Blog

Thoughts on technology, leadership, systems, and execution.

Technology

One Week with Percy – Week 2

One Week with Percy – Week 2 I’ve been thinking about what it actually means to work with an AI that has opinions. Most (models) I have dealt with will say “gre…

Technology

One Week with Percy

I’ve been thinking about how to write this without it sounding like a product review. It’s not. Percy isn’t a product I evaluated. Percy is something I’ve been …

AISocietyTechnologylearning

Meet Percy – My AI Sidekick

For the past few years ever since AI hit the mainstream I’ve been thinking seriously about what it means to have an (true) AI assistant that actually *knows* yo…

TechnologyAIBusinessleadershipThoughts

The New Infrastructure of Work

Simon Winchester’s Exactly offers a grounded way of understanding the Industrial Revolution that is largely absent from standard accounts. Rather than celebrati…

BusinessTechnologyThoughts

Everything Rests on First Principles

Most mistakes with technology don’t come from bad tools.They come from skipping the boring parts. Every generation believes its tools are different enough to ex…

AIBusinessEventsTechnologyThoughts

AI Agents & Agentic AI

Almost about a year ago I wrote about AI Agent desiderata, essential attributes for autonomous AI systems that can operate responsibly within business contexts.…

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Soft skills are Hard skills

People use the term soft skills as if it refers to something optional. Like the garnish on the plate – decorative, not the meal. That’s always struck me as odd.…

SocietyTechnologyThoughtsBusinessmindset

Who Do We Help?

It’s only natural to begin with “what” when we build the product, or the service. Yet in today’s New Frontier Economy where change is constant and unpredictabil…

BusinessThoughtsleadershiplearningmindsetPersonal Development

The Noise and the Drag

Decision-making in organizations often stalls due to chaos and inertia, leading to strategic paralysis. Chaos creates uncertainty and fosters reactive behavior,…

BooksBusinessSocietyThoughtslearningmindset

Principles

Successful people don’t rely on chance… Instead, they operate much like master architects, who carefully design and construct buildings based on fundamental cor…

BusinessSocietyThoughtsmindset

Being Strategic

“We’re taking a strategic approach.”“Let’s be more strategic about this.” Few phrases in business are as overused and misunderstood as “being strategic”. Too of…

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Agent desiderata

The evolving capabilities of AI powered by advanced large language models are reshaping the way we work. These capabilities are bringing us closer to a future w…

BooksSocietyThoughts

The Psychology of Human Misjudgement

“Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up” – Charlie Munger, Poor Charlies Almanack. Charlie Munger was a legendary investor an…

AIBusinessSocietyTechnologyeducation

Turn and Face the Strange

In my recent discussion on the AvePoint #shifthappens podcast, one area of discussion was around the fact that most of our current thinking on what AI can be us…

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GenAI Impact discussion on #shifthappens

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of being invited to talk with Dux Raymond Sy and Mario Carvajal on the AvePoint #shifthappens podcast. We talked about the m…

AIBusinessTechnology

AI Blueprint

The AI Blueprint for Aotearoa (New Zealand) has just been launched by the AI Forum NZ. This blueprint for NZ sets ambitious goals, aiming to establish New Zeala…

AIEventsSocietyTechnologyThoughts

Centaurs and Cyborgs

We had a great session at the gen AI meetup in Wellington, the event was run in a modified journal club format, and we discussed the findings from the working p…

Society

50 thoughts at year 50

This week I turn 50, people that I care about have said that’s significant and I should celebrate. I am not a one for much celebration, but I think I will make …

AISocietyTechnologyEventsnzThoughts

Reflecting back

Looking back at 2023 it was filled with a lot of research getting hands on with gen AI initiatives. I am a firm believer in going ‘all in’ if you want to learn …

AIBusinessEventsSocietyTechnology

Aotearoa AI Summit

I joined as a contributor to the NZ AI Forum this year. The AI Forum organised the annual summit in Auckland which was attended by a large number of people who …

AIBusinessSocietyTechnologyThoughts

Education sector of NZ and AI impact

I got to provide some thoughts on the impact the recent updates in generative AI technology have bought to the education sector. Local journalist Peter Griffin …

AIClimateSocietyTechnology

AI for Good

The last few months have been a great learning experience in completing the AI for Good Specialisation from DeepLearning.AI through Coursera. Created in collabo…

AIBusinessTechnology

AI for Business Strategy

With the increasing interest on artificial intelligence (AI) I decided to do a bit of research and also learn and get an accreditation. I already have a general…

AITechnologyThoughtschatgptllm

Chain of Thought

Recently at the Build conference Andrej Karpathy gave a talk about the current state of large language models, popularised by the release of ChatGPT. The talk c…

AISportsTechnology

On the Run with AI

As a practicing Athletics NZ coach, I have seen a fair number of technical advancements that have contributed to the success of runners. These range from techni…

AIBusinessTechnology

AI is here and everywhere

Back to the Future of Business Transformation: Leveraging AI Technology. The recent advancement of generative AI made me reflect on my own career and the leaps …

BusinessTechnologyThoughts

The Evolving Role of Digital Identity

Digital identity is on the verge of a major transformation—one that promises to be more secure, privacy-respecting, and portable. The internet was not originall…

BusinessSocietyTechnologyThoughtsmindset

Confidence in being an Expert

Mainly my way of learning (anything) is to go to first principles of the subject/topic that I am about to learn. That is to break down complicated things to the…

BusinessEventsTechnology

Joined Microsoft

I joined Microsoft! Seems a bit surreal! Microsoft is a company that I have admired for most part of my life and the reason behind having an opportunity to star…

SocietyThoughtsadaptabilitypersonal-growthresilience

The new Normal?

