Jan Bosch
There’s an interesting development going on in the embedded-systems industry. Initially, data was only used for internal purposes and quality assurance. Customers would send log files to product companies who would analyze them to figure out why the product wasn’t operating as it should and what to do about it. Over time, the periodic data … Read more
One realization that I had recently (only to show that I’m not too bright) is how much energy we all spend on controlling our environment and trying to keep everything the same. The trigger was a car trip from Gothenburg to Stockholm during one of the warmest days in Sweden this summer. Unfortunately, the air … Read more
During the last year, I’ve been in several discussions that, to a large extent, boiled down to “why is this product so stupid?”. The stupidity was defined by the lack of the system to anticipate user actions, the inability to learn to function better in a specific context or the total reliance on the user … Read more
The common theme over the last weeks, as I started to talk to more and more folks in companies, is the difficulty of realizing digital transformations. Granted, I work with many who are expected or having taken it on themselves to drive the digital transformation of their organization, but I believe the challenge is widespread. … Read more
During a meeting this week, I had to think of a famous quote by Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” The two senior leaders to whom I was talking complained about their R&D organization doing everything right … Read more
This week, I met with some companies in the embedded systems space that are looking to start A/B experimentation in their products. These products have safety-critical functions and subsystems and of course, it’s difficult to even imagine A/B tests that aren’t, in some way, touching safety-critical functionality. The proponents of experimentation at these companies outlined … Read more
Some decades after the term “Agile” was introduced in software development, one would expect that – assuming it was a good idea (which it is) – the concept should have been fully embedded in industry and we’re busy with other things. Still, and this never fails to surprise me, everyone is talking about “beyond Agile.” … Read more
During the summer, I reflected on the main differences between software engineering in the 1990s, when I became a professor, and today. The best way to describe what I feel is the key difference is perhaps through an analogy. In the 90s and early 2000s, software engineering was akin to designing and building a jet … Read more
During my vacation, one of the questions I spent time thinking about is why companies function as they do. And why companies that are digitally born operate and “feel” different from traditional ones. Why companies that were different from the beginning tend to fall back into traditional patterns and become like traditional ones. I realized … Read more
This article is the last of four where I explore different dimensions of digital transformation. Earlier, I discussed business models, product upgrades and data exploitation. The fourth dimension is concerned with artificial intelligence. Similar to the other dimensions, our research showed that there’s a clear evolution path that companies go through as they transition from … Read more
