The Cloud
Cloud storage, putting it in the cloud, cloud data; these and similar expressions are entering business language. The Cloud is being touted as a solution to all hosting, data management and...
View ArticleThe Streisand Effect
Nothing to do with singing, everything to do with pointless and futile attempts at hiding or censoring information results in a surge of unexpected (and unwanted) attention. The name came about when...
View ArticleCritical Mass
Wikipedia defines critical mass as the point when; a sufficient number of adopters of an innovation in a social system so that the rate of adoption becomes self-sustaining and creates further growth....
View ArticleTurnkey Solutions
A colleague came to me a while back really excited about a potential new supplier. The social solution they offered was perfect, fantastic, value for money and a turnkey solution. “Just think, we could...
View ArticleBig Data
Big Data is often touted as a solution to all our problems, a panacea for all ills often by people who struggle to define it. So what is big data and what kind of problems has it solved? Big data...
View ArticleGamification
Gamification takes the concept of rewards in games and applies it elsewhere, often to non-game websites. It relies on our natural desire for achievement and our competitiveness. Yu-kai Chou, an expert...
View ArticleBreaking down silos
I got a grumpy tweet last week, during the Thursday #ESNChat session, for using the term “breaking down the silos”. I felt bad, until then I’d been agreeing with much of what Greg had been saying. Yes,...
View ArticleTo Move the Needle
I was reading an article on Wal-Mart’s e-commerce business recently and I came across the term “to move the needle”. Since I spend more time sewing on buttons than I do driving cars at the moment the...
View ArticleSingle Source of Truth
Although this sounds vaguely poetic, it has a specific meaning in the world of information systems. It has particular relevance for large systems. Done well, it makes content management a whole lot...
View ArticleEgo Surfing
It’s a term coined almost twenty years ago, referring to the act of searching for your own name, pseudonym, or handle online to see what information appears. We often place a negative association on...
View ArticleBurning Platform
“We need to define what’s the burning platform”. We’ve probably all heard this term, and the mental image conveys a sense of crisis and urgency. The origin is even more explicit, it comes from a...
View ArticleHotwash
This came up on a powerpoint slide of the day’s agenda “4 – 5 pm Hotwash”. Evidently it means immediate review, according to Word Detective it comes from the US Army where it describes the debrief that...
View ArticleBoil the Ocean
“We just need to get this done; let’s not boil the ocean”. The mental image this phrase generates makes its meaning pretty clear. Forbes defines it “This means to waste time”. That’s not quite the...
View ArticleAstroturfing
If you’ve ever seen a book on Amazon with a lot of vaguely positive reviews, or a hotel review on trip advisor with glowing reviews that don’t really match the photos, or a new restaurant with a...
View ArticleCyberslacking
Perfect subject for a Friday! Cyberslacking refers to the use of a company’s computer and internet connection for personal activities when one should be doing work. It’s not the occasional email, or...
View ArticleBuzzword; Swim Lanes
“Have you designed your swim lanes yet?’ isn’t a good question to ask someone whose only form of exercise is swimming. My immediate thought was of a pool, with the rows of floating lane markers. It...
View ArticleHigh Optics
“Don’t forget,” said my boss “There are high optics on that”. I used to work in a bar so his use of the word “optics” created quite the wrong mental picture. The word now has a different meaning, the...
View ArticleUnicorn
The unicorns of my childhood were mythical, rare and wonderful beasts. Today’s unicorns are young companies that have a valuation of 1 billion USD. That might sound like something rare and wonderful,...
View ArticleCircle Back
I must have looked puzzled, my colleague stopped trying to explain to me and said; “Let’s circle back on this”. Circle back. It’s not a new term, I can find references to it online from 2009. But this...
View ArticleSocialise This
If someone suggests socialising I think of convivial chat, with chardonnay and canapés. It’s pretty close the dictionary definition. But there’s another possible use, or rather two uses. One I heard...
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