Working on some content for an appearance next month at the National Housing Federation's IT in Housing Conference and have been trying to distill down thoughts on how the world of IT is changing into as few, but coherent, points as possible. There is a plethora of the usual IT buzz-word nonsense in the field, and … Continue reading The twin forces: commoditisation and consumerisation
Category: General
OK, here's a piece of idle conjecture... One of the things that has surprised me a bit in my time since joining Microsoft has been how hierarchically deferent the company seems in comparison to previous employers. It's the first US company I've worked for, and have been quite taken back by how status and power … Continue reading Does more labour law lead to stronger companies?
A little later this week I’m going to be speaking to kick off a hackathon event taking place at the retail institution that is Marks and Spencer. Here’s the gist of what I’m going to say (spoiler alert – if you are attending the event, this really is pretty much is what I’ll be saying … Continue reading Innovation in retail
In preparation for my next few speaking events, I'm thinking around the theme of "intimate technology". No, not that kind of intimate - more the way in which our relationship with devices and services is becoming increasingly personal and, well, intimate. Take, for example, the Uniqlo Wake Up app: you don't get much more intimate … Continue reading Intimate technology
Achievements this week included: - Great fun presenting at the Mortimer Spinks' Technology Event, vaguely in the presence of Ben Affleck... - ...and a good session with the ladies and gentlemen at Imagination - Good catch ups with Richard at Cloud Origin... - ...and Euan Semple before he heads off on his world tour - … Continue reading Weeknote 119: back to the floor
Last summer I wrote an article about what I saw as being key reasons why one would build a native app for a device, rather than just deliver a service through a web browser. A year and a bit on, and having had opportunity to talk to a stack of people about the subject of … Continue reading When to app (revisited)
According to news on the BBC's Today programme this morning, General Practitioners in the UK are soon to be subjected to annual performance reviews in similar fashion to most people working in a corporate environment. An interview with Niall Dixon, Chief Executive of the General Medical Council as to the reasons why made for amusing … Continue reading Medical performance management
A fun evening last night presenting (mostly about potty training) at Mortimer Spinks' annual evening bash. For those there, here are a few links to things I mentioned either in my presentation, or in conversations afterwards: What motivates developers? - Blogging from last year that seemed to hit a nerve. Drive - Daniel Pink - … Continue reading Mortimer Spinks technology event
Back now from a wonderful two weeks away in Asia with the family. Alongside the lounging around, I was able to get through a few books... Made to Stick, written by brothers Chip and Dan Heath, looks at ways in which you can present ideas in ways that will make them stick with others. Based … Continue reading Holiday reading
Continuing the short series looking back on my ten years of digital photography... A shift away from photos of my children, by 2011 the smartphone had become my primary camera, and I had also fallen prey to the false artiness of retro camera apps, at first with the Android RetroCamera app, and more recently with … Continue reading digita10: 2011: up in the air
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