Behind the Curtain at TCG

GMLOB shifting to "shared services"?

The Management Concepts (lovely, sweet-smelling, and smart people that they are) Grants Blog reported earlier this week that Danny Werfel, Controller of OMB's Office of Federal Financial Management, said the following at the recent Association of Government Accountants Professional Development Conference:

"While he was specifically speaking about financial management systems, the overall principles he discussed also may be applicable to the Grants Management Line of Business (GMLoB). OMB still believes in the concept, but has learned that the model of forcing agencies to move to a complete service center doesn’t work. Instead they are looking to focus more on “shared services.” For example, an agency may share a vendor invoicing service with other agencies but would not have to migrate their entire financial system to a common source."

Well, I don't know about you, but to this I say "Yaaaaay!" and "Woot!" and "Goodness me, what buck-o news, Biggles!" So who's up for sharing services, hmm?

Government telework closer to reality

We've been advocates of telework here at TCG since our founding in 1994, and it's worked out pretty well for us. GovExec reports today that the House has approved legislation that will enable eligible government workers to telework at least 20% of their time. Some in government are concerned about the cost of implementing the program, estimated to be $2 million this year and $30 million between 2010 and 2015, but this fails to consider the enormous savings that are very likely to be generated. Quoting Kate Lister of the Telework Research Network, the article says:

"The staggering costs of lost productivity from federal workers during last winter's snowstorms -- estimated by the government at $71 million a day -- would pay for the five-year cost of the bill in one day."

Woah.

On the Wisdom of Natural Language Programming

"Computer, how many new email messages do I have?"

"About 300."

"How many interesting ones?"

"When is an email message 'interesting'?"

"Let's call an email interesting if it came from work or from someone I wrote to in the past week."

"You have 52 interesting messages."

"Please list my email with the interesting ones first."

Will we ever converse with our computers like this? What I find compelling about this dialog is that beyond the difficult activities of natural language processing and understanding, it requires the computer to learn something new (in this case, a temporary definition of "interesting" messages). So not only is the user talking with the computer, but is programming it. This is the dream of natural language programming.

In 1978, Edsger Dijkstra, a giant in Computer Science, lambasted efforts to develop programming languages based upon English and other natural languages in his lecture "On the Foolishness of Natural Language Programming." In it, Dijkstra rails against efforts at the time (like NLC) that directly translated programming language statements into English sentences and paragraphs. He views the research into natural language programming as attempts to remove "the obligation to use a formal symbolism".  He then argues that formal symbolism is vital for concise communication, and that replacing programming languages with English will simply facilitate "making statements the nonsense of which is not obvious."

He's right. The reason why we have different notations for different concepts is because we can be more concise, precise, and comprehensible in them. The statement "t = t + 1" is more concise than the phrase "increment the variable 't'", (which in C or Java could also mean "t++" or "++t", and have different side effects). Matrix calculations in NLC (expressed in English) are harder to understand than in  Matlab or standard mathematical notation. Visual interfaces are excellent for dialog layout, especially when compared to rows of object initialization statements with specific pixel values or font sizes. Entity/Relationship diagrams facilitate understanding database structure. I cannot imagine playing PacMan over the phone with someone trying to describe what is happening in English prose. Calculus, set notation, predicate logic, mathematical graphs, and many other formal symbolic systems enable us to understand and discuss highly complex concepts. As Dijkstra states, "thanks to [formal symbols], school children can learn to do what in earlier days only genius could achieve."

But what about mundane day-to-day concepts?  Why must we say "John = new Person();" when we really want to say "John is a person."? Why must we click though a calendar program instead of being able to say "Set up an executive meeting next Tuesday morning at the earliest time people are available."?  Why do we have to rewrite systems to horizontally scale instead of being able to tell our server, "Replicate and synchronize this web site onto this second machine." Yes, these statements have huge amounts of ambiguity, and the development effort to create environments that can infer, simulate, or ask about the unknown information is currently infeasible. But that's the point: natural language is ambiguous because we know so much about each other's motives and goals.

