Small software startups are highly innovative because they operate without hierarchies and share all work openly. This allows developers to see and build on each other's work, responding quickly to new ideas and problems. The companies immerse themselves in online developer communities to further leverage open innovation. Their model forces constant innovation to stay ahead of potential competitors.
Berlin State Of Mind - Transatlantic Entrepreneur Conference at New York Inte...Benjamin Rohé
It's 2015: how was it 15 years ago? what brought the Berlin Startup Ecosystem forward? what are the challenges? How do Corporates and Industry Giants interact with Startups? what is needed in the Venture Capital Market and where does the German Government support
Live Teaching Case: The Gothenburg Smart City ChallengeRobin Teigland
Describes a live case used in the third year of the Industrial Economics program at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. The focus is on Smart Cities, open data, and digital innovation.
Collaboration Trends and Strategy Approaches for 2016Dion Hinchcliffe
A curation of my work and research on digital collaboration, including parts still relevant from previous work as well as latest insights for this year. All in all, a huge amount happening in collaboration with new opportunities and some challenges that all organizations must address today.
Here I exercise the concept and definition of Digital DNA, showing by example cases of analog vs digital companies.
I also describe the 5 elements that make-up a Digital DNA.
Berlin State Of Mind - Transatlantic Entrepreneur Conference at New York Inte...Benjamin Rohé
It's 2015: how was it 15 years ago? what brought the Berlin Startup Ecosystem forward? what are the challenges? How do Corporates and Industry Giants interact with Startups? what is needed in the Venture Capital Market and where does the German Government support
Live Teaching Case: The Gothenburg Smart City ChallengeRobin Teigland
Describes a live case used in the third year of the Industrial Economics program at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. The focus is on Smart Cities, open data, and digital innovation.
Collaboration Trends and Strategy Approaches for 2016Dion Hinchcliffe
A curation of my work and research on digital collaboration, including parts still relevant from previous work as well as latest insights for this year. All in all, a huge amount happening in collaboration with new opportunities and some challenges that all organizations must address today.
Here I exercise the concept and definition of Digital DNA, showing by example cases of analog vs digital companies.
I also describe the 5 elements that make-up a Digital DNA.
#DTR8: The New Innovation Paradigm for the Digital Age: Faster, Cheaper and O...Capgemini
In this edition of the Digital Transformation Review, we examine how organizations can create sustainable and successful innovation strategy, drawing on our global panel of industry executives and academics.
We focus on four key themes:
Which digital innovations should be on organizations' radar screens?
How should companies promote innovation and embed it into their culture?
What lessons can we draw from organizations that are stand-out innovators?
What is the role and impact of innovation centers, including the Capgemini Consulting-Altimeter Group report, "The Innovation Game: Why and How Businesses are Investing in Innovation Centers".
Andreas Tschas - Pioneers - Building Startup Marketplaces in Europe & Asia - ...Burton Lee
Talk by Andreas Tschas, CEO & Co-Founder, Pioneers Festival, at Stanford on Feb 22 2016, in our session on 'Startup Marketplaces & AI FinTech Founders :: Vienna & Portugal'.
Website: http://www.StanfordEuropreneurs.org
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/StanfordEuropreneurs
Twitter: @Europreneurs
Read about the first ever virtual open data hack where developers turn open data into novel and useful citizen applications, and how you can get involved!
CSC Report: Digital Disruptions: Technology Innovations Powering 21st Century Business
Serialized on Forbes.com, and acclaimed by eWeek, The Financial Times, Signal Magazine et al.
Service Design Drinks started off into their 5th year. This edition discussed one of the most important services – education.
Our own Manuel – who recently co-organised a summit on the future of education – shed light on educational services in Germany with focus on digital tools. He presented a study, discuss today’s challenges and potential approaches to them.
To fit the topic the event took place at the ‘Evangelische Schule Berlin Zentrum’, known for its application of design thinking in the classroom.
Business Analysis & The Impact of Disruptive TechnologiesChristian Kobsa
By the year 2050 the world we live in will be significantly different from now. Not only do technological changes continue to occur, but the rate at which these changes happen is accelerating. In addition, many of the new technologies will revolutionize the we work, socialize and live our lives.
A live case group assignment for third year students in the MSc Industrial Economics program at Chalmers Univ of Tech in Gothenburg, Sweden during Winter 2019. The case is together with Lysekils Municipality.
