The dangers of noun-centricity
The topic emerged in a conversation with a family member — you know the one, “everything isn’t about money, there’s more to life, etc, etc.”
In this industry we occasionally adopt similar framings. I can remember a discussion with CA a few years ago, when the company decided everything was about management. Of course, many things have to be managed, but such absolute positions can only take things so far. Similarly, we could say everything was about governance, or about analytics, or integration, or customers, or cloud, and so on and so on.
Each is true to a point, but not to the detriment of everything else: it’s one of the reasons why I could be so confident back in the day, when I took a ‘hybrid’ stance against the emerging everything-to-the-cloud positioning so loved by companies that would benefit the most.
note the difference with the “it’s all about the data” stance I have taken in previous newsletters
Of course, for businesses, money is very important, and sometimes so is a singular focus, as per Steve Jobs with his unflinching design obsession. But by goodness, if you are to adopt a singular vision, be sure it’s the right one, be ready to change it as soon as it reaches its sell-by date, and above all, recognise it as a mechanism to set priorities, not as something with which to beat customers over the head.
With this in mind, here’s some articles.