Anti-agile

It’s that time of year where those prone to procrastination find themselves knee-deep in bank statements, receipts and other bits of financial flotsam and jetsam. Yes, it’s the end of January and the last chance to complete one’s tax return. The online self-assessment service is a classic example of an information system that is complex … Continue reading Anti-agile

The engineer’s fallacy

In the post-war period in Britain scientists Eric Trist, Ken Bamforth and Fred Emery conducted research into a strange thing that was going on in the coal mining industry at the time. Having survived the ravages of the global conflict, the mining industry was investing heavily to bring it into the modern age. New state-of-the-art machinery was deployed, but … Continue reading The engineer’s fallacy

Welcome to the disrupt-o-zone

A couple of days after the news that Google is to acquire the smart thermostat and fire alarm company Nest, my main thought now is that I’m jolly glad I don’t work for a utility company right now. The poor things, just about catching up with the web. Making tentative steps into the world of … Continue reading Welcome to the disrupt-o-zone

Digital Architecture: the rows and columns

  To finish off this short series about the Digital Architecture framework, let's take a look at what we can learn and infer by looking across, and up and down, the quadrants. The functions and services that span across the top two quadrants are the way in which businesses differentiate themselves (unless, of course, you … Continue reading Digital Architecture: the rows and columns

Digital Architecture: Comms services

  The final quadrant of the Digital Architecture framework is the one which I believe poses most challenge to traditional models of management of technology (and maybe even management of people) in businesses today. The external-facing supporting activities that, for the most part, boil down to how we communicate with other people. For many years, this … Continue reading Digital Architecture: Comms services

Six months with Chromebook

I've now been using a Samsung Chromebook for six months as my main device. There's been lots of talk about them in recent weeks (particularly in regard to that nonsense world that is Tech Company Sales Numbers). But let's be honest, do you know anyone (apart from me) who actually uses one? And that's probably … Continue reading Six months with Chromebook