Spring (final) term has begun. There's a weird tension in the air --
we all seem to be leaning forward towards our return to fulltime,
full-focus work while trying to pull back on the reins and make this
fantasy year last a little longer. Some are slowing down the pace of
school and gearing back up on the work front, accelerating the
transition. Others are throwing themselves into school full-throttle,
wringing every last ounce from the experience.
Our biggest time sink this half-term is Systems Dynamics,
an interesting discipline that applies engineering to problem-solving
any issue. I've been loking forward to this class since I came to visit
the school in the fall of 2004. It provides a methodology for forcing
assumptions, competing values, hidden costs, and delays into the open.
And, the diagrams are great to look at!
In
addition to core classes, working, and research, I'm taking two other
fabulous classes this term. "Corporations at the Crossroads," brings
in CEOs of companies from many different industries to talk about the
challenges they face. So far, we've seen a Fortune 100 and a Fortune
1000 CEO and have enjoyed some very frank comments about satisfying
shareholders, finding new markets, redefining the business model, etc.
And, there's "Generating Business Value from Information Technology" taught by Peter Weill, Director of the Center for Information Systems Research.
This class really bridges the business/IT gap, showing how to focus
both parties on the legitimate benefits of well-governed IT --
documented increases in Return on Investment. You may recognize
Professor Weill from the extremely popular book on IT Governance
that he co-authored with Jeanne Ross. They've shared with us a part of
their next book (coming out in June) and I think it should be a hot
seller based upon what they've shared with us -- an easy-to-understand,
easy-to-apply model for discussing management goals than can readily be
translated to IT priorities.
Like everyone else, I'm also
focusing on the things that I had hoped to do while here at MIT. So
stay tuned for the possibility of a little start-up and/or a technology
& public policy project!