There are two discussion posts for the reply. read their post what they posting on that topic and I have to provide the reply. minimum words requirements are 450 words for each reply with APA format references. Person post: Subash Discussion 13 – Lean Practices & Continuous Improvement in Agile Lean Practices & Continuous Improvement in Agile The agile frameworks are software development approaches or methodologies based on the values and principles defined in the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. The agile values and principles help agile teams eliminate the bottlenecks and shortcomings of the traditional approaches and thrive in highly competitive and uncertain environments by helping them quickly adapt to changes and keep innovating to stay ahead of competitions. One of the fundamental concepts behind the agile process is to build a product that meets customer’s demands quickly and efficiently. The agile lean emphasizes this even more. The core idea of lean practices is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste (Greycampus, n.d.). What this means is to reduce the wastage of cost, schedule, and resources while maximizing their usage to increase return on the investment. The ultimate and ideal lean process will create zero waste. The lean thinking changes the focus of management from optimizing separate technologies, assets, and vertical departments to optimizing the flow of products and services through entire value streams that flow horizontally across technologies, assets, and departments to customers (Greycampus, n.d.). The importance of minimizing waste but maximizing customer values is very important in today’s competitive market, where software companies constantly need to improve their practices by employing appropriate methodologies, tools, technologies, better engineering, etc to stay on top of the competition. One of such successful and productive approaches is a combination of the Agile and Lean methods. Lean comprises five distinct steps including Value, Value Stream, Flow, Pull, and Perfection (Poppendieck & Cusumano, 2012). Similarly, several established Lean practices are adopted by the company to achieve Lean Principle. Addressing Bottlenecks, Deferring Decision Making, Considering Incentives, Measuring and Managing WIP and Kaizen are some of those Lean Practices commonly practiced by organizations to implement the Lean Principle in a project. Addressing Bottlenecks: The team can define the criteria to identify bottlenecks. Much of these bottlenecks in software projects comes usually from bugs, human error, inefficient technology, and lack of proper infrastructures. For all these kinds of bottlenecks, the team should provide a rough way to address which can be fine-tuned when the details on bottlenecks appear clearer and the entire team is responsible to address these challenges. Defer Decision Making: In this practice, the team pushes the decision-making action as far as possible. The decision-making is usually postponed to the last moment. This is something that goes against agile practice where decision-making is encouraged to be on time. Considering Incentives: While practicing to consider incentives, the motive is to encourage the team to be more productive. The effort invested by the team is acknowledged by the management and the team becomes motivated. Incentives can be monetary or non-monetary. Prizes, gifts, promotions, recognizations, job benefits all can be considered incentives. Measuring and managing WIP: The work in progress should be measured and managed. The transparency in the amount of work done and the amount of work left can provide great insight on how to proceed to the next delivery or the planning. All projects need oversight to reduce waste and to reduce risks. Kaizen: Kaizen focuses on the continual improvement of the process in a company (Shahzeydi & Gandomani, 2016). The entire team should be focused and work on improving the process and manufacturing of the product throughout the life cycle of the project. Continuous Improvement is a strategy where everyone in a team collaborates to improve the quality of the product and efficiency of the building process throughout the projects which are done in an incremental fashion, small improvement at a time but continuously. The lean practice “Kaizen” discussed above is a continuous improvement process as well. PDCA ( Plan, Do, Check and Act) is considered to be a scientific approach to continuous improvement. References: Greycampus. Agile Framework Lean. (n.d.). https://www.greycampus.com/opencampus/agile-certified-practitioner/agile-framework-lean. Poppendieck, M., Cusumano, M. A. (2012). Lean software development: A tutorial. IEEE Software, 29(5), 26–32. https://doi.org/10.1109/ms.2012.107 Shahzeydi, M., & Gandomani, T. J. (2016). Adding lean principles to agile software development: A case study report. International Journal of Software Engineering and Technology. Discussion 14 – Earning the Seat (Risk, Quality, Shadow IT) PERSON POST: Sameer – Earning the Seat (Risk, Quality, Shadow IT) In chapter 10 of the book “A Seat at the Table,” the author has discussed how the presence of uncertainty has made Agile approaches work better than traditional plan-driven approaches. Leaders of corporates have to make various decisions under conditions of tremendous uncertainty, and the chances are high that those decisions may turn out to be wrong (Schwartz, 2017). However, the Agile way to deal with uncertainty is to create options and then get information to assess probabilities more accurately. The main risk that leaders should be worrying about is the cost of not meeting the business