Axiom: Technology moves quickly.  Corollary:  there are fads and cycles which come and go as quickly.   Irony:  Each time around, there is something new and different and better, but you’ve also seen it before.  Reality:  You know that things will be better, but not perfect, and you’ve got the advantage of some insight into what is likely to succeed and how well it will, and what you’re still going to face.  If you know this from experience, as I do, then you will be able to act on it.

I’m also someone who has lived on the edge of leading technology, and done research in it. That doesn’t just mean that I have  used the latest product.  It’s more than that.  I deeply understand the technology and know where it’s headed and how to change it. 

I’ve worked all over the software technology stack modifying operating systems, porting systems to new chips, pushing the edge on interfaces that we’re still learning about that use voice and touch, worked on AI-ish problems that are on the edge of what we know how to do with computers. 

And I’m more than an alpha-geek in that I also bring some aesthetics, some art, some human engagement into what I’m making to more roundly fill out it’s usefulness, rather than just being something I can do just because I can. 

Innovation is hard work. You have to think creatively and to see connections; you have to know what is out there that makes them practical in a business timeframe and not just a research project.  I love research, too.  Each has a context, and I’m excited by both. I’m excited by pure knowledge and pushing the edge on what we can do, and I’m interested in how to create value with it.  Both are fantastic ways of moving forward.