The Oscar for Best Picture goes to people, not to a studio. The rules for the 98th Academy Awards say: “The nominees will be those three or fewer producers who have performed the major portion of the producing functions.”
A “bona fide team of not more than two people” counts as a single producer only when the Producers Guild of America has certified the partnership. Every nominee must also be “determined awards-eligible by the Producers Guild of America.”
The National Basketball Association has named a Most Valuable Player every season since 1955-56. NBA players chose the winner in the early years. Since the 1980-81 season, a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters in the United States and Canada has decided.
Basketball is played five against five. The award names one player.
Individual contributor. This is an employee who manages no one. The human resources site of the State of Tennessee defines the term as “An employee who does not supervise others.”
IC. This is the short form. Technology companies use it for roles and career levels without direct reports.
In November 1981 George T. Doran published an article in the journal Management Review on how to write management goals. He proposed the acronym S.M.A.R.T. Each letter names a quality of a good objective.
In Doran’s original, the A stood for “Assignable.” He explained it in four words: “specify who will do it.”
Sometimes two unions both claim the same work. Under Section 10(k) of the National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board “is empowered and directed to hear and determine the dispute.” The unfair labor practice charge against the union is “held in abeyance” while the Board decides.
The Board weighs the collective-bargaining agreements, the employer’s current assignment and preference, industry practice, skills and efficiency. If the parties comply with the award, the charge is dismissed.
Many American job descriptions end with the line “other duties as assigned.” For civilian jobs in the US Army, “the phrase is required for all Army position descriptions.” It “allows supervisors flexibility in assignment of duties.”
The Army also sets limits. The phrase covers “insignificant and non-recurring duties that change frequently,” about 10 percent of a 40-hour week. The duties must relate to the scope of the job. Mission-essential and critical duties belong in the written description itself.
The US Army gives an operation order in five paragraphs: situation, mission, execution, sustainment (formerly service support), and command and signal. The mission paragraph “includes all mission-essential tasks and a task and purpose.”
Under execution, the order states what each unit is to do. An Army training text describes the sequence: “Tasks to subordinate units follow, and then tasks which apply to one or more unit-coordinating instructions.”
The Scrum Guide by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland describes Scrum, a method used by software teams. It defines in writing when a piece of work is finished. “The DoD is a formal description of the state of the Increment when it meets the quality measures required for the product.”
The rule is strict. “If a Product Backlog item does not meet the DoD, it cannot be released or even presented at the Sprint Review.”
On July 16, 1973, Alexander Butterfield, a former White House aide, told a Senate committee in a televised hearing that President Richard Nixon had ordered a taping system installed. On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court ordered Nixon to release the tapes. The vote was 8 to 0.
The White House released the tapes on August 5. A recording from June 23, 1972, showed Nixon approving a plan to have the CIA tell the FBI to “stay the hell out of this.” Nixon resigned on the evening of August 8, 1974, effective at noon the next day.
California Labor Code section 1198.5 gives employees access to the record kept about them. “Every current and former employee, or their representative, has the right to inspect and receive a copy of the personnel records that the employer maintains relating to the employee’s performance, including education or training records, or to any grievance concerning the employee.”
The employer must respond “not later than 30 calendar days from the date the employer receives a written request.”