The very nature of work, the way we work and where we work is changing. Businesses are reducing real estate, maximising the use of the space they have, increasing work from home and expecting their employees to adopt new practices from hot desking to unified communications. The need to collaborate with colleagues has never been greater, the pace of business has never been faster, and the pressures to be more productive are ever increasing. This white paper explores the drivers, need for change and case studies behind the technology solutions that are being deployed today to deliver collaborative solutions that fundamentally and permanently change the way we work.
What will digitalization dematerialization and demonetization create ?Mike Mastroyiannis
Innovation going Forward
How will the ‘mostly linear’ Innovation Processes and their corporate contexts, that have served us well over the past 50 years, be reshaped through disruptive key global trends?
- Exponential technologies
- Digitized health sciences
- Ubiquitous Internet connectivity
- Urbanization and ageing population
How can the companies seize the new emerging opportunities ?
Ar the companies ready for such drastic change ?
What are the options to achieve leadership ?
Is your company prepared ?
Innovation & disruption hp talk april 2010 juldee versionFas (Feisal) Mosleh
A presentation on Innovation. Given to Hewlett-Packard headquarter and labs employees. Contains many examples of innovation undertaken by technology companies including Netflix, Amazon, EBay, Toyota, Blackberry, YouTube, Daimler Benz, Google, Lexus, Audi, Nokia, etc. Go to www.Juldee.com for more info.
We Are Running Our Organizations on Old DataHelge Tennø
Data informs the mental models by which we manage our organizations and make decisions. Big space data, computer vision and machine learning creates a new generation of data and gives companies a completely new framework for understanding their world. Solving the short comings of todays rude, inefficient and static data. Are we ready to be rewired and reprogrammed?
This is my presentation at SpacePort Norway in Stavanger on the 20th of June 2017. It is similar in content to my talk in Skellefteå published just a few days ago but tailored to a different crowd.
Why open innovation offers opportunities for startupsJean-Yves Huwart
Big corporations have no choices : they must open up their innovation process to startups. Startups can count on new opportunities. If a risk exists to be stolen one's ideas, some careful practices help to reduce it as much as possible.
Lean Design Research - Why There’s No Excuse Wasting Money on Bad Products A...Dialexa
In the age of the consumer and consumerism of IT, there’s no question that design thinking is critical to new product success. The importance of design thinking has become so clear that there has been a surge in demand for design at the executive table.
http://by.dialexa.com/lean-design-research-no-excuse-wasting-money-on-bad-products
In software development, Agile’s practices have the advantage of encouraging teamwork by breaking down barriers between various teams in sales, development, business consulting, operations, and IT.
#DTR8: The New Innovation Paradigm for the Digital Age: Faster, Cheaper and O...Capgemini
In this edition of the Digital Transformation Review, we examine how organizations can create sustainable and successful innovation strategy, drawing on our global panel of industry executives and academics.
We focus on four key themes:
Which digital innovations should be on organizations' radar screens?
How should companies promote innovation and embed it into their culture?
What lessons can we draw from organizations that are stand-out innovators?
What is the role and impact of innovation centers, including the Capgemini Consulting-Altimeter Group report, "The Innovation Game: Why and How Businesses are Investing in Innovation Centers".
Andreas Tschas - Pioneers - Building Startup Marketplaces in Europe & Asia - ...Burton Lee
Talk by Andreas Tschas, CEO & Co-Founder, Pioneers Festival, at Stanford on Feb 22 2016, in our session on 'Startup Marketplaces & AI FinTech Founders :: Vienna & Portugal'.
Website: http://www.StanfordEuropreneurs.org
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/StanfordEuropreneurs
Twitter: @Europreneurs
Read about the first ever virtual open data hack where developers turn open data into novel and useful citizen applications, and how you can get involved!
CSC Report: Digital Disruptions: Technology Innovations Powering 21st Century Business
Serialized on Forbes.com, and acclaimed by eWeek, The Financial Times, Signal Magazine et al.
Service Design Drinks started off into their 5th year. This edition discussed one of the most important services – education.
Our own Manuel – who recently co-organised a summit on the future of education – shed light on educational services in Germany with focus on digital tools. He presented a study, discuss today’s challenges and potential approaches to them.