objectives on the designated schedule and at the designated cost (Schwartz, 2017). Hence, the leaders of organizations should take risks, not avoid them. Uncertainty is why a good leader will often have to make wrong decisions to learn and gain experience and add business value by adopting an intelligent attitude toward risk (Schwartz, 2017). Chapter 11 emphasizes that a leader should have the necessary technical skills to impact the organization, make impeccable decisions under uncertainty, and then have the courage to face the consequences when things go wrong. This chapter circles around the IT department and why it is one of the hardest things to explain why all the failure in IT is considered acceptable (Schwartz, 2017). Any other department in the company that causes outages and expensive mistakes would have been fired. However, IT folks develop thick skins or rationalization skills to balance risks with costs of mitigating those risks and making good decisions (Schwartz, 2017). However, it is often challenging to gain a seat at the table when IT is constantly failing. But, on the other hand, if IT leaders are reacting to statistical noise about failures that they have chosen to accept destroys the business value (Schwartz, 2017). Chapter 12 discusses Shadow IT, which is defined as a powerful phenomenon that we have not yet learned to take advantage of, caught up as we are in the control model of IT. It happens when the IT organization cannot meet the needs of a part of the company, perhaps due to capacity constraints or to the governance process’s limitations (Schwartz, 2017). When Shadow IT arises, someone is filling up the gap by doing what IT cannot do. That person is doing the IT work without reporting to the IT department. Hence, it is suggested that organizations encourage shadow IT to take advantage of the skills and enthusiasm across the organization (Schwartz, 2017). A successful organization can harness the community aspect of today’s IT work environment. Also, organizations can utilize a community-oriented model to overcome some of the problems IT has faced and achieve positive outcomes for the company (Schwartz, 2017). The Agile way of working supports a community approach to IT, where IT leaders achieve their objectives by mobilizing the skills and passions of a broad community. It also encourages the members of that community to work together across organizational silos that value skills and contributions (Schwartz, 2017). An IT leader adds business value by adopting an intelligent attitude toward risk. Risks can not be eliminated, but precautions can be taken to minimize those risks and complete the projects within the allocated budget and time. The point mentioned by Schwartz describes that all actions taken by the leaders toward the future or in an unfamiliar situation are risky. However, they should have the courage to make the right decision or prepare for the consequences and make the most out of it through experience (Linders, 2017). It is essential to understand that taking a risk may at times lead to an erroneous result. However, the leaders should go ahead and take risks, be accountable for outcomes, and shoulder risks for the project team (Linders, 2017). The project team can be innovative and motivated when the leaders implement their creativity to figure out how to handle the risks to work freely and without frustrations (Linders, 2017). Traditional project management approaches focus on risk management early in the planning phase, but modern Agile project management looks for risk throughout the project lifecycle. It also involves customers to help mitigate risks and ensures the project is delivered on time and within the budget. Hence, IT leaders should monitor and manage the project to ensure that it stays on track and emergent risks are addressed. Risks are inevitable, but adopting an intelligent attitude towards risks may help leaders to create strategies to mitigate such risks. Schwartz, in a statement, has mentioned that it is essential in the Agile world to know about how to fail often but fail well. I think he meant that the Agile teams progress and innovate new ideas or products through experimentation, which is the willingness to fail to effectively manage risks and stimulate innovation in user-experience design and requirements definition. Failing is a sign that the Agile team is trying new things, being innovative, and testing the hypothesis (Schwartz, 2017). A fair amount of failure is also a sign of the right risk/value trade-offs that the team is making (Schwartz, 2017). The risk of small failures caught quickly in testing is so low that the Agile teams should encourage these kinds of failures to increase innovation and improve informed decision-making (Schwartz, 2017). As mentioned above, Shadow IT is the IT out of the organization’s control, and it happens when an organization can not meet a part of the company’s needs due to capacity constraints or the governance process’s limitations (Schwartz, 2017). According to Schwartz, someone in another department or a different part of the organization can help to fill the gap that IT cannot do (Schwartz, 2017). Or in other words, it is an opportunity to create a community-based environment that enables everyone to help each other with the knowledge and ideas they possess and help organizations fill the gap that it lacks in its core team. References: Linders, B. (2017, November 29). Q&A on the Book “A Seat at the Table.” Retrieved July 29, 2021, from https://www.infoq.com/articles/book-review-seat-at… Schwartz, M. (2017). A seat at the Table: IT Leadership in the Age of Agility. IT Revolution Press.

