For the first few decades of the automobile industry, cars looked like horseless carriages. The infrastructure to support them was ropey. There were restrictions place upon them, like having a man walking ahead with a red flag, that made them fairly useless. But over time things changed; the infrastructure to support motoring began to expand … Continue reading The typewriter-less office
Category: Themes
This week I have learned: - learn from disasters. It makes stuff better. - crystallization of ideas takes a while - digital is not the same as a little bit o' agile - short weeks. Hmm. Next week: BCS breakfasts
It's tempting to sometimes think that the world neatly fits into things that are inherently knowable, and those that aren't. A world of things to which "proper" planning can be applied, and of others to which an agile approach needs to be applied in its slapdash, scruffy way. A world of clocks and a world … Continue reading Iterative bridge-building
For many years information technology focused itself on automating processes. My distant memories of studying SSADM at University were of an approach that looked at the current reality and tried to map that into a system. In my defence, University was a very long time ago and I wasn't necessarily paying attention. In recent years … Continue reading Reorganizing
There's a weird set of paradoxes that appear to be opening up in the realm of technology management in business at the moment; on the one hand technology is becoming increasingly commoditized so that the needs for running technical stuff - servers, email systems and so on - in house is diminishing. At the same … Continue reading Keeping people API
In my time working at the Government Digital Service I have to admit I got a bit weirded out by the relentless focus on User Needs. It felt cultish. To an extent it still does. But having had some time to reflect, and having spent some time working in different environments in the past six … Continue reading Business needs, user needs, theory x and theory y
This week I have learned: - once you start to ask questions is difficult to know when to stop - the desire to create solutions is strong - "digital" had created a new wave of magic boxes to solve intractable problems - is all about the network - it's hard to emotionally detach from critique … Continue reading Weeknote 284: multiple personae disorder
During my recent research project, which I continue to write up into a coherent report for the lovely people at the LEF, one of the conversations that appeared to happen again and again with my interviewees went along the lines of: Me: "Would I be able to attribute this conversation to you?" Them: "I'd love … Continue reading Uncommunicative
I spent a bit of time last week with a couple of salespeople from one of the big PC manufacturers. It was an eye-opening experience. It's been awhile since I've looked at that end of the devices business. When I was at Microsoft in those heady days in the lead up to and release of … Continue reading The point of no differentiation
A new week, a new adventure. On Monday I started a new professional challenge, at the heart of professional services organization, heading their digital initiatives. What does digital even mean these days? Well, it's everything and nothing, but for my own sanity I see it as a way of describing the ways in which technology … Continue reading Digital professional services
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