Every week, we put together a list of our top 5 articles of the past week. Happy reading!
Agile Is Not Enough MIT Management Review
Agility is critical for companies trying to keep up with customer expectations and emerging business trends. This MIT article argues that agile is a prerequisite for a digital organization but it not enough. There are three main impediments that also need to be addressed, rigid architecture, poor talent management, and lack of a product mindset. While this article focuses on the software development aspect of Agile, there are many parallels that can be drawn also for management.
Microsoft, Facebook, trust and privacy Benedict Evans
Ben Evans from a16z provides an insightful analogy between Microsoft’s challenges in 90s and Facebook’s today. Mr. Evans draws a comparison between malware and misinformation and how their responses were similar. All of this stems from a widely publicized pivot that Facebook’s CEO published last week. The social networking giant is making a renewed push into privacy and encryption. There are many questions that arise from this strategy.
DeepMind and Google: the battle to control AI The Economist
You might have heard of Deepmind, the AI company that Google acquired for $600M in 2014. This article provides some background on its iconic founder, Demis Hassabis. The company’s mission: solve intelligence and then use it to solve everything else. They are arguably at the forefront of artificial intelligence today. The Economist provides some fascinating details about the inner working of the company, it’s relationship with Google and how they are trying to solve AGI.
Companies With Tech Expertise on the Board See Higher Revenue Growth Wall Street Journal
New research from MIT has shown that companies with experienced technologists on their board outperform their peers. Many corporate boards have begun seeking these types of profiles to help at the highest level of decision-making.
Strategic Deficit PNR Insights
I wrote a few ideas on the evolution and destruction of companies and how this process occurs. I call it a strategic deficit. A strategic deficit occurs when the market evolves too rapidly for the company to adapt in an effective manner. It is simply a theory at this point and would require a more comprehensive framework to be tested.
