More on Assessing Strategically from the Perspective of Sherlock Holmes

Wikipedia

Sherlock Holmes Quotes
'My name is Sherlock Holmes.  It is my business to know what other people don't know.'
-The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

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'I am the last and highest court of appeal in detection.'
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

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'There is nothing like first-hand evidence.'
-A Study in Scarlet

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"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."
-The Hound of the Baskervilles

Chapter 3: "The Problem"

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'You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.'
- A Scandal in Bohemia

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'It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.'
-A Scandal in Bohemia

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'I never guess. It is a shocking habit,—destructive to the logical faculty.'
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"

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'You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.'
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery

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'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.'
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery

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"'Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?'

'To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.'

'The dog did nothing in the night-time.'

'That was the curious incident,' remarked Sherlock Holmes.'"

Exchange between Inspector Gregory and Sherlock Holmes
-Silver Blaze

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'Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.'
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

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'How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?'
-The Sign of Four

Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration

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'...when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
-The Blanched Soldier

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'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
-The Beryl Coronet

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'Come, Watson, come!' he cried. 'The game is afoot. Not a word! Into your clothes and come!'
-The Adventure of the The Abbey Grange

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"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."
-The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

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'I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for?'
-The Sign of Four

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'They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains,' he remarked with a smile. 'It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work.'
-A Study in Scarlet

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'There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.'
-A Study in Scarlet

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'I ought to know by this time that when a fact appears to be opposed to a long train of deductions it invariably proves to be capable of bearing some other interpretation.'
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 3: "Light in the Darkness"

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'Which is it today,' I asked, 'morphine or cocaine?'
He raised his eyes languidly from the old black-leather volume which he had opened.
'It is cocaine,' he said, 'a seven-per-cent solution. Would you like to try it?'
An exchange between Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

 ---
'I never make exceptions.  An exception disproves the rule.'
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 2: "The Statement of the Case'

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Holmes took his revolver from his drawer and slipped it in his pocket.  It was clear that he thought that our night's work might be a serious one.
Observation of Dr. Watson
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 3: "In Quest of a Solution"

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So silent and furtive were his movements, like those of a trained bloodhound picking out a scent, that I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made had he turned his energy and sagacity against the law instead of exerting them in its defence.
Observation of Dr. Watson
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 6: "Sherlock Holmes Gives a Demonstration"

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'I listen to their story, they listen to my comments, and then I pocket my fee.'
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"

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'What one man can invent another can discover.'
-The Adventure of the Dancing Man

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'The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.'
-The Sign of Four

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 'I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.'
-The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton

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 'What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear?  It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.'
-The Cardboard Box

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When I glanced again his face had resumed that red-Indian composure which had made so many regard him as a machine rather than a man. 
Dr. Watson Observing Sherlock Holmes
-The Crooked Man

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 'Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental.' 
-The Crooked Man 

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 He [Holmes] loved to lie in the very centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to every little rumor or suspicion of unsolved crime.
Dr. Watson's Observation of Sherlock Holmes
-The Resident Patient

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 'My mind is like a racing engine, tearing itself to pieces because it is not connected up with the work for which it was built.' 
-The Man with the Twisted Lip

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"My mind," he said, "rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation. That is why I have chosen my own particular profession,—or rather created it, for I am the only one in the world."
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

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 'When a doctor does go wrong, he is the first of criminals.  He has the nerve and he has the knowledge.' 
-The Adventure of the Speckled Band

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'Nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person.' 
-Silver Blaze

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'I think that you know me well enough, Watson, to understand that I am by no means a nervous man. At the same time, it is stupidity rather than courage to refuse to recognize danger when it is close upon you.'
-The Final Problem

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 'I confess that I have been blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.' 
-The Man with the Twisted Lip

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'A man should keep his little brain attic stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library where he can get it if he wants.' 
-The Five Orange Pips

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'I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose.  A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands on it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic.  He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order.  It is a mistake to think that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent.  Depend uon it - there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before.  It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.' 
-A Study in Scarlet
Chapter 2: "The Science of Deduction"

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'It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.'
-A Case of Identity

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'It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.'
-The Copper Beeches

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  On this page are some of the most famous and perhaps not so famous quotes from the Sherlock Holmes short stories and books as written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. These quotes and sayings are from the great Detective Sherlock Holmes, his friend, Dr. John Watson, and others.  For each quote, the name of the person speaking and the short story or novel the quote was copied from have been provided. More of the quote is provided to show context for some of the more famous quotes. There are hundreds of quotes and we seek to be the most complete source of s on the Internet.  Feel free to share any quotes and sayings that we may have missed. Dont forget to provide the source of any quote you submit.  All quotes on this web site were written or spoken by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unless otherwise stated.

