There is a misconception among many people – including many technical people – that technical people are not “creative.” This is not only wrong but detrimental because any problem-solving involves creativity. To the extent that technical problem solvers buy into the idea that they are not (cannot be) creative, they …

Einstein once observed, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.” In the world of problem solving it is hard to overstate the importance of understanding the problem to be solved. Our natural tendency is …

Every year at Christmas I am reminded of the systemic nature of music. Music is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I sing bass in several different choirs during the Christmas season and every year I get to sing the same parts in the basic repertoire of traditional Christmas …

By David Long and Zane Scott The late Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill, famously said “all politics is local.” In that phrase he called to the surface a characteristic of politics that was often overlooked but always true. In the same way, we …