Monday, July 20, 2009

Open source & '09 recession op-ed

This was a draft email to a recruiter of open source engineers that I never sent... we'd been in dialogue about positioning and marketing. I feel the content, of which some was borrowed and edited further by me, has resonance to a greater audience thus sharing:

I feel compelled to guide you on this immediately... in a
recession there's one thing on a CEO's mind and that is the
unwinding and loss of all the hard work to gain a market share,
the momentum to sustain profitability and the talent, partners and
know-how acquired to achieve this.

Saving costs does not make for a convincing argument, it's what
they are asking their subordinates to look at in the absence of
more critical endeavours i.e.

* DO NOT LOSE ANY PROFITABLE CLIENTS
* GET RID OF UNPROFITABLE CLIENTS
* WIN MORE BUSINESS / MARKET SHARE

So...
How does open source help customers keep clients?
How does open source tell you the clients to sack?
How does open source win you more business, more market share?

Open source alone is not a cure-all for the malaise of poor
business management, open source is a fast-track route to
technology enablers that can turbo-charge an organisation's
operational processes - streamline them and provide the right
information at the right time for business decision makers to
execute and not be standing still.

Tuesday, September 23, 2003

"You and I create software, and business executives create revenue streams and profit centers. You and I measure our success by the product's quality, and business executives measure their success by their investments' profitability. They do this by applying the language of business mathematics, which recognizes fixed costs, variable costs, corporate overhead, and R&D, but, unfortunately, has no model appropriate for software or programming. Accounting is the basic language of business, and its categories are so fundamental to all business measurement and communication that contemporary executives have internalized them completely. They see programming as another corporate expense to fit into an existing category. Most simply treat programming as a manufacturing effort—a variable cost. This is the worst possible choice because it prejudices their business decision-making hopelessly."

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

21 July 2003

Comments on the Treasury's review of the use of PFI in public sector IT projects

Edward Leigh MP, Chair of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee
From our work at the Committee of Public Accounts we are well aware of the risks attached to IT projects, whatever the form of procurement. It is certainly true to say that a number of PFI IT projects we have seen have been little short of disasters. But we must not think that removing PFI will alone solve the perennial problems that arise. There is no substitute for informed and sensible management without which any large IT project is likely to fail.

Howard Flight MP, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
The waste over the last few years in terms of overruns and errors is a serious problem, which have cost in the region of £1 billion. With the knock-on effect of opportunity losses, the total is as least twice that. The PFI Treasury Traskforce spent about a year with its model contract with IT which clearly hasn't been successful.
I question whether the issue is about whether to PFI-subcontract or do it in-house. The fundamental issue is the State trying to impose IT solutions from high.

A country we might have something to learn from is Italy, which has a small central government unit to monitor and approve public sector IT projects, and with the power to cancel early to prevent over-run and waste. One of the key things it looks at is whether in planning IT, there is the right involvement by those who have to use the system, as is now the norm in the private sector anyway.


Mark Serwotka, General Secretary, Public and Commercial Services Union, representing 288,000 members working in government departments, agencies, public bodes, and in a number of private companies, notably in IT.
The government are beginning to recognise that PFI and value for money doesn't necessarily mean the same thing. It's a step but a very small step, elements of which look to address issues surrounding two tier workforces. However the fact remains PFI is seriously flawed.
The government should look more imaginatively at its human resources in the IT sector and look at the addressing the decline of in house IT expertise. Upskilling IT co-ordinators and enabling staff who have already been privatised to return public sector employment ensuring that the public sector has the skills necessary to ensure quality IT services are delivered.


Glyn Evans, Head of e-services at the London Borough of Camden and Chair of Socitm's Information Age Government Group
The PFI credit regime has never been particularly appropriate for ICT projects, for two reasons. First, contract length in ICT projects is now typically seven to ten years. The overhead involved in obtaining PFI credits, which might be justifably for, say, a building management contract of thirty years is simply not appropriate for contracts of this length. In effect, all you do is put up the price as the extra cost is recovered over a short timescale. The second reason is that in a rapidly changing environment (a fundamental aspect of the ICT industry) you need a much more flexible contract than is in effect possible with a PFI arrangement. We must, however, be careful not to throw the baby out with the bath water here. There is very important role for public private partnerships in delivering ICT in government, irrespective of whether such partnerships attract PFI credits.

John Higgins, Director General, Intellect, the UK-based association representing 1,000 IT, telecommunications and electronics organisations
Our members have long expressed disquiet about PFI and we raised these concerns with the Government. To this end, we are pleased with this announcement, which we believe represents another important step in the development of a maturing, intelligent relationship between customers and suppliers in the public sector.
PFI only works when there are clearly defined outcomes. This rarely applied to IT-enabled business change projects. With such projects the technology and their requirements regularly changed within a long-term arrangement.

