Daughter of the cloud – a maps private value thriller is the latest book of Alden Globe. Alden Globe is a colleague value engineer based in the USA, but we’ve worked together on multiple projects and initiatives at BMC Software. That’s why I was fortunate review an early manuscript and contribute to the book writing process.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Book structure Daughter of the Cloud
Before I jump into sharing the book structure without sharing the novel details I would love to focus a bit on the elements of consumer value, the resulting value pyramid and the concept of a value framework.
A 2016 Harvard Business Review (HBR) article “The 30 Elements of Consumer Value: Measuring—and delivering—what consumers really want” by Eric Almquist, John Senior, Nicolas Bloch. gives good overview of and context around the different elements of value (and the relative importance). Despite a couple of years old, still very relevant and informational.
Saeed Kahn has published a highly interesting article on Medium: “A Framework for Understanding Value” that focusses more on a framework for understanding value and the value of that. These two articles give a look into the professional world of a value engineer.
Alden Globe shares other interesting references in the bibliography of Daughter of the Cloud. Among these are some books from the Strategyzer team. Long story short these different elements of value and the tools are woven into the story line of the book. Add new technological advancements to the recipe and a fast paced thriller is born …. Check out the table of contents below and what value elements can you distinguish?
| # | DESCRIPTION | PAGE |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | Invisible world | 10 |
| 02 | Negative implication of the current state | 21 |
| 03 | Value never sleeps | 30 |
| 04 | Minds of steel, butts of iron | 33 |
| 05 | Hell Yes, Hell No | 42 |
| 06 | Push the work down, push the people up | 49 |
| 07 | Barley sandwich | 64 |
| 08 | Cinnamon Caramel Creme Nitro | 74 |
| 09 | What grows together goes together | 80 |
| 10 | Visoneering | 84 |
| 11 | Per Ardua ad Astra | 93 |
| 12 | Kate and the chocolate at the factory | 105 |
| 13 | Echoback | 109 |
| 14 | Apres Ski | 114 |
| 15 | Green fig & saltfish | 117 |
| 16 | Digital Maps | 133 |
| 17 | Digital Twin | 137 |
| 18 | AI.Who.Hestiates.Is.Lost | 140 |
| 19 | We’re not happy until you’re not happy | 143 |
| 20 | Feedback from the field | 147 |
| 21 | Systeme D | 152 |
| 22 | Cognitive dissonance | 159 |
| 23 | We’ll always have Paris | 162 |
| 24 | Yacht Rock | 167 |
| 25 | Marche ou Creve | 177 |
| 26 | Sleep mode | 179 |
| 27 | Mallorca | 185 |
| 28 | Acknowledgements | 189 |
| 29 | Glossary | 193 |
| 30 | Bibliography | 200 |
| 31 | About the author | 221 |
“Maddy’s Garden of Light” at the Yampa River Botanic Park
If you carefully examine the book, there is a lot more symbolism to be found if you know a bit more about Alden Globe and his family. On page 2 you will read:
For Madeline Marie Globe – Forever 21
Proceeds from Daughter of the Cloud support Maddy’s Garden of Light at Yampa River Botanic Park in Steamboat Springs Colorado. […]
Madeline is Alden and Susan Globe’s daughter who passed away at the age of 20 after taking what she thought was a Xanax pill, but it was a counterfeit one that contained fentanyl. Madeline Globe, 20, died in August 2017 as she was headed into her senior year in Boulder. Read a bit more about these shocking fentanyl cases over here.
So Daughter of the Cloud is not only a great thriller novel about value engineering, but contains also deeper layers of symbolism and spiritual meaning like the chosen title “Daughter of the Cloud“, but also the places where the thriller unfolds have deeper meaning to the Globe family.
So when I first got the actual paperback book in my hands, looking at the cover, the title with this section about Maddy’s unfortunate story in my mind, I got goose bumps and humble for all the great things we can do in life. Support the good cause and increase the fentanyl awareness, by getting this book.
Concluding thoughts and wrap-up
Daughter of the cloud, a maps private value thriller is the only novel-type-book on value engineering that I know. Writing a book is not an easy task, and value engineering can be challenging and complex as well.
Alden Globe however is experienced in both areas, and this is reflected in the resulting novel, plot and level of detail. Like I shared with him in the manuscript:
“Mind-blowing detail. Well-researched, fast paced action, packs value engineering, tech trends, AI and digital twins into an afternoon of reading you might enjoy with a glass of wine. – REMO KNOPS”
The price-point of Daughter of the cloud is around $9,99 for the paperback version. Alden Globe also produced an Audible version which is narrated by Elisabeth Schmidt, and available for a similar price-point.
An addictive thriller with a breakneck twist set against a backdrop of stunning landscapes: the imposing mountains of Steamboat Springs, the cityscape of Toronto, and the lights of Paris.
But a thriller that covers relevant topics and themes like woman in technology (WIT), artificial intelligence, digital twins and many more value engineering related topics.
About Alden Globe
Alden Globe grew up in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Victoria College at the University of Toronto, a degree in Law from the University of New Hampshire, and attended executive education at Harvard Business School.
His career focuses on speeding access to critical knowledge that improves the performance of frontline staff, from pilots and customer service agents, to IT professionals.
Globe has been recognized for technical innovation by IABC, Multimedia Magazine, MISQ, Computerworld, Smithsonian, US West, J.D. Edwards, Microsoft, Jeppesen a Boeing Co., and BMC Software.
He lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.