Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Tips for Successful Video Conferencing



Video conferences are a convenient way to save money, and time and environmental impact, while still getting work done. They are hi-tech and still relatively new which may make them intimidating. Nobody wants to look foolish, much less in a business setting and even less on video that might even be recorded. If you put in the time and planning, your video conferences can be smooth and effective.


Video tips that will help you improve what your video conference attendees SEE.



Look at the camera
It may feel strange, but you shouldn't spend all your time looking at the people on your screen, especially when you are speaking. The best place to look while speaking is directly at the camera. Your participants will get the impression that you are looking right at them. This creates a better connection between them and you.  To help with this, you can position the camera as close as possible to the screen so your eyes don't have far to travel.  This results in near eye contact when you are looking at the screen.  Eye contact is important for interpersonal communication. If the camera cannot be place close to the screen, then consider practicing facing and talking into the camera, not looking at the other party's image. You want to avoid the situation where you have two people watching each other watching their computer screens.

The Lighting
Hollywood movies have lighting designers for a reason.  Light is important for video.  Have plenty of light on your face. If you don't, you may appear as a silhouette. Also try to eliminate shadows. A shadow of your hand, for example, looks like another hand to the camera, so the motion of that shadow results in twice as much motion handling as it would normally do, with a subsequent reduction in perceived video quality.

The Setting

The location that you chose to do your conference from will say something about you. Other than the obvious point that what you have on your desk and behind you will make impressions on your participants, what is in that background can be detrimental to your video quality. Try to have a clean or bare background with a neutral color. Keep all camera-visible areas neat and decluttered. You will look better on screen, so as much as you have control in your work environment, be mindful of the background for your video conference. 

The Clothes
What you wear can alter the hue of your skin, and possibly distract your video conference attendees.
  • Avoid wearing clothing that has bright colours and busy patterns. 
  • Wear plain or fabrics of muted colours like pastels.
  • Avoid bold colors, especially red and black
  • Avoid jewelry that may brush against microphones or tabletops and cause feedback
  • Solid shades of blue or gray generally bring out healthy skin tones and do not create a visual distraction. 
  • On a television monitor, black and white clothing colors can also enhance the skin tones, 
  • Avoid too sharp or too little contrast between your clothing and your skin and hair tone.
  • Avoid wearing bold red, green and orange, as these colors can cause an unfriendly hue for your skin
Be in the picture
Frame yourself in the picture by practicing with your camera prior to the meeting.  You want to avoid disappearing off of the screen.  Knowing how far you can lean will help you stay on-screen during the conference.
You might consider using your mouse as your anchor point. Holding on to the mouse naturally while setting up your camera may help you maintain a good sense of where you are. 
As you move back and forth be aware that the camera may exaggerate your motion. 
Because movement is compressed and decompressed in videoconferencing, it is important that motion be minimized.

Audio tips that will help you improve what your video conference attendees HEAR.
 

OK, assuming that we all know how to use a phone, or talk in a normal meeting, videoconferencing is a little different because of audio delays, a general unfamiliarity of how to behave around a live microphone, and the loss of queues a face to face meeting would otherwise provide.


Mute is your friend. use it.
An issue specific to virtual meetings is the mute button. Mute buttons are essential to having a well-ordered and quiet meeting, and their use should be encouraged. This minimizes interruption such as coughing, sneezing, and paper shuffling.  Being aware of muted attendees allows you to give attendees a few extra seconds to respond to questions. By allowing them time to unmute themselves.  Limit verbal interruptions by providing non-verbal feedback through, nodding or shaking your head.  Some video conference systems drop the other party's audio when the microphone is active, so mute avoids unnecessarily dropping the other's audio.


Speak Clearly
Clearly enunciate and speak more slowly than the normal rate of speech. Auditory dynamics such as pitch, tone, volume, pausing, and pacing are crucial during a video conference.  Audio compression may remove parts of the audio so careful speech improves the chance that your message will be received clearly


Verbal acknowledgement and identification
  • Address people by name especially for questions
  • Acknowledge individual comments and ideas
  • Identify yourself (and your site if appropriate) before speaking if there are more than three participants
  • Ask participants to raise their hand if they wish to speak
  • Allow a couple seconds for transmission delay when speaking; 
  • Pause after the end of your comments to allow time for remote sites to respond to a question or comment



Etiquette tips that will help you improve the flow of your video conference.