--- Robert Downey Jr,  Benedict Cumberbatch . 

Source: Sherlock Holmes Quotes 

When the crime case arrives to the front door of Sherlock Holmes, the complexity of the crime has already exceed the skill set of the pseudo experts.  They have met the standards of the Peter Principle.

After some rounds of inquiring and assessing, he triumphs at the conclusion of of the story by questioning the quality of certain obvious points while identifying the non-obvious points.

You could say that Holmes usually searched for the zebra not the horses.


Suggestion
From reading Sherlock Holmes, the observant strategist realized that knowing a collage of strategies and the act of assessing strategically are worthless if one is not mindfully observant of the specifics behind the factors. 

Identifying the key performance indicators (KPI) for one's strategic situation is the easy part. Pinpointing the prevailing tactical factors behind each KPI for your situation is the real challenge.  We presumed that you definitively know the reasoning behind that point  If not, contact us.

Assessing Strategically from the Perspective of Sherlock Holmes

Source: Sherlock Holmes Quotes
updated at 5.26.14 1:23 hr

In previous posts, we have discussed the importance of centering oneself before assessing and the actual act of assessing.

Understanding the significance of deduction is the next step for the ambitious strategist who is operating in a complex strategic situation where non-transparency (disinformation and misinformation) is pervasive.

One could learn the generality of the "deduction" process from reading Sherlock Holmes.  

The following set of quotes are from SherlockHolmesquotes.com 

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Gleaned from the stories of Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are these quotes from Mr. Sherlock Holmes regarding his techniques and methods for solving mysteries and crimes using deductive reasoning.

Simply Stated - Deduction is Reasoning Backwards 
"In solving a problem of this sort, the grand thing is to be able to reason backwards. That is a very useful accomplishment, and a very easy one, but people do not practise it much. In the every-day affairs of life it is more useful to reason forwards, and so the other comes to be neglected. There are fifty who can reason synthetically for one who can reason analytically...Let me see if I can make it clearer. Most people, if you describe a train of events to them, will tell you what the result would be. They can put those events together in their minds, and argue from them that something will come to pass. There are few people, however, who, if you told them a result, would be able to evolve from their own inner consciousness what the steps were which led up to that result. This power is what I mean when I talk of reasoning backwards, or analytically."
-A Study in Scarlet
-Chapter 7 - Conclusion


Do Not Theorized Before Gathering Data
"It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment."
-A Study in Scarlet

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.  Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts."
-A Scandal in Bohemia

"Let me run over the principal steps. We approached the case, you remember, with an absolutely blank mind, which is always an advantage. We had formed no theories. We were simply there to observe and to draw inferences from our observations."
-The Adventure of the Cardboard Box

Do Not Reason From Insufficient Data
"Data! Data! Data!" he cried impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay."
-The Adventure of the Copper Beeches

"I had," he said, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from insufficient data."
-The Adventure of the Speckled Band

Data 
"There is nothing like first-hand evidence."
-A Study in Scarlet

Notice Trifles 
"You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles."
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery

"They say that genius is an infinite capacity for taking pains," he remarked with a smile. "It's a very bad definition, but it does apply to detective work."
-A Study in Scarlet

"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important."
-A Case of Identity

Obvious Facts Can be Deceptive
"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact."
-The Bascombe Valley Mystery

Don't Just See, Observe!
"The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes."
-The Hound of the Baskervilles
Chapter 3: "The Problem

'You see, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear.'
-A Scandal in Bohemia

Avoid Emotion
"Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science, and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manner."
-The Sign of Four

