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Template:M intro design System redundancy: Difference between revisions
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, 9 September 2023→Sciencing the shit out of business
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the range of things on which we must still rely on meatware has diminished. Many [[thought leader]]s<ref>The most prominent is [[Ray Kurzweil]], though honourable mention to DB’s former CEO John Cryan and, of course, there is the redoubtable [[Richard Susskind|Suss]]. </ref> foretell it is only a matter of time until there are none left at all. | the range of things on which we must still rely on meatware has diminished. Many [[thought leader]]s<ref>The most prominent is [[Ray Kurzweil]], though honourable mention to DB’s former CEO John Cryan and, of course, there is the redoubtable [[Richard Susskind|Suss]]. </ref> foretell it is only a matter of time until there are none left at all. | ||
====Sciencing the shit out of business==== | ====Sciencing the shit out of business==== | ||
The [[metaphor]] works best if we consider the workforce to be carbon-based Turing machines. | The [[metaphor]] works best if we consider the workforce to be carbon-based Turing machines. A [[distributed network]] of such automatons is best optimised centrally, from the place with the best view of the big picture: the top.<ref>Curiously, this is not the theory behind distributed computing, which is rather [[end-to-end principle|controlled from the edges]]. But still.</ref> All relevant information can be articulated as [[data]] — you know: “[[Signal-to-noise ratio|In God we trust, all others must bring data]]” — and, with enough data everything about the organisation’s present can be known — the more data you have, the more you can converge on the essential truth of the matter — and its future extrapolated: this is the promise of science and technology.<ref>It isn’t. It really, really isn’t. But still.</ref> | ||
Armed with all the data, the organisation’s permanent infrastructure can be honed down and dedicated to its core business, and peripheral functions — [[operation]]s, [[personnel]], [[legal]] and ''~ cough ~'' strategic [[management consultant|management advice]] — genericised and outsourced to specialist service providers who can be scaled up or down as requirements dictate<ref>“Surge pricing” in times of crisis, though.</ref> or switched out should they malfunction or otherwise be surplus to requirements.<ref>A former general counsel of UBS once had the bright idea of creating a “shared service” out of its legal function that could be contracted out to other banks, like Credit Suisse. He kept bringing the idea up, though it was rapidly pooh-poohed each time. Who knew it would work out so well in practice?</ref> | |||
This philosophy of optimally efficient allocation of resources, espoused as it is by ''~ cough ~'' strategic [[management consultant| management advisors]] — can seem self-serving. It is responsible for a generational drift from inefficient businesses run arbitrarily by unionised humans to enterprises run like unblinking machines: infinitesimally-sliced ''processes'', each [[triage]]d and managed by pre-automated applications, with what minimal human oversight there is provided by external service providers in low-cost locations. | This philosophy of optimally efficient allocation of resources, espoused as it is by ''~ cough ~'' strategic [[management consultant| management advisors]] — can seem self-serving. It is responsible for a generational drift from inefficient businesses run arbitrarily by unionised humans to enterprises run like unblinking machines: infinitesimally-sliced ''processes'', each [[triage]]d and managed by pre-automated applications, with what minimal human oversight there is provided by external service providers in low-cost locations. | ||
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''Business'' became “business-process-as-a-service”. | ''Business'' became “business-process-as-a-service”. | ||
We should, by now, feel like we are in a new and better world — right? — yet customer experience feels worse than ever. Just try getting hold of a bank manager now. “BAU-as-a-service” has streamlined and enhanced the great heft what businesses do, at the cost of outlying opportunities for which the model says there is insufficient business case. | We should, by now, feel like we are in a new and better world — right? — yet customer experience feels worse than ever. Just try getting hold of a bank manager now. “BAU-as-a-service” has streamlined and enhanced the great heft what businesses do, at the cost of outlying opportunities for which the model says there is insufficient business case. | ||
====Pareto triage==== | ====Pareto triage==== | ||
We call this effect “[[Pareto triage]]”. Great, for the huddled masses who just want the normal thing. But it poorly serves the long tail of oddities and opportunities. Those just beyond that “[[Pareto triage|Pareto threshold]]” have little choice but to manage their expectations and take a marginally unsatisfactory experience as the best they are likely to get. Customers subordinate their own priorities to the preferences of the model. This is a poor business outcome. And, unless you are McDonald’s, the idea that 80% of your customers ''want'' exactly the same thing — as opposed to being prepared to put up with it in, the absence of a better alternative — is a kind of wishful [[averagarianism]]. | We call this effect “[[Pareto triage]]”. Great, for the huddled masses who just want the normal thing. But it poorly serves the long tail of oddities and opportunities. Those just beyond that “[[Pareto triage|Pareto threshold]]” have little choice but to manage their expectations and take a marginally unsatisfactory experience as the best they are likely to get. Customers subordinate their own priorities to the preferences of the model. This is a poor business outcome. And, unless you are McDonald’s, the idea that 80% of your customers ''want'' exactly the same thing — as opposed to being prepared to put up with it in, the absence of a better alternative — is a kind of wishful [[averagarianism]]. | ||