PI in the Sky – Paul Irvine

Today was fun.  It was the first day that my new product, Basecamp Viewer, was officially available as a freeware product.  Yes, there is a subscription SaaS version coming soon, but this was ready to roll, so why not.

And downloads have started already!  Which is even more fun!

I’m busy working on a Systems Strategy engagement for a local client in the Portland area at the moment – do please check the services I’m now offering both in PDX and across the US.  As a veteran VP of Engineering myself, and a three time CIO Magazine award winner, I often had a “I can get it done myself” perspective too.  But even though I’m doing the same things I’ve done from inside technology departments, I continue to be surprised at how clear and straightforward it can be to diagnose a client’s problems when you are an ‘outsider’ looking in. Whether organizational, process, or technology.   Or perhaps rephrased, I recall now how extraordinarily difficult it can be to see the obvious problems and do something about them, when you are the incumbent.  So much can be fouled up in inter-department politics, precedents, personalities, or assumptions about what other people’s responses can be.  With an outside perspective one can cut through all that and within a very short space of time, craft a strategy that resolves problems, enables growth, sets the foundation for success, and supports the teams that are affected.

I may be biased and looking for more business like this, but I’d have to say that if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn’t hesitate to hire a pair of outside eyes on a regular sanity check basis!