'The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.'
-The Sign of Four

Recognize Vital Facts
 "It is of the highest importance in the art of detection to be able to recognize, out of a number of facts, which are incidental and which vital. Otherwise your energy and attention must be dissipated instead of being concentrated."
-The Reigate Puzzle

Eliminate the Impossible and What Remains Is Truth
"Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth."
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 1: "The Science of Deduction"

"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?"
- The Sign of Four

'...when you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
-The Blanched Soldier

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'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'
-The Beryl Coronet

Additional Notes
"Nothing clears up a case so much as stating it to another person."
-Silver Blaze

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"I have already explained to you that what is out of the common is usually a guide rather" than a hindrance."
-A Study in Scarlet
-Chapter 7 - Conclusion

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'"The more outre' and grotesque an incident is the more carefully it deserves to be examined, and the very point which appears to complicate a case is, when duly considered and scientifically handled, the one which is most likely to elucidate it."
Sherlock Holmes
-The Hound of the Baskervilles
Chapter 15 - "A Retrospection"

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"Any truth is better than indefinite doubt."
-The Yellow Face

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"I never guess. It is a shocking habit — destructive to the logical faculty" 
-The Sign of Four

# Sherlock Holmes Expounds on Logic, Inference and Deduction
  Then I [Dr. Watson] picked up a magazine from the table and attempted to while away the time with it, while my companion munched silently at his toast. One of the articles had a pencil mark at the heading, and I naturally began to run my eye through it.

  Its somewhat ambitious title was "The Book of Life," and it attempted to show how much an observant man might learn by an accurate and systematic examination of all that came in his way. It struck me as being a remarkable mixture of shrewdness and of absurdity. The reasoning was close and intense, but the deductions appeared to me to be far-fetched and exaggerated. The writer claimed by a momentary expression, a twitch of a muscle or a glance of an eye, to fathom a man's inmost thoughts. Deceit, according to him, was an impossibility in the case of one trained to observation and analysis. His conclusions were as infallible as so many propositions of Euclid. So startling would his results appear to the uninitiated that until they learned the processes by which he had arrived at them they might well consider him as a necromancer.

  "From a drop of water," said the writer, "a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it. Before turning to those moral and mental aspects of the matter which present the greatest difficulties, let the enquirer begin by mastering more elementary problems. Let him, on meeting a fellow-mortal, learn at a glance to distinguish the history of the man, and the trade or profession to which he belongs. Puerile as such an exercise may seem, it sharpens the faculties of observation, and teaches one where to look and what to look for. By a man's finger nails, by his coat-sleeve, by his boot, by his trouser knees, by the callosities of his forefinger and thumb, by his expression, by his shirt cuffs—by each of these things a man's calling is plainly revealed. That all united should fail to enlighten the competent enquirer in any case is almost inconceivable."

  "What ineffable twaddle!" I cried, slapping the magazine down on the table, "I never read such rubbish in my life."

  "What is it?" asked Sherlock Holmes.

  "Why, this article," I said, pointing at it with my egg spoon as I sat down to my breakfast. "I see that you have read it since you have marked it. I don't deny that it is smartly written. It irritates me though. It is evidently the theory of some arm-chair lounger who evolves all these neat little paradoxes in the seclusion of his own study. It is not practical. I should like to see him clapped down in a third class carriage on the Underground, and asked to give the trades of all his fellow-travellers. I would lay a thousand to one against him."

  "You would lose your money," Sherlock Holmes remarked calmly. "As for the article I wrote it myself."

  "You!"

  "Yes, I have a turn both for observation and for deduction. The theories which I have expressed there, and which appear to you to be so chimerical are really extremely practical—so practical that I depend upon them for my bread and cheese."

  "And how?" I asked involuntarily.

  "Well, I have a trade of my own. I suppose I am the only one in the world. I'm a consulting detective, if you can understand what that is. Here in London we have lots of Government detectives and lots of private ones. When these fellows are at fault they come to me, and I manage to put them on the right scent. They lay all the evidence before me, and I am generally able, by the help of my knowledge of the history of crime, to set them straight. There is a strong family resemblance about misdeeds, and if you have all the details of a thousand at your finger ends, it is odd if you can't unravel the thousand and first. 
-The Sign of Four
Chapter 2 - "The Science of Deduction"

All quotes on this web site were written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle unless otherwise stated.

