Yahoo’s Peanut Butter Manifesto reminded me of Whole Systems Thinking. In Whole Systems Thinking, there is a distinction between good complexity and bad complexity. Below are the following rules:

• End-to-End, systems is an organic ecosystem, with inter-dependent parts.
• From a business perspective, eliminate complexity that the customer is not willing to pay for (if she knew about the complexity).
• From a business perspective, exploit the complexity that the customer is willing to pay for.
• Minimize the costs of complexity you offer (costs in terms of time, effort, motion, and money).

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I took Guy’s test today. I scored a 36.

According to Guy’s scoring algorithm:

Here’s how to assess your readiness to become a venture capitalist:

• 40 or more points: Call CalPERS and tell them you’re raising a new fund.
• 35 to 39 points: Call Sequoia and Kleiner, Perkins and tell them that you’re available.
• 25 to 34 points: Send your resume to 2,000 venture capitalists and pray.
• 24 points or less: Work until you can score higher, keep flying on Southwest Airlines.

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The Business Plan Archive is rich with history of what didn’t work during the Dot Com Bust. There, you’ll find interesting facts, business plans, and technologies that were just plain lame, very good but marketed poorly, or just too early for its time. Take, for example, the chart below which shows the shutdown velocity, by month, of dot com companies between 2000 and 2002:

The business cycle is seasonal; the dot com era was one era in which exuberance exceeded common sense. There’s much we can learn from that exciting and educational time period in business history. Below is a quick top ten of lessons-learned from the dot com era, originally publshed by the Business Plan Archive, republished here.

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Only in Utah, or the Bible Belt, or other religiously-fanatical states…but, I have to admit, this one is pretty darn, hecka, and flippin’ funny.

Unrelated, but interesting, is this nice, ajaxy, draggable presentation of all the completed acquisitions by Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft.  If you enjoy what you find on shmula, consider subscribing.  Enjoy.

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This post is part of a series on Queueing Theory. The other articles can be found here:

1. Queueing Theory: Part 1
2. Queueing Theory: Part 2
3. Queueing Theory: Part 3
4. Queueing Theory: Part 4
5. What is Waste?
6. On Time-Traps and Waste
7. Call Centers as Queueing Systems
8. Travel Time & Waste
9. Little’s Law for Product Development

A queueing system is a model with the following structure: customers arrive and join a queue to wait for service given by n servers. After receiving service, the customer exits the system. A fundamental result of queueing theory is little’s law.

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After several weeks of research and having to decide between a GMC Yukon XL or a 2007 Chevrolet Suburban, I decided to go with the 2007 Chevrolet Suburban. We recently bought a new suburban — 2007, Gray Metallic Color, 4WD, and it’s really nice and — it fits my whole family.

I don’t really care for cars much, but I’m really happy that we got this one — no, not because it’s fancy or anything like that, but because it has 9 seat belts and has leg room. Yes, 9 seat belts and leg room. That’s what I cared about the most. With a family of 6 kids and a wife, seat belts and leg room is pretty much a premium for me.

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I just finished two books on Venture Capital and Private Equity. The first one is Buyout: The Insider’s Guide to Buying Your Own Company and the second one is Venture Capital and Private Equity: A Casebook.

So,

• Buyout: The Insider’s Guide to Buying Your Own Company

This was an interesting book, written by a long-time practitioner in the private equity industry. It was an easy read and provided some good, in-the-trenches stories and tips.

• Venture Capital and Private Equity: A Casebook

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Thanksgiving was good; the turkey wasn’t that dry; and the rolls turned out just fine, and I’m reminded of Thanksgiving everyday by the weight I’ve gained. Now, The Christmas Season is here, people are crazy shopping today (Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year), and I’m home with the new baby.

Well, Merry Christmas…and the lights are starting to come up.

Here’s my crazy neighbor playing with death as he puts up his Christmas lights:

Here’s another close-up of the poor bloke:

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