Archive for January, 2008 « Previous Entries

Protip: Executive Interviews - Cutting Through The Noise

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

From a qualitative research perspective, executive interviews are an invaluable source of information. What I mean by an “executive interview” is that you interview a subject matter expert or key decision maker that has some stake in the topic that you are researching. For example, if you were researching a proposed special interest rate for [...]

Canada would need 96,000 wind turbines to satisfy Kyoto

Monday, January 28th, 2008

A recent article in the UK publication The Independent caught my attention because it said that the UK would need to build 12,500 wind farms to meet EU emissions targets. I wondered how many wind farms Canada would need to build to meet its emission reduction commitments. Let’s say, for the sake of argument, [...]

Play To Your Consulting Strengths

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Two weeks ago, I said that I was going to try cold-calling senior consultants around town to see if they would take me on as a sub-contractor. Here’s my progress report: I’ve started pulling together a list of people that I want to get introduced to and have been working my network to get introduced [...]

People Who Abuse Surveys and Why You Shouldn’t Fear Them

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008

I can happily report that for the most part, respondents to surveys don’t cheat and/or lie. If it’s an anonymous survey, why would they lie? They have to know that they’re only one respondent amongst hundreds and their chances of influencing the outcome of the survey is very small. Those who attempt to abuse the [...]

Remembering Our Humanity - Science Ethics in the 21st Century

Monday, January 21st, 2008

I recently read Next by Michael Crichton - a thought-provoking read that postulates what life in America might be like when genetic manipulation enters the consumer goods market. Like most Crichton books, it’s not particularly well written but it poses some interesting ethical questions and interestingly, makes actual policy recommendations about genetic research to the [...]

Not using LinkedIn? WTF?

Friday, January 18th, 2008

I can’t tell you how many times my LinkedIn account has saved my bacon as a consultant. If you’re not familiar with LinkedIn, it’s been around for about three years and in a nutshell, it’s a professional networking tool. It operates on the same principle as the Milgram’s Small World Experiment (sometimes referred to as [...]

ProTip: Put Respondents in the Driver’s Seat

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

Yesterday, I had coffee with Andrew Robulack (my new friend from Bad Robot in Whitehorse) and we were discussing his company and what they’re planning on doing. Besides single-handedly turning Whitehorse into the jewel-encrusted high tech hub for the North, Andrew has plans to develop a new media platform for mobile phones that will allow [...]

Does BC Have a Future in Fuel Production?

Monday, January 14th, 2008

In the past decade, pundits and scientists have teased us with the concept that British Columbia might be able to get into the fuel production business. We’ve heard about offshore oil and gas, we’ve heard some hints that hydrogen might have a future in BC but neither of these have seemed to pan out. However, [...]

Cold Calling for New Consulting Clients

Friday, January 11th, 2008

The trend these days is for clients to indentify vendors through a combination of web research and personal referrals - as much as 80% of vendors are selected in this manner. This has a couple of important implications - you want to be easy to find, have a good network and when you’re found, you [...]

The Evil Art of Election Polling

Wednesday, January 9th, 2008

I am a man that believes in the utility of statistics. I know enough about them to both fear and respect them. Statistics are like guns - used in the right hands, they’re can be as precise as a surgical tool. In the wrong hands, they can twist and bend the truth to the interest [...]

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