# Source: http://www.sherlockholmesquotes.com/

The Conceptual Connection to the Sunzi's Essay
and Other Strategic Classics 
Being observant is not enough, comprehending the "Dao of the situation" by assessing the prevalent factors of the situation is a requirement.  

It usually leads to good planning and efficient execution. 


Identifying the Factors
“These are the ways that successful strategists are victorious. They cannot be spoken or transmitted in advance. ... Before the confrontation, they resolve in their conference room that they will be victorious, have determined that the majority of factors are in their favor. Before the confrontation they resolve in their conference room that they will not be victorious, have determined a few factors are in their favor.

If those who find that the majority of factors favor them, will be victorious while those who have found few factors favor them will be defeated, what about someone who finds no factors in their favor?

When observing from this viewpoint, victory and defeat will be apparent.”

- Art of War 1 (Paraphrased from the Sawyer's translation

Know the Cyclical Effects of Certain Strategic Factors
"The Sage observes signs from the movements of Heaven and Earth and knows its principles. He observes the movement of the sun and the moon and understand their seasonal activity. He follows the cycles of day and night, taken them as his constant. All things have life and death in accord with the principles of Heaven and Earth. Thus it is said that if one fights before understanding the situation, even if he is more numerous, he will certainly be defeated."  - Six Secret Teachings   

Comments From the Compass Desk
To be a successful strategist, one must be capable to achieve the following objectives:

• Know how to center oneself;
• Becoming mindfully aware of one's strategic situation and beyond; 
• Knowing when to be assessing, positioning and influencing strategically; and 
• Knowing how to deduce the specifics of a non-transparent object.

Side Notes
The chapter on data deduction might be included in our Strategic Assessment book project and/or the "Scripting" book project. 

Please visit Cook Ding's Kitchen if you are interested in the practice of centering oneself. 

# # # 

Succeeding in the Information Economy: Assessing your Terrain. Assessing Yourself.

(updated at 11:18 hr)

Are you a large fish in a small terrain or a small fish in a small terrain? 

Better yet. are you a shark in a pond or a minnow in a ocean?

Source

Are you capable of becoming the pilot fish regardless of the water settings? 

Are you one move ahead of the competition? Or are you one move behind?

At home you are the king or the queen.  

Out in the field, are you a pawn (a field level expediter )? Or are you a knight (a field level problem solver)?

Summary
The above questions represent how some people generally assessed the basics of their current situation.  

The successful strategists preferred to assess their competitive situation in terms of the degree of "strategic connectivity."  

Knowing the specific factors and how it all connects together for that situation is how one defines the "strategic connectivity."  

Focus on comprehending the relationships of the objects not on the grand object. It is one of the many keys to strategic success.

Minor Jottings
The smart experts usually become the rook (the experienced and well-rounded problem solver) or the bishop (the well-networked adviser) while possessing the skills of the knight.

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If Your Job Became Automated Today, What is Your Next Move? (A Pragmatic Analysis to the "Living Wage" Protest)

Fast Food Self-Ordering Replaces Cashiers Video

(updated at 1118 hrs) 

Cause and Effect
Protests and walkouts are taking place around the world where the fast food workers were "demanding" a "living wage" ($15/hr).  

Some people have claimed that this action accelerated the adoption of this technology.  It is coming. ...  McDonalds Europe purchased 7000 touch screen cashiers in 2011. 

Click here on a previous "living wage" protest.

Automating Fast Food 
Robots are slowly taking over the jobs in the fast food restaurants and the other low paid labor niches. ... We predicted that this trend of fast food eateries replacing their human  workers with robots  in 2010.  

thefiscaltimes.com

Do not be surprised if some of your favorite fast food eateries are preparing to employ a conveyor belt type of machine to serve their products.  ... 

Mobile technology is also slowly changing the restaurant terrain.  It was only a matter of time that this niche is going to be automated. 

