My Top Blogs while at Cisco – Early Insights into Cloud

After the acquisition of Tidal Software where I was working by Cisco and the teams moved toward cloud automation as a major area of focus, I decided to jump into blogging.  A close colleague, Rodrigo Flores, suggested that it was critical that I figure out my blogging voice.  Of course my Cisco blog was not…

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New College Grads and Networking Skills

Have you noticed the trend where some folks just graduating from college are taking a bit longer to find a meaningful job?  This doesn’t include situations when Mom and Dad find their kid that perfect job lead or internship.  Former school connections certainly help, but does that really teach the 20-something the right lesson or…

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Invent Thirty Ideas in One Hour

Think is isn’t possible? Intellectual Property (IP) is a force that drives innovative product and service development and deployment.  Big companies protect their positions through strategic use of their patent portfolio.  Some companies maintain a bank of patents and make money solely by attacking other companies unlicensed use of their portfolio. At HP Labs, as…

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Get Ready for Constructive Confrontation, Don’t Run Away

No matter how similar, all companies develop their own distinct cultures.  Hopefully you have all had the opportunity to experience what it is like to work in a great company culture and working environment.  On the contrary, I sincerely hope that your time working in toxic, poorly developed company cultures has been limited. Company culture can…

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My VMware blogs – Insights into Cloud Ops

Businesses and individuals alike have realized the power of blogging. From thought leadership to lead generation, blogging offers benefits aplenty to those creating the content. Topics and styles of blogs vary widely. While some focus on personal thoughts and musings, others like the ones I kept up while at Cisco and VMWare focus more on…

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Ink, Digital Cameras and the Innovators Dilemma

This is a story of unadulterated profit-seeking and how that mentality threatens to cloud your thinking in the corporate world.  When I was at HP Laboratories, my colleagues and I were constantly busy, toiling away at any number of technologies. Many of those technologies were based upon semiconductor manufacturing processes and Integrated circuit design that would eventually…

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Who Are These Developers Anyway?

Throughout my career, I’ve worked on countless projects involving enterprise management software for IT jockeys across various lines of business. Within this field of expertise, we’ve all encountered enterprise software at some point during our career.  The extremely practical, albeit boring  UI, the constructs of users, groups and roles, on premise installers and ilk of that sort….

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Why the Big Players Keep Acquiring Cloudy Companies

Business Units (BUs) have insatiable desire to buy other companies.  Why is that? In this article, I’ll explore a few things motivating this phenomenon. Having been on both sides I have a few observations that I hope can help shed some light on the backroom motivations at large companies. Let’s look at some of the…

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Your Early Career is a Contact Sport

 I’m always amazed when I talk to friends from outside of the Bay Area that the general consensus is that a day at work here plays out a lot like the movie “The Intern.” It’s all about the perks and the fun, without any of that pesky work getting in the way.  The cool, free lunches and disruptive…

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From Chemistry to Clouds

From Chemistry to Clouds is a bit of an odd name for a blog, right? And yet, these four words truly embody the spirit of my journey. Having recently left the big company corporate world after a few decades of moving through different technologies, business models, and organizational positions, I felt as though I wanted a…

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