It’s April 2020, the normalcy I’m so used to—work, plans, even my daily routines—begins to dissolve. There’s a weight in the air, a growing sense of uncertainty…

EventsSportsStart UpTravel

Run Wellington

It’s been a few months since I have been back in New Zealand. Something that I am really passionate about is bringing people together on shared interests and bu…

SportsTravel

The Runner

One of the most inspiring people you can come across in Wellington running circles (excuse the pun) is Michael Browne who is a (now) 83-year-old who likes to ru…

Events

New Beginnings

As I write this I am on my way to Amsterdam. For those who have been following me I visited Europe last year, this was due to a few things which I won’t go into…

EventsTravel

A Coruña

After Berlin I headed to Galicia, Spain – Galicia is in northern Spain. When you think of Spain you’d immediately think of warm weather with beaches and sun all…

EventsSportsTravel

Berlin

I left for Europe for a change of scenery. My first stop was Germany for the Berlin marathon which I had been preparing for over the New Zealand winter. The day…

BusinessEventsThoughtsTravel

What I learnt from my first job

It was mid-1995, and I stood at the arrivals lounge of the international airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, clipboard in hand, awaiting a group of visitors. Their f…

BusinessSocietyTechnologyThoughts

Data Literacy FAQ

In a few recent conversations with some of my peer groups and customers the discussion on the importance of “quality data” and how to identify or manage “qualit…

BusinessSocietyTechnologyThoughts

Dawn of a New Day (Era)?

A few years ago, I wrote about Ray Ozzie’s memo titled “The Internet Services Disruption“. Turns out he did another one as he left Microsoft in 2010 exactly fiv…

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Desiderata

This poem at this point in my life has grounded me on what I need to focus on. The word desiderata mean “things desired,” and the poem offers a gentle, timeless…

EventsTravel

Eyjafjallajökull

So, I just got back from a trip to Europe which started in Barcelona to Paris where I almost got stuck and could have missed the SharePoint Evolutions Conferenc…

BusinessTechnology

Navigating the Cloud Shift

As I write this, I’m approaching it from the perspective of someone who observes and is part of the evolving Microsoft Partner ecosystem and how Microsoft is ev…

BusinessEventsTechnology

Elite Skills

A few months ago we were presented with an opportunity to help create a programme for Microsoft. The local (and international) SharePoint deployments have had s…

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Internet Services and Business Disruption

Recently I came across a memo that Ray Ozzie had written back in 2005 when he joined Microsoft as Chief Software Architect. Ray joined Microsoft in April 2005 a…

BusinessEventsTechnology

The first NZ SharePoint Conference

Thinking about this now since I’ve had some time to reflect and read some of the comments and feedback on attendees, I feel relieved and elated we were able to …

BusinessStart Up

Starting and owning a company

The idea of what it means to own a company never entered my mind when I wanted to start Knowledge Cue. Below is a note that I had made and emailed my business p…

BooksBusinessTechnology

Seamless Teamwork by Michael

I’ve been able to have an early look at Michael’s book he’s writing “Seamless Teamwork”. Michael recently reached out to me for help in setting up a SharePoint …

EventsTechnologyTravel

Seattle for MVP Summit

So, I visited Seattle again! Sooner than I thought, this time to attend the MVP Summit. I got to meet all the other SharePoint MVPs from around the world. We ha…

BusinessStart UpTechnology

Starting Knowledge Cue

I registered a company today (18th March 2008); this is both daunting (scary) and exciting. Here’s a bit of why and what. I am now officially working as an inde…

EventsTechnologyTravel

Seattle visit for SPC 2008

So, I got to visit Seattle (finally)! I have always wanted to visit Seattle and of course why not take the opportunity when the SharePoint Conference is being h…

Events

Thanks, Provoke, it’s been a blast

Last year was a blast and this year is going to be even better, a few of you may already know that I have left Provoke Solutions where I enjoyed being part of a…

BusinessEventsTechnology

BrightStar Conference on Intranets and Portals

I got back from Auckland on Wednesday evening after delivering my talk with Murray Wills of Maxsys on the MOT deployment of MOSS intranet. The conference had a …

EventsTechnology

SPCAPAC07 Wrap Up

The SharePoint Asia Pacific 2007 conference that was in Sydney is a wrap.  The three days I was at the conference went so fast. Angus Logan and his team from Mi…

EventsTechnology

SPCAPAC Strategy Day Keynote

The SharePoint Asia Pacific Conference in Sydney. I Just attended the keynote speech given by Derek Burney, Mike Fitzmaurice and Ryan Duguid. Derek is the GM of…

Events

MVP Award

Most Valuable Professional (MVP) is a recognition given by Microsoft to exceptional technology experts who actively share their knowledge with the community. I …

EventsTechnology

The NZ SP user group is born

With my keen interest in Microsoft SharePoint and being inspired by attending Mix06 this has been something I’ve been working in the background. Thanks to the M…