Jul 22

I've been seeing a lot of articles and books out there talking about how motivation is not about money. Ideas that bonuses are more harmful than helpful and that what really motivates people to commit themselves to their work are relationships and culture. It's the people and being emotionally invested in what you do, not the money.

Well, this is true- in part. People are motivated by these things more than by money but that is not the whole story.

Take a quick search on Google and you can find plenty of the books, websites, seminars etc. on this topic all purporting to tell companies how more money isn't necessary and probably even a bad idea. Remember that these are people trying to sell advice to companies who are looking to keep expenses down. They are selling the answers companies want to hear.

Even though there is some truth to their answers- all good scams involve a grain of truth. I'm not saying that these things are all scams- just that they smell suspicious to me.

The reality is that if your compensation system undervalues your people they will leave. The folks that leave will be the most qualified as they are most able to find someone who will pay them a fair market rate.

If you are being paid 20% under market it doesn't matter how much you love your job. Eventually reality will hit home and you will realize staying where you are or leaving can mean the difference between your kids going to college or not. It might be the difference in retiring at age 55 or 65. These realities will eventually take precedence over liking your job and the people at work.

So please, before you decide to forego bonuses or raises think about reality. When you review the pay scale of your teams take a look at the actual market. If you pay your workforce significantly under market you will lose good people.

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Jun 24

So today I read http://www.physorg.com/news196258264.html and got all excited about photonics as a possible next step. I also keep reading about the advances in quantum computing including the quantum encryption being used at the world cup matches in Africa. It seems to me like there is a bit of a race between the two concepts to land the next evolution of data processing.

After thinking about where both of those technologies are I have to admit that it looks much more likely that we'll see a photonic processor in a PC long before we see a quantum processor. At the same time I do think the quantum techniques will come into more use.

Perhaps what we'll see is a move to photonics for general computing with quantum techniques being used for specialized applications like encryption. In the last 10 years we've gone from the introduction of a 64 bit processor to 6 core hyper threaded processors. I'm looking forward to the next evolution of processors. My money is on photonics as being the next step with quantum processing not far behind.

Jun 04

Every time I look there seems to be another article on http://www.physorg.com talking about a new research breakthrough in quantum computing and the physics needed to make it work. At the current rate of development it will not be long before quantum based communication is feasible on a much wider scale and those same techniques have the potential to usher in a new age of technology that will make the current level of speed, miniaturization, and raw computing power look like a Model-T compared to a Ferrari.

I do not expect that we will see this transformation within the next few years but within the next 10 to 20 you can bet on it. At some point in this timeframe this transformation will take place and once it starts it will take less than 5 years to become pervasive.

What can I say?  I am excited about the future of computing technology. Just think of the neat stuff we’ll be able to build with it! Whoever can leverage this computing power will be a force indeed.