PART 1
In this week’s discussion, you will read selected passages in your book and reflect on professional communication and technology within your career. We will also think about how technology will shape the future of your field. Finally,you will discuss professional email and best practices and errors to avoid.
READ
Module 1, pp. 2-14
Module 13, pp 217 – 226
Reflect
When you start a job, you may not be require to write reports or paper documents,  but most employers will expect you to be able to write effective emails. Consider key questions such as “Will I really have to write?” (p. 5) and “What makes a message effective?” (p. 9).  Consider Email “netiquette” rules to follow. p. 226

After watching the videos (above) and reading the required pages,  respond to the following questions. Reference your book at least once (and cite it in in-text and a full APA reference): 
-What do you see as your strengths and weaknesses in writing skills?  What skills do you think you will need in the future? Why is professional writing important to your career?
-How would you rate your professional e-mail skills?
-What area mentioned in these resources could you improve? What is the one e-mail error you see most often?
While no specific word count is required, this is a Upper level class, and you are expected to provide full, meaningful responses.  A recommendation of 300 words minimum is a benchmark.
REPLY
Respond to two peers by considering the following questions: 
-How does your peer’s comment about writing compare to your experiences?  
-What aspect of email communication did your peer mention or forget to mention that is important important? 
-Share one thought about how to strengthen your professional writing skills. 
PART 2
Blog: Professional Philosophy Statement
For this week’s blog, you will compose a Professional Philosophy Statement, sometimes referred to as a work statement. This can be a valuable document to include with an application or portfolio, but it is also helpful preparation for interview questions.  This statement will be included as part of your final e-Portfolio that is due in Week THIRD. Your Professional Philosophy Statement should be 250-500 words.
As you consider what to include in your statement, keep in mind the things that employers find valuable: organization, resourcefulness, work ethic, creativity, motivation, perseverance, adaptability, strong written and verbal communication, and so on. You can address technical skills that you possess, but do not overlook “soft” skills like solid time-management and those listed above. 
Do not simply detail your work experience; that is what your resume is for. Instead, the Professional Philosophy Statement should encapsulate your personal perspective or approach to work—any kind. What do you believe in? What do you bring to the workplace? What is unique to you? What will you do to help you and your colleagues succeed? 
See some of these examples:
This I Believe: That Through Hard Work, Anything Can Be Achieved
A Duty to Family, Heritage and Country
We Make Our Own Destiny
You may also consider touching on current trends within your field and how you keep up with such trends. For example, do you belong to a professional organization? Do you subscribe to a specific trade journal, or have you been to any professional conferences or workshops? If so, what is one piece of knowledge or a specific skill you acquired that you have utilized, or plan to utilize, in your day-to-day work? 
PART 3
Writing Assignments
This week, you will be asked to put together a series of written communication that focuses on positive messaging for a variety of audiences. You will write 
1. Write a Formal Letter
Write a Formal Letter to a Supervisor or Office. See Unit 1, Module 2, p. 36
Imagine that your organization has a generous tuition reimbursement program, but currently employees must take classes outside of regular business hours. You’ve noticed that many classes you want or need at the local university are offered infrequently during evenings or weekends. Address your letter to the correct person or office.
For Additional Guidance:
-Present a logical case with clear facts.
-Even though form letters can save money and time, do not use one in this case.
-Consider some of the questions found on p. 36 under 2-16.
-Reference pp. 19-24 for guidelines on writing and positive messaging.
-See p. 129 for an example letter.
2.  Write a Formal Email
Write a Formal Email Persuading a Lender to Defer Paying a Student Loan (LO 2-2)
Many college graduates today leave school with large debts from student loans. Though the loans must be repaid, the time to do so and the monthly payment are determined by the lender. With a touchy economy making it harder to find a job, students may also find it harder to repay loans. Many lenders, however, expect them to start doing so upon graduation. You plan to request a deferral to start paying back your loan.
To do so, answer the following questions about your audience:
-What is at stake for the lender if it defers the loan?
-What regulating bodies (e.g., state and federal government) govern how a lender may alter the terms of a loan agreement?
-What objections might a lender raise to deferring the loan?
-What other resources might the lender suggest tapping in order to repay the loan?
-What might the lender expect from you as a guarantee that you will repay the loan after the deferral?
-What channel is the best way to reach the lender?
-What tone will work best in the message to the lender?
