Strategy vs Utility

Martin Fowler, one of the most influential people in the IT area, voiced once again an interesting opinion. You can read the full article here: http://martinfowler.com/bliki/UtilityVsStrategicDichotomy.html

In short, he says that you should be aware whether an IT project is just a utility or an strategic differentiator. The part that made me write this was his opinion on utility software. He phrases it like this:

My view is that for a utility function you buy the package and adjust your business process to match the software.

I haven't heard it that radical. But after some thinking, I agree. I guess in many cases it is easier and cheaper to make changes to your processes than to develop the perfect software for your current process. I would even expect that utility software is designed to support best practise. You might implement best practise in an non-strategic area just by adjusting your processes around standard software. 

Moving On!

Yesterday, I left once again Oxford. Four years of time spend in Oxford are finally history. No further visits planned.

I took my chance of this last weekend and had once again a close look. It is such a lovely town. A great place to live. My life took some great turns there... Thank you Oxford! And of course a big "thank you" to all the great people I met there. I learned so much from you.

Oxford is one of these amazing places where people are coming together. So many people are coming for a few months or years. They are eager to meet other people. They come with so different backgrounds and ideas. Some stay and add to the mixture. Others lived in Oxford all their lucky life.

I also enjoyed the rich cultural program. I personally loved the Catweazle Club (http://catweazleclub.org/) best. It has now even spin-offs in NY, London and Brighton! Do I need to say more?

So, it is time to let go. Take what was best, learn from the not-so-good and relax. It is not so much about where you live, it is about how well you know yourself. As long as you know yourself, you will be happy. But it helps when you like where you live: Copenhagen, here I am! :-)

Updated webpage!

I updated my webpage to reflect my current situation better. Have a look: www.kneupner.de

Creativity Methods

While my MBA we discussed the relationship between innovation and change in the context of our module "Organisational Innovation and Change". The module discussed concepts like paradigms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradigm) and the difference between difficulties and messes (see TROPICS Test from McCalman and Paton (2000): Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation).

One element that kept stuck with me is that change does happen anyway and you should embrace it to your advantage. In case you are interested in creativity techniques have a look at this page: http://www.mycoted.com/Category:Creativity_Techniques

I got the link today from Christine. Thanks a lot!

New Mindmap: Project Startup

I found an interesting article in a magazine about the approach a freelancer takes whenever she enters a new project. I liked the questionnaire, which I didn't want to forget.

New Mindmap on Crucial Conversations

Just uploaded my mindmap of "Crucial Conversations". I wish I would have read the book years ago. It is one of these books that connects so many things together that you already know. Hardly anything of it is new. And still it is the first time these "no-brainers" are collected and put into context. And suddenly it all makes sense. Give it a try!

Project Management Mindmap

I use MindMaps to structure my thoughts on a regular base. Sometimes I use them to summarise books I like. I decided that I will share a few of these. Please keep in mind that I usually don’t intend to map the full book, but only what I think is really helpful. Use them on your own risk.

I will start with a small mind map on project management. It is my understanding of a small book from the "Pocketbook" series (Management Pocketbook Ltd.). I really liked the book because it connected of so many useful models.

The mind map in PNG and PDF format can be found on my homepage www.kneupner.de