Minimise the tentacles on the OctopOSS. Keep it simple
Question for you: Do your OSS users also use ubiquitous tools like Visio, PowerPoint, Excel and others to help perform their day-to-day workflows? I have two contrasting views on this: POSITIVE: They have carefully specified their needs and they ‘re rightly using the OSS only to do the most important / efficient tasks, using swivel-chairing […]
With the ubiquity of smart phones, when field workers are on site, they often photograph assets to show the state of the network before and /or after their site visit. Many organisations with OSS also have Digital Asset Management (DAM) tools that allow them to store digital assets (images, video, audio, etc) in a central […]
OSS play a part in many activities within CSP environments. Some of those activities are common, some rare, and others still require a large dose of human decision interactions. However, most of those activities will have been done before, more or less. This should mean that OSS have seen it all before (more or less). […]
“Good design is as little design as possible Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.” Dieter Rams: ten principles for good design. I’ve recently had the opportunity to design some OSS user interfaces (UI) again. Our customer […]
Your first answer to the headline question today will probably relate to Bitcoin transactions. That would indeed be a clever answer but there is more potential in blockchain for OSS / BSS than just crypto-currencies. I figure that it could be applicable for the following use cases and probably many more: Obviously billing reconciliation (and […]
“…our research suggests that as many as 45 percent of the activities individuals are paid to perform can be automated by adapting currently demonstrated technologies. In the United States, these activities represent about $2 trillion in annual wages. Although we often think of automation primarily affecting low-skill, low-wage roles, we discovered that even the highest-paid […]
As someone who is afforded the privilege of seeing many OSS when evaluating vendors, it strikes me that most OSS are designed by Engineers. It seems to me that if a developer hits on a user interface (UI) that can perform the required function then that interface layout will do. After all, Engineers in the […]
“Which 10 technologies do we need that haven’t been invented yet?” In no particular order: Automated checking and correlation of outside plant (and any other data source that doesn’t have programmable interfaces) Order to cash tools for customers of CSPs, not just for the CSPs in the usual use of this metric Knowledge transfer between […]
“3.Our thinking is often constrained by the complexity of the challenges, so which 10 complexities would you like to snap your fingers and remove?” Here are ten ideas: Don’t let Engineers define the requirements 🙂 (I have an Engineering degree, so perhaps I’m included in this list). Just because you CAN deliver a feature doesn’t […]
James Altucher’s Idea Machine concept will form the basis of a series of upcoming posts. An earlier post, “Just 10 ideas” posed 10 questions, one being “What are the 10 things that you’d like to get better at?” From that question, and each of the other questions, I’ll attempt to generate 10 ideas. So, the […]
Ruthless simplification is a common theme here on PAOSS. Here’s a concept for you to try – a “simplification index” or “subtraction index” to classify how much simpler your OSS projects make your operations. The concept forces business cases to have subtraction projects built in.
Yesterday I posed 10 questions, including the following, “What should be the first 10 events scheduled at an OSS Olympics?” This is a concept I’ve pondered for years – who are the best of the best in the world of OSS? It’s a tough one to determine though because one operator may be brilliant on one […]
In yesterday’s post, “Just 10 ideas“, I talked about James Altucher’s “Idea Machine,” of coming up with 10 ideas every day, regardless of whether they’re good or not. I took a slightly different twist on the concept and posed a series of 10 questions, which in turn will probably have at least 10 idea responses. […]
“You can’t trust the old style of thinking anymore. You have to come up with a new way of thinking. A new way of having ideas. A new way of interacting with the outside universe.” James Altucher. I’m currently reading James Altucher’s latest book. It has nothing to do with OSS but it has a […]
“A need to differentiate products and services in the market is forcing greater specialisation. Specialist organisations that do one or two things well will naturally rely more on partnerships. At the same time, other companies have little time to both develop similar expertise internally and keep pace with technology-driven changes in their own industry or […]
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci. l often speak about the urgency for simplification here on PAOSS and it has me wondering why it is such a challenge, for me included, within the realm of OSS. I suspect the ambiguity of simplicity scares many people as it requires us to think in terms […]
“Imagine that it’s Winter, you’re walking in the forest, and you see a frozen pond with a hundred people skating on it. Now, imagine walking past the same pond with nobody, or just one person skating on it. Would you be more likely to go skating on the pond in the first case or in […]
“The ‘elephant in the room’ is something that everyone is well aware of, but they deliberately or subconsciously choose to ignore it. Sometimes we encounter clients who refuse to face the fact that their industry is declining or that something hugely impactful is about to happen.” Alan Iny. There are a number of elephants that […]
“First, explore how to doubt everything you think you know, and remember that all your ideas, even the most successful, are hypotheses within you – and not set in stone. Challenge the boxes that determine how you perceive the world, and think creatively about how you’re defining the specific problems you’re hoping to solve.” Luc […]
“As you work on your project (your presentation, your plan, your speech, your recipe, your…) imagine that it’s the sort of thing that could be reviewed on Amazon. Now, write (actually write down) two different reviews: First, a 5 star review, a review by someone who gets it, who is moved, who is eager to […]