Etiquette

  • Direct questions or comments to a particular person or site (especially important in multipoint conferences)
  • If participating in a large multi-point meeting, it is advised that you say your name and location each time you speak
  • Avoid side conversations
  • Announce actions to the others when possible  (e.g. John from HR has just joined us here)
  • If your video conference session is primarily a presentation/lecture, it is recommended that the "audience" mute their microphones. 

Bonus Video
Here is a great, funny video from the University of Washington which highlights some good video conference practices. (worth a watch).
http://www.digitalwell.washington.edu/rcuwtvdownload/uwtv_vidcon_ipodv.m4v  (7:40)


Source credits:
http://ezinearticles.com/?10-of-Our-Favorite-Video-Conferencing-Tips&id=1382277
http://www.tss.uoguelph.ca/cts/vidcontip.html
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/distancelearning/videoconferencing/tips.html
http://www.video-conferencing.com/presentation.html
http://www.packetizer.com/ipmc/vctips.html




Cheers, I hope you find these video conferencing tips helpful.
Greg.




Monday, February 22, 2010

Facebook plans to burn COAL to power their new data center.

You like facebook.  Do you like that facebook is planning to burn coal to power their new data center in Portland?  Change.org has a petition you can sign.

Coal is the dirtiest option available for generating electricity (apart from burning old tires).  Facebook couldn't have picked a worse source for powering their new data center.  While competitors like google are switching to sustainable power generation.  Facebook is effectively kicking sand in the faces of all the kids with asthma in the Portland area.  You might want to encourage Facebook to act a little more responsibly. You might not want to ruin air quality around Portland just to update your friends on your "status".

Its not all about money Facebook.  Its about people. Listen to the people.

Protest Facebook's decision to power their new data center by burning COAL. http://www.change.org/actions/view/stop_facebook_from_switching_to_dirty_coal


[Edit] One of my friends asked why I was singling out Facebook, and wanted to know if I was suggesting giving up Google, Microsoft etc.
I'm an incrementalist, I'm not normally an all or nothing kind of guy.  The way I see it life is a series of incremental choices, with no magic bullets that solve everything.  The point was that Facebook is at a pivotal point where they are doing something new and facing an opportunity to make a really good OR bad choice here.  Personally I don't want my "status updates" inflicting a health cost on the good people of Oregon.

Cheers,
Greg.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Recycling Plastic - ideas for increasing adoption.

I learned today that our curbside recycling program will take #1,2,4,5 plastic (not 3,6,7). So I called the helpful folks at the Recycling Council of BC hotline: 604 732 9253 (or if you prefer a really easy toll-free number: 1 800-667 4321).


flickr credit: Rafa from Brazil


They told me that Wastech (the transfer station would accept plastic containers with any "resin number". So I thought it was strange that the garbage transfer company accepted more types of plastic for recycling than the recycling folks.


I'm under the impression that the most critical point in diverting waste from landfill to recycling is at the point of disposal where a product is being "placed in the trash".  Compared to the more technical challenges of sorting, washing, chipping, selling shipping and making use of recycled material.  Getting homeowners and businesses to actually start the recycling process is key.  Here in Abbotsford we have a fantastic advantage with our "unsorted curbside pickup".  We make it really really easy for people to "do the right thing".  Effectively we remove barriers of effort for folks to encourage recycling and reduce the amount of waste going into landfill or worse incinerators.


flickr credit: Montgomery Cty Division of Solid Waste Services


For myself I find a quick rinse and a slam dunk in our recycling bin and I'm done.  Its actually easier to recycle in our house because the garbage is hidden away under the sink.  There are two things that slow me down in my attempts to recycle;

  • Not knowing what plastics can and can't be recycled. (which I solved today by phoning)
  • Not seeing the 'resin codes' on the plastic objects I would like to recycle.
That second problem of "unmarked plastics" is a real challenge.  Here are some things that work or might work;  
  • Smell it.  If it smells like a plastic shower curtain or inflatable toy, it is probably PVC plastic #3, it is probably not recyclable.
  • In the past, I've contacted companies like the Solo cup company who to their credit have retooled their production lines to include the "resin codes" for recycling on the bottom of their disposable drinking cups.
  • If the government required that all plastic manufactured items bore a permanent recycling symbol, people would not find themselves stumped at the recycling bin.
    • Currently for reasons of import taxation all items brought into the company must list where they originate.  I think this demonstrates that such a mark is attainable.
    • Permanent so that the mark is not removed over the useful life of the plastic object
    • This would need to include packaging which often has an extremely short lifecycle like in the case of plastic used in packaging children's toys.
  • Survey the resin codes on plastic being sent to landfill to determine which plastics are most frequently discarded in order to expand the resin codes accepted in an order that makes sense.
flickr credit: mag3737