To fit the topic the event took place at the ‘Evangelische Schule Berlin Zentrum’, known for its application of design thinking in the classroom.
Business Analysis & The Impact of Disruptive TechnologiesChristian Kobsa
By the year 2050 the world we live in will be significantly different from now. Not only do technological changes continue to occur, but the rate at which these changes happen is accelerating. In addition, many of the new technologies will revolutionize the we work, socialize and live our lives.
A live case group assignment for third year students in the MSc Industrial Economics program at Chalmers Univ of Tech in Gothenburg, Sweden during Winter 2019. The case is together with Lysekils Municipality.
The very nature of work, the way we work and where we work is changing. Businesses are reducing real estate, maximising the use of the space they have, increasing work from home and expecting their employees to adopt new practices from hot desking to unified communications. The need to collaborate with colleagues has never been greater, the pace of business has never been faster, and the pressures to be more productive are ever increasing. This white paper explores the drivers, need for change and case studies behind the technology solutions that are being deployed today to deliver collaborative solutions that fundamentally and permanently change the way we work.
What will digitalization dematerialization and demonetization create ?Mike Mastroyiannis
Innovation going Forward
How will the ‘mostly linear’ Innovation Processes and their corporate contexts, that have served us well over the past 50 years, be reshaped through disruptive key global trends?
- Exponential technologies
- Digitized health sciences
- Ubiquitous Internet connectivity
- Urbanization and ageing population
How can the companies seize the new emerging opportunities ?
Ar the companies ready for such drastic change ?
What are the options to achieve leadership ?
Is your company prepared ?
Innovation & disruption hp talk april 2010 juldee versionFas (Feisal) Mosleh
A presentation on Innovation. Given to Hewlett-Packard headquarter and labs employees. Contains many examples of innovation undertaken by technology companies including Netflix, Amazon, EBay, Toyota, Blackberry, YouTube, Daimler Benz, Google, Lexus, Audi, Nokia, etc. Go to www.Juldee.com for more info.
We Are Running Our Organizations on Old DataHelge Tennø
Data informs the mental models by which we manage our organizations and make decisions. Big space data, computer vision and machine learning creates a new generation of data and gives companies a completely new framework for understanding their world. Solving the short comings of todays rude, inefficient and static data. Are we ready to be rewired and reprogrammed?
This is my presentation at SpacePort Norway in Stavanger on the 20th of June 2017. It is similar in content to my talk in Skellefteå published just a few days ago but tailored to a different crowd.
Why open innovation offers opportunities for startupsJean-Yves Huwart
Big corporations have no choices : they must open up their innovation process to startups. Startups can count on new opportunities. If a risk exists to be stolen one's ideas, some careful practices help to reduce it as much as possible.
Lean Design Research - Why There’s No Excuse Wasting Money on Bad Products A...Dialexa
In the age of the consumer and consumerism of IT, there’s no question that design thinking is critical to new product success. The importance of design thinking has become so clear that there has been a surge in demand for design at the executive table.
http://by.dialexa.com/lean-design-research-no-excuse-wasting-money-on-bad-products
In software development, Agile’s practices have the advantage of encouraging teamwork by breaking down barriers between various teams in sales, development, business consulting, operations, and IT.
A close look at the methodologies, stages and best practices involved in developing products for our times)
What you will get out of this book:
Why Lean IT + Lean Development methodologies are two must-have approaches in your start-up toolkit
Making the right cloud provider and development partner choice for your startup
A thorough overview of how you can build an app on the Google App Engine and how and when integrations will take place
A guide to what a prospective client must look for in a development partner
Creating Authentic Value: Open Source vs. Open CoreDeborah Bryant
Recent emphasis on cloud technologies has brought a lot of attention to how software companies work in today’s business and technical environments. Some companies have chosen to try to protect their software through creative licenses. Unlike open source, where value is placed on community, collaboration, and services, open core businesses place their value on software features. Red Hat’s successful experience as a completely open source company has shown that value is not in the code, but in the support and expertise by being a part of a true community. In this talk, Red Hat’s Deb Bryant will share observations and cautionary tales from the world’s most successful open source company on how the idea of open core has time and again been demonstrated to not be truly open, limits community innovation, and delivers essentially proprietary software to customers
Building a strong digital culture can feel like an impossible endeavor. How do we create virtual workplaces with a shared sense of values? How do we sustain mentorship relationships and strengthen information sharing protocols? Without a good framework in place, it’s extremely unlikely that a team can build a hybrid culture, let alone a completely remote workplace. To leverage remote work, every organization must employ tried-and-true precepts.
