Simon Fabri

This blog explores different aspects of what it takes to create great tech products. It is meandering journey as I amble around from topic to topic driven by where my curiosity takes me. Sometimes I try to explore different aspects of what makes truly great tech teams, while at other times I try to get under the skin of the latest tech hype or understand what's going on in a particular industry. This blog started off with a distinct IoT flavour, but now is fairly tech-agnostic.

The journey to becoming a Consumer IoT Player

So far in this blog I have touched on many areas relating to the technology and leadership challenges of working in high-speed tech environments. While these musings were shaped by my experiences, it is perhaps time to look closer to what I have been doing in my day job. I lead the product development at Drayton, a Schneider Electric company focused on building temperature control products for homes. Until recently, our products consisted of thermostats, boiler controls, and valves used by anyone … Read more…

What is driving the self-driving car craze?

By all accounts, one of the most talked-about topics at this year’s Consumer Electronics jamboree in Las Vegas was self-driving cars, currently one of the most hyped of the tech scene. Self-driving cars offer the promise of a vision of the future that has  been imagined for decades. There isn’t a single major auto manufacturer who has not got onto the bandwagon, for fear of being left behind. This is resulting in a complex web of relationships and partnerships between … Read more…

Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke on a panel at the IoT Tech Expo being held in London. The topic of the panel was “IoT and AI data analytics for intelligent decision making.” Combining two topics that are very hyped at the moment guaranteed a good attendance, but the question at the centre of the discussion was meaningful. Can Artificial Intelligence help improve decision making when faced with the morass of data produced by Internet of Things systems. Perhaps a … Read more…

Should large companies even try to be like startups?

This post is still very much a work in progress. Since the industrial revolution, if you were interested in a career in technology, large companies were really the place to be. Apart from the perks that come with working for a blue-chip company, the scale, breadth and depth of resources available to you meant that they had a virtual monopoly on innovation. However, over the past ten years, this changed. In many industries, scale stopped being an advantage. It slowly, imperceptibly at first, … Read more…

From the front line to the development team

We have already seen in a previous post how military history can provide valuable lessons for today’s business leaders. The Economist magazine provides a more contemporary application of how lessons learnt on the front line have applicability in the business world. Stanley McChrystal used to lead the Joint Special Operations Command in Iraq which captured Saddam Hussein and killed al Qaeda’s leader in Iraq. He now runs a consultancy company advising companies on decision-making. His mantra is to devolve decision making to teams of … Read more…

Self-Driving Cars – Coming sooner than we think?

The future of the car, taking on latest developments in electric vehicles and self-driving technology was the topic of the rather immodestly titled “Great Debate” at the University of Reading held last month. As the host candidly admitted, the organising committee was undecided as to whether to discuss electric vehicles or self-driving cars, and so fudged it. In the end, much of the discussion focused on the impact of autonomous cars. Are electric cars really ready for mass-market? The first couple of … Read more…

Speed at Scale – the fast supertanker?

In a previous post, I explored the importance of adaptability in large organisations, a concept I referred to quite unoriginally as Strategic Agility. I hope I was quite persuasive about the importance of being able to change direction quickly to even large and very successful organisations. The task of operating large organisations at speed is a topic that John P Kotter is making his own, in his book and Harvard Business review article – Accelerate! Kotter argues, quite convincingly, that the hierarchical structures and organisational setups that … Read more…

Artificial Intelligence – Some highlights from 2016

2016 has been a big year for Artificial Intelligence. Taking over from the Internet of Things as “Most Talked About Tech of The Year”, this represents a set of technologies that will clearly have significant  long-term implications for how we work, buy products and consume services. This explosion is made possible by the convergence of three trends: The massive growth in data availability in every field of human endeavour, a renewed interest in the algorithms underpinning artificial intelligence, and the plummeting cost … Read more…

Why history matters. Even to tech leaders

When looking at the challenges that the fast-moving tech landscape throws up, it is often tempting to think that these problems are new to the 21st century and consequently need completely novel approaches. While the mechanics, business process and technologies may well be new, the underlying problem is very likely to be one that has been around for centuries. Just as the Roman Republic can provide a casebook of the entire gamut of political mechanations and intrigue, similarly, history books can provide invaluable advice on … Read more…

The importance of Strategic Agility

With agile software methodologies now firmly in the mainstream, it is difficult to find a software development organisation that does not claim to follow agile principles to at least some extent. For this reason, much of the discussion in agile and lean development conferences is now shifting to its applicability in the wider business world. In this post, I have a look at some of the business challenges that can be addressed through adopting strategic agility, and make some suggestions that may help … Read more…

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