Jan 25
I do like technology in the workplace and at home, but some things are clearly beyond my understanding. For example, more than 1% of the world’s population manage a virtual farm on Facebook (Farmville) and devote 20 minutes a day to managing an online vegetable patch!
Other things are clearer, such as the matter of jobs and learning. The world of work continues to change and jobs for life are extinct. We have to reorganise ourselves to be ready for portfolio work, increased life expectancy and an ageing population. Interest in entrepreneurship is on the rise, lifestyle businesses more popular and technology and social media combine to flatten the world. In IT, job roles are moving up the value chain as IT moves closer to the customer and therefore the revenue line. It is possible that most of the future IT jobs will be outsourced to IT providers and most of the employment will come from these supplier/partner companies.
The CIO of Johnson and Johnson was recently quoted as saying, “I believe the idea of hiring people for a job is well past.” My view is that IT is at the head of this particular table, with the future being more about job rotation programmes and flexible career paths, combining technical skills with the business-savvy.
It will be down to each of us as individuals to keep our skills refreshed and up to date, down to our ‘Learnability’, how fast we can forget the old and learn the new as we transition from project to project, department to department and company to company.
Dec 31
I have taken this quiet Christmas holiday period to read lots of interesting material, from Alan Sugar’s ‘Way I See It” to “The First 90 Days” by Michael Watkins and monthly editions of Forbes, Fortune and Wired magazine as well as countless articles and opinion pieces around technology trends, the impact of social media, and skills and talent issues. Next up are Neville Isdell’s book ‘Inside Coca Cola’, describing the making and marketing of Coca Cola from the perspective of his role as Chairman and CEO, and ‘Sense of an Ending’ by Julian Barnes.
I can’t get enough of things to read, and my new role at Pearson allows me train journeys to digest lots of new material. I read recently that one successful individual recommends 3 things everyone should read – and I agree 100%:
1) Biographies of successful people; 2) Something to do with a thought, such as Michael Porter on competitive advantage or Peter Drucker on management; 3) Books that inspire you to go beyond yourself.
With the year having raced to an end, I believe we can claim to be a little bit wiser than we were 12 months ago, and this quote by Victor Hugo sets the stage for the new year best of all: “There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”
A Happy and Healthy New Year to all.
Sep 09
It’s all very well talking about how IT is an exciting career, but unless we start telling people about it, we’re not going to attract the people we need.
This all starts with education. Too many secondary schools have an IT curriculum which teaches Word and Excel and other subjects pupils already know about. This is boring.
We don’t teach 14 year old English students how to read, we teach an understanding of literature and use it to cultivate analytical, evaluation and communication skills. Similarly, IT should give students an understanding of how technology works and the tools to use it in productive and creative ways. It should teach subjects which, for those who enjoy IT, can be developed into relevant career skills.
Once students are excited about IT, we need to ensure that when they look for advice – from careers advisors, parents or teachers – these people have the materials to explain what IT can offer. The IT industry can help by providing these materials. CompTIA, for example has just completed a guide for use by such people to explain careers in IT and how we can help. Those interested can download the guide, called Be Part of the Future, from www.comptia.org/uk.
We also need people who will fly the flag in the media. Perhaps we could even find a champion who can do for IT what James Dyson did for engineering. An even better result would be for IT professionals to volunteer to visit their local schools or college and tell students why they love their career.
It’s a big job, but as an industry we need to find ways to share our love of IT with young people. As appeared in Computer Weekly magazine.
Jul 13
I wonder how long it will take before email is passé. Our youngsters today are less inclined to send email because it is too long a process, and instant messaging is fast and with-it! I hear some unversities have stopped distributing email accounts to their students, and instead are giving out eReaders, iPads and Tablet computers – that’s the kind of place I would like to study.
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