-How long of a deferral are you requesting? 

Your organization has traditionally given employees several holidays off: New Year’s; Martin Luther King, Jr., Day; Independence Day; Veterans’ Day; Thanksgiving; and Christmas. Employees who celebrate other holidays (e.g., Good Friday, Yom Kippur, Ramadan, Chinese New Year, the Hindu Holiday Diwali) have been able to take those days off with the consent of their supervisors. But some employees have complained that it is unfair to depend on the goodwill of supervisors. And now a few other employees have complained that people who honor other holidays are getting “extra” days off since they take those days in addition to the standard holidays. 
Therefore, the executive committee of your organization has decided to allow employees any 10 days off for holidays. They will have to tell their supervisors which days they plan to take off. People will be asked in December which holidays they want to take off in the following year. People can change their minds during the year as long as they have not yet taken off the full 10 holidays. Any religious, ethnic, or cultural holiday is acceptable. (Someone who wants to take off Cinco de Mayo or Bastille Day can do so.) Vacations, personal days off, and sick days are not affected by this policy. 
As vice president for human resources, write a memo to all employees, announcing the new policy. 
Hints: 
* Pick a business, government, or nonprofit organization that you know something about. 
* Will the office be “open” every day? If not, do all employees already have keys, or will they need to pick them up so they can get into the office to workdays that few other people work?
* See www.holidayfestival.com for a list of holidays in various countries. 
* Use the memo format found on page 138 or 139. 
4. Write Interview Questions 
Interview Questions: Importance of Written Communications in Your Field. See Unit 3, Module 13, pp. 217-227; Unit 7, Module 30, pp. 507-512
“Recent research proves that written communication skills are at the top of employers’ wish lists. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 73.4% of employers want a candidate with strong written communication skills. Written communication was the number three most desired quality overall, behind leadership skills and ability to work as a team member.” (Moore, 2017, para. 2)
For this assignment, you will explore the importance of written communication in the workplace by interviewing a professional, ideally in the field you wish to enter upon completion of your degree, a series of questions on the role of writing in the professional world. This is NOT a mock interview. You must interview a person that represents a true “professional” to you. You may ask an employer or supervisor, a professor, a mentor, or someone on your campus. Try to pick a person who you would like to imitate in the future, such as someone who holds a position you wish to have. Do NOT interview a family member or your instructor for this class. You may interview the person on the phone, via email, or in person.
You must ask a total of FIVE questions. Be sure several of the questions deal with writing and communication within the person’s professional career field.
You may use a MAXIMUM OF THREE of the questions found on pp. 70-71. Reference p. 69 and p. 441, LO 26-4.
Include a paragraph (250 words) on what you learned from the interview and how it will help you in the future.
Format this assignment as follows:
Interviewee Name:
Position:
Company:
Contact Information (email is acceptable):
Question 1: Include Your Question Here
Response:
Question 2: Include Your Question Here
Response:
Question 3: Include Your Question Here
Response:
Question 4: Include Your Question Here
Response:
Question 5: Include Your Question Here
Response:
Remember to include your reflection (250 words) on what you learned from the interview and how it will help you in the future.
PART 4
Final Portfolio
For your final project for this course you will create a professional portfolio. A professional or career portfolio is created to help you stand out from the crowd. The goal is to personalize your resume, education, philosophy and artifacts to leave a positive impression on the those who view your work. Portfolios can be posted publicly or privately depending on your goals. For this course, the portfolio will be privately posted in the Portfolio area in the classroom on the Blackboard platform or via Wix, a free platform for creating personlized spaces.
Requirements:
The following pages are required for the Portfolio. Some of the content had been submitted in the course but should be revised based on feedback provided by your instructor and enhanced with graphics or photos for the Final Portfolio. In total, 10 pages should be contained in the portfolio. The list below shows eight pages plus artifacts. Artifacts are letters, memos, emails completed in your weekly writing assignments. You should choose two artifacts that reflect the areas such as positive messaging, promoting diversity, you attitude and positive emphasis. Stars * indicate items you will complete during Weeks 1, 2, and 3.
Requires Pages in the Portfolio:
-Introduction*
-Resume*
-Goals, Achievements & Community Service
-Professional Philosophy*
-Ethical Philosophy*
-Research*
-Communication: Positive & Negative Messaging
-Leadership: Working in a diverse world: Non-sexist, non-racist, non-ageist and bias free*
-Artifacts (a minimum of two, your choice of which ones; align with the positive messaging, diversity, you attitude)* 