The Perspective
Since the costs of health care and employees benefit are rising, the smart employers are taking initiative to reduce costs while increasing their revenues. 

To be operationally efficient,  the implementation of robotics and data automation are some of their current choices. Idealistically, it could start by deploying a robot who does the work of 10-20 employees, one employee to check on the performance of the robot's and a part time employee to maintain the operating standard of the robot.  Some people might not like this example but this is the future.

The negative side of most macro technological advances is that more jobs are being destroyed than the number of jobs that are created.  The after-effects of the zero-sum economy continue to burn the lower end of the 99%.

The robots and the drones are also taking over other avenues of blue collar work. 

The Foxcom Conversion
In 2011, Foxcom, the chief manufacturer of Apple iPhone knew the days of human labor were numbered and decided to pursue the route of the robotics.  Early this year, they announced that they were moving  their capital-intense manufacturing projects  to the USA.


Interestingly Google is helping them in amplifying their robotic process.

Automation Rules 
According to Alibaba.com, going into 2013 78% of the 600 U.S. small business owners surveyed plan to automate to cut costs and streamline operations, 49% plan to create a new e-commerce website and 87% do not plan to hire additional employees. This tends to show that small business owners are seeking ways to operate within the difficult economic climate.

63% Expect the Economy to Remain Unchanged or Weaken Further
It would seem that with the majority of small business owners that were surveyed by Alibaba.com stating that they expect the economy to stay the same (33%) or worsen (30%) in 2013, that their optimism about their own business revenue for 2013 would suffer. But, that was not the case. Of the 600 small business owners that were surveyed, only 21% expect lower revenue, while 46% actually expect an increase in revenue (the remaining 33% are uncertain). This supports the reputation of small business owners and entrepreneurs being eternally optimistic and always looking for ways to make lemonade when given lemons.
Source: docstoc.com

Click here for more stats,  As mentioned before, this is the beginning of the end for the low end jobs. 

Before you decide to automate your business, spend some time assessing the configuration of your situation.  Identify the possible problems and the obstacles. Then, determine whether you have the resources to adjust to that specific situation. It would be a smart move on your part.

The After Effects
Think about it, when the utilization of machines becomes the operational norm of the working world, where would the "real" blue collar jobs be? ... Do you think that the economic value chain becomes shorter?

Connect this dot of information with this dot.  Continue the connection  process with this dot, this dot and this dot. Now, look at the Big Tangible Picture.

After identifying the specifics of your position, connect it to all of the above-mentioned dots. Finally, ask yourself, are you currently ahead or behind the "social-economic" curve?

Click here on a MIT's view of how the technology will replace the majority of the blue collar jobs in the global economy.


Second Thoughts
What would happen to the immigrants who are holding those jobs now?

Retrospectively. do you really care?

The Compass Solution

To stay ahead of the "robotic and outsourcing" curve,  one focuses on becoming "innovative and inventive."  While being aware of one's own settings and beyond,  focus on one particular act of inefficiency and ask these two questions - can that task be optimized?  Based on the given data, what is the best approach for minimizing the timeline and the resources?

The other approach is to anticipate the inefficiency by others and to capitalize on it.

Stay centered, observe quietly and learn.  

Have a good weekend.

A Compass View on Miyamoto Musashi's Go Rin No Sho (The Book of Five Rings)

updated at 11:10 hr

In a previous post, we discussed how to apply the Art of War (AoW)  principles to martial arts.  Past and present field implementers who have compete in the extreme terrain, preferred the concepts of Musashi.

The Five Rings Behind Musashi's Classic
The initial chapter (The Ground book) centers on the understanding of the strategic fundamentals and the psyche of one's own profession while the Water book emphasizes on the basics for adjusting one's state of strategic awareness  to the situation

The Fire book accentuates on the importance of intensifying one's strategic state of mindful awareness to an extreme situation whereas the Wind book concentrates on the myriad of different categories of strategic systems. This category of understanding enables the serious readers to identify the basic decision management process of the chief decision makers and the elite field implementers at the field level.

