WTF Venezuela

VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

Ah Venezuela... the most recent attempted at a socialist paradise. 

Also known as: the most recent attempted at a fundamentally flawed system. 

The Venezuelan Government's latest brilliant idea to... you know, make sure everyone doesn't starve, is using forced labor to increase food production.

Amnesty International reported: "The decree, officially published earlier this week, establishes that people working in public and private companies can be called upon to join state-sponsored organizations specialized in the production of food."

I talked to someone I know who grew up in the Soviet Union about Venezuela's food lines and forced labor initiative. He just laughed in a nostalgic manner, and said it reminded him of home. He also said it reminded him of why he got the heck out of the Soviet Union.

Classroom Environment

Prior to developing our analyst training program, I had the privilege of being sponsored for a full-time 10 week analyst training course to help us prepare curriculum.

 I found myself greatly disappointed.

The instructors covered a vast amount of information on virtually every major analysis discipline and topic. However, these well-meaning experts were so desperate to teach everything they thought was important, they forgot students might not be able to absorb it all in such a small span of time.

I calculated that my eyes glazed over roughly 5,000 PowerPoint slides in those 10 weeks. Unfortunately, the information overload resulted in me remembering very little.

As a result, I tell new instructors the worst thing they can do is drivel through hours of PowerPoint slides. Covering less information more thoroughly at a slower pace will insure important information sticks.

Our advice is to teach the core - see 'Like an Analyst" posts for specifics. In general, unless the job position is for something that requires years of specialized training (i.e. translator or highly technically oriented), new hires are almost always retrained by co-workers and mentors in the trenches to meet their specific needs.