Harrison Schramm joins CANA as a Principal Operations Research Analyst. His career has included leading enterprise risk assessments for the Navy Headquarters staff and teaching Operations Research at the graduate level. His work has appeared in the Journal of Mathematical Biosciences, Naval Research Logistics, Naval Institute Proceedings. Harrison is a frequent contributor to MORS Phalanx and INFORMS Analytics, and just as importantly, he is active in broader community, serving as a past Vice President of MORS and Chair of the INFORMS Analytics Cluster 2015-16. When not working, he enjoys losing to his children at 'Battleship' and cycling. LinkedIN
The following is an excerpt from an editorial that ran in the March 2016 issue of MORS Phalanx.
Harrison’s Perspective on Working-Level Analysts
I believe in two tenets and three actions for working-level analysts:
Delivery is king. There is no substitute for being able to inform Leadership’s decisions at the right time in a form they find palatable. Delivery has both a timeliness and messaging component. Successful delivery requires strict enforcement of deadlines and excellent command of your client’s dialect. “Academia”, “Business”, and “Pentagon” are all “English” (nominally) but have important, subtle nuances. Successful delivery relies on skills developed by studying the humanities – particularly History and English.
Your technical ability is your most valuable asset. When you graduated from school, you had a ‘freshness date’ stamped on your resume. The ultimate responsibility for your analytic sharpness lies with you. I know from painful personal experience that it is not difficult to keep your skills sharp, but once they have gone into a state of disrepair, it takes a lot of work to get them back.
Certifications are a great ‘forcing function’ for continued learning. To see the rest of the article, including an article by Norm Reitter and Rob Cranston of CANA Advisors, visit The Phalanx online. The full article may be found here.