Vacant Fire


Book Description

Alan Fisher was a young engineer with a dream of deriving morality from the laws of physics. But he got more than he bargained for when he accidentally discovered a shocking possibility: that not all people are conscious. Now he and an emergency team at DARPA must find the answers - and the cure - before the world implodes in a hotbed of prejudice and fear, and the powerful, greedy, and racist exploit his discovery to risk evil beyond imagining."A tense and often disturbing near-future thriller that examines science, discrimination, and just how thin society's veneer of acceptance and tolerance really is. A gripping and entertaining read." -- J.V. Bolkan for IndieReader (4.6 rating)




Why Projects Fail and How to Succeed


Book Description

Douglas Fain and Mark Hunt have a combined consulting experience in the field of project management of over 50 years working for four national governments and numerous corporations and government agencies. They have consulted on over $35 Billion in major projects in over 40 countries and have taught project management in graduate programs at Stevens Institute of Technology, Denver University, and Regis University as well as corporate settings in aerospace, telecommunications, manufacturing, and others. That experience facilitated the management of large, complex projects that were in the initiation stage or facing serious performance problems. They both agree that business can no longer afford the personal and financial costs of failed projects. Neither can organizations or their project teams afford the reputation for failure that so permeates the industry today. The opportunity costs of such failures is just too great for a society that has growing needs for its citizens. This book represents their findings regarding why projects tend to fail, and as true consultants, they have also included a clear and concise set of instructions of how to avoid those failures, how to do it right the first time. This book is mandatory reading for anyone working in the field of project management, especially project managers who struggle with the responsibility for the success of their projects.




Leading Change


Book Description

From the ill-fated dot-com bubble to unprecedented merger and acquisition activity to scandal, greed, and, ultimately, recession -- we've learned that widespread and difficult change is no longer the exception. By outlining the process organizations have used to achieve transformational goals and by identifying where and how even top performers derail during the change process, Kotter provides a practical resource for leaders and managers charged with making change initiatives work.




Why Programs Fail


Book Description

An award-winning guide to faster and easier debugging is now updated with the latest tools and techniques. It demystifies one of the toughest aspects of software programming, showing clearly how to discover what caused software failures, and fix them with minimal muss and fuss.




Why Government Fails So Often


Book Description

"From healthcare to workplace conduct, the federal government is taking on ever more responsibility for managing our lives. At the same time, Americans have never been more disaffected with Washington, seeing it as an intrusive, incompetent, wasteful giant. The most alarming consequence of ineffective policies, in addition to unrealized social goals, is the growing threat to the government's democratic legitimacy. Understanding why government fails so often--and how it might become more effective--is an urgent responsibility of citizenship. In this book, lawyer and political scientist Peter Schuck provides a wide range of examples and an enormous body of evidence to explain why so many domestic policies go awry--and how to right the foundering ship of state.Schuck argues that Washington's failures are due not to episodic problems or partisan bickering, but rather to deep structural flaws that undermine every administration, Democratic and Republican. These recurrent weaknesses include unrealistic goals, perverse incentives, poor and distorted information, systemic irrationality, rigidity and lack of credibility, a mediocre bureaucracy, powerful and inescapable markets, and the inherent limits of law. To counteract each of these problems, Schuck proposes numerous achievable reforms, from avoiding moral hazard in student loan, mortgage, and other subsidy programs, to empowering consumers of public services, simplifying programs and testing them for cost-effectiveness, and increasing the use of "big data." The book also examines successful policies--including the G.I. Bill, the Voting Rights Act, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and airline deregulation--to highlight the factors that made them work.An urgent call for reform, Why Government Fails So Often is essential reading for anyone curious about why government is in such disrepute and how it can do better"--




Software Runaways


Book Description

Introduction. Software runaway war stories. Software runaway remedies. Conclusions.




Why Startups Fail


Book Description

If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it. So he launched a multiyear research project to find out. In Why Startups Fail, Eisenmann reveals his findings: six distinct patterns that account for the vast majority of startup failures. • Bad Bedfellows. Startup success is thought to rest largely on the founder’s talents and instincts. But the wrong team, investors, or partners can sink a venture just as quickly. • False Starts. In following the oft-cited advice to “fail fast” and to “launch before you’re ready,” founders risk wasting time and capital on the wrong solutions. • False Promises. Success with early adopters can be misleading and give founders unwarranted confidence to expand. • Speed Traps. Despite the pressure to “get big fast,” hypergrowth can spell disaster for even the most promising ventures. • Help Wanted. Rapidly scaling startups need lots of capital and talent, but they can make mistakes that leave them suddenly in short supply of both. • Cascading Miracles. Silicon Valley exhorts entrepreneurs to dream big. But the bigger the vision, the more things that can go wrong. Drawing on fascinating stories of ventures that failed to fulfill their early promise—from a home-furnishings retailer to a concierge dog-walking service, from a dating app to the inventor of a sophisticated social robot, from a fashion brand to a startup deploying a vast network of charging stations for electric vehicles—Eisenmann offers frameworks for detecting when a venture is vulnerable to these patterns, along with a wealth of strategies and tactics for avoiding them. A must-read for founders at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey, Why Startups Fail is not merely a guide to preventing failure but also a roadmap charting the path to startup success.