Ultimate guide to hire dedicated developer comparison, benefits, & tipsKaty Slemon
Know why and when should you hire dedicated developer, learn about the essential things to consider, benefits, compare with freelancers, and tips for hiring.
Outcome Engineering 101: Five Guidelines to Delivering Products that Create I...Cognizant
It’s time to shift to an evolved, technology-empowered design mindset. As technology informs design, and good design arms technology to become most effective by engaging with users, the two now sit at the top of the product development pyramid to co-create success.
Panu Kalliokoski, Solita “Why Custom Software Should Be Open Source” - Mindt...Mindtrek
"Custom software is significantly more problematic to open than generic, reusable components. Often integrally tied to an organization’s way of working, custom software tends to be both hard to use in other environments and also hard to open without exposing some kind of sensitive information."
Panu Kalliokoski,
Senior Software Developer, Solita
International Technology Conference Mindtrek 2017
20th - 21st of September, 2017
Tampere, Finland
3 Crucial Application Modernization Strategies for Enterprises.pptxArpitGautam20
Here are 3 effective application modernization strategies, challenges that most companies face & other crucial information for organizations. https://natifi.ai/3-crucial-application-modernization-strategies-for-enterprises/
IDCEE 2013: How to do a successful company around open source - Michael Widen...IDCEE
http://idcee.org/p/michael-widenius-monty/
Monty is creator and original developer of MySQL, Founder of MySQL Ab.
He is an open source advocate with firsthand experience in creating and enhancing an open source community. A software architect and designer with experience in creating big complex applications alone and with a virtual team.
Currently, Monty is CTO of the MariaDB foundation. Previously to that, he was CEO & VP Community of Monty Program Ab, as well as Partner and owner of Open Ocean Capital (since 2009).
In 2008-2009, he was a MySQL Fellow and Sun DE at Sun Microsystems. He was working in Sun CTO Lab under Sun's CTO Greg Papadopoulos.
For 12 years (1983 – 1995) Monty was a Developer for Tranfor Data AB, Software Architect, TCX Datakonsult AB.
From 1981 to 1995 he was CEO of Monty Program Ab; CEO, Coder, architect and user of UNIREG (The origin of MySQL).
Pic's are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/idcee/sets/
More @ http://idcee.org
Follow us on:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/OfficialIDCEEChannel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IDCEE
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/IDCEE-3940138
Twitter: https://twitter.com/idcee_eu
Google+: http://gplus.to/idcee
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/idcee/collections/
The Software Manager"s Guide to Practical Innovationmacadamian
Software teams are constantly looking for new ways to innovate ahead of the competition - from new features to stunning design to modern technology. But have you noticed how little practical, actionable information exists on how to actually achieve this?
The Software Manager's Guide to Practical Innovation. It’s filled with tangible advice on how to differentiate software products through design and development, based on real life lessons learned while working with product managers and teams.
Markovate is a Toronto based digital product and mobile app development company that aims to offer future ready, robust, and scalable mobile products to high growth companies and start ups that strive to make a difference in this era of digital transformation. We are obsessed with delivering seamless mobile experiences across multiple platforms, devices, and OS versions.
Scaling & Aligning Mobile Product Management (La Product Conference 2016)Arne Kittler
Presentation held at La Product Conference, Paris, 21st June 2016.
A video of the talk can be found here: https://www.infoq.com/fr/presentations/lpc-arne-kittler-scaling-mobile-product-management
See www.auftragsklaerung.com for Details on the framework for collaborative alignment presented.
zkStudyClub - Reef: Fast Succinct Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge Regex ProofsAlex Pruden
This paper presents Reef, a system for generating publicly verifiable succinct non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs that a committed document matches or does not match a regular expression. We describe applications such as proving the strength of passwords, the provenance of email despite redactions, the validity of oblivious DNS queries, and the existence of mutations in DNA. Reef supports the Perl Compatible Regular Expression syntax, including wildcards, alternation, ranges, capture groups, Kleene star, negations, and lookarounds. Reef introduces a new type of automata, Skipping Alternating Finite Automata (SAFA), that skips irrelevant parts of a document when producing proofs without undermining soundness, and instantiates SAFA with a lookup argument. Our experimental evaluation confirms that Reef can generate proofs for documents with 32M characters; the proofs are small and cheap to verify (under a second).
