The dice, or the truth
(Atlanta-05APR10)
"...to think in terms no on else did"
Once upon a time, a great caliph decided to have a new palace built. he summoned his ten architects and told them: "Within a month I want to see your plans. The grand vizier will disclose to you what the conditions are that must be satisfied and what requirements are to be met."
After a month had elapsed, the plans were presented to the Caliph.
"Are these plans all identical?" asked he.
"They are all different," he was told.
"Are these plans compatible with each other?" he inquired.
"The are irreconcilable," was the response.
"Is one of them inspired by the true art of building?" he wanted to know.
"My plan is the only true plan," the ten architects exclaimed in unison.
The great Caliph smiled and decided, "I will therefore choose the plan which best suits my desires."
On hearing the Caliph speak, a venerable counselor shook his head and uttered: "Who then will defend the truth if the Caliph does not?"
Disturbed at this observation, the Caliph summoned his philosopher to ask him, "Was I right, or was I wrong to rely on my own judgment?"
"Did you, great Caliph, have any other, more reasonable ways to decide?"
"No," was the Caliph's response.
"Does the plan you chose still suit you?" the philosopher wanted to know.
"Yes, more than any other," the Caliph retorted.
"Would there have been any advantage in letting the dice decide?" asked the man, whose mission it was to think in terms nobody else did.
"Are you jesting?" the Caliph burst out.
"Be assured, grand sovereign, there is to my knowledge no reason why the Caliph should not have good judgment. Your decision was, and remains, idoneous."
"But truth - what about truth?" the Caliph insisted once more.
"I do not know, " the philosopher said with emphasis, "who is more foolish: he who lets the dice roll, or he who reaches his decisions by virtue of a truth he cannot recognize?"
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While I'm at it...
Executive intro: what is DIALOG MAPPING, what happens, and how it works.
[PDF + MP3!]
Real world
DIALOG MAPPING
Visual modeling, powerful results!
I was on assignment with the task of documenting certain system processes that were created and maintained by a very smart, highly motivated, energetic woman who - until now - carried all of the knowledge and all of the information (note: there's a distinction) around in her head.
There were outages that were growing in complexity and exposure. What was needed was finding the root cause, and a solution.
DIALOG MAPPING using the Compendium mapping tool was amazing in providing the visual canvas, and a brush to paint the picture of her thought processes and the underlying design.
It was stunning to see the process unfold. She began seated next to me, looking at the projector screen. As she began to see it take shape, she began walking around the room talking, as I asked questions and tracked her thoughts in Compendium on the projection screen! Out of that flow, the problem and the underlying problems were revealed, as were real (and multiple) solutions to nagging problems.
Powerful analytic skills
Fall, 2009
An extra, other set of eyes
Get a new outlook, a new perspective - while you are productive in other important areas!
Phil Marnell - Blog:
Thoughts about how people work, why they do things, and the consequences from a tiny planet, in an everyday galaxy.
Awhile back (archive)
March, 2009
This is a test...
Oh, wait...!
It's not, is it?
And it's not a rehearsal.
And that old adage, "There's never time to do it right, but..."
2007: The Leading trailing Edge(1)
Sometimes, technology that has long since ceased being considered 'leading edge' by the majority of industry segments presents itself as almost 'bleeding edge' to businesses that have, for whatever reason, tended to lag behind on adoption of new trends. Using EDI as an example, this series of articles explores how the disruptive effect is the same for the late-comers as for the early adopters. It also positions the company and management to consider what might be a do-or-die scenario: is this late adoption a sign of awakening? Or is it a grudging acquiescence? Will it vivify? Or will it simply mollify?
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Not making this stuff up:
Let another query now be considered, which gives much trouble to many earnest thinkers before Science answers it.
"Is anything real of which the physical senses are cognizant?"
Everything is as real as you make it, and no more so. What you see, hear, feel, is a mode of consciousness, and can have no other reality than the sense you entertain of it.
It is dangerous to rest upon the evidence of the senses, for this evidence is not absolute, and therefore not real, in our sense of the word. All that is beautiful and good in your individual consciousness is permanent. That which is not so is illusive and fading.
- Mary Baker Eddy (1887)
"Women are smarter than men! Or that is what toy producer Hasbro concludes after their world wide Trivial Pursuit Contest."
- De Standaard (Flemish newspaper)
“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
- Albert Einstein
"Women are smarter than men because they listen."
- Phil Donahue
“Fundamentally indeed they are still the same; in this most important respect especially, That they have penetrated both of them into the sacred mystery of the Universe; what Goethe calls
'Which is the great secret?' asks one. 'The open secret, open to all, seen by almost none! That divine mystery, which lies everywhere in all Beings, 'the Divine Idea of the World, that which lies at the bottom of Appearance,' as Fichte styles it; of which all Appearance, from the starry sky to the grass of the field, but especially the Appearance of Man and his work, is but the vesture, the embodiment that renders it visible. This divine mystery is in all times and in all places; veritably is..”
- Thomas Carlyle