Evidence vs. belief and enterprise software
Just recently “evidence vs belief based management” has been raised again, and that’s good, it should be in the forefront at all times if you ask me. The whole thing seems utterly unbelievable, the indisputable fact [sic] that hugely important decisions, decisions that impacts us all as employees, customers and shareholders are often made based […]
Strategic software vs non-strategic software
I can just as well be upfront about it and invite ridicule at once: There is no business / enterprise software that is first and foremost built to enable strategies, and thus could be termed “strategic”. Let’s look at some characteristics that could help to discern the difference between non-strategic business software and potentially strategic […]

Enterprise software’s wrong focus
Let me start by refining my earlier “who’s you customer” post: Primary customer/user: This is where your value delivered is appreciated. It’s the daily users and the real reason why you have a business at all. But alas, they often do not want to pay, still this is where your focus must be! Social media: […]

Software and the Complexity Excuse
I am a bit fed up with the (mis)use of the term ‘complex’ as an excuse for not doing the right thing. Especially in Enterprise Software: Costs, implementation times and unwillingness to make me something bespoke – “it’s because enterprise is so complex”. Bollocks to that I say. Stop saying that, it’s not smart. Nothing […]

Social Media – nouns but no verbs
Practical use of Information Technology seems to follow the same maturity trajectory as languages. But being a young phenomena IT still has a way to go: It has the words in place, i.e. the data model is often precise enough,…

Gamification?
One recent buzzword that I hear a lot is “gamification”. Especially gamification of utterly boring Enterprise Software and consumer experiences in commercial transactions. A heroic attempt to solve one of life’s mysteries; why work sometimes drifts towards boring and in particular why ESW tend to be so unimaginative. On the surface it looks like nothing […]

On Productivity
“Productive effort, measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input” And I bet you that the next word that is popping up in your head now is efficiency: “Achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense” All well and good and what managers are focused on every day at the office. And […]

Social Business and the Command & Control Excuse
A few days ago I had the usual pleasure of reading one of Euan’s posts, where there was one paragraph that triggered something in my mind: “On the same day I get an email from a senior official in a government job saying “I’m beginning to think that the inherently democratic nature of social media […]

Work is Communication
Work relies on, no, consists of two things: brains and hands communication Brains and hands: The appropriate and best-possible ability must be available, that’s a good start. But what can brains and hands do unless they know what to do?…