Pointers: Recommended reading 09-22-08

Source: that major organizations already have tried and proven. For example, Wells Fargo runs a stock exchange to scrutinize technology ideas submitted by employees. After being reviewed by a committee, ideas are placed in an exchange where employees trade them. Ideas that trade well get further reviews and poor performers are removed.Another idea: BearingPoint developed a wiki to help employees manage and collaborate on projects, with additional support from instant messaging software.Source: talks with chief information officers and management experts about the challenges of dealing with poorly performing employees.The discussions about spot bonuses and quick firings might not be relevant to federal managers. However, also covers other management strategies for finding and fixing performance problems.For example, some CIOs review the performance of all employees and then rank them from best to worst, which helps CIOs focus on problem areas.Source: The Los Angeles Times has created an of people killed in the Metrolink train crash in Chatsworth, Calif., on Sept. 12. can be sorted by name, sex, age, marital status and place of residence. It also includes information, if available, on why each person had been riding the train. Of the 16 passengers with known reasons, 10 had been commuting from work and four from school, one person had been at the doctor’s office and another at a funeral. provides a forum on which readers can write tributes. As of Sept. 16, more than 1,000 tributes had been posted. Source: Jeff Taylor, founder of the Monster.com online job site, wants to drag the obituaries into the social-networking world.Taylor, who also operates a for baby boomers, is launching Tributes.com to provide a place for people to memorialize the recently deceased and share information about funeral arrangements.Placing an obituary of 300 words or less is free. Posting one with video or audio will cost as much as $80 annually. People also can sign up to receive e-mail alerts about recent deaths, based on the person’s last name, school, military unit or ZIP code.