What is GDPR and why is it important?

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The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standardizes data protection law across all 28 EU countries and imposes strict new rules on controlling and processing personally identifiable information (PII). It also extends the protection of personal data and data protection rights by giving control back to EU residents. GDPR replaces the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive, and goes into force on May 25, 2018. It also supersedes the 1998 UK Data Protection Act. Continue reading

What exactly is the sharing economy?

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When I first attended Davos in January 2013, I asked everyone I met if they’d heard of the term “sharing economy.” Ninety percent of people said no, 5% assumed I was talking about barter exchange, and the remaining 5% acknowledged new technologies and peer-to-peer networks were enabling emergent business models. It was difficult to find anyone who had used Airbnb or BlaBlaCar. Later that year I co-founded the Forum’s Sharing Economy Working Group with other Young Global Leaders, with the goal of building awareness, visibility and expertise throughout the Forum’s communities.

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Customer-driven development: 3 ways to make customers part of R&D

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You invested tons of money to develop a new capability in your software. It passed all QA tests, from functionality to performance to security. But customer calls are streaming into your support team, each complaining about how the new release has negatively affected the user experience. The software generates defects if customers use your product in a way that was not specifically tested by R&D, such as in different environments or when run on alternative configurations. Continue reading

A Product Management Reading List

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There seem to be tons of books out there that claim to be “perfect” for the Product Manager and those wanting to move into a role in Product Management. There are also reading lists across the Internet — some better, some worse. I’ve found the following 18 books to be essential reading for anyone who is or wants to be a Product Manager; the list is in no way a complete list of all the great books, but a shortlist of those that I think are absolute must-reads. Continue reading

Starup = Growth

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A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make a company a startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take venture funding, or have some sort of “exit.” The only essential thing is growth. Everything else we associate with startups follows from growth. Continue reading

People Wranglers or Individual Contributors?

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Companies are finding new ways to improve the way they run. One of those ways is rethinking the way the company is structured and review the opportunities for career progression. In the most basic form, companies have the choice of opting for a flat or hierarchical structure. Continue reading

7 Great Financial Resolutions for 2016, and How to Keep Them

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Financial New Year’s resolutions are really common, but they can be some of the toughest to stick with. If you choose the right resolutions, though, and use the right tools, you should be able to make a big positive difference in your finances this year.

Here are seven different resolutions you might make and a bunch of resources that will help you out. Continue reading

I’m Sorry, But Agile Won’t Fix Your Products

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If you don’t regularly read Steve Denning’s work, you should. He’s one of the better writers on the future of work. In an article he wrote for Forbes last week, he starts by stating that the Agile product development method has gone mainstream, but poses the question as to whether it has now become a fad like so many other management theories. His conclusion is that Agile is not merely a fad because, Continue reading

Three Tips for First-Time Gen-Y Leaders

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The backlash for first-time business leaders, namely those from Gen Y who were born between roughly 1982 and 1994, is at the watercooler, at the company happy hour and even in the carpool home.

Often referred to as the “Me Generation,” members of Gen Y are scrutinized for their perceived sense of entitlement and their workplace tendency to “march to their own drummer.” Continue reading

Top 10 Ways to Lead by Example

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Good leaders must lead by example. By walking your talk, you become a person others want to follow. When leaders say one thing, but do another, they erode trust–a critical element of productive leadership. Here are 10 of the many ways to lead by example. Continue reading