John W Lewis

Category: technology

  • Gordon Edge, remembering a great innovator and leader

    It was with great sadness that I learned of the recent death of Gordon Edge. These are some of my memories of a great technology innovator and business leader. For a period of almost three years, during the 1980s, I was privileged to work at PA Technology, near Cambridge. This was a great place to…

  • Tesla in Texas: two innovations interacting?

    Selling innovative products If you are selling something, then you want people to buy it, but how? The challenge is greater if your product is more innovative. But maybe other innovations can come to the rescue. Resistance from existing distributors For Tesla, the electric car manufacturer which is shaking up the motor industry, Texas is…

  • Mobile network vs landlines for internet access

    Reply to Twitter messages This is a reply to messages from @TobyParkins between 0813 and 0815UTC on 14 March 2013. (This is also a communications experiment which I can perhaps try to explain elsewhere. Suffice to say, for now, that this is like a slightly longer Twitter message.) The conversation so far is below.

  • Any riots in the clouds?

    Earlier this week, I overheard an interesting and unusual support call being handled at a company which provides business systems. On the face of it, you might enjoy this topical little story, but it might also get you thinking, as it did me, about some rather more substantial issues. This customer was calling because he…

  • Social++

    The Google+ service is potentially interesting, but is it just Wave all over again? As I begin to use it, it feels like facebook, which is quite limited. And it’s nowhere near as useful as Twitter.

  • Organising for innovation

    Aspects and characteristics It is unlikely that anyone doubts that the ability of an organisation to innovate is strongly dependent on the nature of that organisation. Its nature can be described by various characteristics (including cultural, behavioural and structural characteristics) and by several aspects (including the static and dynamic aspects) of those characteristics. 

  • Standards: who’d have them?

    Whether to standardise? “If only there were a standard!” How often have we heard this lament about the need for consistency and the benefits of uniformity? Standards free us from decisions and incompatibilities, and are extremely useful in many situations. On the other hand, there is the sceptical approach: “The great thing about standards is…

  • It’s not about the technology! Or is it?

    New experiences, behaviours and techniques come along from time to time. As children, at school, there was always the latest “craze” whether it was for conkers or marbles or assegais (remember those?). As adults, at work and at play, we call them innovations, whether they are new materials, techniques, goods, services, fashions or whole new…