Enterprise Digital - the podcast

No, not Tom your workmate or friend, but TOM - Target Operating Model.  After all the ‘excitement’ of the 100th episode, Barclay and Ian settle down for some typically practical conversation, peppered with tales of eels – mating and being used as currency – ‘eelcoin’ perhaps… There is some good discussion on the need to define, visualise and project clear simple images of plans and ways of working, and this brings TOM into the conversation. Listen in for some initial insights on this, as well as eels...   As a reference the Andrew Campbell publication on operating model canvass is an excellent resource. Operating Model Canvas by Andrew Campbell | Goodreads

After many attempts to call previous fake episodes the 100th, we are pleased to release the latest version – the real 100th, No really it is. This is a special episode with a few guests and familiar faces – Roy Atkinson, Karen Brusch, Ollie O’Donoghue Daniel Breston, @James Finister.   Together we talk a lot about trivia, mice with virtual headsets, and the future of ITSM. Actually, we talk a lot. That’s it really, although we do cover #people, #culture, #AI, #Fundamentals, #data, #leadership and some more #AI. It’s a mix of shiny stuff , some silly stuff and lots of good practical stuff…   As we talk a lot this episode does last for 13 hours, but who needs sleep anyway..?  

We are still nonagenarians, soon to be centurions..! On this one we discuss recent events – itSMF UK, HDI, Gartner, Nexthink…balance and convergence are keywords as well as AI, DX and Cloud as the big things for 25, and also some reality around the use of AI.  Then we played buzzword bingo – please don’t mention P*thways… and how we are going onto Blue Sky, which we like because its like the early days of Tw/X… Positive podcasting people…   Next episode will be our 100th episode – we would love to hear any of your comments, reflections, inputs. Contact us at BlueSky, or via LinkedIn

This week’s podcast is a short discussion between Barclay Rae and Ian Aitchison (who we learn is officially an ‘inventor’ – with a patent..!!). The topic is on Improvement, and the constant stiving for constant betterment and higher levels of quality. Do we always need to do this? Why can’t some businesses and customers just be satisfied with what they have got and say that they are happy with? Are we too obsessed as an industry with always needing to upgrade our tech? Listen on for the wisdom of 160 Million years (yes tadpoles – OK it’s a tenuous link..)

In this episode Barclay Rae and Ian Aitchison explore some current themes around truth – how do we know what is real and correct as opposed to fake and plain wrong, or even just bad..? This is a universal topic at present around social media, and political discourse, however we explore some elements of how our industry deal with these issues. In particular we discuss the way that we communicate ideas and standards, frameworks etc – do we make this accessible and clear enough or can we end up being usurped by marketing content? As we move away from just talking amongst ourselves in IT this becomes a priority… This is a must listen (and short) session.

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.