Develop a disaster recovery plan to lessen health disparities and improve access to community services after a disaster. Then, develop and record a 10-12 slide presentation (please refer to the PowerPoint tutorial) of the plan with audio and speaker notes for the Vila Health system, city officials, and the disaster relief team.
As you begin to prepare this assessment, you are encouraged to complete the Disaster Preparedness and Management activity. The information gained from completing this activity will help you succeed with the assessment as you think through key issues in disaster preparedness and management in the community or workplace. Completing activities is also a way to demonstrate engagement.
Professional Context
Nurses perform a variety of roles and their responsibilities as health care providers extend to the community. The decisions we make daily and in times of crisis often involve the balancing of human rights with medical necessities, equitable access to services, legal and ethical mandates, and financial constraints. In the event of a major accident or natural disaster, many issues can complicate decisions concerning the needs of an individual or group, including understanding and upholding rights and desires, mediating conflict, and applying established ethical and legal standards of nursing care. As a nurse, you must be knowledgeable about disaster preparedness and recovery to safeguard those in your care. As an advocate, you are also accountable for promoting equitable services and quality care for the diverse community.
Nurses work alongside first responders, other professionals, volunteers, and the health department to safeguard the community. Some concerns during a disaster and recovery period include the possibility of death and infectious disease due to debris and/or contamination of the water, air, food supply, or environment. Various degrees of injury may also occur during disasters, terrorism, and violent conflicts.
To maximize survival, first responders must use a triage system to assign victims according to the severity of their condition/prognosis in order to allocate equitable resources and provide treatment. During infectious disease outbreaks, triage does not take the place of routine clinical triage.
Trace-mapping becomes an important step to interrupting the spread of all infectious diseases to prevent or curtail morbidity and mortality in the community. A vital step in trace-mapping is the identification of the infectious individual or group and isolating or quarantining them. During the trace-mapping process, these individuals are interviewed to identify those who have had close contact with them. Contacts are notified of their potential exposure, testing referrals become paramount, and individuals are connected with appropriate services they might need during the self-quarantine period (CDC, 2020).
An example of such disaster is the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. People who had contact with someone who were in contact with the COVID-19 virus were encouraged to stay home and maintain social distance (at least 6 feet) from others until 14 days after their last exposure to a person with COVID-19. Contacts were required to monitor themselves by checking their temperature twice daily and watching for symptoms of COVID-19 (CDC, 2020). Local, state, and health department guidelines were essential in establishing the recovery phase. Triage Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in the case of COVID-19 focused on inpatient and outpatient health care facilities that would be receiving, or preparing to receive, suspected, or confirmed COVID- 19 victims. Controlling droplet transmission through hand washing, social distancing, self-quarantine, PPE, installing barriers, education, and standardized triage algorithm/questionnaires became essential to the triage system (CDC, 2020; WHO, 2020).
This assessment provides an opportunity for you to apply the concepts of emergency preparedness, public health assessment, triage, management, and surveillance after a disaster. You will also focus on evacuation, extended displacement periods, and contact tracing based on the disaster scenario provided.
Demonstration of Proficiency
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:

Competency 1: Analyze health risks and health care needs among distinct populations.

Describe the determinants of health and the cultural, social, and economic barriers that impact safety, health, and disaster recovery efforts in a community.

Competency 2: Propose health promotion strategies to improve the health of populations.

Present specific, evidence-based strategies to overcome communication barriers and enhance interprofessional collaboration to improve disaster recovery efforts.

Competency 3: Evaluate health policies, based on their ability to achieve desired outcomes.

Explain how health and governmental policy affect disaster recovery efforts.

Competency 4: Integrate principles of social justice in community health interventions.

Explain how a proposed disaster recovery plan will lessen health disparities and improve access to community services.

Competency 5: Apply professional, scholarly communication strategies to lead health promotion and improve population health.

