I used to believe that strategy was a necessary component for success in business. We’ve been taught this in 50,000 books about strategy. We’ve looked to the military, been inspired by Sun Tzu, ogled the luminous foresight of Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. We’ve been sold the desirability of disruptive innovation and the lustre of […]
Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash I’ve recently been reading Creativity, Inc, Ed Catmull’s description of the history of culture and processes at Pixar. Pixar’s journey, from a 3D rendering startup to its current place at the centre of the Disney empire has been influenced by luminaries like George Lucas and Steve Jobs, and more so
If your process doesn’t change, you’re doing it wrong Read More »
Each year, I pull together the biggest tech trends and events for the last year. Originally, this was a tribute to the amazing team that I worked with at Reed for their hard work over the year. Now, it’s tending towards an obsession. Part Mary Meeker, part Black Mirror and a sprinkle of Rude Tube,
The Google Sheet mentioned in this article is available to anyone here. If you don’t work in tech (and perhaps even if you do), you may not know that the ‘ultimate’ tech role in a company is deeply varied. The same role can even change over time in the same business, and this means that
What flavour CTO does your business need? Read More »
I was recently fortunate enough to have lunch with a new colleague and as we idly shared tapas and chatted about work, I accidentally let one of my dirty secrets slip. Some conversation topics can have a stigma attached to them, like admitting that you’re a grown adult who still plays computer games (it’s 2019,
Process makes perfect Read More »
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash This article is a fairly technical take on the organisational challenges of using employee messaging like email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Skype for Business, Facebook for Work etc. This article is aimed at CTOs, DPOs, People Analytics professionals and vendors, and discusses the operational and compliance challenges of corporate message analysis.
The organisational implications of using employee messaging for data science Read More »
A not entirely serious flowchart of when to hire permanent staff Building your own team is part of the thrill and promise of being an entrepreneur, but it’s often the right decision to rely on talent from outside the business. Both outsourcing and scaling your own team have risks and benefits. In a previous article,
Outsource or do it yourself — a guide to keeping work in-house (or not) Read More »
Photo by Clark Young on Unsplash One of the things that I hear repeated, and believed myself for many years, was that contractors or outsourced agencies are much more expensive than permanent employees. Whilst that can often be true, it’s not quite as simple as most people think. In the past, when I tried to understand
Mythbusting the costs of building teams and outsourcing work Read More »
Photo by Nathan Aghelsefat Abatari on Unsplash So, you’re faced with the challenge of deciding between building your own software or buying something off the shelf. Your customers might need new features, your staff may need some help running a process specific to your business or investors might want to see the value of their investment
When to build and when to buy; on the lure of building software Read More »
Photo by Paul Zoetemeijer on Unsplash At a basic level, resilience is the ability for something to withstand disruption. Efficiency is the quest for optimal output with minimum waste. Resilience and efficiency are not in direct opposition, however focusing too much on one can have a negative impact on the other. For much of my career
Blending efficiency and resilience Read More »