Archive - February 2012

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The Cloud – you already use it, so why doesn’t your business?

29 FEB 2012 | Posted in business strategy, business value, cloud computing | Author Mike Seery

There’s a danger that the overuse and misuse of the word “cloud” can lead to apathy and ultimately put your business at a disadvantage by not harnessing the overwhelming benefits that cloud computing can deliver. This paper highlights how cloud computing is a mature technology, with the launch of Hotmail in 1996 heralding the dawn of an new era in the consumerisation of technology and explains in plain terms what cloud computing is.

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Mobile Web to replace Apps

13 FEB 2012 | Posted in apps, HTML5, internet, mobile, website | Author Alex McLachlan |

2 Comments

Further to my previous post "Mobile web, mobile apps and mobile commerce", web usability expert Jakob Nielsen predicts today that mobile web will become preferred over apps in the long term.

Currently, developing apps for different mobile platforms provides the best user experience if you can afford it (ie if the expected return justifies the expense). In contrast, web content formatted for mobile devices is currently the cheaper approach, but often doesn't provide the richness of user interface that apps do. The increasing use of mobile phones and tablets is leading to more companies reaching the point where investing in apps becomes worthwhile.

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Programme coordination for multiple suppliers

12 FEB 2012 | Posted in Basecamp, collaboration, complexity, CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, programme management, project management, Smartsheet | Author Anthony Flack

Work with one of my major clients was becoming increasingly complex to coordinate once the suppliers had been selected to deliver changes as part of a major systems overhaul. In all, five parties became involved in the programme, delivering new APIs to the membership system to enable online joining, renewals and exam entry; a new website supplier and a new website; and the installation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

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Incremental Processes and the US Primaries

10 FEB 2012 | Posted in agile business process, agile value, business value, incremental delivery, incremental process | Author Alex McLachlan

It’s interesting to look at the US Republican Party presidential primaries as an incremental process and to contrast it with the incremental process at the heart of Agile software development.

It seems to me the main advantage of the series of primaries is that it reduces financial commitment and risk, allowing candidates to evaluate their progress through the process without committing to the full investment that a nation-wide “big bang” approach would need.

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Adapt or die, be Agile, innovate!

08 FEB 2012 | Posted in IndigoBlue Second Wednesdays, innovation | Author Stan Wade |

1 Comment

We had a great session today at the Second Wednesday discussion on innovation. It was really valuable to have both IT expertise and innovation professionals to contribute.

I studied innovation formally at Imperial College Business School in 2006 and as part of that worked with Gartner on academic research on innovation in the software industry. At the time I remember being quite disappointed that industry still had some way to go. It seems that we are still struggling to get senior management to ‘play ball’ and let us establish effective innovation programmes, and yet it was universally agreed that to fail to innovate was an unacceptable risk.

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Looking for Value

06 FEB 2012 | Posted in agile value, business value, prioritisation, story | Author Stan Wade

We need an estimate of value of each story to prioritise our backlog. In some cases that’s pretty easy because the story will deliver a lot of clear business value, but at other times searching for any value is a lot harder, especially for a business team that thinks in terms of revenues and costs.