We don't want to use natural language programming to calculate integrals or invert matrices. I hope that no one wants to write FFT algorithms in English sentences.  We want to use natural language programming to describe and interact with day to day concepts including email, meetings, appointments, deadlines, and people. Because there are many times in which we don't care about the precise details and simply want to get things done, in these domains natural language programming is enabling, ideal, and wise.

TCG’s Dan Turner Featured on Executive Leaders Radio Program

Executive Leaders Radio, which airs on Washington, DC’s WHFS 1580 AM, featured TCG President Dan Turner on the show on June 5, 2010. The program also aired on WBIS 1190 AM, on June 9, 2010. An audiocast of the entire program is available on the Executive Leaders Radio website. The interview with Dan starts around 38 minutes into the audiocast. Read the full press release here for more information.

TCG’s Nina Preuss is a 2010 Rising Star Award Winner

Nina Preuss, a project manager with TCG, has been selected by Federal Computer Week as a 2010 Rising Star. The program recognizes top public and private sector employees who have made an early—and substantive—mark in the government information technology community. This is the second year in a row that a TCG employee has been honored as a Rising Star. Last year, Rich Renomeron, a senior engineer, was an awardee. This year, Ms. Preuss was one of 24 individuals from over 100 nominees selected for this prestigious honor. For more information, read the press release here.

Why You Should Respond to Ads for Jobs That Are “Contingent on Contract Award”

…and why you should even volunteer to help with the proposal!

Have you ever read an ad for a job opening that sounded really interesting, only to see a caveat down near the bottom that said “this position is contingent on contract award”?  If that made you grind your teeth in annoyance and go on to the next ad, think again!

First of all, it takes a company a lot of time, effort, and money to prepare a bid on a contract, so companies don’t bid unless they think there’s a very good chance they’ll win. Secondly, companies only place job ads for proposed positions when they don’t have anyone on staff to fill the position. This creates a great opportunity for you.  How?  Well, companies are very picky about the resumes they include in proposals. They only choose candidates whose backgrounds and experience will enhance their proposal’s quality and appeal.  Consequently, if you’re the one selected for inclusion in the proposal, you’ll have high visibility right from the get-go. That’s a win-win situation for you. If the company wins the contract, you become an important addition to the staff because you’ve become a part of a highly sought-after contract.  Even if the company loses their bid, you still win because they’ll remember you.  Although they may not have another opening for you at the moment, they’ll automatically think of you when they have a similar position available.

Now, let’s say you were smart enough to see the advantages of a contingent position without me telling you. You’ve applied for it, you’ve had your interview, and you’ve come away thinking, “Wow! I love what I heard about the job and the company. I really, REALLY hope they win the contract”.  You don’t have to cross your fingers and wish for the best, you can actually help make it happen by volunteering to help write or edit the proposal!

“Huh?   Volunteer?  You mean … like … unpaid,” you ask?  Perhaps. Some companies hire consultants for their knowledge or expertise in a discipline with which the company has had little or no experience. You might be hired as a subject matter expert for the proposal. But even if you don’t have any esoteric job skills or specialized knowledge, there’s often room on a proposal team for someone who can help with writing, editing, scoping, sizing, estimating, and sundry other tasks. Although you may not make money, you can gain a wealth of information that could prove useful to you in the very near future.

What kind of wealth? Well, first, working on the proposal will allow you to learn a LOT more about the company, the way it does business, its people (who may be your future co-workers), its management, and its culture. You’ll also acquire a much deeper understanding of the project you might soon be working on and of the particular position you might occupy. On top of that, you’ll become a known (and appreciated) team player at the organization, not just another semi-anonymous job candidate.  And, finally, by taking part in the proposal development process, you’ll have an additional credential you can add to your resume that will increase your marketability.

So the next time you see the words “contingent on contract award” in a job ad, don’t snort in derision.  Apply for the position. If you’re called for an interview, talk to the recruiter. And if you really like the vibe you’re getting, ask if there’s any way you can help with the proposal. By making this small investment in your prospective employer’s future, you’ll be making a far greater investment in yourself.