Sony & the PS4 event. Wow. That did NOT go well.

February 22, 2013

Wow.  That was some announcement the other day.  Some of the best tweets I read from the Sony Playstation 4 event:

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by kurtsh

More basic math for folks that like calculations. (2013 edition)

February 15, 2013

SCORE #1
This is based on the following question:

Q: Please think about your overall satisfaction … Considering everything you know or have heard about the company, its products, its service, and support organization, would you say you are:
4 = Very Satisfied (VS)
3 = Somewhat Satisfied (SS)
2 = Somewhat Dissatisfied (SD)
1 = Very Dissatisfied (VD)

CALCULATION:
Score = (% of Very Satisfied) – (% of Somewhat Dissatisfied + % of Very Dissatisfied) + 100
(Range = 0-200, 200 being highest)

EXAMPLE:
Scores based on the following responses for all participants would be:

  • 4, 4, 3, 3, 3 –> 40% VS, 60% SS –> NSAT = (40) – (0+0) + 100 = 140
  • 4, 3, 3, 3 –> 25% VS, 75% SS –> NSAT = (25) – (0+0) + 100 = 125
  • 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 –> 17% VS, 83% SS –> NSAT = (17) + (0+0) + 100= 117
  • 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 –> 100% SS –> NSAT = (0) – (0+0) + 100 = 100
  • 4, 3, 3, 3, 2, 1 > 17% VS, 50% SS, 17% SD, 17% VD –> (17) – (17+17) + 100 = 83

METRIC:
Our required value for score #1: 171
(In other words, even if all ratings are “Somewhat Satisfied”, the score would be 100, far below 171.)

—————————————————————————————-

SCORE #2
This is based on the average of 6 specific questions, multiplied by 10.  All questions are rated from 1-9, 9 being highest.

  1. Understands my organization’s strategic priorities* (*)
  2. Presents my organization with innovative technology solutions that can maximize our ROI (*)
  3. Documents my expectations for a successful working relationship (Conditions of Satisfaction)* (*)
  4. Holds executive business reviews (meetings with my organization) that include the right people, communicate progress on priorities, and are a valuable use of our time (*)
  5. Has a joint plan with my organization that addresses our technological needs and overall business goals (*)
  6. Collaborates with partners to deliver value to my organization (*)

CALCULATION:
Score = (Sum of all ratings)/6 x 100

EXAMPLE:

  1. Invests time = 7
  2. Works together = 7
  3. Engages right resources = 8
  4. Seeks feedback = 8
  5. Takes action = 7
  6. Provides information = 7

Score #2 = (7+7+8+8+7+7)/6 x 100= 73

METRIC:
Our required value for Score #2:  82
(Again, even if all scores are “8”, the total score is an 80, which is below the required score of 82.)

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by kurtsh

Regarding that Stereoscopic picture in Mallrats…

February 10, 2013

Just in case I never posted this:  Do you remember that scene in Mallrats where William can’t see the “sailboat” in the stereoscopic picture?  Did you ever wonder what the hell was in that picture?

Well, here it is.  A capture of the screen from the movie.  And yes, amazingly the stereoscopic picture works perfectly in the below snapshot:

Stereoscopic-Mallrats

Here’s the funny part:  There’s no sailboat.  I won’t tell you what’s in there but there’s no boat to be found, albeit there are 3D objects in the picture to be seen.

3 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by kurtsh

Beautiful.

February 4, 2013

For the cynics reading this, this isn’t preachy… it’s actually an amazing & emotional short film & it’s only a 1:30 long.

Embrace Life–Always wear your seatbelt

Leave a Comment » | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by kurtsh

COMMENTARY: Wow. That’s an expensive award.

February 1, 2013

UPDATE 2/23/13:
Just realized how sloppily this post was written and so I cleaned it up, added some additional photos and corrected the mistake about the wording on my 5 year service award.

————————————

ORIGINAL POST:
Take a look at this.  Below is a snapshot of the web site where Microsoft employees can purchase replacement Service Awards – the awards given to us for being employed for 5, 10, and 15 years.  (You can see there’s a space for folks that have been around for 20.  Haven’t made it quite there yet.  Crossing fingers!)

image

BACK STORY:
I’ve been with Microsoft for 17 years running.  Back in 2000 when I was given my 5 year Service Award, they didn’t give away fancy shmancy Kryptonite-ish crystals like those you see below.  We got a brushed aluminum desk clock about 3”x3”x1” that read:

“5 YEARS WITH MICROSOFT!”

image

No, it’s written exactly like that… with 2 exclamation points. (Correction: I guess I remembered the award incorrectly because it did in fact have only 1 exclamation point in this photo)  Anyway, it was so… umm… ‘unique’ that that clock became sort of a target of humor.  One person told me it looked like a hood ornament when I got it.

At 10 years, it got classy.  The photo below is of the plaque that commemorates the famous 10 shares of stock that all employees were granted back then.  (I don’t know if they still do this)  I’m actually very proud of this plaque and was pretty giddy when I got it.  Only the people I revered the most at Microsoft had one of these.

image

 

Nowadays, we get these beautiful crystal service awards as you see above.  But if you look really carefully, you can see the costs associated with each below the photos.

Yup.  $419.00 for the 15 year award.  That’s a $150 difference from the cost of the 10 year award which sells for $269.00.  Color me stunned! 

…kinda makes you wonder what the 20 year award is like,‘eh? 

6 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by kurtsh