Innovation is often touted as the key to business success, but what does it entail beyond creating uniquely valuable products? The concept of innovation is frequently used broadly, and its precise definition is rarely explored in depth. Innovation alone does not guarantee success,[…]

The chief technology officer (CTO) is one of the least understood and most broad of all c-suite positions.  The role also varies quite a bit at different company stages.  What one company expects of its CTO may be entirely different from what the[…]

If I tell you that you can purchase a brand new iPhone for $5, what do you think?  Yet if I tell you that you can hire an outsourced developer for $10 / hour, somehow we set aside our dad’s advice that “nothing is[…]

One of the most important product management concepts is getting to market sooner rather than later with the Minimally Valuable Product (MVP) and iterating or pivoting as you gather feedback and learn, especially if you are building new, innovative products.  This is simply[…]

David Fisher once wrote “What often characterizes visionaries is their lack of vision. It’s a popular idea that people of genius see farther and clearer than other people, but perhaps the truth is actually the opposite. Visionaries often don’t notice the enormous and[…]

A few years ago, I asked an experienced, technically-savvy friend to look at the product that we were building and objectively let me know his thoughts.  He quickly pointed out that while he was initially impressed with the array of features and power,[…]

My twitter profile currently includes that I am “passionate about #BigData”.  Recently, someone spammed me with a direct message “What is the big whoop about #BigData”?  Typically, I dismiss DM spam but my brain kept whispering “This is a c-suite challenge”. Today, cutting[…]

With all the recent news on government data collection, information flow, etc… I’ve been thinking about the issues of business transparency.  All too often, when risks are the primary focus of management’s attention, I suspect that many executives feel that the best policy[…]

I’ve written a few posts about PCI security.  I get quite a few questions about the cost of building and managing a PCI environment.  In a nutshell, it is expensive.  Below, I’ll outline the expenses that I am familiar with as it relates[…]