Background:
There is an emerging knowledge base on the effectiveness of strategies to close the knowledge-practice gap. However, less is known about how attributes of an innovation, and other contextual and situational factors facilitate and impede an innovationas adoption. The Healthy Heart Kit (HHK) is a risk management and patient education resource for the prevention of [...]

In the question and answer period that followed Ben Bernanke’s speech today to the Economic Club of New York, the Federal Reserve chairman answered questions on why Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail, whether home prices are the root of the current problems and more. (Read the full transcript here.) Here are some highlights:

Bernanke speaks [...]

The infamous trade surplus is falling, but rather than being driven by structural changes in trade, it is sky-high commodities prices that are having an impact, as AFP reports:

“Soaring imports caused China’s trade surplus to shrink nearly 10 percent as rising global commodity prices stoked inflation in the domestic economy, official figures showed Wednesday.
China’s trade [...]

A roundup of economic news from around the Web.
Who Long Can Growth Last?: The Economist wonders how much longer the American economy can continue to grow. “The economy?s resilience, while remarkable, cannot be relied upon to last. Export growth is likely to soften, because America?s trading partners in the rich world are now struggling too. [...]

Even as the economy continues to show signsof softening in many sectors, competition for top talent remains intense. And, as I’ve discussed before, just as in consumer marketing, one of the keys to attracting talent is to offer elements of the employee experience that match the values and priorities of the individual being recruited.
What are [...]

Published:
April 14, 2008

Author:
Martha Lagace

If there is one job that many software analysts and programmers cannot stand, it is testing software on the path to launch. The grinding concentration and repetitive nature of the tasks serve to drive many techies around the bend.
Testing—due in no small part to the resistance it meets in some cubicles—is [...]

Adding the element of time will help clarify your understanding of the causes of variation in your processes. A run chart is a line graph of data points organized in time sequence and centered on the median data value. The patterns in the run chart can help you find where to look for assignable causes [...]

Process Mapping with Flowcharts< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 'urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office' />
A flowchart is an outline or schematic drawing of the process your team is trying to measure or improve. It can also be a picture of an ideal process that you would like to use. Process mapping with flowcharts can help people:

Agree on the [...]

What is Six Sigma?
The concepts surrounding the drive to Six Sigma quality are essentially those of statistics and probability. In simple language, these concepts boil down to, “How confident can I be that what I planned to happen actually will happen?” Basically, the concept of Six Sigma deals with measuring and improving how close we [...]