Enterprise Digital - the podcast

This week’s guest is the irrepressible Ollie O’Donoghue, lead analyst at Cognizant, and we are once again chewing the fat on the future (if there is one..) of the workplace, work and of course, workers. The impact of Ai and automation is being assessed at many levels and some of Ollie’s recent research looks at the effect this will have on entry level and also expert level jobs. Does Ai remove the need for some levels of work and also the time that is required to develop skills and knowledge? There are no clear answers to this but many mind-blowing connotations, and Ollie, Ian and Barclay all take some different positions on how this might play out… With @ian aitchison @Barclay Rae Give us a follow and let us know your thoughts

Randy Silver, a seasoned Product Management expert originally from the US and now based in the UK, dives into the nuances of product versus project management. He explains how product management is a continuous lifecycle, emphasizing the importance of direction and communication in decision-making. Discussion also touches on the distinct roles of pioneers, settlers, and town planners in product strategies. Plus, there’s a fun debate on whether sharks enjoy jazz music, linking back to effective team dynamics and personality types.

This podcast is about leadership and management - how we can improve the quality of leadership, via the ability to unlearn and relearn. Our guest Karren Ferris joins us again on the podcast to discuss the 'Remarkable' qualities required. The challenge is avoiding the temptation to go back to pre-2020 management and really move forward as leaders. This can be scary and takes humility and courage to open up to, plus a balanced view of new monitoring technology and workplace models. ‘People get promoted to managers in their 20s/30s but don’t get management training until their 40s..’! Management by mushrooms is also mentioned... (you have to listen to find out..) 

This episode is a great conversation with Daniel Breston, on the occasion of his final curtain call in the ITSM industry. We discuss his career, achievements, challenges and areas of interest, including ongoing focus on Mental Health and Women in ITSM, to name a few. Mostly we have a good chat about Dan the man and his place in the universe, and the IT industry, and his favourite tipple, and more…..

This week we look at how we are improving and making Knowledge and knowledge management work. Some of the challenges in the past have been with how can use tech to support this and tech has significantly helped us to improve and make e.g. KCS and Shift Left work for us. We discuss a number of related topics like ESM and problem management, as well as how we can be successful in re-using knowledge. There’s also some stuff about lab grown pet food and philosophers writing SLAs but that’s  a bit silly.

Ian Aitchison’s great grandmother used to say ‘never push code to production on a Friday’ – and yes we all know what has happened. Ian and Barclay discuss the fallout in terms of people, lives, businesses, oh and who will pay. What should we learn? What can we do as people and organisations, if or when this inevitably happens again? What does this all say about our current high dependency on tech? We know it will happen again and we know we should do better… So this is not over.    We’d also love to hear your stories and reactions – come on and join us on the podcast. Enterprisedigitalpodcast@gmail.com

This discussion includes robot faces made from human skin, robot Hari Kari, and a mini rant about shiny new things and why we shouldn’t throw away good stuff… But its mostly about some of the new areas around DEX/XM - some practical and strategic discussion around experience management – new tools and ways of working. We also talk DEX teams and XLAs and how we need to ensure that we capture and recognise improvements and benefits that are made with AI and other developments – before they become accepted as normal. It’s also important that we still are able to engage with  real business people and get their feedback. New ways of working must be set in context and used with proportionality.

Is #ITSM still dead..?! The latest episode features ex analyst and #ITSM guru extraordinaire KENGON Ken Gonzalez, who started the whole ITSM and Death thing with @Charlles Araujo a few weeks ago. We discuss some of the features around how #ITSM# is perceived and used, as well as misappropriated, and why, in Kens view, this is an ex framework. We also discuss the value of assessments and how we should look forward. Somehow we also relate this to the mutation of a caterpillar to a butterfly, but perhaps drink had been taken by this point.

This week Ian and Barclay discuss how we can or should get the best value and ROI out of our tools – avoiding shelfware. Do we just expect to buy software off the shelf and expect it to work in an enterprise organisation… OR should vendors be more specific and strong to provide good implementation advice. Do we see the distinction between functionality (processes ) and data..? We don’t need to re-wite these, but we do need to think about the data and outputs. If you are curious about the rabbit, then you’ll need to listen to the podcast. (no bots were harmed during this recording..)

This episode picks up on the debate that was started at the recent HDI conference between Charlie Araujo and Ken Gonzales. This looked at the existential proposition about the future and existence of the ‘ITSM’ industry…!? Are we just talking about words and definitions? The various Industry elements of ITSM are gradually disappearing – does this even matter? We agree that the functions and needs for core elements of Service Management will not disappear, but is there really a coherent industry? Charlie Araujo is an industry analyst, writer, podcaster and commentator, and author of The Quantum Age of IT. This is a brilliant must-hear conversation..!