Standard Deviations

• I've been traveling a lot lately, and it's amazing how grossly inefficient most airlines have become.  I proudly fly Southwest whenever possible--- don't get me wrong, I don't have a deep love for the "greyhound bus of the sky" spartanism Southwest seems to embody, but I do value my time.  I've flown countless of times in my professional life, and I've come to the conclusion that while other airlines certainly have an upper hand on comfort, Southwest's focus on getting flights in and out on time is really what matters to me most.  I mean, honestly--- what's more important--- being comfortable while you are in the airport/flying or getting to your destination on time?  I had the displeasure of flying Continental this last weekend, and let me tell you, when you spend an extra 20 minutes on the tarmac because they cant find anyone to run the jetway, you find yourself longing for those uncomfortable-but-on-time Southwest flights.
• While the airlines are  pretty frustrating, nothing tops the TSA.  These guys must take classes on inefficiency.  In Newark I watched closely for about 15 minutes as the symphony of disorganization played before my eyes.  I came to some conclusions as I watched this all play out.  First, the "prep tables" where are take off your shoes, empty your laptop bag, and resign your dignity are entirely too small.  I started timing the gap between the first person going through the detector and the time when the next person was "ready" to walk through. It's amazing really--- it averaged almost 20 seconds of gap.  As the second person is undoing their shoes and pushing their bags through the xray, the TSA people are just standing around doing nothing... waiting for that second person to finish emptying their bags.  If the "prep" line was longer and people had more time to undo their shoes, bags, etc, then the gap between customers would decrease significantly and overall service time would decrease.  Yet another example of how B-school makes you an efficiency Nazi.
• Corporate Val is the most important course in B-school.  I'm sure some will disagree, but I've not had a class that is so deep and yet so amazingly practical.  Just like Sharran, I think I'd take it every MOD if it was offered.  However, because of the effort required for the course, it pretty much rules your life.  If it was offered over a semester, and work more spread out, then I think I might get more out of it... but the takeaway is this--- TAKE CORPORATE VAL. 
• Net Impact was a massive success.  I couldn't be prouder of the Owen Net Impact team, and i'm equally proud of my OwenBloggers brethren.  Without a doubt our coverage of the conference was the most important event in OB.com history--- I could have never imagined it being pulled off so professionally or efficiently.  I think the direction OB.com is headed today is one Sam, Sharran and I never could have envisioned, yet it far exceed all our expectations.  The thing that makes me saddest about leaving business school is leaving this team.