Real IT problems, taken apart in plain language

• AI and dataNovember 12, 2026 · 5 min read

  AI didn't replace search. It replaced the click.

  People now take the AI answer and skip the website. Where those answers come from, whether to trust them, who pays, and what organizations should do.

• Continuous transformationJune 18, 2025 · 3 min read

  Buy technology that gets better after delivery

  Tesla and Apple ship products that improve after you own them. Volkswagen learned the cost of treating software as an afterthought. What buyers should ask.

• Service experienceJune 3, 2025 · 3 min read

  Security nobody can use is not secure

  The man who wrote the password rules came to regret them. Why security has to be designed around how people behave, and how to build that into development.

• AI and dataJune 3, 2025 · 3 min read

  Why voice-first computing keeps arriving and leaving

  The AI Pin was supposed to replace the smartphone and lasted under a year. What keeps stopping voice-first devices, and three questions to ask about the next one.

• People and leadershipMay 15, 2025 · 3 min read

  Resistance is a compass

  The voice telling you today is not the day gets loudest when the work matters most. How to read it as a direction, and how leaders can use it.

• Service experienceMay 12, 2025 · 2 min read

  Want better tech projects? Start with the experience, not the stack.

  Steve Jobs answered a heckler with a lesson most projects still ignore: begin with the customer experience and work backward to the technology.

• Continuous transformationMay 8, 2025 · 3 min read

  Technical debt is dead. Welcome to the era of disposable software.

  When replacing an app is cheaper than maintaining it, the old rules change. How to use disposable software as a strategy, and the Eiffel Tower problem to avoid.

• Automation and platformsMay 1, 2025 · 3 min read

  Email is not a workflow

  Email was built to send a note, and we made it the operating system of the office. Which jobs to move out of the inbox, and how to start with one.

• AI and dataApril 28, 2025 · 3 min read

  Will AI replace search? Only if it learns to show its sources

  A lawyer trusted six court cases an AI invented. What that says about AI answers, why citations matter, and three rules to use until the tools catch up.

• AI and dataApril 25, 2025 · 2 min read

  You can't skip straight to the AI party

  Amazon built a hiring AI that learned the wrong lesson from its own data. Why data science comes first, and four questions to ask before you buy.

• Service experienceApril 23, 2025 · 2 min read

  SLAs are important. They're not enough anymore.

  Service level agreements tell you the engine is running. Experience level agreements tell you whether the ride was worth it. How to add them, and where to start.

• People and leadershipApril 17, 2025 · 3 min read

  4 mistakes I made in my IT career

  Thirty years in, the lessons that mattered most had nothing to do with technology: keep learning, build a network, step up, and speak for your own work.

• Continuous transformationApril 15, 2025 · 3 min read

  The twelve-year overnight success

  Microsoft lost $900 million on its first ARM tablet, then kept trying until it worked. How to tell an idea that is early from one that is wrong.

• Continuous transformationApril 14, 2025 · 2 min read

  I failed today, and I'm weirdly happy about it

  NASA lost two Mars spacecraft in 1999, then built a rover that outlived its mission by fifteen years. Why failure is the on-ramp to something better.

• Continuous transformationApril 7, 2025 · 3 min read

  How to modernize IT without blowing the budget

  Even Facebook gave up on "move fast and break things." Why steady, incremental change beats the big bang overhaul on both speed and cost.

• Service experienceApril 5, 2025 · 4 min read

  Will AI replace the IT service desk?

  ATMs were supposed to end the bank teller. They didn't. Here is what that says about AI and your support team, and where to start.

• People and leadershipApril 1, 2025 · 3 min read

  Presence is not productivity: making office time count

  Attendance is easy to see and tells you little. How to measure the work, make the commute worth it, and keep your best people, whatever your office policy.

• Service experienceMarch 30, 2025 · 3 min read

  How to measure customer experience in IT services

  A green dashboard can hide unhappy customers. Four measures that show what people went through, and how to act on them.

• Automation and platformsMarch 28, 2025 · 4 min read

  Stop running your own power plant: how SaaS cuts IT costs

  Factories once generated their own electricity. Many IT shops still do the equivalent. Where platforms save money, and four ways the bill gets away from you.

• AI and dataMarch 26, 2025 · 3 min read

  Is your AI tool safe with your data? What to check first

  What the DeepSeek episode revealed about every AI tool your people use, and five questions to ask before the next one arrives.

• AI and dataJanuary 26, 2024 · 3 min read

  Rules don't scale. Data does.

  Tesla threw away 300,000 lines of driving rules and taught its cars by example. What that means for every rulebook your organization maintains.

• Continuous transformationMarch 24, 2023 · 3 min read

  Nobody is hiring for the steno pool

  Every wave of technology removes a bottleneck and moves the valuable work up a level. What AI leaves for people, and why learning never finishes.

• Continuous transformationFebruary 2023 · 3 min read

  Is culture a better file format than digital?

  A 900-year-old book outlasted its digital sequel, and Vivaldi still fills concert halls. What endures when systems keep changing, and what that means at work.

• Continuous transformationApril 2022 · 3 min read

  Digital transformation in progress? Shift to continuous transformation.

  You are almost done with your transformation program. Now imagine it never ends. Why that is good news, and how to make the shift.

• People and leadershipJune 16, 2017 · 3 min read

  Day 1 matters: does your new hire feel at home?

  The laptop is ready and the paperwork is done. That is not a welcome. Seven simple ways to make a first day count.

• People and leadershipJanuary 12, 2017 · 4 min read

  Should you rotate your managers? A lesson from GE

  GE moved its future leaders through every division. What that practice offers IT organizations, where it can go wrong, and how to measure it.

• People and leadershipMay 5, 2016 · 4 min read

  Don't train your staff. Coach them.

  Training budgets keep walking out the door with newly certified employees. Coaching builds real expertise, and gives people a reason to stay.

• People and leadershipFebruary 12, 2016 · 4 min read

  Pain is good: why discomfort drives growth

  We avoid discomfort by habit. Seeking it out on purpose, and coaching your team to do the same, is the fastest way to grow.

• People and leadershipJanuary 27, 2016 · 4 min read

  Lead with the goal: plan your project in reverse

  Most projects fail because nobody pinned down the goal. Define it, schedule backward from the end date, tell everyone, and don't let up.

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