Making Standards
“Don’t judge the past by the standards of today. It won’t work. They’re incompatible.” Rachel Mead While recently reading through some books from TM Forum recently about Frameworx, there were two things that jumped out at me: The amount of brain-power that has gone into creating these standards is phenomenal and the contributors have every […]
Socratic Questions
“Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school, “So? Did you learn anything today?” But not my mother. “Izzy,” she would say, “did you ask a good question today?” ” Isidor Isaac Rabi Questions, by their very nature are designed to initiate learning for the questioner. But the best questions also […]
What if your OSS was obsolesced
“I love inventing worlds and characters and settings and scenarios.” Jerry B. Jenkins Have you played the “What if?” game with your OSS lately? Following on from yesterday’s post about moonshots, have you done any “what if?” analysis on how various possible moonshots might effect your OSS? What if the current network technologies were superseded […]
Waiting for the Moonshot
“Here is the surprising truth: It’s often easier to make something 10 times better than it is to make it 10 percent better… when you aim for a 10x gain, you lean instead on bravery and creativity — the kind that, literally and metaphorically, can put a man on the moon.” Astro Teller on wired.com […]
Augmented Reality
“Augmented Reality (AR) represents a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, that enrich the user’s perception of the real world.” MindCommerce.com Smart-phones have already generated significant changes in the way we work and play. OSS tools are starting to be developed that harness […]
Artificially Intelligent OctopOSS
“The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim.” Edsger W. Dijkstra Artificial intelligence (AI) and fuzzy logic is a field that has fascinated me since being taught the topic as part of an Electronic Engineering subject at University. The concept of machines/software that can measure, analyse, refine […]
Looking Around
“You can see a lot by looking around” Yogi Berra When working on one part of an OctopOSS, it might seem obvious that you should narrow your field of view to that aspect of the project. But an OSS adds value by sifting through all of the available information and making enlightening connections. Widen your […]
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity” Albert Einstein There are many things that spawn my passion for OSS, but the strongest reason is brilliantly encapsulated in Einstein’s quote above. There are a loooooong list of difficulties with OSS in their current form: They have many layers of complexity They are time consuming to implement They […]
Re-write the Script
“The fun stuff comes when someone is not so strict on sticking to the script. You’re allowed the spontaneity, and great moments can happen.” Jennifer Aniston A continual improvement exponent will tell you to “Repeat the script for things that work well. Re-write the script for things that don’t.” Sage advice in many situations and […]
Transparency or Humiliation?
“One man’s transparency is another’s humiliation.” Gerry Adams Social media gives everyone’s voice a loud-speaker. Sites like Wikileaks take the exposition of secrets to a new level. There is almost nowhere left to hide. But why hide? Transparency and honesty make customers and employees more comfortable and trusting in what you have to offer. The […]
Co-creation Model
“The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.” John Scully Many recent runaway success stories have built upon the co-creation model and the associated network effect. Organisations such as Twitter, Facebook, Ebay, Wikipedia and many others have not built the content, but have built platforms on which many people can contribute […]
Sitting back and not knowing
“I love the unknown. I love the discovery of what will be happening and just kind of sitting back and not knowing.” Jennifer Aniston Okay, I must start by admitting that the quote above is used partly because it came from Jennifer Aniston, but don’t let that detract from the point. 🙂 Part of the […]
Epochal Shift
“As a result of epochal shift of power in the marketplace from seller to buyer, the customer is now in charge. We now live in the age of customer capitalism. Making money and corporate survival now depend not merely on pushing products at customers but rather on delighting them so that they want to keep […]
What can’t be outsourced?
“I don’t believe you outsource your convictions and principles to people.” Jeb Bush When there are under-developed countries generating hundreds of thousands of highly educated engineers, developers, analysts, etc each year who will deliver at a fraction of the labour rates of the developed world. This provides a massive shift of opportunity for CSPs and […]
Do you like your OctopOSS Big or Small?
“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.” Laurence J. Peter In the past all CSPs were big and their associated OctopOSS were also big. Many million dollars big. But those projects were also complex, time consuming and often delivered little of what they originally intended. It […]
Standard Operating Procedures
“You will never understand bureaucracies until you understand that for bureaucrats procedure is everything and outcomes are nothing.” Thomas Sowell In many large CSPs, bureaucracy is a way of life. Procedures provide the bureaucrats with a port of consistency within a sea of change. An OctopOSS project is a very threatening beast because it changes […]
Frequent Innovator Programs
“Success comes from doing things differently” Steve McKnight Change is happening faster and faster, so significant investment in innovation is essential for any modern organisation, enforcing ongoing rapid evolution. And if ever there were an industry that thrives on innovation, then OSS would be it. OSS are the product of the information age and it […]
Increasing your expertise
“An expert is someone who has succeeded in making decisions and judgements simpler through knowing what to pay attention to and what to ignore.” Edward de Bono In what ways can you increase your expertise as an OctopOSS wrangler? The following methods will help guide you: Start with the data. The OctopOSS’s data sets will […]
Give it a try!
“‘It’s impossible’ said pride. ‘It’s risky’ said experience. ‘It’s pointless’ said reason. ‘Give it a try’ whispered the heart.” Author Unknown as sent by InspirationPeak. What is the “it” that your heart is telling you to try? This site is one of mine. There are many more on my list in various states of development. […]
Scarce Resources
“Customers are the centre of the universe” Anne Mulcahy What are the resources that stop a company from growing? Capital? Yes, companies are measured on KPIs like Return on Equity and other accounting terms. Skilled resources? Yes, each OSS vendor’s solution is so unique that there is a dearth of resources able to be highly […]