Category: 1.1 Industry (General)
-
Keeping Silicon Valley at bay using open source (talk at Automotive Software Strategies 2021)
On May 4th, 2021, I will give a talk about user-led open source consortia and the associated business strategies of non-software vendors at the 2nd International Automotive Software Strategies conference (online or in Munich). Take a look at the conference flyer and / or register using the SV Veranstaltungen website. You can get 20% off…
-
A key capability German car manufacturers are still missing
My first project as a professor with a German car manufacturer was in 2013, and our industry partner kicked off the first project meeting with the words: Ich bin ein Blechbieger und verstehe von Software nicht so viel.(I bend sheet metal and don’t know much about software.) I think he already was behind the times…
-
The First Derivative of Software is Eating the World
Marc Andreesen, venture capitalist at a16z, famously stated in 2011: Software is eating the world Wall Street Journal, 2011-08-11 Andreesen’s article describes the immediate impact of software, both as its own product category and as a component of increasing importance in existing (non-software) products. I want to discuss what I consider the first derivative of…
-
Too many points of failure (at Theranos)
I just finished reading John Carreyrou’s book Bad Blood, which presents the story of the rise and fall of one-time Silicon Valley unicorn Theranos through his eyes as the journalist who broke the story. In case you missed it: Theranos was a healthcare company promising to sell a machine that could perform quickly and reliably…
-
Cargo cult startup incubators
The continued creation of me-too startup incubators reminds me of the (South Seas’) cargo cult. Richard Feynman tells the story this way: The cargo cult people were natives of the South Seas who, during the world war, benefited from Western civilizations bringing cargo to their land. After the war ended, and the cargo stopped coming,…
-
Contractions and expansions in organizing software development 2/2
When compared with hardware, software has been only a recent addition to products. Companies have been reorganizing ever since to better deal with software development. Initially, software developers were part of the department that created and brought to market the overall product, with software initially being a small, later a large part of it. The…