Imagine the scenarios: The first, an errant piece of paper gets caught on a paperclip at the back of a bundle of documents. The documents are a contract to be signed as part of a negotiation. The errant piece of paper shows some workings that make parts of the deal transparent. The deal, as a … Continue reading Irreversible mistakes
Category: Themes
A debate at this week's wonderful Names Not Numbers event has crystallised something that has been bouncing around my head for a while. I'm done with the idea of industry-specific software platforms. Here's why: 1. Platforms automate out humanity Part of yesterday's debate was agreeing where the boundaries of machine and human lie in our … Continue reading I’m done with the platform economy
I've been becoming increasingly bemused by the masterful example of technology marketing that is IBM Watson. It's a great (and rare) example of a tech company building a strong brand around a very esoteric set of concepts. Just about everything coming out of Big Blue seems to have the Watson brand slapped across it at … Continue reading Elementary, my dear Watson
I had to spend much of yesterday at a hospital in London after my eldest was refered by our GP (thankfully, it turns out, nothing particularly serious). Watching the machinations of the health service in action can be painful. There is paper everywhere. Vast stretches of waiting around are interspersed with short consultations with medical … Continue reading It’s going to happen anyway…
And so, some five years since I suggested it, Microsoft have at last bought LinkedIn. During my interview process for my ill-fated spell at the Redmond giant's UK branch, I was asked which Cloud-based company Microsoft should buy. My response was LinkedIn - for years I've regarded it as the only Enterprise Social Network, and it seemed … Continue reading The acquisition thing…
This week I have learned: I do, quite frankly, spend far too much of my time wondering what on earth is going on Listening to the Brexit debate is making me worry about the collective sanity of this country Start small. Scale what works. Repeat. Next Week: FOOTBALL!
“Can you just knock me up a couple of slides on that?” are words that I dread. If you've ever seen me present you'll know I'm of the “seemingly random series of images” school of PowerPoint, and I'm pretty certain that someone asking me for a couple of slides isn't looking for a collection of … Continue reading Knocking up PowerPoint
I'm a couple of months into looking at the role of digital in the transformation of professional services organizations, and whilst I wouldn't be as naive to say that the fog is rising, I'm at least starting to make sense of some shapes and patterns in the murk. There are many companies that say that … Continue reading Building a business of makers
I spent some time last night globetrotting from the comfort of my sofa. Wearing the Oculus Gear headset, and exploring Google Streetview VR through the power of my voice I was able to teleport across the world. At one level this is incredible. I remember fondly back to the Domesday Project of the 1980s and … Continue reading What the Butler Saw
I’ve been a big (and somewhat boring) fan of Chromebooks since I first took the plunge with my first back in 2013 (one of the original Samsung models). I’ve had a couple more since then – an Acer which was given to me at a Twilio event in 2014, and then the Asus Chromebook Flip … Continue reading Android Apps on ChromeOS