog. It contains some very challenging ideas on the relationship between shareholders, companies, and employees in various countries around the world. The article nicely (although a little ponderously) provides a logical framework for some concerns about the evolving relationship between companies and employees that I had been feeling, but could never quite solidify into a cau…
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on August 19, 2008 at 11:00pm —
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I was looking at this posting on youtube and it is may sound funny but it makes a point.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtkUO8NpI84
Basically, there are four combinations of Knowns and Unknowns.
Donald Rumseld talks about three.
Known Knowns:
There are things we know that we know.
Known unknowns.
That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know.
Unknown unknowns.
There are things we don't know we don't know.
There is one more thing that is missing which is the Unknown Knowns…
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Added by Mahesh Vallampati on August 5, 2008 at 6:40pm —
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http://www.bizjournals.com/specials/slideshow/39.html?page=5
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Added by Prash on August 1, 2008 at 9:34pm —
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A year ago I was talking to a mentor of mine and he said this which really impressed me.
Business and Life are about two basic questions.
1.) Are we doing things right?
2.) More importantly, are we doing the right thing?
The simplicity hit me. While we trod through life, career, relationships and projects it helps to keep these two questions in mind.
The story behind it is funny too. My mentor and his friend were at an airport to go to a business meeting. The friend's shirt lost some threads…
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Added by Mahesh Vallampati on July 31, 2008 at 2:47pm —
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One of the things that drives people learning English as a second language (and for some of us who learned it as a first language) is that the same word can have very different meanings. One of the words that has always perplexed me is "revolution." Dictionary.com defines revolution as:
1) a procedure or course, as if in a circuit, back to a starting point, or
2) a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, esp. one made suddenly and often accompanied by violence.
How co…
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on July 30, 2008 at 8:00pm —
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Just what you need when you need it. Sign me up for $100 in Venti Vouchers
"(2008-07-02) — Democrats in Congress today plan to introduce a bill to halt the recently-announced closing of some 600 Starbucks coffee stores, noting that the displacement of 12,000 Starbucks baristas would overwhelm government aid offices not prepared to handle so many clients for whom English is a second language.
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on July 30, 2008 at 4:30pm —
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"A global consolidation of the coal industry is shifting into overdrive.
Mining giant Teck Cominco said Tuesday it will buy up all of the Fording Canadian Coal Trust for close to $14 billion in cash and stock. The deal is just the latest in a growing string of giant acquisitions centered on coking coal, a key raw material for certain steel mills." read more
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on July 29, 2008 at 12:30pm —
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There is a little bit of "Doh!" in this article, but it is an interesting example
"I had lunch with my friend Bridget, who said: "Wait till you meet my new marketing manager. She's incredible -- so bubbly and full of ideas." Oh dear, I thought. That doesn't sound promising. But I met the marketing manager, Elaine, and I thought she was great. She was just as bubbly and idea-filled as Bridget had said. There was only one black cloud to mar the scene: Bridget herself is as bubbly and full of idea…
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on July 28, 2008 at 11:00am —
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A few years ago I saw an interview with
Jorge Bolet on 60 minutes. He stated that every technically competent pianist played the notes of any particular composition exactly the same. The difference between a great pianist and a technically competent pianist was in how they played the white spaces between the notes.
Any reasonably competent Oracle eBusiness Suite consultant can ask a customer what they want the apps to do, fill out the app…
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on July 22, 2008 at 5:10pm —
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A few weeks ago, I came across this term called SCRUM. You can find a definition of course at Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCRUM .
SCRUM is a rugby term where the players move the ball back and forth and across to the other side. It is now used in Agile Programming where a product is built incrementally by a team with small pieces of functionality and improved over and over again into a usable product.
SCRUM projects have two kinds of members.
They are the "Pigs" whose bacon/ham is…
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Added by Mahesh Vallampati on July 14, 2008 at 9:38pm —
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The more traffic signs and traffic control we add, we slower we go and the more dangerous it is to drive.
See here
Our first reaction to discovering a problem is to try to set up rule to prevent it Often the issue is an individual training issue rather than a system problem. Treating the individual problem by creating rules that apply to everyone slows productivity and doesn't reall…
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on July 13, 2008 at 9:38pm —
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It now appears that sunscreen might actually make you more susceptible to the worst forms of skin cancer. For an interesting article on sunscreen research and a list of recommended products go
here. Continue
Added by Keith Kaminsky on July 9, 2008 at 9:06am —
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One of the most intriguing projects I ever worked on was at a factory that made headlights for a major automobile manufacturer. This plant was part of a division owned by the manufacturer that made component parts. I was leading a team that was reengineering the assembly of the headlights for a new model year. At one point in the project, the factory was visited briefly by a another team of consultants who specialized in strategic consulting to the automotive industry. One evening the manager of…
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on July 8, 2008 at 10:44pm —
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I am sorry, but this is one of my boring business only blog posts. Over the past few weeks I have had several discussions in the office on what I have found to be the most difficult changes people go through when they make the transition from Consultant to Project Manager. I thought it might be helpful if I shared the content of those discussions with the group as a whole. I would be very interested to hear if others have had similar experiences.
So, in no particular order, Keith's list of the…
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on June 22, 2008 at 11:21am —
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This has nothing to do with anything, but it would be just my luck to be killed in a road rage incident by a psycho soccer Mom (or Dad) driving a minivan with a "Visualize World Peace" bumper sticker on one side and "My kid is an honor student" on the other
For an explanation of the relationship between aggressive driving and bumper stickers, see
here Continue
Added by Keith Kaminsky on June 16, 2008 at 10:00pm —
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There's a lot to be said about this statement. If embraced, it can open the doors to limitless possibilities. If refused, it can be your worst enemy. I found the biggest lesson learned at my client was to not let status quo dictate the environment, but to champion a sense of ownership to everyone involved.
The biggest observation I made while at my client site was that the past definitely drove the present. It was very easy for them to rest on their laurels. There was no sense of urgency to imp…
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Added by Caleb Pingelton on June 16, 2008 at 10:49am —
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Those of you who have spent any time with me have heard me speak of the "Don Baker School of Management." Don was a Partner at Arthur Andersen during my time there as well as President of BSG when I worked there. Caleb Pingelton's comments on the internal HR forum (which I hope he will repost as a blog entry) and some recent events got me to thinking about a few lessons Don shared with me.
The first lesson 0f the Don Baker School of Management has 3 main tenets
1) Get thoroughbreds
2) Give the…
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Added by Keith Kaminsky on June 16, 2008 at 9:09am —
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Accounting is a RAPARR
Dance music always has that effect on me too.
Austin ranks 5th in the least stressful metros
To Be or Not To Be 'Empowered'?