IT is fundamental to the public sector reform agenda and therefore it is crucial that the correct funding systems are in place, which support this work. Removing complexity from financing structures will ensure a more competitive market, increased value for money and more successful projects.

Through its ongoing dialogue with the Office of Government Commerce, Intellect will seek to ensure that new guidance on IT procurement for Government departments is produced which is beneficial to customers, suppliers and most importantly, the citizen.


John Kershaw, with over 35 years experience in government purchasing, is an expert provider of independent advice on procurement
It appears almost impossible for the Government to do much right these days, but the Treasury's PFI Report published last week seems timely and well-balanced, with guidelines for the future that could limit the continued extension of PFI into so many inappropriate schemes. The headline presumption against using PFI in IT projects reflects a past confusion in the minds of many Public Sector clients that faster is better and that information flows seamlessly into knowledge. The effect of this Report is likely to be a re-orientation of IS project direction away from systems capability and into effective service delivery. In turn, we can perhaps hope for improved supplier/customer relationships, between less-naïve public procurement officials and implementation contractors who have shed pre-occupations with the short life-cycles of specific technology and can concentrate on jointly facilitating long-term continuous improvement in output performances.

Martin Brampton, Managing Director Black Sheep Research
Technological innovation involves risk. PFI has often been based on the mistaken assumption that the commercial sector is not risk averse. It is very risk averse, and it is also sophisticated in its use of contract terms. It is also skilled at financial engineering. Skilled financiers often creates the appearance of benefits that, in reality, are merely cosmetic. Purchasers in the public sector have frequently been ill schooled in capital asset allocation techniques.

Colin Akhurst, Business Development Director, Northgate - a leading provider of software applications and outsourcing solutions to the public sector, HR and corporate markets
Northgate welcomes the Treasury's announcement, with regards the future of PFI in IT projects, as a step in the right direction. This decision highlights that there are issues above and beyond that of funding that need to be taken into consideration for a project to succeed.
PFI, in itself is not the mechanism for successful project delivery as financing of a project is only an element of the whole. In our experience it is successful partnership governance between two parties that underpins project success. Governance, joint objectives and a mutual understanding of each parties' objectives and ability to contribute is essential.

It is Northgate's belief that projects need to begin with the establishment of a sustainable customer relationship and a mutual understanding of the commitments from both sides. This will involve the management of operational, organisational, external and business benefit risks, as well as those regarding finance and budget. It is only through understanding these limitations and objectives that public and private sector bodies can successfully work together to ensure the benefits are realised.



Tuesday, April 22, 2003

Unions warn of strikes if offshore deals hit UK jobs
Analyst firm Gartner believes offshore outsourcing is a “must do” for IT directors in 2003 and said it should become a standard strategy for European companies in the drive to reduce costs and maintain a high-quality service.

“Access to high-quality staff with key skills, lower costs and the ability to utilise 24x7 support services mean enterprises can continue to improve service levels while maintaining healthy margins,” said Ian Marriott, research director at Gartner.

Monday, March 24, 2003

Banks cut thousands of jobs Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers cut thousands of jobs in the first quarter, even as earnings rose on soaring trading revenues.

Profit levels in the three months to February demonstrated Wall Street's resilience, but the headcount reductions show that managements were preparing for tough times.
Stephen Crawford, Morgan Stanley chief financial officer, said conditions underlying the boom in trading debt and commodities "are unlikely to continue".

Thursday, March 20, 2003

The New Lords of E-Biz - CIOs - CIO Magazine Mar 15,2003

Your Next Role: E-Commerce Strategist

Efficient operation of e-commerce applications is now a part of many CIOs' portfolios, but their responsibility goes far beyond providing support. CIOs who wait for marching orders from the business units—as many did in the early days of e-commerce—are liable to miss the opportunity to apply technology strategically. "During the bubble, the CIO really got jammed in the back office," observes George Colony, chairman and CEO of Forrester Research. "The real action driving e-commerce was on the marketing side and the business side. Postrecession, the chief information officer is [going to be] an equal partner [in e-commerce functions], with a much broader role."

Friday, March 14, 2003



.........ACM: Ubiquity - Genesis Of An Anthill: Wireless Technology And Self-Organizing Systems
The point here, of course, is that you can create complex systems out of simple parts that only vaguely interact with each other, to create something that is highly organized. These are called self-organizing systems, and the art and science of how to create them with computers is gradually coming into its own. From simulations of traffic conditions and ants (see Resnick, 1994) to Internet applications such as KaZaa and Gnutella, we are seeing massive systems created by actions of non-systematic individuals. Gradually, we are beginning to understand how to build such systems -- partly because we can simulate and study them, but also because, fueled by technological advances, we now have the capability to coordinate complex behavior by using technology to create self-organizing, purposeful systems. The power of this kind of thinking is rather extraordinary -- and alarm bells should go off in a number of large corporations as to its effects...........