Sexism in tech is like an onion–it has many layers and makes people cry
The big topic of discussion last week was the fallout from the PyCon conference. At the conference, former Adria Richards, who, at the time, worked in developer relations for SendGrid, heard two conference attendees behind her making jokes about “forking” and “dongles” in the sort of juvenile way that often happens in the tech industry. [...]
ING Direct CEO Gives Employees “The Right to Bitch”
While I was speaking at the Newsgator conference in Amsterdam I learned of a very interesting story at ING Direct (Canada). For those of you not familiar with ING Direct, it has around 1,200 employees and is based in Canada and operates things such as savings accounts, retirement plans, mortgages, and mutual funds. Their CEO [...]
Facebook needs to learn to manage scruffy neighborhoods to stay relevant
Facebook needs to learn to manage scruffy neighborhoods to stay relevant Not all of us live in or want to live in a PG-13 world. But the recent rash of shutdowns over perfectly normal behavior has me wondering how Facebook’s going to set a global standard for what the social media neighborhood looks like. Failbook, [...]
CxO Talk episode two: Big data, analytics, and HR technology
In this episode of CxO Talk, co-host Vala Afshar and I talk with two brilliant experts who shine a spotlight on analytics, big data, HR, and enterprise software. The conversation is fun (look at the image below), but also brings out an extraordinary level of insight from the guests. CxO Talk is a weekly show that [...]
Quick Note: Dropbox – Mailbox Marriage Is A Hail Mary Pass
This morning an acquisition news got techies excited about Dropbox buying the iOS app with lots of buzz but few invites, Mailbox. In short, this is a hail mary pass after Google announced that you can now attach large attachments with Google Drive integration in Gmail. Dropbox had to react and they reacted by buying [...]
A cyberwar barely in the making
We are asking China to stop poking at our networks; maybe we should take a look at what everyone else is doing along the way. An international framework is probably in order at this point. Many news systems are broadcasting that America is asking/telling China to stop hacking American Companies. While in testimony Army Gen. [...]
The Future of Work
A lot of companies are interested in what the future of work looks like and what direction companies are going to be heading towards. However, this means looking beyond just technology. Based on a lot of conversations that I and my team at Chess Media Group have been having with clients and other companies, I [...]
CxO Talk episode 1: Guy Kawasaki on influence for APEs
CxO Talk, my new talk show with co-host Vala Afshar, debuted with a conversation on marketing and influence with author and investor Guy Kawasaki. Guy’s most recent book, titled APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur, is a practical handbook for self-publishing a book and using social media to get the word out and sell copies. CxO Talk is [...]
How Would You Work Without Email?
Sometimes when I speak with clients or companies interested in understanding the future of work and collaboration it helps to put things into an interesting perspective. There are many people (including business leaders) out there who are still not up to speed on what is happening in the world of enterprise social software, collaboration, and the future [...]
Write the Docs, Railsconf Portland, RICON East, Node PDX, Vancouver Polyglot, Open Source Bridge and OSCON…
…if you are deciding what to attend this year, here’s the top of the list. Just a few key conferences that will kick ass in technical & academic content. The other great thing about these conferences is that they either have a “code of ethics” or are reknown for real conference diversity vs. the “hey [...]
Marketing and IT tensions: ‘CxO Talk’ debuts today
A new breed of chief marketing officer seeks data-driven answers to tough challenges, such as establishing clear links between marketing spend, activities, and specific business outcomes. To meet these goals, marketers have taken over an increasing slice of the overall budget that enterprises allocate to technology. Not surprisingly, this trend corresponds to the growth of [...]
Is the desktop dead? Scoble and friends face-off on mobile
As part of the BusinessNext and (New Media Expo) conference, held this past January in Las Vegas, I asked a couple of interesting and highly accomplished friends — Robert Scoble and Vala Afshar — to discuss the impact of cloud, social, and mobile in the enterprise. Famous blogger, author, and Rackspace executive, Robert Scoble, spends significant time with large [...]
What do you mean customers don’t know what they want?
If I’d asked customers what they want, they’d have said more convenience and relevance. Look familiar? I’ve riffed on that Henry Ford quote about faster horses, yada, yada. It’s not too far off from what customers would theoretically have been seeking in faster horses. I altered that quote to fit a modern day phenomenon: 3D [...]
Enterprise software and the curse of vendor sameness
Enterprise software vendors talk in pithy, some would say pseudo-sophisticated, language designed to impress prospects, customers, and influencers in the market. Almost all enterprise vendors use terms like the following as symbols to convey broader meaning, despite offering little or no content to the reader: Time to value Continuous innovation Accelerated solutions Big data Mobile first Increase [...]
Systems Thinking, Measuring Things and Really, Cultural Change is Free and Why Your Measurement are Likely Screwing Up Your Business
I was going to write this up. I stumbled upon this video of John Seddon presenting. But seriously, WATCH the video, especially if you work in an enterprise. If you’re in management or in executive leadership you desperately need to watch this and know it, understand it and listen to it. To benefit of yourself [...]
