Ray Macsweeney's Blog (17)

Where Innovation Creates Value

“It is easy to impede [economic] growth by excessive research, by having too high a percentage of scientific manpower engaged in adding to the stock of knowledge and too small a percentage engaged in using it. This is the position in Britain today.” (Charles Carter and Bruce… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on July 3, 2009 at 10:32am — No Comments

Is Apple the new Volvo?

"In some instances, companies are still just skimming the cream off of the early adopters and migrating into the masses." (Stephen Baker) Volvo's success in the car market, prior to its purchase by Ford, was based on a skimming strategy: * Build a clear ownership of… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on June 24, 2009 at 4:00pm — 2 Comments

The Faded Memories on our Walls

"Keep the camera whirring; for this is a film you'll run over and over again—Madge Going to Bed on My Last Night At Home . . . That's all you have now—just the memory; and even now, even so soon, it's being distilled of all its coarseness; and what's left is going to be preci… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on April 28, 2009 at 10:30am — No Comments

Measuring the Contribution of Collaboration Technologies IV - Worked Example

"Example is more efficacious than precept" (Samuel Johnson) This is a quick "worked example" I've pulled together to show how the components of this theory can be pulled together to pick a strategic approach for using Web 2.0 tools within an organisation. For a quick refresh… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on April 27, 2009 at 2:34pm — 2 Comments

Measuring the Contribution of Collaboration Technologies III - The Outside World

"Thank you for not discussing the outside world" (The Simpsons - sign outside the Springfield Retirement Community) No decision making framework would be complete without considering the outside world. There are four groups to conside… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on April 23, 2009 at 7:06am — No Comments

Digital Bicycle Media - This is how we roll in Edinburgh

For those of you who haven't picked up on this video on Twitter or elsewhere - parkour on a bike in Edinburgh. Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on April 22, 2009 at 9:30am — 2 Comments

Measuring the contribution of collaboration technologies Part II - Objectives, Organisationals and Outcomes

“The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction, and malperformance” (Peter F Drucker) Collaboration technologies are a bit like Lego.

… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on April 2, 2009 at 1:31pm — 2 Comments

Measuring the contribution of collaboration technologies

'Count what is countable, measure what is measurable. What is not measurable, make measurable' (attributed to Gallileo) I've recently been struggling with ways to measure the contribution of social media and other collaboration technologies for existing businesses… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on March 25, 2009 at 10:46am — 3 Comments

Aviva - rebranding without New Media

I've just read a piece on FT.com about the Aviva re branding campaign. I have to admit right now, I'm not a fan of it. Here's why: 1. It doesn't fit with consumer trends Th… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on March 17, 2009 at 11:31am — No Comments

On Great Software

My background (a rather perverse mix of chemical engineering and psychology, with some project management thrown in) has meant that I've only ever programmed a computer twice. The first time was as part of my undergraduate dissertation (mathematical models of gas phase distibutions). It was in Fortran, it was full of numbers and it was fun. The second occasion was as part of a late night, last minute change to pricing routines as part of a SAP implementation in Sweden. It wasn't as interesting a… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on March 3, 2009 at 3:27pm — No Comments

Contribution Currency in Web 2.0 - How much have you earned?

Hat tip to Puru Gupta for this... A great post by Vanessa on Social Media - a 101 on Web 2.0 actually. Going on the concept of "contribution currency" on the Web. She has given a simplistic, yet beautiful difference between Web 1.0 thinking and Web 2.0 thinking - "give instead of take" - worth a read for su… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on March 3, 2009 at 4:00am — No Comments

When Outsourcing Goes Bad

In one way or another I’ve been working in the outsourcing space for over ten years – both as a client and as provider. Here are my 7 horror stories on outsourcing, what I did to correct the situation and how we moved forward afterwards. Nothing that happened here in any of these stories has made me feel that outsourcing is a bad idea. They were painful lessons to learn, but it’s phenomenon that’s here to stay. So, learn from my mistakes and try not to repeat them! Failure to select the righ… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on March 2, 2009 at 7:36am — No Comments

Outsourcing effectively

I got a call last night from an old mate of mine. His company is engaging on a pretty major outsourcing project, and wanted to pick my brains. It got me thinking about some of the important things to keep in mind when you outsource. Five Reasons People Give For Not Outsourcing. It costs more in the long run This is patently, fundamentally and factually untrue. If you manage an outsourcing agreement correctly it can significantly cut development costs (by up to 90%) and improve th… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on March 2, 2009 at 7:33am — 1 Comment

Be careful what you wish for

We often hear our politicians talking about creating a more "entrepreneurial society" in Scotland, and indeed across the UK. However, is that something they really want to do? The idea of a society filled with entrepreneurs fills me with dread... Entrepreneurship is about waves o… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on February 26, 2009 at 5:03pm — No Comments

What's that Mr Brown, Mr Obama, Mr Sarkosy. You want to put it all on green?

I'm just wondering if writing economic development papers is really a very simple process. 1. Watch bubble burst 2. Open word document "We need to grow our internet industry" 3. Find "internet" 4. Replace with "housing" 5. Save 6. Watch bubble grow 7. Watch bubble burst 8. Open… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on February 26, 2009 at 4:11pm — No Comments

The comptetitive dynamics of mobile networks

I'm writing this from Sri Lanka, where I'm fortunate enough to be sitting down and watching the sun set over the Indian Ocean, whilst supping on some ice coffee. Anyway, those of you in the know will be aware that Sri Lanka has recently been the scene of a major war. I'm not talking about the civil war here, but rather a competitive war for dominance in the mobile telecommunication space. It’s best to start with some background. At the end of last year, Sri Lanka had four different mobile netwo… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on February 24, 2009 at 2:30pm — 3 Comments

About state, structural and environmental support for start-ups, and why I think that makes 4IP interesting.

For one reason or another, I’ve spent most of the last week thinking about how innovation and entrepreneurship is promoted within an economy. In doing so, I’ve stumbled upon large amounts of documentation on “creating an innovation economy” and other such documents – primarily in the UK and Scotland. I've tried to pull together my thoughts on this subject in a coherent fashion to try and get at what I think could improve in how we as a society try and build and encourage our entrepreneurial vent… Continue

Added by Ray Macsweeney on February 24, 2009 at 7:27am — 5 Comments

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