WorkForceInABox.com

This weblog is one year old - hip hip - hoorah!

As this is also my 111th post, cricket fans will understand why I am writing it standing on one leg.

Rather than wallow in cringing self congratulation, I want to use this opportunity to congratulate Wordpress, the platform of choice for the grown up blogger.  Wordpress has supported both my blogs for 12 months without the merest hint of a problem, which is more than can be said for my ISP.

I only wish our corporate website was so flexible.

“If you can look into the seeds of time, and say which grain will grow and which will not, speak then unto me.” -William Shakespeare

And so I confidently assure you that some of the following predictions may come true in 2008, and some may not.  Anyway it’s a bit of fun at the end of a year to speculate wildly about next year.  My job takes me into a wide range of enterprise sized organisations and I speak to both IT and business people.  Here’s my top 10 predictions for UK enterprise software, based on no more than anecdotal evidence collected from friends, customers, business partners, sales prospects and competitors: (more…)

I was pleased to read From vision to execution by Ismael Ghalimi.  I’ve spoken to Ismael a few times and I know how much of his life he has put into Intalio.

In this post he comes across as an exhausted inventor who has finally seen his new gadget rolling off the production line.  It is hard work launching an enterprise software company.  I know because I have tried it.  Many of Ismael’s comments could apply to Blue Prism equally.  The issue of market timing resonated in particular.

Does this mean that there is a degree of serendipity about the chance of success?

I wouldn’t pretend for one moment that Blue Prism has yet reached “success” whatever that is (and it means different things to different people).  Like Ismael, I am very encouraged by progress, especially in the last 6 months, albeit the first version of Automate was released in 2004, some 3.5 years ago and, let’s just say that meeting our revenue forecasts was much harder than anyone expected.

It can be lonely at times as a Managing Director (try not to weep).  When I used to work in a bank as a middle manager I had any number of peers I could relate to, and discuss ideas and issues with.  Since that is no longer a route open to me, I try to find peers outside the company.  As a result I know quite a few people who either run (or used to run) enterprise software companies.

This got me thinking.  What are the key characteristics that determine a successful MD or CEO?  Obvious requirements that might spring to mind might include:

• A keen aptitude for marketing
• Technical vision
• Ability to inspire people
• Financial astuteness
• Ability to sell
• A propensity for making customers happy
• The gift of the gab

Looking across the successful people I know, the most important characteristics are none of the above.  They are energy and determination.  Fortunately, both characteristics that Ismael has in Spades.

I was surprised to see that this is my 75th post after only starting the blog in February of this year.  When I started out, I guessed that posting a couple of times a week might strike the right balance between boring people to death, balancing my work/life time demands, and making a contribution of at least some use.  After 26 weeks I am slightly ahead of target.  Natural enthusiasm one might say, or just poor forecasting as my board would no doubt argue….and let’s not even discuss quality issues just now!

Anyway I really risk boring you here, as I am on my old hobby horse - the inability of IT people to be smart enough to understand the business and make a meaningful contribution at all levels of the enterprise.  In particular the worrying emerging trend seems to be that CIOs are losing their seat at the board table.  This article in Computer Weekly is typical of late.  American readers should note that we Brits see less difference than you between a CIO, and an IT director, and the terms are often used interchangeably here.

Transatlantic idiosyncrasies aside, the important point is that the top IT job in the enterprise is losing power and voice.  This worries me because IT really ought to find it easy to justify its seat at the board table in the vast majority of large organisations.

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I am so impressed with Wordpress - it is the platform for both my blogs.  But I may have stepped over the line in my loyal devotion, because I am the new, and proud, owner of a Wordpress T-Shirt.

I now have two real concerns about wearing it.

1. The only people who will recognise the logo will be geeks, and I will look like one myself.  Do I have to stop shaving?  What do I do if I get approached and asked an awkward question?
2. As a Manchester City fan, the colour red (Man United) is anathema to me.  What if people think I am a Man United supporting geek?  Come on guys, can we please have a blue T-Shirt next????

I just read  Why I Blog by the Agile Elephant (Jordan Haberfield).  I’ve noticed a few other blogs become introspective recently, must be the holiday season.  This week I’ve been looking in the mirror too.

The last few months have been really hard work in my day job and I’ve not had time to do much, other than work.  In particular, my physical exercise has been almost non-existent.  I admit to being a little overweight but throughout my life I have always kept reasonably fit.  Not so in the last 6 months.  I like Steven Covey’s thoughts on this.  Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw.  It’s really important, so my mid-year resolution is to exercise more and (hopefully) lose a few pounds, and boost my energy levels.

I have also been thinking about blogging.  I started this blog in February of 2007.  I had been running an internal blog at Blue Prism and figured that there was nothing very secretive so why not share my thoughts more widely.

There was also a commercial element since firstly, people who read this blog are more likely to encounter Blue Prism and secondly, I can explore some concepts that are helpful, or interesting to us (e.g. the Rogue IT Survey).  Having said that I absolutely reserve the right to write about what interests me and that frequently has no relation to my employers.

So, for the record, here’s a few things you may or may not want to know about me and why I blog:

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Taking Stephen Covey’s advice I’ve just been away for a long weekend (Fri to Tues) free of laptop and mobile phone.

I thoroughly recommend it to anyone.  At first you feel naked without digital communications and then you start to relax and really enjoy.  However, returning home tonight I couldn’t wait to get back online!

For the record I was mostly in Cornwall (one of the most beautiful parts of the UK).  Well worth the six hour drive to get there.  Any visitors to the UK should definitely try to get down to The Eden Project in St Austell - truly inspirational!  If you live in the UK you have either already visited, or have a visit planned.

By popular request (one person asked) you can now get email updates from WorkforceInABox by entering your email ID in the box in the right hand column and hitting “Subscribe Me”.  Easy peasy.

Being new to the blogosphere and having taken various recommendations to go with Wordpress (which I must say I am very happy with), I was not initially concerned about spam.

Following the recent receipt of two spam comments, I decided to enable Akismet.  In the last two days things have gone wild!  Akismet has captured nearly 200 spam comments across the two blogs that I run.

Whilst I am delighted that Akismet has intervened, I am nervous about enabling people to leave comments without moderation.  I have never refused to allow a genuine comment, positive or negative but I am trying to balance the benefits of allowing un-moderated comments versus the risk of getting spammed to death for those that get through the Akismet filter.  Any more experienced bloggers out there with any advice?

Welcome to my new blog. I’ve joined the joined up world at last…

I am not particularly technical yet I work in technology (enterprise software to be precise).

 I have run an internal blog at my place of work for a couple of years and then I realised that there was nothing private in it so why not share my thoughts with the world?  So one of my colleagues, Denis who is technically far superior to me, helped me set up this blog and here goes.

Watch this space for random thoughts at the uncomfortable intersection of customer service, business process, efficiency and IT.