Bradley de Souza

Into Cloud 2.0

Bradley de Souza — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:49:49 +0000

I was asked last year for my views on key trends which CIO’s and CTO’s need to think about.

Below is the piece I wrote for the CIO magazine which was subsequently published.

Gartner defines Cloud 1.0 as “a style of computing in which scalable and elastic IT-enabled capabilities are delivered as [...]

Being an effective change agent – it’s not about being right, it’s about winning!

Bradley de Souza — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 02:40:37 +0000

A senior executive working on a big project once told me that the biggest hindrance to a person becoming successful is the need to be right. Fortunately I worked this out for myself, but for a short while, early on in my career, the need to be right was overwhelming.

Today [...]

One hundred days in a new role – my perspective

Bradley de Souza — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 06:19:53 +0000

I was asked earlier in the year to provide input for an article in the New Zealand CIO magazine regarding what I do when I move into a new role, in a new industry.

During my first one hundred days in any new role, be it a contract or a permanent [...]

Agile versus CMMI – agility comes with maturity

Bradley de Souza — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 06:45:19 +0000

There are many organisations considering an Agile software development approach as a solution to poor project delivery/performance. Whilst it is admirable to want to address poor performance and review past failures, something that few organisations do, it is also a common failing to believe that a silver bullet exists to [...]

The Oracle monopoly

Bradley de Souza — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:56:32 +0000

Over the last 12 months I’ve been having an interesting debate with several Oracle executives in New Zealand and Australia about what I call the Oracle monopoly.

As a result of analysing my own database decisions since 1999, I’ve concluded that senior technologists like me have no choice when it comes [...]

Enterprise Architecture from a Communications, Media and Entertainment (CME) perspective

Bradley de Souza — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:06:20 +0000

I was asked a while ago to share my thoughts on the the topic of Enterprise Architecture (EA) and the problems it addresses in the Communications, Media and Entertainment (CME) arena.

My view is that EA attempts to solve a very complex problem which so far has yet to truly be [...]

Leadership is demonstrated not measured

Bradley de Souza — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:48:26 +0000

Over the years I’ve been very fortunate to have experienced both good and bad leaders. It’s easy to learn from a good leader but it’s even easier to learn from a bad one. Bad leaders usually fail with rather easy and obvious to learn lessons for all those observing the [...]

WordPress 2.8

Bradley de Souza — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 23:27:53 +0000

I finally made the move from WordPress version 1.7 to version 2.8. I’m glad to report that it was painless and trouble free.

Rarely do such large moves between versions go well, but in this case, my faith in the WordPress team was not misplaced.

I’ve been using WordPress for a while [...]

Apple App Store – Nobody does it better!?!

Bradley de Souza — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 14:14:58 +0000

Apparently Apple App Store has managed to achieve what many other competitors’ offerings couldn’t, namely usability, take-up, and good, value for money content.

Like so many others before it the (Mobile2Market, Windows Mobile Catalog, NGage, Nokia Download Store, etc.) App Store promises to enhance the end-user’s phone with great content and [...]

Harvey Nash & PA Consulting CIO Event in London

Bradley de Souza — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:50:44 +0000

I was recently invited to attend the Harvey Nash & PA Consulting CIO Event in London. Whilst I’m not strictly a CIO these days, I’ve had cause to fulfil that role in the past.

Aside from meeting some very influential people and some old acquaintances, the event was very illuminating.

The highlight [...]