He Who Knows - Can't

When it comes to technology the people who understand the technology are not allowed to make the decisions and the people who make the decisions have little to no clue how to use existing technology to when they make decisions.

Works a lot like politics in the USA.

 

Read about the Daylight Savings Time change that occurs in 2007 and you will see that the people who decided that this was a good idea were clueless as to its impact ON THE WORLD.

Research - why you need to cast a big net - and recast often

Jacob Nielsen - long time researcher on web usability wrote this in his latest posting http://www.useit.com/alertbox/participation_inequality.html:

How to Overcome Participation Inequality

You can't.

 

 

This is why letters to Congress, editors etc count so much - 95% of the people will not contribute so the 5% who do have a greater "voice" than those who "lurk."

Punitive Damages Award Formula Idea

Companies worry about the size of the punitive damage awards given out in state and Federal courts in the United States. This is one reason why lawyers go shopping around where to file lawsuits so that if they win the believe the jury will award large punitive damages (and since they usually get 25 to 45% of what is awarded, they win also.)

 

The Federal government should pass a very simple law stating what the maximum amount would be for all punitive damages is based SOLEY on the company itself.

 

It is VERY simple and is directly related to the firm being sued.

 

Take the LOWEST paid employee (including contractors!! In USA or Out of USA) ANYONE who works for that company and find their hourly wage.

 

Then find the HIGHEST paid employee and find their hourly wage (usually this is the CEO / President, total compensation package -- not just their salary) and find the ratio between the two.

 

The resulting ratio is then used to multiply against the awarded damages to come up with the maximum punitive damages that can be awarded by the jury.

 

If someone is working at a company making $8.73 hour, and the CEO makes $8,662 an hour (a CEO whose total compensation package is $18 million a year the 8,662 is what they would make in an hour based on a 2087 hour work year - which is what defines a work year for an hourly Federal employee). This means a ratio of 922.

 

So if a jury awarded someone $500,000 in direct damages, then the punitive award cannot exceed  $461,000,000.

 

The CEO is in charge, he is responsible, and if the Board of Directors thinks he is worth that much over the lowest paid worker - then damages should be in the same proportion of his pay vs. the lowest paid person who works in any capacity for them.

 

Problem solved.