The Void book emphasizes on possessing the pervasive state of awareness where one could mindfully comprehend the Big Tangible Picture of their competitive situation in terms of the following:

• knowing the fundamentals; 
• recognizing the motive and the method of their competition; 
• the adjustment points; and 
• the intensification of one's actions.

Performing all of the mentioned points in a mindful sequence is the challenge. 

Click here to read more about Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings.  If you are an advanced implementer of the Five .Rings approach, click here and here for other insights.

We will focus more on applying these tactics in specific field scenarios, in a future post,  

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The Challenge of Profiting in the Cloud Economy: HP vs Amazon and Google

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HP’s big bet on cloud
Posted on Wednesday, May 7 at 7:54am | By Kristen V. Brown

Hewlett-Packard is making a major bet on cloud computing, announcing Wednesday that it will invest $1 billion in a suite of open-source cloud products that position the Palo Alto company as a competitor to cloud services like Amazon Web Services and Google Compute Engine.

HP’s cloud products and services, dubbed HP Helion, mark a shift away from what has been the company’s primary business, namely selling products like management software and technology hardware to corporate data centers. Instead, HP will encourage companies to build their own cloud systems, using HP’s version of the open-source cloud software OpenStack.

The company’s existing cloud computing offerings will also move under the HP Helion name.

HP joins Microsoft, where new CEO Satya Nadella is racing to help Microsoft embrace the “mobile-first cloud-first” world.

http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2014/05/07/hps-big-bet-on-cloud/?cmpid=hp-hc-bustech

Is this an error of the third kind?  

So, do you think that this is a "too little, too late"  type of decision to pursue the "mobile cloud" marketplace?
.     
The two strategic scenarios of Assessing, Positioning and Influencing:

• Incorrectly assessing and positioning, then influencing too early. the innovative companies get copycatted by the larger and more resourceful companies  (Google, Microsoft, etc.)
• Incorrectly assessing and positioning, then influencing too late,  the copycat companies get crushed by the faster and more perceptive companies (Amazon, Google, Facebook, Dropbox, Samsung, Salesforce, etc.)

Question 
So what is the best strategic time to assess, position and influence?
(Future topic)

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The Dao of the Competitive Economy
Following are some of the strategic factors that could be used to strategically defines the complexity of a competitive situation:

• the quantity of quality competitors; 
• the market size; 
• the flow and flux of the marketplace

The Focal Point
Focusing on the competitors or innovation could only go so far.  The successful strategists always focus on both attributes. We will touch on this topic later.

The Operating Norm of the Amateurs
"Scrumation" (The Chief Decision Makes automatically operating one step at a time regardless of the circumstance. It is also known as the "Checker" Approach)  and the obvious act of improvisation could only progress so far for the non-innovation companies who are operating in their ivory tower. .  ...  

Playing the "Checker Approach" is the operating norm for the strategically- challenged decision makers.  Their inability to see the configuration of the Big Tangible Picture in terms of strategic concurrency and having the inability to accelerate will catch up with these moronic chief decision makers.  ... 

The larger companies have been living off the approach of adjusting to the situation because of their resources.  This could only progress so far because of the constant change of operational implementers and the constant change of the marketplace. 

If a few bad monumental errs in a row occurs, the larger company could be pushed over the edge, and into the abyss of history. (Atari, Commodore, Lotus,  Compaq, many software companies, etc.)

("The Powers to Be" could change the rules of the game and alter the momentum of the up and coming challengers. However, that is a different topic.)

Understand the concurrency of strategic actions within the complexity is the new algorithm/skill of the 21th century.  If done correctly, one could get lucky and identify that singularity/exception point for that one quarter or two quarter ahead. It is "the new black"  in the global information economy.  ... 

In terms of "Competitive Darwinism",  the pursuit of the one to three strike knockout maneuver is what some companies are quietly focusing on.  ..   The other companies are implementing "the demise of the competitor through a thousand cuts" tactic.  ... Some have referred to that tactic as the "Water Torture."

Side Note: The Approach
Understanding the complexity of a situation means having a master strategy that is consisted of these three phases- initial scheme, adjustment tactics and situation tactics.  

Do you deploy this type of "strategic process model?"

Remember the following point - Strategy + Process Model =  Solution 

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