Comments on: The Creative Assembly Line http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2008/09/03/the-creative-assembly-line/ The source on how we live, work and play Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:43:34 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Michael R. Bernstein http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2008/09/03/the-creative-assembly-line/comment-page-1/#comment-5825 Michael R. Bernstein Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:35:14 +0000 http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/?p=2915#comment-5825 Richard, you might be interested in Cory Doctorow's short story 'The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away': http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=story&id=2993 Richard, you might be interested in Cory Doctorow’s short story ‘The Things that Make Me Weak and Strange Get Engineered Away’: http://www.tor.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=story&id=2993

]]> By: Richard Florida http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2008/09/03/the-creative-assembly-line/comment-page-1/#comment-5451 Richard Florida Fri, 05 Sep 2008 12:16:54 +0000 http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/?p=2915#comment-5451 Steve - Thanks for checking in. I indeed remember those conversations CMU very vividly. You are breaking important new ground in understanding the management and control of knowledge workers. Steve – Thanks for checking in. I indeed remember those conversations CMU very vividly. You are breaking important new ground in understanding the management and control of knowledge workers.

]]> By: zoltan acs http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2008/09/03/the-creative-assembly-line/comment-page-1/#comment-5443 zoltan acs Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:30:35 +0000 http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/?p=2915#comment-5443 There is more to this. If you look at Business Week September 8 2008, they have a cover story about Managing by the Numbers. IBM can track every second of a persons work time and relate it to productivity. Bingo. There is more to this. If you look at Business Week September 8 2008, they have a cover story about Managing by the Numbers. IBM can track every second of a persons work time and relate it to productivity. Bingo.

]]> By: Matt L. http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2008/09/03/the-creative-assembly-line/comment-page-1/#comment-5438 Matt L. Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:51:04 +0000 http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/?p=2915#comment-5438 My first reaction was that the quality of management at IBM must be quite poor if they think this will be a big improvement. The example given -- of a manager assembling a remote-site team out of a pool of hundreds of people she doesn't know well, if at all -- does make something like this sound useful, but I question how widespread that sort of thing is. In a workplace where the manager assigning people to tasks knows all the people involved, I'm skeptical this sort of system can do better. E-mail isn't just about mathematically modelled connections -- there's tone and subtext that the system will probably miss. And it can't track impromptu face-to-face conversations, which are the strongest connections of all. A good manager will give an employee stretch tasks based on their potential and interests; this system seems like it'd tend towards pigeon-holing people onto tasks they'd done well in the past. It might avoid building terrible teams, but I bet it'll never build a great, game-changing team either. Plus, isn't knowing your every move will be watched and analyzed about one of the worst recruiting pitches you can imagine? I sure wouldn't want to work there. My first reaction was that the quality of management at IBM must be quite poor if they think this will be a big improvement. The example given — of a manager assembling a remote-site team out of a pool of hundreds of people she doesn’t know well, if at all — does make something like this sound useful, but I question how widespread that sort of thing is.

In a workplace where the manager assigning people to tasks knows all the people involved, I’m skeptical this sort of system can do better. E-mail isn’t just about mathematically modelled connections — there’s tone and subtext that the system will probably miss. And it can’t track impromptu face-to-face conversations, which are the strongest connections of all.

A good manager will give an employee stretch tasks based on their potential and interests; this system seems like it’d tend towards pigeon-holing people onto tasks they’d done well in the past. It might avoid building terrible teams, but I bet it’ll never build a great, game-changing team either. Plus, isn’t knowing your every move will be watched and analyzed about one of the worst recruiting pitches you can imagine? I sure wouldn’t want to work there.

]]> By: Mike L http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2008/09/03/the-creative-assembly-line/comment-page-1/#comment-5430 Mike L Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:16:08 +0000 http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/?p=2915#comment-5430 At a much simpler level, we can already do numerical prediction of job placement for the work-force at large. There is a high correlation between an individual's literacy-level and their job functioning. If you want to know an individual's advancement potential when entering the workforce, merely ask the individual to read out aloud a chart such as that at http://www.lexile.com/uploads/PDF's/LexileMapColor_4-4-07_11x17.pdf - start from somewhere near the bottom. Then reference the highest coherent reading level to http://www.rasch.org/pm/pm2-39.pdf - and do notice the "income" graph! At a much simpler level, we can already do numerical prediction of job placement for the work-force at large. There is a high correlation between an individual’s literacy-level and their job functioning. If you want to know an individual’s advancement potential when entering the workforce, merely ask the individual to read out aloud a chart such as that at http://www.lexile.com/uploads/PDF’s/LexileMapColor_4-4-07_11×17.pdf – start from somewhere near the bottom. Then reference the highest coherent reading level to http://www.rasch.org/pm/pm2-39.pdf – and do notice the “income” graph!

]]> By: steve baker http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/2008/09/03/the-creative-assembly-line/comment-page-1/#comment-5421 steve baker Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:36:59 +0000 http://www.creativeclass.com/creative_class/?p=2915#comment-5421 It's funny, Richard. When Pierre Haren was describing the dawning of the assembly line for knowledge workers, I was remembering a discussion I had with you 10 years ago at CMU. We were talking about information tech and the transformation of the Rust Belt. By the way, really enjoyed Creative Class I and II. I think these Numerati add dramatically to the height of the world's spiky regions. It’s funny, Richard. When Pierre Haren was describing the dawning of the assembly line for knowledge workers, I was remembering a discussion I had with you 10 years ago at CMU. We were talking about information tech and the transformation of the Rust Belt. By the way, really enjoyed Creative Class I and II. I think these Numerati add dramatically to the height of the world’s spiky regions.

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