Management
A note on the news
At some point, as business leaders, we have to stop looking towards tomorrow to fix the problems of our making. Procrastination is not the painless solution it promises. We have to be willing to make tough decisions today and follow through with them.
Opening Doors
On 7 October 2019, I’ll be looking back over 14 years at Web Applications UK, and celebrating my last day as Chief Executive. When I joined the company all those years ago, it was as a Consultant, working just four days a week. Within 18 months, I was asked to take over as Managing Director […]
Understanding digital infrastructure in a digital age
If you ask the average business owner whether they have internet access, they are very likely to answer ‘yes’. If you ask them if they have broadband, most, but not all will continue to answer confidentially in the affirmative. If you ask them if they have ‘superfast broadband’ a look of confusion slowly spreads across […]
Secret Diary of an Interviewer
We do a lot of interviews at Web Applications, especially with the launch of our Apprenticeship scheme. Over the years I’ve seen the best and worst of what candidates bring to the table. Unfortunately, there’s far more bad than good, and it’s so unnecessary. Every now and then I get invited to speak at conferences […]
The Entwistle Payoff
So the current BBC naval gazing is kind of getting old, but today’s public outcry on the reported £450k pay off to the outgoing Director General of the BBC raises the kind of questions that I can’t resist letting pass without comment. What has driven me to write this post (on my iPhone no less) […]
Developing a career
Well it’s been a while since my last post, frankly I’ve been heads down in a code rush (maybe I’ll let you in on it a little later), so I figured for my first post back I best make it a big one. Following, from the success of my guest lecture at Manchester, I was […]
Colorado, a tale of two tragedies
The first time I came to this great state was in September 2001. The first time I came to Denver was to visit the airport on 10 September 2001. The 18th African Children’s Choir were set to fly back to West Africa, via Belfast and Choir 19 (that I was chaperoning) met up with them […]
Jubilation
When it comes to the Queen, I’m a big fan. It’s become fashionable to mock the pomp and circumstance and to view her Highness as a dusty old relic of a bygone age, but to do so is to misrepresent a monarch that has done more to modernise and adapt than any predecessor – and […]
Leadership
Today I had the privilege of addressing the graduating cohort of about forty-five students and their police trainers from the Natural Born Leader’s programme being run by Greater Manchester Police. This great programme takes young people on a week-long course to develop their natural leadership skills. The speaker before me was Duane Bryan, who was a […]
Breaking the cycle of training
This article first appeared as a guest blog on the GMCC Blog on 22 June 2012. I’m a technologist. I have an iPad and an iPhone, I have Android and Windows devices, I have an Xbox, a PS3, a Wii and even an AppleTV. It would be natural to think that I believe in technology […]