QCon is a practitioner-driven conference designed for technical team leads, architects, and project managers who influence software innovation in their teams.
Simon Wardley, TweetResearcher for CSC's Leading Edge Forum
Biography: Simon Wardley
As a geneticist with a love of mathematics and a fascination in economics, Simon has always found himself dealing with complex systems, whether it's in behavioural patterns, environmental risks of chemical pollution, developing novel computer systems or managing companies. These days Simon works as a researcher for CSC's Leading Edge Forum. He is a passionate advocate and researcher in the fields of open source, commoditisation, innovation and cybernetics . He is also fond of ducks. As he says "they're fowl but not through choice".
Twitter: @swardley
Presentation: TweetAnticipating the Future - An Introduction to Value Chain Mapping
We hear all the time that we are living through a time of disruptive innovation, with the creation of new value and the destruction of old norms. Cloud computing, Big Data and the internet of things are all examples of this –or so we are told. But whilst we all have inertia to change, disruption implies that the change is unexpected, even unpredictable. However, if you have 20 years to plan for something, can you really call it surprising, random or unexpected?
It turns out that companies are being disrupted by broadly predictable changes. But how can this be? The problem is not just inertia; it's blindness. In this session, Simon will present the general principles of industry change and describe what can and cannot be predicted. He will then show how companies can better understand the environment around them and manipulate this to their favour by anticipating the nature of change, as well as the markets, skills, and behaviours most likely to be required.