Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders

The recent blockbuster verdict in the Apple v. Samsung patent infringement case has journalists and pundits arguing with equal fervor about whether it represents the best or the worst of the American patent system. And while analysis of the trial's impact and the subsequent emotional arguments will continue, the case verdict reaffirms just how central patents are to today's technology industry.

Each time I fly, I notice flight attendants taking passengers' food and drink orders on a pad of paper. I've thought for some time now that would be a perfect scenario for using a tablet device. So you can imagine just how pleased I was to learn recently that American Airlines (AA) is going to be doing just that.

"Is it possible to invent or innovate in a more open or collaborative manner, leveraging the intellect of inventors outside of a traditional corporate structure, given the current frameworks for IP protection?"

With the rise of Big Data analytics and significant improvements in high-performance computing, it is likely that more knowledge-worker jobs will get displaced. Industry and academia are finding new ways of mining data and performing complex tasks previously done only by humans. IBM's Watson’s adroitness at Jeopardy may precede, by perhaps only a few years, general-purpose computing’s ability in diagnosing illnesses and processing complex business problems. Advanced image-processing capabilities can be applied to adding metadata to video files.

With the rise of Big Data analytics and significant improvements in high-performance computing, it is likely that more knowledge-worker jobs will get displaced. Industry and academia are finding new ways of mining data and performing complex tasks previously done only by humans.

Your smartphone dings to signal the arrival of an email. Upon seeing its title, "Build #452 failed," your stress level doubles. You approach Rae, a talented developer, and say, in a slightly ticked-off tone, "I notice the build broke."

Note from the Managing Editor: The Agile Manifesto places value on individuals and interactions. Nonetheless, according to feedback from our readers, "soft" skills remain an area of difficulty for many in IT. Negotiation, a necessary element for successful projects, can be a minefield for anyone.