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.
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 […]
To the max.
Building product, once you get beyond the brain wave stage, really requires customer input. Not all customer input is made equal though. What makes a massive impact is when you find that customer that shares your goals, your vision,and brings that dose of realism and practicality to the party. Treasure those customers. They don’t come […]
Employee Central Momentum
I had been meaning to write about EC momentum for a little while, and the press releases this week makes this week as good as any to do. Here is the juicy bit from today’s earnings announcement. Human Capital Management Shows Strong Momentum Customers are increasingly turning to SAP to manage their global workforce, both […]
Ada Lovelace day. A note to men in the software industry.
Today is Ada Lovelace day. If you work in computer science or the computer industry, and you don’t know who she was, please take a moment and google her. But briefly, without her, we would not have a software industry. She was the first programmer, ever. By remembering her pioneering, yet until recently, unheralded efforts, […]
Bringing the Hack into HRMS
I’ve not blogged or written for a while, but I figured it was time to start again. No promises on the regularity of posting appearance. I’m not a comet. Deliberate, consistent customer engagement drives most product enhancements. There is a profound skill in listening to a specific customer need, and turning it into a design […]
Today is my last day at Gartner.
Today is my last day at Gartner. The last 5 1/2 years have flown by. I have learnt more than I imagined I could, and probably forgotten more too. I’ve done over 3000 inquiries, written over 100 research notes, led several magic quadrants, attended 100s of Research communities, spoke at numerous conferences and strategy days. […]
Conferences, comedy, clouds and contracts.
Continuing my attempts to bring Shakespeare into as many posts as I can…. Let specialties be therefore drawn between us, That covenants may be kept on either hand. (Taming of the Shrew II. i. 127-8) A couple of weeks ago, I presented at the HR Technology Conference in Chicago, the topic being SaaS Contracts: how not to […]
HR Tech in Chicago.
Gosh. I’m very pleased, read ecstatic, that I’m not going to Vegas for what seems like the 400th time. I get to go to Chicago, Chicago, that wonderful town. For the past few years I’ve gone to HR tech I have managed to largely lurk in the background. This year I have a couple of speaking […]