Paper: https://eprint.iacr.org/2023/1886
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
Pushing the limits of ePRTC: 100ns holdover for 100 daysAdtran
At WSTS 2024, Alon Stern explored the topic of parametric holdover and explained how recent research findings can be implemented in real-world PNT networks to achieve 100 nanoseconds of accuracy for up to 100 days.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
In his public lecture, Christian Timmerer provides insights into the fascinating history of video streaming, starting from its humble beginnings before YouTube to the groundbreaking technologies that now dominate platforms like Netflix and ORF ON. Timmerer also presents provocative contributions of his own that have significantly influenced the industry. He concludes by looking at future challenges and invites the audience to join in a discussion.
The Metaverse and AI: how can decision-makers harness the Metaverse for their...Jen Stirrup
The Metaverse is popularized in science fiction, and now it is becoming closer to being a part of our daily lives through the use of social media and shopping companies. How can businesses survive in a world where Artificial Intelligence is becoming the present as well as the future of technology, and how does the Metaverse fit into business strategy when futurist ideas are developing into reality at accelerated rates? How do we do this when our data isn't up to scratch? How can we move towards success with our data so we are set up for the Metaverse when it arrives?
How can you help your company evolve, adapt, and succeed using Artificial Intelligence and the Metaverse to stay ahead of the competition? What are the potential issues, complications, and benefits that these technologies could bring to us and our organizations? In this session, Jen Stirrup will explain how to start thinking about these technologies as an organisation.
SAP Sapphire 2024 - ASUG301 building better apps with SAP Fiori.pdfPeter Spielvogel
Building better applications for business users with SAP Fiori.
• What is SAP Fiori and why it matters to you
• How a better user experience drives measurable business benefits
• How to get started with SAP Fiori today
• How SAP Fiori elements accelerates application development
• How SAP Build Code includes SAP Fiori tools and other generative artificial intelligence capabilities
• How SAP Fiori paves the way for using AI in SAP apps
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Welcome to the first live UiPath Community Day Dubai! Join us for this unique occasion to meet our local and global UiPath Community and leaders. You will get a full view of the MEA region's automation landscape and the AI Powered automation technology capabilities of UiPath. Also, hosted by our local partners Marc Ellis, you will enjoy a half-day packed with industry insights and automation peers networking.
📕 Curious on our agenda? Wait no more!
10:00 Welcome note - UiPath Community in Dubai
Lovely Sinha, UiPath Community Chapter Leader, UiPath MVPx3, Hyper-automation Consultant, First Abu Dhabi Bank
10:20 A UiPath cross-region MEA overview
Ashraf El Zarka, VP and Managing Director MEA, UiPath
10:35: Customer Success Journey
Deepthi Deepak, Head of Intelligent Automation CoE, First Abu Dhabi Bank
11:15 The UiPath approach to GenAI with our three principles: improve accuracy, supercharge productivity, and automate more
Boris Krumrey, Global VP, Automation Innovation, UiPath
12:15 To discover how Marc Ellis leverages tech-driven solutions in recruitment and managed services.
Brendan Lingam, Director of Sales and Business Development, Marc Ellis
Enhancing Performance with Globus and the Science DMZGlobus
ESnet has led the way in helping national facilities—and many other institutions in the research community—configure Science DMZs and troubleshoot network issues to maximize data transfer performance. In this talk we will present a summary of approaches and tips for getting the most out of your network infrastructure using Globus Connect Server.
1. Startup innovation
Free of hierarchies and secrets, small software firms can only innovate
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2. Published by
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E info@giz.de
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Global Knowledge Sharing and Learning
Responsible
Dr. Jan Schwaab
Sabine Olthof
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Place of publication and year
Frankfurt, 2014
Free of hierarchies and secrets, small
software firms can only innovate
The most efficient way to force yourself or your company to be at the fore-
front of innovation is to share what you are doing with everyone around you.
If your customers can constantly see what you are working on, when they
can copy your product and adapt it and develop it further, you need to be the
best to thrive.
Some software startups are amongst the world’s most innovative institutions.