Organize content with clear purpose/goals and with relevant and evidence-based sources (published within 5 years).
Slides are easy to read and error free. Detailed audio and speaker notes are provided. Audio is clear, organized, and professionally presented.

Note: Complete the assessments in this course in the order in which they are presented.
Preparation
When disaster strikes, community members must be protected. A comprehensive recovery plan, guided by the MAP-IT (Mobilize, Assess, Plan, Implement, Track) framework, is essential to help ensure everyone’s safety. The unique needs of residents must be assessed to lessen health disparities and improve access to equitable services after a disaster. Recovery efforts depend on the appropriateness of the plan, the extent to which key stakeholders have been prepared, the quality of the trace-mapping, and the allocation of available resources. In a time of cost containment, when personnel and resources may be limited, the needs of residents must be weighed carefully against available resources.
In this assessment, you are a community task force member responsible for developing a disaster recovery plan for the Vila Health community using MAP-IT and trace-mapping, which you will present to city officials and the disaster relief team.
To prepare for the assessment, complete the Vila Health: Disaster Recovery Scenario simulation.
In addition, you are encouraged to complete the Disaster Preparedness and Management activity. The information gained from completing this activity will help you succeed with the assessment as you think through key issues in disaster preparedness and management in the community or workplace. Completing activities is also a way to demonstrate engagement.
Begin thinking about:

Community needs.
Resources, personnel, budget, and community makeup.
People accountable for implementation of the disaster recovery plan.
Healthy People 2020 goals and 2030 objectives.
A timeline for the recovery effort.

You may also wish to:

Review the MAP-IT (Mobilize, Assess, Plan, Implement, Track) framework, which you will use to guide the development of your plan:

Mobilize collaborative partners.
Assess community needs.
Plan to lessen health disparities and improve access to services.
Implement a plan to reach Healthy People 2020 goals or 2030 objectives.
Track community progress.

Review the assessment instructions and scoring guide to ensure that you understand the work you will be asked to complete.

Note: Remember that you can submit all, or a portion of, your draft recovery plan to Smarthinking Tutoring for feedback, before you submit the final version for this assessment. If you plan on using this free service, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24-48 hours for receiving feedback.
Note: If you require the use of assistive technology or alternative communication methods to participate in this activity, please contact DisabilityServices@capella.edu to request accommodations.
Instructions
Every 10 years, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion release information on health indicators, public health issues, and current trends. At the end of 2020, Healthy People 2030 was released to provide information for the next 10 years. Healthy People 2030 provides the most updated content when it comes to prioritizing public health issues; however, there are historical contents that offer a better understanding of some topics. Disaster preparedness is addressed in Healthy People 2030, but a more robust understanding of MAP-IT, triage, and recovery efforts is found in Healthy People 2020. For this reason, you will find references to both Healthy People 2020 and Healthy People 2030 in this course.
Complete the following:

Develop a disaster recovery plan for the Vila Health community that will lessen health disparities and improve access to services after a disaster. Refer back to the Vila Health: Disaster Recovery Scenario to understand the Vila Health community.

Assess community needs.
Consider resources, personnel, budget, and community makeup.
Identify the people accountable for implementation of the plan and describe their roles.
Focus on specific Healthy People 2020 goals and 2030 objectives.
Include a timeline for the recovery effort.

Apply the MAP-IT (Mobilize, Assess, Plan, Implement, Track) framework to guide the development of your plan:

Mobilize collaborative partners.
Assess community needs.

Use the demographic data and specifics related to the disaster to identify the needs of the community and develop a recovery plan. Consider physical, emotional, cultural, and financial needs of the entire community.
Include in your plan the equitable allocation of services for the diverse community.
Apply the triage classification to provide a rationale for those who may have been injured during the train derailment. Provide support for your position.
Include in your plan contact tracing of the homeless, disabled, displaced community members, migrant workers, and those who have hearing impairment or English as a second language in the event of severe tornadoes.

Plan to lessen health disparities and improve access to services.
Implement a plan to reach Healthy People 2020 goals and 2030 objectives.
Track and trace-map community progress.

Use the CDC’s Contract Tracing Resources for Health Departments as a template to create your contact tracing. 
Describe the plan for contact tracing during the disaster and recovery phase.

Develop a slide presentation of your disaster recovery plan with an audio recording of you presenting your assessment of the Vila Health: Disaster Recovery Scenario for city officials and the disaster relief team. Be sure to also include speaker notes.