Fail Better


Book Description

If you’re aiming to innovate, failure along the way is a given. But can you fail better? Whether you’re rolling out a new product from a city-view office or rolling up your sleeves to deliver a social service in the field, learning why and how to embrace failure can help you do better, faster. Smart leaders, entrepreneurs, and change agents design their innovation projects with a key idea in mind: ensure that every failure is maximally useful. In Fail Better, Anjali Sastry and Kara Penn show how to create the conditions, culture, and habits to systematically, ruthlessly, and quickly figure out what works, in three steps: 1. Launch every innovation project with the right groundwork 2. Build and refine ideas and products through iterative action 3. Identify and embed the learning Fail Better teaches you how to design your efforts to test the boundaries of your thinking, explore crucial interdependencies, and find the factors that can shift results from just acceptable to groundbreaking—or even world-changing. Practical instructions intertwined with compelling real-world examples show you how to: • Make predictions and map system relationships ahead of time so you can better assess results • Establish how much failure you can afford • Prioritize project activities for disconfirmation and iteration • Learn from every action step by collecting and examining the right data • Support efficient, productive habits to link action and reflection • Distill, share, and embed the lessons from every success and failure You may be a Fortune 500 manager, scrappy start-up innovator, social impact visionary, or simply leading your own small project. If you aim to break through without breaking the bank—or ruining your reputation—this book is for you.




Why Projects Fail


Book Description

"Why Projects Fail" offers an informative, entertaining read that is guaranteed to increase your understanding what went wrong with the projects that failed. Was the project well conceived? Was the budgeting adequate? Did it fail because of circumstances that were impossible to anticipate, or were there simply gaps in the planning process? Learn in this informative, interesting read that will help you make sure your next project succeed. "Why Projects Fail" presents a balanced analysis of its subject, alternating stories of major corporate and government projects that failed, along with a breakdown of what went wrong. The illuminating stories come from a variety of industries, with a shocking list of familiar companies and organizations. What makes this book unique is the author's delightfully straightforward account of the specific ways that caused problems. The book is full of charts, graphs and pictures. Project management best practices to increase your success rateSuggestions and recommendations for avoiding common pitfallsCase studies and analysis of failed projects across all industriesLots of numbers, stats and data presented in an easy to digest wayQuotes from outstanding project management and business gurus Do you ever wonder why the projects keep failing without obvious reason? Would you like to learn why projects fail and how to avoid failure? "Why Projects Fail" book explains why some projects fail while the other succeed. The book explores statistics, analyses, case studies and lessons learned from known project failures, along with facts and arguments. It goes over the main causes of failed projects, which can include going over budget, poor planning, lack of communication and other reasons. Do you want to improve chances of your project to succeed? Would like to avoid most common project management pitfalls and causes of project failure? Would you like to avoid devastating results of failed projects: negative career impact, loss of money, time and resources for the company? "Why Projects Fail" is going to give you something that will completely change the way you're running your projects. "Why Projects Fail" will tremendously improve your project management processes and procedures so your project won't fail but succeed. It's crucial to be aware of potential pitfalls before the project starts and recognize when things might be going wrong during project execution so you can get it back on track. "Why Projects Fail": What is covered? Failure rate and main elements of project's failureList of failed project incl. year, company name, cost, outcomeReasons for project's failureFive case studies including NASA, FBI and Government of CanadaProper project management: communication, stakeholder, risk, resourcesHow to prevent project's failure




Next Is Now


Book Description

One of the world’s leading authorities on customer-centric business transformation, Lior Arussy—founder and CEO of the global consulting firm Strativity Group—offers “a revolutionary, yet pragmatic guide to not only managing change, but driving and thriving in a world of cataclysmic explosions of information and technology” (Joseph Michelli, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Leading the Starbucks Way). The old business model of adapting to change for continued success is dead. Change is the new normal. There are no more periods of stability and predictability. There is only change. This continuous upheaval can undercut morale, decrease productivity and decimate profits, or it can be a game-changing opportunity. In Next Is Now, “Lior Arussy provides a comprehensive and instructive roadmap for leading change and preparing yourself and your organization for the future. He generously shares insider insights, examples, and lessons learned from his many years advising top business leaders.” (Denise Lee Yohn, author of What Great Brands Do). He helps corporate leaders and their employees view change as an opportunity to become invested, drive that change, and achieve more success and job satisfaction than if change were simply implemented from the top down. Based on his experience working one-on-one with major corporate clients like Mercedes-Benz, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Thomson Reuters, HSBC and other Fortune 500 clients, Arussy shares his five-step Future Ready Impact program, guiding change-impacted employees and business owners from a victim mentality to one of participation and ownership. As Stephen Cannon, the former president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, raves, “For anyone interested in building a thriving business, Lior Arussy’s insights provide actionable steps to integrate into your plans for achieving success.”