Why things break
Murphy’s Law is a truism in engineering and technology. This post looks at systems failure in systems as diverse as social networks, bridges and spacecraft.
Web3 – The promise of a decentralised web
Web 3.0 is being touted as the next era of the Internet. Web 2.0 introduced the smartphone internet, dominated by social media. Will Web 3.0, underpinned by the same tech as used by cryptocurrencies, herald a utopia of a decentralised Internet that works better for its users?
Taming Chaos – the art of managing software projects
Traditional project management is ill-suited to deal with the inherent complexity and uncertainty of software development. This post explores how systems thinking can help deal with complexity.
Electric Cars. Will they make any difference to the planet?
A few months back, I wrote a blog post describing a road trip I went on with my family to the Scottish Highlands this summer. The aim of the article was not to show the world what a great time we had. That is what Instagram and Facebook are for if I were so inclined. Instead, I was curious to explore the viability of electric cars for more arduous journeys. Is an electric car any good outside its comfort zone … Read more…
Why Scaling Agile is not Easy
Agile was developed as a way of organising work in a team. But does agile scale across the whole enterprise?
Yet another 5 Digital Transformation Must-Reads
Here are five more Digital Transformation Must-Reads covering psychological safety, scaling agile, cloud strategies and organisation design
An Electric Car Road Trip in the Scottish Highlands
This year, with covid travel restrictions changing daily, my usual family holiday in the sun looked trickier than ever so we opted for a much in-vogue ‘staycation’. Destination of choice: the Scottish Highlands. The only potentially complicating factor was that I am currently driving an electric car – a rather lovely Jaguar all-electric I-PACE. As the majesty of the Scottish landscape is matched by its scale, long drives were going to be inevitable. Would an electric car (or EV – … Read more…
When the tech is more valuable than the product
When Amazon opened its first Amazon Fresh grocery store in Ealing last month, much was written about how it offers a ’till-less experience’ where customers can simply pick up the items that they’ll like to buy and walk out when ready. All purchases will then be charged to their Amazon accounts when they leave the store. This experience is enabled through a combination of shelf sensors and powered by a multitude of cameras and AI-based people tracking to determine ‘who … Read more…
Diversity of Thought – How to Avoid Groupthink
In 1960, shortly after being elected, John F Kennedy was approached by the CIA to approve a plan to train, equip and support an invasion of communist Cuba by Cuban exiles opposed to the government of Fidel Castro. The invasion that ensued at the Bay of Pigs became one of the major US foreign policy fiascos of the 20th century. It entrenched Fidel Castro as leader of Cuba with communism persisting in Cuba to this very day. A decade later, … Read more…
Systems Thinking – When the human is in the machine
Consider any connected product or application that you may have – a fitness device, a mapping application, a dating app, a payment app, or a smart thermostat. On the face of it, these are superficially quite simple products. A fitness app tracks your activity, a mapping app helps you get from A to B, and a dating app matches you with potential dates. However, beneath that veneer of simplicity lies something else. All these products are systems that connecting people … Read more…