Week 16- 5/10 to 5/16: A New Century and New CrisesThis week, history gets closer to the present, which always means more to debate and discuss, and we include one of the major historical events in US history at the start of the 21st century- that of September 11th, 2001.Readings are in Foner chapter 28; Zinn the final chapter; Stone/Kuznick chapters 13-14 as relevant. This week, we’ll look at 9/11 and on to the history of the present! Choose one Prompt for Posting and respond to another student Post by Sunday, May 16th, 11:59 P.M. There are MANY links for these topics below…please keep an open mind. The purpose here is to attempt to understand the complexity of historical construction as historical events unfold, and sometimes unravel (in other words, to contemplate history in the making, so to speak, and note its many emerging interpretations). It’s a favorite area of scholarship for me, I hope you find it intriguing as well. If you find yourself more interested in this week’s topics, and the past few, I teach a course that focuses on the recent past, esp. looking through the events of 9/11, if anyone is interested (titled History 122- Critical Reasoning in History, and, I’ve published and spoken about these subjects in public a good deal). Please read the materials, challenge yourself, ask tough questions, and please do not simply dismiss things with which you may disagree unless you can factually do so with citations.Here we go…the many links illustrate how difficult it can be to find historical meaning in the present. Note how much information from the links is not in the Foner text. This illustrates the challenge for historiographers of the recent past. Yes, there will be disagreements, and that’s history! Links may be useful for multiple Prompts as course texts do relatively little on the subject in detail.There’s a lot to consider, so choose carefully what you can as Posts could get really long. There’s just too much to consider. For those who wish to label people that research matters regarding 9/11 as “conspiracy theorists,” remember that label is often used to deter people from looking at evidence while encouraging them to leap to unfounded conclusions (oft proffered by government institutions or commissions). In fact, the CIA first used the label in the 1960s with their Operation Mockingbird (Links to an external site.) journalists working in American news rooms to use it to tarnish anyone who challenged the Warren Commission Report on the JFK assassination (it’s in something called Memo 1035-960- for more on that issue, see Lance deHaven-Smith’s 2013 scholarly book Conspiracy Theory in America). The Congress itself, in the House Select Committee on Assassinations later in 1979, went on to say the Warren Commission was inaccurate and that a some “probable conspiracy” beyond Lee Harvey Oswald likely took place (but that they may never know all the details, and since relevant agencies won’t release all the files despite a Congressional order to do so in 1992- giving a 25 year limit on what was classified- perhaps that’s a self-fulfilling prophesy since all of the files were not released on time this past month). Hear the national radio special I did with Dr. Peter Phillips for the Project Censored Show on the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination here (Links to an external site.) (for those with more than casual interest).Likewise, the co-chairs and legal counsel of the 9/11 Commission also declared that the Commission Report itself was inaccurate and deeply flawed, especially due to government agencies like the CIA not sharing information with Committee members. The legal counsel John Farmer, Dean of Law at Rutgers University, went so far as to call the Commission a “whitewash” (and wrote a book detailing his claims in a full length book of the same name). In 2016, 15 years after the attacks,, we saw the release of the “28 pages” of the Commission Report that were withheld (still partially redacted), which raises questions that include information linking funding of the 9/11 attacks to the Saudi royals. Some Senators and families of the victims of 9/11 were pushing for the redacted pages to be made public for well over a decade.But even though the lead counsel and several members of the Commission itself have gone public, some (like Farmer) writing entire books, saying that the Report was mostly fiction, a collection of half-truths, and stated there was no real investigation- those who peddle the official narrative of the 9/11 events have a hard time reconciling that we really may not know what happened on that day to the extent that is assumed in much of our public discourse on the matter. Other 9/11 confessions that have been noted in the last several years were oft obtained via torture (which is illegal by the way), so there are significant questions about their efficacy. So, this week’s work is not about speculation, it is about attempting to understand the recent past, the elements and forces that shape it, and how we as participants in history can try to make sense of complicated and controversial events.Please refrain from writing about personal beliefs, and be sure you can factually support your views, whatever they may be. History can be messy. It only gets worse when ideologies prevent people from thinking critically and speaking freely about such crucial issues. One role of the historian is to ask a lot of questions along the way as we’re now dealing with our roles in the construction of the recent past. I hope you will have questions, too.Read on.Choose ONE of the Prompts below and reply to another student. Extra credit will be offered before the final…stay tuned for that information.1. America was attacked September 11, 2001. In retaliation for those attacks, the US launched a new war called the War on Terror. What is the War on Terrorism? What events historically led up to it (and how far back could/should we go)? Both major political parties have said of the terrorists, that “they hate us for our freedom.” Do you agree or disagree and why? Who are they (Al Qaeda)? Are there other reasons for the attacks besides supposed hatred of freedom (some scholars cite “blowback”)? If so, what might these reasons be, or, how have “the enemy” or “they” defined these attacks? How do we know what we think we know and why are certain stories selected for telling over others (the creation of official narratives vs. vernacular ones)? See links below for additional perspectives.Frontline on Bin Laden (Links to an external site.)Steven Coll Ghost Wars (Links to an external site.)Coll Again (Links to an external site.)FBI Bin Laden No Evidence (Links to an external site.)More controversy (makes for interesting conversation):Bin Laden Dead Again? (Links to an external site.)CIA closes Bin Laden Unit 2006 (Links to an external site.)Chalmers Johnson- Blowback (Links to an external site.)A more recent view from veteran journalist Sy Hersh here (Links to an external site.).What do you think this all means for the future of America’s role in the world and why? (Remember what we’ve discussed earlier about the importance of propaganda and controlling public opinion in democratic societies.) At varying times when polled after the last decade, around half of Americans doubt the official story. Perhaps we should reconsider what we’ve been told from official sources, but that does not mean we should leap to alternate conclusions that are not based on facts.There are many links below. Many are highly critical of the official story surrounding the events of 9/11 and even several people associated with the Commission itself have since released books about the problems of the Commission, including a lead counsel and even the two co-chairs themselves. So, this is not just some “conspiratorial” notion. Even former proponents of the official view are saying the investigation was flawed and conclusions in error. Here are some of the critiques from outside the Commission itself, based on factual evidence. The conclusions suggested do not have to be your own, but the information can be quite fascinating and illustrate the controversial nature of historical construction. Sometimes asking critical questions and raising inconvenient facts doesn’t win people popularity points.Here is an overview I published a number of years ago regarding some of the controversies surrounding 9/11 for historical introduction (and for the record, I have changed my mind about some of this material as more has been made known):Deconstructing Deceit (Links to an external site.)The official view from the 9/11 Commission9/11 Commission (Links to an external site.)The Neoconservatives:Neocons (Links to an external site.)Critiques:Commission Chief Phillip Zelikow (Links to an external site.)Constitutional Scholar Critiques 9/11 Commission (Links to an external site.)Provocation as Pretext, a History (Links to an external site.)Omissions and Distortions in the Commission (Links to an external site.)Years of War Planning (Links to an external site.)9/11 does not equal Iraq (Links to an external site.)Saudi Govt. and 9/11 (Links to an external site.)undefined2. Remember our friend Benjamin Franklin? He once wrote (or at least published), “They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security.” How does this apply to the U.S. historically and now post-911 with things like the USA PATRIOT Act, Operation TIPS (Links to an external site.), CAPPSII (Links to an external site.), H.R. 1955 (Links to an external site.), the AETA (Links to an external site.), NDAA (Links to an external site.), and others? How has America reacted at home after the 9/11 attacks concerning National Security and civil liberties? Why have domestic police forces become increasingly para-militarized? How is the Obama administration continuing these trends, not just on the left, but on the right, targeting anti-abortion activists, anti-immigration proponents, and militia movement leaders? Is this justified? Why or why not? How are politics involved and do you see any historical pattern from the Cold War (the Red Scare and McCarthyism)? Support factually and feel free to do some searching on your own.Bill of Rights Defense Committee (Links to an external site.)EPIC on the USA PATRIOT Act (Links to an external site.)NSA and AT&T (Links to an external site.)Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act (Links to an external site.)No Habeas Corpus (Links to an external site.)Martial Law (Links to an external site.)Crackdown on Civil Liberties (Links to an external site.)FBI and Terror Plots (Links to an external site.)Green is the New Red (Links to an external site.)Remember, this is recent history, in the making one might say. Some of this may be very controversial, but it is meant to challenge what we think we know about the recent past, and to be more aware of how history is recorded and interpreted.Don’t forget to check the calendar for end of the semester happenings!See you online. Looking forward to reading your thoughts…

