Back in October I mentioned some SAS publications, including Radical Action for Radical Times by my friend Jonathan Hornby. Jonathan and I go back to 1996 when he first joined SAS and joined the SAS project that I was leading. Following that he gave some cracking papers at VIEWS conferences (the UK's independant SAS user group at that time).
I most recently caught-up with Jonathan at this year's SAS Global Forum (SGF) where he was clearly energised by the process of producing his book (and the fact that all proceeds will go to childrens' cancer charities). I'm very pleased to see that Jonathan recently had the opportunity to write a post for the SAS Publications blog. In it he provides some of the process and thinking behind the book. And inspired by the writing process, Jonathan now has his own blog - Beyond Business - in which he will offer his interpretations of today's news and endeavour to extrapolate its impact upon our business futures.
Jonathan's book is about finding opportunities in times of adversity. Its message applies to all of us. We are not all in a position to directly influence executive strategies, but resonances of Jonathan's message encourage us to think clearly when defining the scope and objectives of our latest development projects. Reduced budgets mean we need to place greater focus on the value of each new feature that we deliver. And it's not simply a case of stripping-out functionality, it's also a case of looking for potentially overlooked features that provide the greater value in the current climate. Realigning development effort to focus more clearly on value-focused projects, changes and features rather than open-ended streams of continual change is crucial. Food for thought.