Making IT Happen

It is easy to think that the private sector makes the running on internet innovation, but many public sector and not for profit organisations have achieved some very impressive results. One example is the Philhatrmonia Orchestra, where Richard Slaney and his team produce a stream of innovative and exciting ideas. Some examples include:
1 - PLAY.orchestra - which set out in public places a series of white cubes representing their entire orchestra. When someone sat on a cube that 'instrument' would start playing - so if all the cubes were occupied you got the whole orchestra.
2 - Sound Samples which is a library of every note that can be played by every instrument - there are tens of thousands, and you can join these together to compose your own piece.
3 - Groove Search - in which people could send in brief compositions via their web site, with the orchestra recording the best 20.

On reflection, I think organisations like this are well placed to think creatively about how the internet can help them achieve their goals. Any private sector organisation would be proud of this kind of excellence and innovation.

I was on my way to meet with one of my most important software partners today when a question occurred to me. Am I a smart customer? So I asked them that if they were one of their customers for day, what would they do differently (other than just placing a massive order with themselves, of course.)? Their response:

Before doing a deal
1. share the big picture - issues and opportunities - don't just focus on 'ticking the box' for a particular problem
2. do keep some distance to get the right deal

After the deal
1. Plan ahead
2. Put more effort in up front - it's a lot easier to get things right at this stage than later on
3. 'Trust us'. My summary of what they said is that your issues and opportunities might seem unique to you but if that means you are all over your supplier you might be crowding them out. They are probably smart people who want to do a good job - let them get on with it. It will be pretty obvious if they are just trying to flog you something you don't need.

I asked them which of their customers got most value out of them (excluding us), and they came up with a couple of examples - one in the UK and one in the middle east. They felt that both of these got the most bang for their buck by being smart customers. It made me think that most software comapnies must have a view on which are their smart customers that get good value, and which are their dumb ones that get fleeced. Here's hoping I'm not in the second category with anyone.

Sometimes it seems that success is the elephant in the room of the IT industry.
An IT director once told me that the IT industry should take collective responsibility for some of the “high-profile IT project failures”. He went on to say that these failures have forever tainted CEOs against IT.

I beg to differ. I don’t think my CEO really cares about someone else’s projects, as long as we deliver his. And, while I am happy to keep the sackcloth and ashes on hand for my own foul-ups, should I really be expected to wear them for someone else’s?

Mind you, if I should, then I should also be able to wear the finery of the IT industry’s successes. So here’s my list of the seven wonders of the IT world. (And, forgive me, although I am sure Eniac was wonderful, I have focused on the past 10 years.)

See extended entry!

...but the moment of their destruction can be strangely beautiful. I found this through Tom Coates award winning blog plasticbag.org. Like him, I like the hummingbirds.

I found the link to the blog mentioned in my previous post through the 2007 Bloggies Awards - this is the webbies for blogs, if you follow (if you don't, the webbies are the oscars for websites). You will find some amazing blogs.

My favourite is Post Secret, a simple and elegant idea. It won best overall blog this year. I hesitate to link to it here as it occasionally has adult themes (in context, never gratuitous), so you'll have to find it yourself. The 'posts' are funnier, more honest and more moving that anything else you'll find on the internet.