Velocity and Acceleration of Change
They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. -Andy Warhol
In examining acceleration we need to cover a couple of preliminary concepts.
Displacement.
In physics, the change between a current and future state is termed displacement. This displacement has both a direction and magnitude. For example, assume a swimming pool has a current temperature of 85 degrees and a desired future state of the same water being 90 degrees, we have a displacement of an increase of 5 degrees. An IT example of displacement, may be the current time to market for implementation of a type of nursing tool is 24 weeks, and the desired time to market is 18 weeks, the displacement is a decrease in time to market of 6 weeks.
Rate of Change.
The second concept is the rate of change, or how fast the displacement needs to take place (r = d / t) – also known as velocity. In our swimming pool example we can say that we would like to have the water heated to the desired temperature in 2 hours. This would imply that we need to have a rate of change of +5 degrees / 2 hours (r = +2.5 degrees per hour). In our IT example, let’s assume that due to competitive market pressures we need to have reduced our time to market to the desired level within a year. This would imply that our rate of change would be 6 week decrease in time to market within 1 year (r = -6 wks per yr).
Acceleration and Force.
Acceleration is defined as the change in velocity (velocity is equivalent to rate of change). In practical terms an object which is moving at a given velocity can increase it’s velocity with an external force being applied (pressing an accelerator). The velocity can also be reduced with an external force being applied (pressing a brake). In our swimming pool example, if we were to increase the temperature to heat in the water in the pool, or move more water to heating elements (external forces) we can accelerate the rate of change. With our IT example, we can apply an external force such as a new methodology, training, stronger controls, etc to achieve the desired 6 week improvement in time to market in less than 52 weeks.
Given that we typically work with situations which have been in place for some time, we should determine the trending and acceleration of the situation (e.g., time to market moving from 20 wks, to 22 wks, to 26 wks). This example shows there is an existing force in place which needs to be addressed in addition to applying force to reduce from a steady state. Similarly we may find a situation where the current acceleration is positive, but the rate of acceleration is not fast enough.
Back to Newton.
Looking at arithmetically at Newton’s equation (Force = mass x acceleration), we can determine that (acceleration = force / mass). The intuitive implication is that we will achieve acceleration by either increasing the force we apply to a situation or decrease the mass involved. It is also true that as we acquire more mass, the greater the force required to maintain a rate of change or degree of acceleration.
Looking at this formula with an example of moving a portion of the IT operations to cloud computing. This preserves the capability while lightening the organization from an asset and headcount perspective. Fewer assets to directly manage, requiring fewer resources to do so. Assuming the hosting organization is efficient in their operations you should be able to see a level of acceleration with the same force being applied.
Next we will look at what forces can be applied to drive the acceleration.
