It’s a Saturday morning. I’m in an anonymous meeting room at the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago, hosting a morning workshop as part of our monthly All Hands Meeting of Diamond Technology Partners. It was 1994 and we could still fit in a single medium-sized conference room. A few years later we would fill the main … Continue reading A Place for Thinking
There’s a rich field of corporate irony in the collision of mindsets between engineers and executives. It’s paid Scott Adams’s bills for decades. This humor wears thin, however, as more and more of the people creating value in organizations think like engineers. Regardless of their academic training or background, knowledge workers in organizations think like … Continue reading Managing in a knowledge economy
I’ve long been a fan of Alan Kay. We met twenty five years ago as we were building a consulting firm that blended strategic and technology insight. One of Alan’s favorite observations is “point of view is worth 80 IQ points.” Choosing a better vantage point on tough problems is time well spent, especially when … Continue reading The 80 IQ point move: knowledge work as craft
Early in my career I knew a little bit and was effective because I was always asking annoying questions to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. In the middle, I thought I knew a fair bit but was often reluctant to share what I did know. The problem then was that I knew enough … Continue reading Serving my time – learning to teach
“Point of view is worth 80 IQ points” – Alan Kay If you’ve interacted with me for more than a few minutes, there’s a good chance you’ve heard me quote Alan Kay. If not, it’s a pretty safe bet that you have no idea who Alan is, even though you are probably reading this on … Continue reading Perspective
Becoming a founder of Diamond Technology Partners in 1994 was a textbook example of leveraging your network. In late 1993 I was ready for something new. I had published my first book and sent a copy to a former boss and mentor with a note that I would like to use his name as a … Continue reading Learning and knowledge management in start up mode
Most of us have crappy theories of learning. The better you were at school the more likely your theories about learning are distorted. I ran into this phenomenon while I was the Chief Learning Officer at Diamond Technology Partners in the 1990s. My partners were full of well intentioned advice about how they thought I … Continue reading Learning is harder in the digital world
The intersection of two key dimensions of how we think offers an interesting insight into the path from new idea to successful innovation. Alan Kay discusses them in a talk he gave last year at Demo 2014 called “The Future Doesn’t Have to Be Incremental.” It’s an excellent use of your time, if you’re prepared … Continue reading Problem-finding on the Path from Invention to Adoption
[Cross posted at FASTforward] The phrase “technology for us” has been kicking around in my head for the past several months. At the FASTForward ’08 conference, I took a first pass at articulating my thinking in a video interview with Jerry Michalski. Consider this my next attempt. I expect there will be more. Technology for … Continue reading Technology for us – the heart of Enterprise 2.0?
I’ve frequently used Alan Kay’s definition of technology as “anything that was invented after you were born”. The following perspectives from the late Douglas Adams and from Bran Ferren are richer and perhaps more useful. I found this material originally from Jenny Levine, The Shifted Librarian, who’s been following these issues for as long as … Continue reading When does technology stop being technology?