I know we have it really easy in Abbotsford with our recycling program.  What is your experience with recycling plastic?  What would you do to make it easier?

Cheers,
Greg.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Why the 2010 Olympics are truly "sustainable"

We've heard people say that past Olympic games were "green" but for me the details have always been obscured.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the detail and depth of information provided on the Vancouver 2010 website by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC)


flickr photo credit: TylerIngram 


You can read all about how VANOC worked to make sure the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver / Whistler sustainable.  There is a fairly detailed Vancouver 2010 sustainability report offered which details items like carbon offsets, venue specific construction details, engagement of sponsors and suppliers and sustainability education for the 2010 workforce. I was impressed by the breadth of VANOC's definition of Sustainable;   


"We expanded our program beyond the environmental impacts and benefits of the Games to include the social and economic dimensions of sustainability."


This broader view of sustainability echos what British Columbians heard the Green Party offer in their platform for the 2005 provincial election.  Regardless of who said it first.  It is a brilliant idea to have this "triple bottom line".  Can you imagine what the world would be like if every business had a bottom line that was financially, socially, and environmentally sustainable.  Good job VANOC.


flickr photo credit: TylerIngram

Cheers,
Greg.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The Beauty of Independent Synchronization

here is something really elegant about synchronized events. Consider the trapeze artist being caught mid-air. Not falling to the ground shrieking with terror. And not dying on impact. That is impressive.  Or that happy feeling when you catch green lights all the way to work.... (OK I'm sorry this isn't a work of fiction I'll stop giving impossible examples)

So much more is possible with good timing. Ever been at a concert where someone is clapping out of rhythm?  My friend Brian has led music on his guitar for many years and he is adament in his belief that people should have to get a license to operate a tambourine. "Its amazing to watch a single person with a tambourine and poor timing
destroy the coordination of a band and the people singing along, it simply should not be allowed."

How many marvels of nature have to do with good timing, where a disruption of that timing results in mass death. From migrations to salmon runs, there is an incredible innate beauty in the purposeful synchronization of living things that random chance and long periods of time do not explain. The problem with those "chaotic chance"
theories is that without excellent timing the first go round, you have no life left with which to make a second attempt.  When I consider the design of the heart muscle or the rest of the human circulatory system and compare it with the crude clumsy flow of traffic through intersections I come to appreciate the excellence and elegance of natural design.

I see 2 kinds of synchronized events.  Intentionally synchronized events (like the execution of an entertainment program) and unsynchronized events (like bumping into a friend unexpectedly while out for a walk).  I suspect a large percentage of events could fit in either category depending on perspective, assumptions and interpretation of the events.


Giving up our need to control an event absolutely could quite possibly yield a better event synchronization.  Consider hockey players sitting on a bench when the action comes and slams into the boards in front of them.  They respond by ducking back to avoid getting hit with sticks, bodies or fists. Letting each of them respond individually and independently is far more efficient and effective than having some "fail-safe" centrally controlled "make players duck now" button if such a preposterous thing were conceivable.
Or (also at the hockey game) consider the shouts of the crowd when a player on a breakaway takes a shot on the opponent's net and just barely misses. "Ahhhhhh....."  Thousands of people independently observing the same event, understanding it to have meaning and responding in a similar manner.



Some people make their living by recognizing or predicting such responses.  Consider how the stock market reacts when there is a reduction in stock price.  People tend to react in similar ways, often watching the reactions of others to determine their own reaction.


Seeing these synchronized events raises some questions like;
  • What role do practice and education have to play in well coordinated outcomes?
  • What role does perspective have (what team were you cheering for)?
  • How do assumptions change our reactions to or understanding of synchronized events?

Can you think of synchronized behaviour that people attempt to control which might be better left to independent reaction?


