Monthly Archives: March 2012

A very interesting perspective on the state of the modern business world.

Posted on March 15, 2012 by swdevperestroika

I find this “Farewell letter” from a former Goldman Sachs executive a very telling story of where the world of business is heading when the overall business objective is “maximizing shareholder value”.  

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The generation gap impact in systems development

Posted on March 10, 2012 by swdevperestroika

Over the past few years, there’s been much market research and talk about the generation gap, i.e about the “behavioral differences” between different age groups. The perhaps seminal work in this area is Lancaster & Stillman’s 2005 book, “When generations … Continue reading →

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Amazing autonomous flying robots!

Posted on March 6, 2012 by swdevperestroika

An absolutely fabulous TED talk by Vijay Kumar. I’d love to have a look at the software controlling those robots… !

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Dynamic non-linear systems

Posted on March 5, 2012 by swdevperestroika

Heard about the “Butterfly effect” ? I.e that a butterfly flapping its wings in the Amazonas can create a storm on the other side of the world…  An example of a complex system at play, at the “macro scale”. Excellent … Continue reading →

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Genetic algorithms, what are they…?

Posted on March 4, 2012 by swdevperestroika

If you have ever written a computer program, they you should know what an algorithm is: basically, a very detailed step-by-step description on how to solve a particular problem. At its core, programming really is about designing and implementing algorithms, … Continue reading →

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Open Source and the revival of the “Not invented here syndrome”

Posted on March 4, 2012 by swdevperestroika

For some 20+ years ago, the “standard best practice” of our industry was to develop everything in-house. That is, organizations used their own resources to develop not only the core services/capabilities/ functionality of the products they were selling/providing, but also … Continue reading →

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System impact when cost reduction is the main objective

Posted on March 4, 2012 by swdevperestroika

During the past week, I got plenty of time and opportunity to observe and experience the “services” of the US air transportation “system”, i.e. airlines and airports, and given the extended time I involuntarily had to spend as a customer … Continue reading →

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Leadership versus management – world of sports vs world of business

Posted on March 3, 2012 by swdevperestroika

 I’m quite involved since many years in coaching a number of 15-20+ year olds in sail racing, at fairly  advanced  levels. Because of this role, as well as due to my own background in my youth as a practitioner of different sports (in … Continue reading →

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Pursuit of profit kills innovation

Posted on March 3, 2012 by swdevperestroika

Clayton Christensen’s seminal work, explaining why relentless pursuit of profit, and management by ratio’s gets your business killed from beneath.

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Management and leadership in an Agile world

Posted on March 3, 2012 by swdevperestroika

A dimension that is not very often discussed in all the buzz regarding the ongoing agile transformations in the world of systems and software development, is the dimension of *management paradigm* (for lack of a better expression), i.e. the “philosophy” … Continue reading →

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