In the private sector, e-procurement has been on the table well before the Internet became accessible.
I will focus only on ICT procurement: from computers to consulting, to any associated services and infrastructure.
A full month? November, 2009
Public procurement 2.0
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009
What’s coming next :)
Sunday, November 15th, 2009As I wrote few days ago, I prepared few short articles.
I will alternate between technical and non-technical abstracts.
Each article comes from a simple consideration: for all the talking about “continuous improvement”, few organizations consider what is needed to seed innovation and self-sustaining improvement.
If you visit the CMMI website, beside books, whitepapers, and reports on technology, [...]
Pattern-based visual decision making
Friday, November 13th, 2009I think that Edison said: innovation is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
As over the next two years it is currently planned that I will not have time to do my usual consulting activities, beside for some activity online, mainly pro bono, I started over the last few weeks to share some material that I had planned to use in my services or with my partners.
This short preamble will be in each article.
If you manage to turn something to a practical use- good luck: you will have to do the 99% missing!
And now, we can move to today’s article.
XXI century managers who started using mobiles over the last few years, and are now just kids, will probably better equipped to interact with a visual approach.
What would you like to read about?
Friday, November 13th, 2009Well, this short post is really for my current subscribers and twitter followers (on @robertolofaro and @aleph123, or people linked to my business/pro-bono facebook profile.
The Future of IT – 04/04 Itinerary
Friday, November 13th, 2009Few weeks ago, when I published the article “The Future of IT”, I was planning to write something about technology.
But, as most bookworms turned practitioners, I know that a white page is tempting.
Most writings about the future are actually the typical side-effect of an attempt to find order within chaos- notably when it is an unknown chaos that you are trying to describe.
This article is published in four parts (no more than 1000 words each).
Of course, I tried to keep it readable- no more than 150 to 250 words per section.
This is the fourth article: itinerary.
You have read about my target future and the present. How do we move from the present to the future? It depends from where you are now. Therefore, I will outline an example, i.e. monitoring online positioning, that could inspire other applications.
from cacao pods to cocoa nibs – and beyond
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Not too long ago, I wrote that I would have posted online my real-time mind-maps: or, my outline of any conference that I attended.
Well, I discovered yesterday that today is an holiday in Belgium.
And yesterday evening I attended a conference on the science of chocolate.
First and foremost- thanks to the RSC for organizing it, the BSB for being the guest, UGent Cocoalab for the presentation and… Molitor for the dégustation (and also the providers of the “liquid” side of the dégustation)
This article is not a mindmap- but, as I share a passion for chocolate with many of my online friends, I had promised before and after to post a short article.
The Future of IT – 03/04 Starting
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009Few weeks ago, when I published the article “The Future of IT”, I was planning to write something about technology.
But, as most bookworms turned practitioners, I know that a white page is tempting.
Most writings about the future are actually the typical side-effect of an attempt to find order within chaos- notably when it is an unknown chaos that you are trying to describe.
This article is published in four parts (no more than 1000 words each).
Of course, I tried to keep it readable- no more than 150 to 250 words per section.
This is the third article: starting.
IT systems are obviously not a one-size-fits-all. The current trend is toward standardization, and this chapter will summarize some current trends and issues. The common thread? Tailoring the response to the needs (and budgets), while allowing future expansion.
The Future of IT – 02/04 Destination
Monday, November 9th, 2009Few weeks ago, when I published the article “The Future of IT”, I was planning to write something about technology.
But, as most bookworms turned practitioners, I know that a white page is tempting.
Most writings about the future are actually the typical side-effect of an attempt to find order within chaos- notably when it is an unknown chaos that you are trying to describe.
This article is published in four parts (no more than 1000 words each).
Of course, I tried to keep it readable- no more than 150 to 250 words per section.
This is the second article: destination.
My approach to change is: ask what the customers aim to achieve, understand where they are, assess the resources available, propose an itinerary, and, if needed (e.g. due to lack of resources), identify a realistic alternative target.
The Future of IT – 01/04 Introduction
Thursday, November 5th, 2009Few weeks ago, when I published the article “The Future of IT”, I was planning to write something about technology.
But, as most bookworms turned practitioners, I know that a white page is tempting.
Most writings about the future are actually the typical side-effect of an attempt to find order within chaos- moreover, when it is an unknown chaos that you are trying to describe.
This article is published in four parts (no more than 1000 words each).
Of course, I tried to keep it readable- no more than 150 to 250 words per section.
This is the first, introductory article.
I will start with the concept of forecasting, then the logic of building forecasting models, to finally land on the key issues: the experience I used to develop the forecasting framework, and the conceptual model.
Fair weather friendship
Monday, November 23rd, 2009If you read newspapers from around Europe over the last few days, you found an almost unanimous “thumbs down” on the choices for first European President and the first Foreign Affairs Secretary (it will be clear later why I use “alternative” job titles).
It is quite funny: the consensus bridges the Euro-sceptics and the Euro-nationalists.
Personally, I believe that the Euro-sceptics do not realize that the train already left the station, and now the issue is only how fast and where it will go.
As for the Euro-nationalists: do you really believe that it is possible in the XXI century to rebuild a Charlemagne-style empire?
Tags: affairs, eu, fair, foreign, friendship, president, weather
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