Cheers,
Greg.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Is "Made in China" a bad thing?

My friend Pete has decided to avoid (as much as possible) purchasing items made in "that bad place". He is jokingly referring to items made in China. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find items that are not made in China, from tools, to toys, to household appliances, exercise equipment and other day to day items. Lots of the items we purchase are coming from China. More and more it seems. Let me be perfectly clear in case any of you are having a bad day and are tempted to infer things that aren't here. I am not talking about "people" I am talking about "products" and business practices. China is the location of origin specified on the products under discussion. Ethnicity is not under discussion here.

Quality
My friend's objections to buying goods imported from China have to do with safety and quality. In his opinion there have been too many cases of low quality controls resulting in a measurable health hazzard. The list of problems includes deaths from bad pet food, melamine contamination in human food, and lead paint in toys. But clearly those examples don't mean every product is defective. Just because a product is from China doesn't mean it is poor quality. In many cases products we would consider to be of high quality are manufactured in China. Apple's "iphone" and "ipod" are manufactured in China. So while the design may be North American, the manufacture and assembly is handled by companies in China. Several dimensions of quality must be considered;
  • Design (is it similar but inherently flawed?) 
  • Materials (are half the parts not galvanized to protect against rust?) 
  • Workmanship (is it slapped together or carefully built) 
  • Documentation (Are the instructions intelligible, well translated, useful?) 
  • Environmental (are toxic or banned materials used in the product or its manufacture?) 
Comparison with Japan
There was a time when products from Japan (like the tin wind-up toys that were popular in Canada) were considered "junk". Now Japanese quality is considered among the top in the world. Following World War 2 Edward Demming and others introduced statistical process control. A number of Japanese manufacturers applied his techniques widely and experienced theretofore unheard of levels of quality and productivity. The improved quality combined with the lowered cost created new international demand for Japanese products. Japan even began exporting expertise with programs like the Toyota Production System. The point should be made that significant improvement of quality came through deliberate action, not a "natural" process of industrial maturation.

Cost
How can a product that is manufactured overseas, AND SHIPPED here cost less than a product built here with no shipping? I don't get it. I understand that shipping a 40ft container to the US from China costs about $8,000US.  How could the production cost be so significantly lower that after shipping and import taxes the companies involved are actually saving money? Could it be that manufacturers in China understand how reducing margins a little wins them the contract over North American manufacturers who "can't be bothered" to make a product unless they make $x.xx per item?

Overpriced wall-tap example
At my local Home Depot store I found an orange plastic wall tap (a plug expander) for grounded plugs. Home Depot wants $6.98 + tax, but the Dollar(.25) store down the street wants $1.25. We are talking about a block of orange plastic with metal wires embedded in it. There is no way it is WORTH $6.98 + tax. Given my limited knowledge of how injection molded plastic objects are created, and my understanding of how the dollar store and their suppliers insist on making a profit (not a loss) on every sale, it is safe to bet that the cost of materials, manufacturing and shipping for the orange wall tap are less than $1.25. So if getting the wall tap made and shipped to the store is less than $1.25, why is Home Depot charging us an extra $5.73?
I have a theory and it has to do with markup. Assuming both stores want a 100% retail markup the cost for each becomes $2.88 and $0.625. Lets assume HD goes through an extra "distributor" who also has 100% markup. Now we're looking at $1.44 and $0.625. If the North American Manufacturer needs to make $1.00 per item and has a $0.44 "cost", we start to see how the manufacturer in China still has $0.185 of room per item for profit and shipping. So thats my theory, I'm sure you have your own which I welcome in the comments section.

Labour practices
Does the low cost for some products made in China necessarily mean that the people making them are being treated unfairly? Sometimes this is the case. In 2006, the Mail on Sunday alleged that sweatshop conditions existed in factories in China, where the contract manufacturers, Foxconn and Inventec operate the factories that produce the iPod. The article stated that one iPod factory, for instance, had over 200,000 workers that lived and worked in the factory, with workers regularly doing more than 60 hours of labor per week. The article also reported that workers made around $100 per month were required to live on the premises and pay for rent and food from the company. Living expenses (required to keep the job) generally took up a little over half of the worker's earnings.[154][155][156] Immediately after the allegations, Apple launched a full investigation and worked with their manufacturers to ensure that conditions were acceptable to Apple.[157]

The standard for "fair treatment" needs to be both acceptable to the people designing and purchasing the products. (Nothing to hide) as well as acceptable to the people performing the work and running the companies. Working for $x per day may sound awful in North America where the cost of a house is very high. Folks in other nations may be thankful for $x per day and could conceivably be raising their standard of living at those wages. So we can't have an overly paternal response where we need to control, nor an overly naive response where we leave the manufacturer to their own devices. The discussion of what is "fair treatment" is a larger discussion better handled separately, but I'd be cheating you if I didn't draw attention to the issue. 

