Thomas Otter
Group Vice President Product Management at SAP-SuccessFactors. Previously Research Vice President, Gartner Group. Recognised industry leader in HCM (Human Capital Management) technologies.
Using worktech and science for good.
Workplace harassment is evil. It can make lives a misery. Victims often feel unable to speak out. If they do, they face an inquisition, often by the very HR department they turn to help from. In many cases they risk their careers and livelihoods and face ridicule if they speak up. If things get to […]
Blankets and employee engagement at Microsoft.
Microsoft is on a roll, on several levels. Share price, mojo, accessibility, cloud computing, patent strategy etc. It is a company rejuvenated. From the outside, it exudes confidence, but without the brashness of the last time it was the world’s most valuable company. This blog is at risk of too much Microsoft fandom. This morning […]
Launching Otter Advisory
Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that’s almost in shape of a camel? Polonius: By the mass, and ‘tis like a camel, indeed. Hamlet: Methinks it is like a weasel. Polonius: It is backed like a weasel. Hamlet: Or like a whale? Polonius: Very like a whale. Hamlet Act 3, Scene 2. There are […]
Cloud Computing and vague recollections of the Anarchical Society.
Mark Zuckerberg says the world is much more divided than he ever expected https://t.co/EPPQLiMtYp #division pic.twitter.com/rxZ0iwbDu3 — World Economic Forum (@wef) April 7, 2018 elicited this magnificent response. Study STEM, they said. It’s not like a degree in Political Science and International Relations will ever be useful for anything… https://t.co/Z3CxQGHWAw — Eva (@evacide) April […]
Code is law. The case of law 36.
Larry Lessig’s Code and other Laws of Cyberspace of remains one of the most important books written about how software impacts law. Lessing and other academics have shown how code has fundamentally changed copyright law. The design of technology, especially software, changes the nature of regulation and enforcement of laws. My academic work is in […]
Asking the awkward question about employee engagement surveys.
For all of my working career, I’ve argued that HR needs to get more analytical, so I’ve welcomed HR’s growing interest in data based analysis and benchmarking. I have been something of a flag-waver for data driven HR for many years. I’m thrilled to see the increasing sophistication in workforce analytics. The posse of machine […]
Of Cobblestones, Solomon, Paula, Gunter, Joseph and the GDPR.
I’ve been reading a fair bit of software vendor marketing and press from around the world about the GDPR. It seems to me that a lot of it misses the point. GDPR is seen as a compliance burden, an unwelcome dose of EU bureaucracy or at best a useful opportunity sell security software. It is […]
Customers, colleagues, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and my writing day.
I have been spending the last few months deep in accessibility law, testing, standards, universal design, GDPR, the early history of business computing and of course my old friend, Sarbanes Oxley. I am an expert on Heidelberg and Sandton coffee shops, and I have spent far too long debating the value of one font over […]
Product Management, Hopping and Localization.
(Taking some liberty with the facts). Imagine for a moment you are the product manager for augmented /autonomous driving at Volvo. You have got every different type of snow and ice covered. You have figured out how to find parking at IKEA, at the back of the store where you collect the Billy Bookcases on the mind of its own trolley. (You […]
Stoicism and Product Management
Tim Ferriss has made Stoicism hip and accessible. That is a good thing. I came across Ryan Holiday via Tim’s podcast, and it rekindled a long lost interest in things Greek philosophy. I have quoted liberally from Ryan’s Daily Stoic. Thanks Ryan and Tim. Buy Ryan’s books and read them. I reckon Epictetus would have been […]