Please answer the two peers below to following question:Strategy ImplementationYou have spent the last several weeks developing your strategy and declaring a game-winning move for the company you selected for the Assignments.Share the game-winning move you selected for your company.Identify the most significant challenges you will face in successfully implementing your proposed move. These could be cultural, financial, operational, or any other factors that could undermine your new strategy.Identify specific steps you will take to successfully overcome these challenges. Include references to this week’s materials to support your response.How will you “sell” the plan to generate buy-in?1.PETER MATLAWA RE: Week 9 DiscussionCOLLAPSEHi Prof SturtevantShare the game-winning move you selected for your company.Most companies take advantage of several competitive moves to shake up or otherwise get ahead in an ever-changing business and technology environment. These competitive moves are chosen within executive suites, but they are implemented by frontline employees in the background. It became a reality that organizational success thus depends just as much on workers such as salespeople, etc., excelling in their roles as it does on executives’ ability to master strategy. Our Disruptive innovation game-winning move was no exception. It has taken the research development and innovation industry by storm. The inception of New Generation Sequencing (NGS) has replaced the old, laborious, time-consuming and less effective sequencing platform. It was not a sheer replacement, but an efficient technology advancement that has taken the medical research and innovation to the next level.Identify the most significant challenges you will face in successfully implementing your proposed move. These could be cultural, financial, operational, or any other factors that could undermine your new strategy. Innovation is a nightmare to most organizations. It is essentially a turnaround strategy. It dictates the organization to employ highly capable people armed with skill and energy. If the organization does not have enough expertise to carry out the process, then it has no alternative except to insource or hire skilled personnel for process implementation. That is where cultural differences emanated. Our cultural basement was not nicely accepting new employees so easily as they were fearing for their job losses. It takes around four to five months for new employees to acclimatize completely in that arena. Furthermore, the project needed a resourced feasible implementation that needed additional funding to complete. This was due to purchasing the infrastructure that needed dozens of dollars to install. The project operability was feasible and major success rates were registered. Identify specific steps you will take to successfully overcome these challenges. Include references to this week’s materials to support your response.There are various reasons stopping companies or organization from creating an environment that encourages innovation. These attitudes need strong leadership with constructive mind-sets to re-invent the positive attitude. Some of the attributes that need to be rectified are: -The wrong culture Corporate culture can point to anything that makes your company feel like more than just a place where you work 40 or more hours a week. So, corporate leadership need to communicate, intervene and overturn the culture to inclusive, constructive and collective positivity.Mobilizing funding and resources allocationsInnovation doesn’t just happen because people want it. The company needs to apply funding and resources. The activities identified as important to your strategy must be translated into budget items, whether for a specific project or as part of the annual budget of a division or department. And because resources are limited, they must be allocated among various activities. CommunicationTo carry out the innovation strategy managers throughout the organization must of translate the important activities into specific actions that they and their teams will execute. Therefore, it become crucial that all employees have a clear understanding of what you are collectively trying to achieve.Encourage high adoption rateWhen employees come up with new ideas, managers should quickly figure out how to enact them, but find out quickly include employees and integrate the changes into their day-to-day processes, so that they feel as part of planning.How will you “sell” the plan to generate buy-in?Through communicating a plan, will obviously generate enthusiasm and support throughout the organization. I will have plenty of people eager to move forward. But one must be borne in mind that, it is not realistic to think that everything will be done in the quickly. The top priorities can be set in for strategic implementation. Those are: -Help stakeholders see the bigger pictureEliminate power dynamics. ITap into stakeholder valuesCreate conditions for learning.RegardsPeterReferencesJWI 540, Strategy, Week 9, Lecture NotesSherman, L, Chapter 12: Hitting the Bull’s EyeMankins, 2017, 5 Ways the Best Companies Close the Strategy-Execution Gap, HBRChima & Gutman, 2020. What It Takes to Lead Through an Era of Exponential Change, HBRhttps://hbr.org/2000/03/meeting-the-challenge-of-disruptive-changehttps://deansforimpact.org/5-strategies-to-increas…2.Nkechinyere Adegboyega RE: Week 9 DiscussionCOLLAPSEShare the game-winning move you selected for your company.My top-ranked move to create a competitive advantage is a combination of mergers & acquisition and vertical integration (JWI 540, 1). I would acquire the majority stake in a critical oilfield tool component manufacturer. We need to acquire part of Harald Phil Special Alloys and Titanium company, a global supplier of oil and gas industry tool and equipment components (Harald, 2). The family-owned company is over 100 years old, with Europe’s most extensive stock of special alloys and titanium (2).Tool scarcity is one of the common reasons we are constrained to accept more work from our customers. There are one or two manufacturers worldwide who make some of the critical components for our tools. Therefore, acquiring a majority stake in these companies, subject to antitrust scrutiny and approval, will give the company better control over the supply chain process, improve tool availability, increase revenue growth and market share. It will ensure those tool components we require to assemble and deploy tools and equipment are readily available when needed. The elimination of scarcity means we can provide services to all our customers who require it without turning away any business. We will also be at liberty to pursue new business with the confidence that the company has the resources to execute (Adegboyega, 3). Research shows that 79 percent of companies with high-performing supply chains achieve more than average revenue growth for their industries (Gigante, 4). Therefore, supply chain optimization through vertical integration is a vital tool to achieving an increase in financial gain. Companies that optimize their supply chain have about 15 percent lower supply chain-related costs than organizations that do not do this (4).Identify the most significant challenges you will face in successfully implementing your proposed move. These could be cultural, financial, operational, or any other factors that could undermine your new strategy.The most significant risk I see to my top-ranked move is antitrust regulations. Harald Pihl presumably provides supplies products to some of Baker Hughes’s significant competitors. As a result, there may be some concern about whether this move by Baker Hughes may sabotage competitors who currently patronize this manufacturer for some of their tool components. Therefore, getting the required government approvals proves the most significant risk to this move. Identify specific steps you will take to successfully overcome these challenges. Include references to this week’s materials to support your response.My risk mitigation plan involves doing the required due diligence on which parts of the acquiree’s current operations relate with Baker Hughes competitors. We need to find out what percentage of competitor’s products they source from Harald Pihl and develop a strategy to ensure equity in dealing with competitors’ post-acquisition while ensuring that Baker Hughes retains the competitive advantage. We must communicate this strategy effectively to the government and our competitors to secure their buy-in and get all the required approvals for the acquisition (JWI 540, 5). We need to do our due diligence again to defend our position as an unbiased acquired to get the necessary regulatory approvals. Our competitors will be thrown off balance by this move and will be threatened by this acquisition. This M&A is not a move they would expect Baker Hughes to make, typically being the R&D-focused company that we are. It would take a while for our competitors to rally their troops for a comeback. They would fight back, most likely through the regulatory and antitrust bodies. Attempting to brand the acquisition as illegitimate is a move I predict the competition would make, as they have taken similar actions for past mergers involving Baker Hughes.How will you “sell” the plan to generate buy-in?Turning down work from customers during this period when the oil and gas industry is battling to survive the effects of the pandemic is not a good look revenue or margin-wise for any organization. Baker Hughes needs to position properly from a tool capability standpoint, ready to support all customer operations with the resources to snatch work from the competition and win in the marketplace. Therefore, we must have a significant amount of control over our tool component manufacturing process to achieve this aim. While I understand the importance of the organization’s considerable investment in R&D, I believe that we can better channel these resources to business ventures that would impact our top and bottom line faster in these challenging times. Since we would be buying a ready-made company, investments outside of the actual purchase of assets and liabilities will be minimal. I recognize the fact that there may be regulatory issues with this proposed acquisition. I also understand that we may be in for a vicious legal battle with competition regarding the deal’s validity. However, with proper due diligence, these are not insurmountable hurdles once we continue to focus on what we stand to achieve, which is a significant competitive advantage and fast revenue growth. ReferencesJWI 540 Lecture Notes. Week 6Alloys for the Oil and Gas industry | HARALD PIHL | Harald PihlJWI 540 Assignment 2. How to Win: Strategic Options Assessment and Recommendation. Adegboyega Nkechinyere Barbara30+ Impressive Supply Chain Statistics for 2019. Michael Gigante. 2019. 30+ Impressive Supply Chain Statistics for 2019 (g2.com)JWI 540 Lecture Notes. Week 9