Inclusion and The Goal

For those of you interested in the DecolonizeSTEM discussion, please see Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein's Medium article with her Decolonising Science Reading List.

One of the things I've read these past few months, was Eli Goldratt's The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. I have read quite a bit about Theory of Constraints over the past two years, but this was my first time reading the classic book that started it off. Some of the principals make sense, for example I am trying to "focus and finish" my reading.

However, some of what Goldratt writes about The Goal, appears to conflict with the data on Diversity & Inclusion.  Specifically:

"productivity is the act of bringing a company closer to its goal. Every action that brings a company closer to its goal is productive. Every action that does not bring a company closer to its goal is not productive." [1]

Diversity & Inclusion discussions in business, are often viewed as "a waste of time," or worse, "unproductive."

Yet the data on Diversity & Inclusion's impact on business shows that it improves performance. I wonder how much of this happened because The Goal was focused on the factory environment and production, and how much of this happened simply as a matter of assumptions.

What do you think? Would you update The Goal to reflect the data? How?

[1]  Goldratt, Eliyahu M.; Jeff Cox (2014-07-01). The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement (Kindle Locations 691-693). North River Press. Kindle Edition.

Cross-cultural Communication, Books that Changed my Life

I saw discussion about a book that changed your life. There's a series of books that changed my life, relevant to this week's discussion on culture, history, and decolonizing STEM:

• StarBridge (StarBridge #1) (Starbridge Series)
• Silent Dances (StarBridge #2)
• Shadow World (StarBridge #3) (StarBridge Series)
• Serpent's Gift (StarBridge #4) (StarBridge Series)
• Silent Songs (StarBridge #5) (StarBridge Series)

There are two more in the series, that I haven't read:

• Ancestor's World (StarBridge #6)
• Voices of Chaos (StarBridge #7)

The stories are about interstellar space travel, contact between and among alien races. There's a school, called "StarBridge," with three learning tracks: Translator/Interpreter, Telepath, and Interrelator. From "Silent Dances":

Thirty-Meter Telescope on Hawai'i

What I've been trying to work my way up to, this week, is discussion of the Thirty-Meter Telescope. It's... complicated, to say the least.

One of the first principles of intersectional work, is that anti-oppression should be led / centered by the voices that are directly affected by it. That being said, this is my blog / my space. So I'm going to begin with this great list of links: http://www.aoletmt.com/

And this Storify that Janet Stemwedel (@docfreeride) put together. My own analysis / processing will be below the cut.

Pay attention, in this Storify, to who are the kanaka maoli, the pre-European Hawaiian voices:

My own processing is below the cut, in two parts: 1) Who I am / Why I care, and 2) What I think.

This is a long post.