Mission Critical: 1972 Mainframe Runs Florida Unemployment

Recalling what I said about failure in the public sector: Florida’s unemployment insurance program relies on a 1972 mainframe computer that costs the state tens of millions of dollars each year in payment errors and staff time. Overpayments last fiscal year reached $43.6 million; this year, with unemployment skyrocketing (9.4% now), overpayments could reach $105 million.

From the Top: Faculty/Staff Meeting

So I’m sitting here at the all-faculty, all-staff meeting this sunny afternoon. Our CEO, Dr. Knowlton, is giving us a review of big Board of Regents actions and other things on DSU’s agenda. And naturally, I think to myself, “Hey! What does this have to do with class?”

Plenty. As managers, you’ll go to lots of meetings. Much as you may think, “Man! Can’t I just go to my office and do my job?” you’ll have to put down your project and go get together with your colleagues. That’s as much a part of your job as anything else! And you won’t just get to sit back and grumble about other people’s boring presentations; you’ll be in charge of putting together meetings and trying really hard not to bore others. So let’s see how Dr. Knowlton performs!

Gabe Pooler: Elkton and Netbooks!

Gabe Pooler, DSU grad and Elkton School District technology director, comes to class today to talk about his pioneering one-to-one classroom netbooks program at Elkton!

Netbooks: “minimalistic” approach to technology in the classroom!

Bartz Blogs; Bids Boerries, Blake Bye

A few weeks ago, I mentioned Carol Bartz, Yahoo’s new CEO. After spending time in “student mode,” Bartz is taking action to make Yahoo better, stronger, faster. As she strips down the management structure,  well-known mobile executive Marco Boerries and CFO Blake Jorgenson are resigning. (Boerries says he and his family were tired of his commute… from Germany.)

New Yahoo CEO Bartz: Brains over Tech

CNet’s Stephen Shankland reports favorably on the straight-talking confidence projected by new Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz. She tells the pundits to back off and let Yahoo decide what Yahoo will do. Then she says this about her qualifications:

Another moment came when asked about how her background at a company selling software to companies would serve her at an Internet company selling ads and serving a large consumer audience. Bartz was quick to slap down the doubts about her expertise as nonsense.

“I didn’t know CAD (computer-aided design) when I joined Autodesk, I didn’t know hardware when I joined Sun,” she said. “I have brain power to understand what it takes” [Stephen Shankland, "On First Day, New Yahoo CEO Puts Her Foot Down," CNet News: Digital Media, 2009.01.14].

Could you bring yourself to say something like that at a job interview?

Bartz is making quite the statement about management qualifications (she’s CEO: perhaps we should say über-management). She seems to be saying you shouldn’t hitch your star to one particular piece of technology. Bartz seems to think it’s more important to demonstrate the general intelligence required to identify and solve problems.

Now for an idea guy like me, that sounds great. But can a CEO get by with that philosophy? It got Carol Bartz the job; we’ll see what it gets Yahoo.

(Wall Street is cautiously optimistic about her: on a day when the NASDAQ dropped 3.7% and Google dropped 4.25%, Yahoo’s stock closed up 2.6%.)

And just curious: if that philosophy can work for a CEO, how far down can it go? How far can a manager get by with brains (and a well-rounded, liberal education?), and at what point does a manager absolutely positively have to bring specific tech knowledge to the table?