Ross.Smith

Ross.Smith's picture
Bio: 

Ross Smith, FRSA Modern Workplace Engineering - Supportability Ross is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and blogger. Author of The Practical Guide to Defect Prevention and holds seven patents. He is currently a Ph.D. Scholar, part of University College Dublin's SmartLab program, researching the impact of AI, robotics, and automation on worker displacement. He has worked at Microsoft for over 28 years and is a member of the Leadership Council for the Anita Borg Institute, co-chair for Grace Hopper Organizational Transformation track. He is a co-leader of ABI Local in Seattle, and part of the gender partner LT and ”male ally” panel discussions at the IEEE Women in Technology and National Center for Women in Technology (NCWIT) Summit and TechCrunch. Work with iUrbanTeen and Native Americans at Microsoft. He is a member of the board of Spreeha, working to break the cycle of poverty. Developed 42projects to promote cultural change, develop organizational trust and improve the lives of the managed. To help develop the next generation’s interest in STEAM (STEM+Arts), he works with Skype in the Classroom program and events like iUrbanTeen day at Microsoft. He was invited to the White House for discussion on women in STEM. Keynote speaker for the ARTBA’s Transovation 2014-2016. The work of his teams has been mentioned in Forbes, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, PSFK, the American Journal of Play, Harvard Business Review, and the London School of Business. He has presented at SXSW, MIT Solve, Grace Hopper, Serious Play, Games for Change, and several other large conferences. His academic research papers are published on ResearchGate. He is a blogger for SHRM has worked on Skype Translator. He is an avid reader and loves to travel.

Screen Name: 
Ross Smith, FRSA

History

Member for
11 years 11 months

Articles by Ross Smith, FRSA

We’re just a few weeks away from the Summer Solstice. The cold, hard winds of early January are long forgotten. Yet if we reflect back just a few short months, every year, Baby New Year personifies the passing of time. He is often a young boy, pictured in a diaper, top hat, and sash to stand for a fresh start and clean slate – a new beginning. He is celebrated across the country with new parents aspiring to give birth to the first baby of the New Year. 
 
June 20, 2013

In their new book, 'For the Win': How Gamification Can Transform Your Business, Kevin Werbach and Dan Hunter take a closer look at games and work.  Next Official Blogger blogger Ross Smith got a few minutes with author Kevin Werbach for a few questions:

What is your background?

December 24, 2012

The Talent Management Alliance held its first Multi-Gen Summit in mid-October in Atlanta to discuss workplace challenges being creating by a changing workforce. Baby Boomers are retiring; Gen Y and Millenials are entering the workforce with new skills and at a pace slower than boomers are leaving, the GenX leadership style and “sandwich managers”, as well as the unique aspects of a multigenerational workforce.

October 31, 2012

On October 3-6 2012, several thousand gathered in Baltimore, Maryland at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference.  The conference -- one of the initiatives of the Anita Borg Institute -- is the largest technical conference for women in computing in the world and results in collaborative proposals, networking and mentoring for junior women and increased visibility for the contributions of top technical women and researchers in computing.

October 15, 2012
Tags:

Note: This series is based on the paper  My Generation

Generational and life-stage issues affect us both consciously and subconsciously every single day.

A survey by Lee and Hecht Harrison tells us that “70% of older employees are dismissive of younger workers’ abilities and nearly half of younger employees are dismissive of the abilities of their older co-workers”. 

May 2, 2012

Note: This series is based on the paper My Generation.

The Multi-generational Workplace

Before generational differences can be adequately addressed it is important to have a high-level understanding of the four generations that share our workplace; Generation Y, Generation X, Boomers and Veterans.

April 25, 2012

Note: This series is based on the paper My Generation.

December 5, 2011

Note: This series is based on the paper My Generation.

Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.  - George Orwell

November 17, 2011

From last time…in the next post, we’ll talk more about what we tried on our team:

August 31, 2011

From masking tape to Post-its, 3M is well known for its innovative culture. 3M has an annual goal that 30 percent of its annual profits come from products and businesses that are less than four years old.  Wired Magazine describes how 3M tackles that goal with their “15 percent solution.”

August 1, 2011

In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun and—SNAP—the job’s a game! —Mary Poppins

We live in an amazing time of demographic and societal changes, incredible communication and information developments, economic landscape alterations, globalization, and the continuing rise of the knowledge worker — all of which have contributed to the creation of a new world of work.

July 11, 2011

Ross Smith has worked in every corner of the software industry for more than 20 years and is currently a Director of Test at Microsoft.

June 23, 2011