Serendipity

The Anatomy of Buzz

This week at Talis, we unveiled a research project that I and others have been mulling over for 18 months, called Project Silkworm. Today we were top ranked on Technorati for the term Silkworm and have started the process described in detail in the Anatomy of Buzz. The team did a great job and when we showed our AJAX examples using our Web 2.0 based platform, the smiles and knowing recognition was palpable in our small audience. Our CTO did a great job documenting our intentions here, and we got some nice blog coverage here. Lots to do of course, but it is rewarding to see the efforts of many months hard work come to fruition. A day later I got levelled and 'hauled over the coals' by a longstanding customer (and rightly so) for not executing on the basics of customer management and communication. It is tough to stretch out when you can't yet rely on the business basics being in place. A lesson learned.

Some refreshment from SAS

It is so refreshing sometimes to get back to some basics and remember that it is usually those 'boring' things that make companies successful. Things like - 'reward people in cash', 'pay for things with cash', 'always ensure your revenue grows fater than your costs', and 'we like to make real money'. Best one for me is in answer to a question to define your so-called secret sauce ... 'just find a way to make your employees happy and creative'. Well, listen to the CEO of the world's largest privately held software business do it his way - with M+Ms too.

World Wide Web = 10

I had an interesting day last week at W3C10 - the 10th anniversary celebrations of the formation of the W3C. Of course being held in Sophia Antipolis near Cannes in France helps with the journey - but anyway - along with the backslapping French and EU governmental notables, Tim Berners-Lee gave a good presentation about the challenges facing commercial entities as we grapple with the notion of open standards. It was ironic that this followed an equally good overview about Vodafone and their 'walled garden' that is Vodafone Live. Nevertheless a good day was had and jeez, if Tim Berners-Lee thinks and understands as fast as he talks, then we are in for another incredible 10 years.