Here comes the web (developer community)

http://www.appcelerator.com/products/titanium-mobile-application-development/

Can web application technologies produce Apps more effective than native iPhone and Android ones?

Are web skills still the most important ones for developing (togheter with a strong and “experience shifting” UI design sensibility)?

Consultants, not Inventors for hire

I have got a friend.

He is smart. And clever. And brainy. And visionary. And imaginative. And creative.

He had a great idea a couple of years ago. An idea worth thoundands euro. A complete gift to our client, who simply assigned him to program/project manage his idea, letting some others share the pie. Not even the crumbs for him.

But my friend, I told you, is smart. Too smart. He had another great idea.

This time he developed it, he prototyped it. He hasn’t slept for days, with the support of another colleague, working hard to prepare a workign demo. He presented it. Great success. So great that the client like it so much to commit his engineering team to develop it. So much to include screenshots of my friend’s demo in the product requirement doc.

Unfortunately, once again the big pie is going to be served to another table.

My friend? Nothing, nada, niet.

I told you, my friend is smart. So smart and clever that he improves everyday.

After this experience he is now also wiser.

So wise that now he learned ideas need protection. Sharing it, is giving it away for free. Can he blame someone? I don’t think so, market is unfair. People are unfair.

That’s the reason why non-disclosure agreements exist. That’s the reason why there are legal agreement rather than gentlemen agreement.

If you can look farther than others you must do it overall, not just on the engineering perspective. You need to visualize the future of your idea, and protect it till it grows, till it can walk alone carrying you on its shoulders, letting you free to think something else.

Being FREE to invent is great. Inventing for FREE is dumb.

Wholesale consulting

http://www.wholesaleappcommunity.com/

The larger the customer base you’re aiming to reach, the higher you should move the standard entry point, the interface between what “uses” the part below and what is provided to the part above.

Once you reached the right layer to standardize, you need to enlarge the participants.

The “open source” operators make up led simply to renaming these groups from committees to communities.

Alliances, bigger ones, yet another “biggerer” one.

When they name operating systems, they say “such as Symbian, Android, Windows etc”.

What is “etc”? If you are a developer, this means you should not care. OS and network should be a black box for you (or a transparent box).

But that’s the point. Is that a  black box or a transparent box? The openness point has moved here now.

If for developers it is not so important whether the box is black or transparent, for suppliers and consulting firms supporting operators in middleware implementation that is a key point.

If it is a matter of  ”apps”, we don’t really care too much. But for those apps formerly knows as (huge revenue) services…well guys…that’s quite interesting isn’t it.

Can operators be the “sellers” and some other be the whole resalers?

The BAU syndrome

I think the most rare attribute people in the world are running out of,  is initiative.

How often do you notice people in your team trying to invent, think something different, change the status quo.

The BAU (business as usual) syndrome is quite a strong disease. BAU it’s a good excuse for not having time for thinking of something else. No time for an internet search of what the rest of the world is doing in your business. But, as I said, it is just an excuse. No time is no interest.

In fact, most people see their life flowing anyway, with no need of taking any risk. That is way people fear reorganizations: any time the company chart is shaken as you can do with your iPod track list, they just tend to resettle. But the music the play is always the same. In the long term, they tend to think that innovation and ideas just live outside their company’s walls. They think these are things happening in supplier labs only.

Changes comes from the top, not from the bottom. CEO is not happy with services, or wants the same product the competitor just launched. That causes turbulence. Nothing else. In such a reactionary and conservative world, the role of a consultant is a key role. You can be the only guy able to “risk”. You can recommend something, you can experiment, you can propose changes. If  you are not allowed to do that, then start worrying as you probably are in a very risky position.

You’d better start worrying too in any occasion you find your company waiting for some else’s  chess move.

You’d better start worrying too if you realize you are sitting in front of a slideshow you did not contribute preparing.

More or less

Greater value at lower cost.

Industry is asking for this, we need to spend less but we pretend same or better services from you!

Outsourcing and consulting firms are obviously trying to answer.

Greater value at lower cost is a common slogan not only under recession.

Signs outside furniture shops, supermarket, dish soaps etc…

More for less.

If you ask my mother (almost 40 years spent dealing with “more at less” sellers), she will tell that’s a bullshit.

Industrial bullshit to customers.

Under recession, big players need to cut their cost. They are asking consulting firms to give “more at less”.

I have only seen three events leading a better product for a lower price:

- an overall technology upgrade revolution (but it was not immediate and took a looong time)

- a temporary promotion (which later lead to extra cost for the extra value)

- a process optimization

Process optimization is mid or more often long term and has a cost (for future huge savings).

I see no room here for greater value at lower cost.

Or better….

Greate value at lower cost is not something you buy, or you can pretend froma a supplier, or an outsourcer, or a contractor.

Is something up to them, something they should ask THEMSELVES.

Unfortunately, they prefer threatening to hire “high professional” Bangalore engineers, pretending they mean greater value at lower cost.

Come on guys, be serious..

Fast as saying “WiPhone”

http://wiphone.tiscali.it/servizi/

The phone as a service enabler. Your phone. The device you already have in your pocket. The handset someone else sold you (to make money with it).

You take it, you empower it with a client.

And you shift to another service usage, which turns, modifies upside down and inside out your service.

Ok ok ok …not that easy, wi-fi ….yes I know we are in Italy…yes of course you have to pay…I understand.

But for some users (with specific needs) it’s a sort of revolution and saving at no cost.