For quite a while I have been thinking about condensing insights and experiences that I have made as a manager in the software industry throughout the years. While I am not convinced there is enough for a book, and I don’t think I want to write one (yet), I do want to write some things down as reference for myself, but also for others. To help and to give some guidance and also to give points of reference about myself.
Having been in the software industry for over 30 years, I have seen it growing up. There have been times of crisis and times of extraordinary growth. What has impressed me most is the “just do it” attitude that the industry has not lost. Few industries have created the amount of wealth that software continues to produce. All this wealth stems from one single source: Human creativity. To be successful in software you do not have to find oil in your back yard. It is purely about an idea and its execution, helping customers do something better than before. There is huge fascination and satisfaction from creating something big out of nothing more than an idea. However, the idea is just a starting point. The critical difference between success and failure and the constant over all companies is the execution. How to take an idea to market, form a team, create a reliable revenue stream, delight customers are skills we can all learn and perfect. Software is also about fun and passion. Having that fun and passion makes it possible to put in the hours and the travel and the energy to rework a plan until it works. Fun and passion come both from the mission we set as managers and from the environment we create for our team.
Software is also about lifelong learning. The technology changes, the applications that are transforming the customers’ industries change every few years. Those changes are relatively easy to adapt to. But there are other changes that have to do with how we work and how the industry works that are more painful to adapt to. Critical learning happens in times of crisis. That is not usually fun. However the crisis is resolved, you can come out of it stronger and armed with new insight.
These are in a very loose form the ideas and motivations I will be writing about.
Some of the markets I have been in and helped shape:
- Industrial automation and graphical user interfaces for manufacturing, energy and data networks
- Object Databases, OOP, CORBA for OEM customers in the CAD and Automotive space
- IT Service management, Helpdesk, Asset and Change Management, general workflow software
- Travel Management and travel expense management, SaaS
- Purchase to Pay and Purchasing Automation
- Physical Security, Video Surveillance
My roles started in Development and Service Management and most of the time focused on Sales Management and CEO. The bigger the role, the more of a turnaround is typically required.
Stephan Rasp - Turnaround CEO, Management Consultant 