They offer the environment that developers, engineers and creatives need to
have ideas and develop products. Many of these companies do away with
internal hierarchies in order to quickly realize the potential of without being
bogged down by internal politics and bureaucracy.
Online collaboration tools allow developers to work together and see what
everyone else is working on. They focus on nothing but joint product de-
velopment in a collaborative and very flexible way, enabling them to quickly
respond to requirement changes and problems that emerge along the way.
These online tools are more than just technology. They also function as social
media, allowing these companies to immerse themselves into large commu-
nities of users who contribute their ideas in what is known as open innova-
tion, further leveraging the innovation power that single companies can field.
The companies place themselves into an open innovation context, which
forces them to constantly innovate.
1| 2
7. But Github is more than just a site that hosts
code, it is also social media. It has built in many
features known from social media sites such as
Facebook or Twitter. Its users have their own
profiles showing what they are working on,
they can follow other users. A network graph
can display how different developers work on
different version of repositories. Just like on
Facebook or Twitter, the community status of
a developer can be derived from the number of
followers that he has. There are coding rockstars
who are closely watched for what they are
watching.. The quality of a project can be judged
from the number of people working on it. This
social media kind of interaction significantly
accelerates the speed with which a community
can identify and jump on new, promising
projects.
The constant watching of each other and the
interaction around pull requests establishes
and implements community values. It forces
developers to ensure that their code works and
does not break what so many others are working
on. It establishes and implements an unwritten
code of behavior that has emerged on its own in
many social media applications. This code values
a culture of gifts, a spirit of give and take which
sharply contrasts with the culture of insider
knowledge and internal power struggles that are
widespread at most bigger corporations.
The key driver of innovation in open software
development is forking. If a community or
individual software developers would like to
continue the development of a given code on
their own for any reason, they can create a new
fork. The developers simply take a copy of the
source code, which open software development
permits without violating copyright, and
continue to work on it on their own to create
a distinct project that from here on competes
with the original. Later on, no more code will be
exchanged between the projects.
Forking is a social event as well. It invariably
creates a split in the developer community
and there is social pressure against taking
such a drastic step that splits the community’s
development resources. Software developer and
author David Wheeler has compared a fork to a
“vote of no confidence” in parliament. He also
suggests that most forks die on their own due to
the substantial efforts needed to maintain and
develop them.
Modern technological tools such as Github have
smoothed out the drama surrounding forks to a
certain extent as these allow to copy code from
a software repository with the aim of merging it
back into the original trunk once improvements
are made, a more constructive approach than a
complete break-away.
One of the key forks in the recent development
of the popular use of the internet was when
Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little in 2003 created
a fork to b2/cafelog, a tool for bloggers to
design, organize and publish their content. The
result was Wordpress, which today is considered
to be the most popular open source blogging
and content management tool in the world.
Had Wordpress been developed by a few
developers not committed to open source
development, this would hardly have been
possible. The tool has instead been developed
by its community. There are over 1,600 design
themes developed and made available by
designers to any user of Wordpress, both
for free and at a fee. As of December 2012,
there were more than 22,000 plugins available,
little add-on tools that vastly expand the basic
Wordpress install and allow for customization.
Flat hierarchies are key to the innovation prowess
of start-ups, as they ensure the motivation of
their employees who can spend their entire day
jointly developing products and delivering them
to their customers. But maybe flat hierarchies
might not be possible without today’s technology
that allows employees to constantly chat with
each other, whether they’re in the office or at
home, whether they are based in San Francisco
or else where.
Github Explorer by Franck Cuny http://goo.gl/wbgRSA
FORKING: A SOCIAL EVENT
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9. thereby disturbing their creativity. This is what
meetings do: they are symmetric in that they
force every participant to structure his working
schedule around them, distracting him from
his actual work of developing products and
interacting with clients.
In practice, most employees at startups actually
come to a physical location. Ryan Tomayko,
also of Github, has also noted two important
functions that offices still hold: physical meetings
are still needed to discuss matters of broad vision
and strategy that can not be scattered into small
pieces of postings to web boards. Office also
ensure informal social interactions in the form
of after-work drinks and gossiping over lunch.
CONCLUSION
Startup companies operate in a world of their
own. A bunch of like-minded, creative individuals
come together to have fun while also working.