Assuming the question of "fair treatment" is defined reasonably. If an offshore manufacturer can offer better prices by "mistreating" their workers, they are being unethical. If a company contracting work out to the manufacturer knows this, or turns a blind eye, they are acting unethically. Respecting the people involved must always come first. The response by Apple to ensure that the people assembling their products are treated ethically is commendable whatever the motivations. This blog has discussed "Fair Trade" products in the past. There is no reason this model couldn't work for manufactured goods as well.

Outsourcing our Manufacturing Base
I've seen ships piled high with logs.  Logs bound to go overseas where they will be milled and transformed into consumer goods. I've wondered why we wouldn't build those consumer goods here and take the associated jobs and the associated profits.  Seems weird to me that someone can ship logs half way around the world because it is a better deal.  Maybe companies overseas pay a bit more for logs to keep the jobs and profits for the finished goods.  Here in British Columbia I keep hearing news about mills closing.  I see a risk if North American corporations decide to continue this trend of "outsourcing" their manufacturing.  We'll have fewer factories, fewer trained factory workers, less equipment, and less capacity for manufacturing.  To think a dark thought for a moment.  What happens in a widespread armed conflict that spans continents if North America has "outsourced" it's manufacturing capability.  Before we could produce equipment, we'd need to first plan and construct factories, source and deliver raw materials.  Maybe we're past that point and all the new wars will be fought with dollars.  Lets hope we don't make shortsighted decisions that shoot our feet off.
Conclusion
I think in looking at this issue we need to fight our way through a lot of stereotypes like the arrogance of assuming North American design is superior.  In a world where the true costs are not transparent its hard to know where the money is going or why choices are being made. The long and the short of it demands that we treat everyone with respect, and that we identify hidden costs that might not be apparent.  I think there is the potential for a global community driven project that aims to divulge the "True Cost" of the products we purchase on a daily basis.  As explored above some of the health and safety costs may not be worth paying even though the "sticker" (retail) price looks attractive.

Cheers,
Greg. 

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

3D Model Your City

I like maps. I always have. I like to understand how places connect
together.  Browsing satelite imagery to "see" a place I've never been
is interesting and much cheaper and more convenient than travelling
there. It can be a kind of voyeuristic vacation imagining where you
hang over streets and buldings looking down at people frozen in time,
powerless to move or react, unaware of your lowres overhead gaze.

When Google Streetview was intoduced, I "walked aroung New york,
apinning to take in the towering buildings, watching the couriers in
the stop motion sequence of several shots load parcels and enter their
trucks.

Google Earth allowed for "drifting over a landscape" and when terrain
was enabled it even simulated the kinds of views you might have from a
place. I was mostly uninterested in the grey block buildings that
started to appear in cities like San Francisco and LA.  They covered
up the landscape with grey, hiding roads and cars and people.

Google building maker has changed my view on these 3D buildings. By
leveraging the power of optical illusions, building maker let's
ordinary people make 3D buildings wrapped in satelite imagery.  To
make a building you view it from many angles using different satelite
images.  You wrap wireframe boxes and other shapes aroung the
building, matching the roof, the corners, the footprint until you are
satisfied with your building. You can preview it in 3D and then save
it to the google 3D warehouse. If google likes it they will include it
in Google Earth.

I had "made" some buildings, forgotten about them and returned months
later to find that my buildings had been included in Google Earth. Now
I have 19 / 33 models accepted and I have taken on mapping 2 blocks of
East Hastings street in Vancouver BC.  With the Olympics coming to
Vancouver in Feb 2010 I wanted to give people the opportunity to
explore parts of a significant Vancouver neighbourhood that wasn't
well represented compared to 3D model representation in wealthier parts of Vancouver.  I figured the folks on East Hastings might not have a chance to do some 3D modeling.