Software startups that grow out of a business
idea students had over beers are a rare exception
in the corporate world, a tiny space within the
economy and the society.
Can their innovation model be applied outside
of this space? Can existing corporations embrace
some of the open and boss-free spirit of
software startups to drive innovation and increase
productivity? A steel factory can simply not be
built without planning and its design can not be
modified every week. But spectacular investment
failures – which are more often than not planning
failures rather than due to unforeseeable, sudden
changes in the project environment – might be
avoided if large corporations developed their
culture away from hierarchies that see a few lonely
decision-makers at the top and instead involved
more of their own employees in flatter hierarchies.
But there are two important elements that make
the innovation model of small startups work
and that can not easily be replicated elsewhere.
Technology and online communication reduce the
cost of replication to zero and allow developers to
work and collaborate from anywhere at anytime
in the environment that they exclusively create,
greatly boosting their motivation and productivity.
The other element is trust, an essential prerequisite
to make flat hierarchies or structure free of bosses
work. And here might lie the biggest constraint to
scaling the innovation and organizational model
of startups, both to their own growth and to
applying it to corporations outside the software
development industry. Trust is most easily created
between members of a like-minded community.
Such as young, male tech geeks who spend most
of their day in front of screens and who enjoy
after work beers with young, male tech geeks.
Women, for instance, are still a tiny minority in
software development. It might be difficult to
create this environment of trust at bigger and
by default more diverse companies. For instance,
getting developers to work with designers can
create friction already.
Speaking more broadly, the biggest barrier to
adapting some of the innovation models used
by startup companies at larger companies is the
difficulty of creating a corporate culture that
fosters this innovation. Changing corporate
culture is maybe the most difficult change of
all. It requires that employees who are used
to implementing what they being told to take
initiative and responsibility themselves.
British Telecom managed to implement aspects
of the agile software development model.
The changes that took hold at the product
development of Procter & Gamble are another
example. Realizing that most innovation is driven
by smaller companies, individuals and university
labs, the company created an open innovation
platform it called “Connect & Develop” to
reach out to developers and innovators outside
its own research and development division. The
corporation claims that more than half of its new
product initiatives receive input from people not
working for the company.
The Norwegian oil company Statoil is another
example. The company has launched an open
innovation blog, on which it shares areas of
innovation on which it currently does research on.
It frames some of the areas as challenges, to which
the public can respond with ideas. For example,
the company is looking for new evacuation
strategies for its personnel working under the
extreme weather conditions of the Arctic.
It is not clear whether large corporations would
share their most sensitive areas of research. The
fact that some corporations disclose what they
are working is a tremendous departure from the
mainstream corporate culture.
Beyond the corporate world, the open approach
of the software start-ups discussed above might
as well drive social change by fostering an open
culture in society and government through
the spread of their online collaboration tools.
In one example, German software engineer
Stefan Wehrmeyer has adapted the repository
system of Github to document laws passed by
German parliament, in an attempt to increase
transparency in politics. The repository tracks all
changes that were made to laws during the law-
making process, just like a section of software
code would have been changed in collaboration
of an online community. This could provide
insights into how lobby groups influence law-
making.
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10. Frederik Richter has worked as a financial journalist
since 2004. He has reported from more than 15 coun-
tries in the Middle East, Asia and Europe, focussing on
the interplay of politics and business in emerging mar-
kets and particularly in the Arab world. He has extensive-
ly covered corruption and has exposed financial fraud.
For several years, he worked as a Reuters correspondent
in the Gulf where he wrote about investment and finan-
cial markets and from where he also covered the Arab
Spring in 2011.
Having taken an interest in the innovation process of so-
cial media during that time, he is now based in Thailand
as an independent journalist and editor. Frederik also
conducts journalist trainings in the Arab world.
Frederik Richter
ABOUT THE AUTORReferences
Christen Coomer, Design at Valve: collaborating and innovating in a flat organization
http://www.designstaff.org/articles/design-valve-collaborating-innovating-flat-organization-2012-06-06.html
Martin Fowler, Using an Agile Software Process with Offshore Development
http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/agileOffshore.html
Zach Holman, How Github works: creativity is important
http://zachholman.com/posts/how-github-works-creativity/
Ryan Tomayko, Your team should work like an open source project
http://tomayko.com/writings/adopt-an-open-source-process-constraints
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