But of course you have the chance to really bring your city alive.

Cheers, 

Greg.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Closed Loop Thinking vs Open Loop Thinking

I'm going to move fast.  Try to keep up.

At work and at home I see this pattern of life emerging.  To over generalize greatly, there are 2 kinds of people in the world.  The OpenLoop thinkers who consider themselves efficient in that they only do what they need to in order to get what they want.  And the closed loop thinkers who would consider themselves responsible and they do more than they need to for the greater good.  The open looper sees the immediate result and upon achieving the desired result, wanders off to find something else of interest.  The closed looper sees not only the result, but the effect on others, the need to repeat the result again in the future and everything along the way to that result that could be improved.

The term.  GTD or "Getting Things Done uses the terminology of "closing loops" and so does practically everyone else who writes on productivity.  The idea is that a task truly isn't complete until you have "closed the loop"  You may have activity, but you haven't returned your environment to an ordered state until you close the loop.   If you think like an engineer, you understand that closing the loop on an electrical circuite allows power to flow and achieve work.  The open loop folks are leaving bits and pieces disconnected in their environment.  Pieces that affect others and have an adverse effect on their productivity.

Lets grab some household stereotypical irritations.   "Leaving the lid off the toothpaste", "putting an empty jug of milk back in the fridge","forgetting to take out the garbage", "leaving the toilet seat up", "not picking up laundry and putting it in the clothes hamper".   All of these examples are part of a cycle that repeats, and which in most cases involves other people.  Failure to complete these actions creates additional work for others, creates a cluttered, smelly and unprepared environment.  You get it but I'll follow one of these threads anyways;  "Not picking up laundry and putting it in the clothes hamper;

  • creates a source of odor on the bedroom floor which detracts from the enjoyment of that room.  
  • creates a tripping hazard In the dark,  
  • prevents the hamper full of clothes from being simply moved to the laundry area,
  • detracts from the tidyness and order of a space that is supposed to be restful.

Wearing the clothes is the immediate need. (Can't go to work with nothing on.)  After that need is met and the clothes have been worn, they are exchanged for nighttime attire.  At the point they are being removed, those clothes are in the hands of someone who could;
A - put them in the laundry hamper - Closing the Loop
B - drop them on the floor - Not closing the loop.

Option B doesn't really save any energy (eventually they have to go in the hamper), and as we see above it actually presents 3 other costs.   An open loop thinker tends to focus on their next immediate want/need/activity.  The idea that their actions cause others inconvenience is either ignored, or simply not recognized.  The concept that the clothes can't be worn until they are washed and returned to the dresser also escapes the open loop thinker.  And yet they often choose option B.

If the system being considered is the system by which clean laundry is made available, then thinking about the clothes travelling through a cycle makes closed loop thinking natural.  If we were to extend this to the plumbing in your house, consider what happens when you notice moisture or hear a faint dripping and realize that a pipe broke.  Life as you know it stops and you get that fixed because it is going to cost thousands of dollars later if you don't fix it now.  The financial pressure (for those who get it) forces closed loop thinking and a timely response (which might explain the rates plumbers can charge...

Open loop thinking for the same scenario might look like this; Water comes in, is heated, travels through pipes, leaks under the cabinets, rots the floor, causes the collapse of some plaster board which is patched and painted over.  The house smells funny, things don't seem level but that doesn't stop the cable vision or access to the snack cupboard so who cares.  Silverfish invade the house but they don't use the TV or eat the snack food so they are tolerated.  Heating bills seem a little higher.  Monthly air freshener and bug spray expenses seem higher.  The fridge disappears through a hole in the floor and lands on the freezer.  WOW how did this ever happen to us. We are so unfortunate to suffer this tragedy.  The insurance guy says there are 10s of 1000s of dollars damage.  Why me God?

So needless to say I'm a fan of closed loop thinking.  Of putting things back the way they were in preparation for the next "cycle" or the next time they are required.  The examples of this in my home life and in my work life are countless.  Let me just say in closing as I see berets on the floor and pieces of tape on the couch bearing my daughter's name that three year old girls are not in any way closed loop thinkers.  Fortunately growing older enables us to see the consequences of our choices and affords us the opportunity to think and act in closed loops.

Cheers,
Greg.