WB-40

It’s another round of Ask WB-40, where this week Matt & Chris take on listener questions about careers in technology, tech hype cycles, and (inevitably) AI amongst others.

On this week’s show we are joined by Henry Coutinho-Mason to talk about the art and science of trend-spotting.

On this week’s show we are joined by Christian Hunt who talks about how he brings Behavioural Science approaches into the world of compliance. You can find Christian’s book here: https://www.human-risk.com/humanizing-rules-book

On this week’s show we are joined by Alistair Doran to talk about the way in which the traditions of work and education get in the way of accessing the superpowers of the neurodiverse. If you would like to chat with Alistair about your own experiences of neurodiversity at work, he’d be delighted to speak. […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Tom Somers from Skenariolabs to talk about data in the world of the built environment.

On this week’s show we are joined by Matt Mower. You can find him on LinkedIn here, and the AgendaScope website can be found here.

On this week’s show we are joined by Caroline Carruthers to talk about her new Data Maturity research. You can get your own copy of the Carruthers & Jackson report here: https://carruthersandjackson.com/data-maturity-index/ The video Matt mentioned is here.

On this week’s show we are joined by Qualyfi’s Neil Marley to talk about upskilling the next generation of technologists.

This week we are joined by the inventor of Radical Knowledge Management Stephanie Barnes. She is a knowledge management consultant and artist with over 30 years of experience. In her consulting practice (Entelechy) she focuses on aligning people, process, and technology to not only help organisations be more efficient and effective with what they know, […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Nick Drage who tells us about his experience building games to use in businesses.

In this week’s marginally self-indulgent episode, Chris interview’s Matt about his new product, The PlayCards. If that’s piqued your interest, why not register for one of Matt’s free intro workshops here, or buy a pack of the cards to treasure forever here. WB-40 listeners can get a £5 discount with the code WB40 at the […]

We have another episode of Ask WB-40, with some cracking questions again coming from the audience. If you’d like to get an invite to the show’s Signal Channel, just drop us a line on Twitter.

On this week’s show we are joined by Sireesh Nallanthighal from The Car Crowd to talk about his career transition from the steady corporate life into the fast lane of a tech start up/scale up.

On this week’s show we are joined by Templfy’s Christian Lund to talk about the ways in which software companies account for the latest and greatest tech hypes. In Matt’s introduction he mentioned the work of extreme grumpiness from Chris King. It’s here: https://noscootersrequired.substack.com/p/the-frog-who-asked-for-nothing

On this week’s show we’re joined by 3Forge founder and CTO Robert Cooke to talk about why we possibly should think more about the history of Computer Science. If you want to find out more about the PlayCards that Matt keeps wanging on about, you can do so here.

On this week’s show we talk with John Sills about his new book The Human Experience.

On this week’s show we are joined by Data Orchard’s Sian Basker to talk about the nature of data in charities and other not-for-profit businesses.

On this week’s show Chris & Matt are joined by marketing consultant and Founder of Adaptomy William Wright.

On this week’s show we are joined by Gavin Megnauth to reflect on what he’s learned by immersing himself in the California tech scene.

For the first show of the new year, Chris and Matt project into the year ahead and ask what subjects the CIO or CTO may be asked by their less technical C-Suite colleagues in the coming 12 months.

In the final show of 2022, Chris and Matt take a look back at a selection of the wonderful guests they’ve hosted in the past 12 months.

On this week’s show, Chris and Matt are joined by John Willshire of Smithery, the inventor of Artefact Cards. You can find out more about the cards at the Artefact Shop.

On this week’s show, Matt is joined by technology architect Mark Wilson as Chris takes a break. We talk about how and where remote working is putting pressure on technology and technology management. We also do a quiz. A very geeky quiz about ancient computers.

On this week’s show Matt speaks with someone who was pioneering remote working techniques and technology back in the 1980s – his Dad, Malcolm. There’s a video about Live-Net here: And the network learning course he set up in 1989 is still running here: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/study/2020/postgraduate/programmes/TMSORPSY_C Don’t forget, if you want to join our WhatsApp Group, […]

On this week’s show we have special guest Euan Semple. He tells about his career diversion driving trucks, and how most organisations still haven’t realised that it’s people who tweet. You can find Euan’s book here, and his blog at euansemple.blog. Chris and Matt also talked about the Remote Work Survival Toolkit. You can get […]

On this week’s show, Chris & Matt splutter and hack their way through thoughts on the impending homeworking epidemic, marvel at the wonder that is https://coronavirustechhandbook.com/, and also mull on the phenomenon that is sector-specific line of business software.

On this week’s show we are joined by head of Geovation Alex Wrottesley. You can find out more about the organisation at https://geovation.uk/ We also have the final result of the WB-40 World Cup of Operating Systems. You’ll have to listen to find out…

On this week’s show, in light of the worries about Corona Virus, Chris & Matt talk about the remaining challenges facing remote work, and remote meetings. We also have the results of the semi-finals of the WB-40 World Cup of Operating Systems (also below for you) and chat about Google’s decision to move their Data […]

On this week’s show Chris & Matt talk about the labels that we (and analyst companies) apply to new technologies. Or sometimes just old technologies warmed up. We also have the results from the World Cup of Operating Systems Quarter Finals – you can vote now in the Semi Finals here. Results to date as […]

(This time with the actual audio) On this week’s show Chris and Matt talk about why IoT isn’t more peer-to-peer, and we also update you on the 2nd round of the World Cup of Operating Systems. We are indebted to the marvellous Emma Bearman for the conversation that led to this episode. We spoke with […]

Chris is gallivanting around Europe this week, so we have a micro show update on the first round of the WB-40 World Cup of Operating Systems. Full results are below, and voting for Round 2 is now open here: https://forms.gle/4UxFCEpNkaFb4PS18

On this week’s show, Matt & Chris discuss whether IT might be better if it were diluted down to such and extent that it could do no damage. This week we also launch the World Cup of Operating Systems – join in the fun by showing your allegiances at https://forms.gle/L1rQ6izNG159QVxE7 Here’s the full draw:   […]

On this week’s show, we speak with Peter Kappus about the world of Objectives and Key Results – OKRs. You can find out more about Peter at peterkappus.com, and John Doerr’s Measure What Matters can be found here.

On the first show of 2020, Chris & Matt reflect on the people they spoke to on the show in 2019. Matt mentioned this cracking episode of 99% Invisible that explores The ELIZA Effect. He also mentioned Hannah Fry’s Hello World.

On this week’s show, the penultimate of 2019, Matt talks to his new CEO, David Done from RHP. Chris and Matt also manage to completely avoid talking about the elephant in the room. Next week is the final show of the year – tweet us your highlights from the show in 2019 so we can […]

On this week’s show, Digital Sociologist Lisa Talia Moretti talks about her discipline, and Matt & Chris discuss why we can’t have nice things through the medium of hospital car parking.

On this week’s show, Matt and Chris reflect on a year in which we both went back into conventional jobs. We also had another tech election news update.

On this week’s show, Chris and Matt plough through the technology elements of the 2019 election manifestos so that you don’t have to. Aren’t we nice?

On this week’s show Matt and Chris explore two areas of policy that have come up so far in the 2019 election campaign. Early on Matt mentions this post about reasons to build apps: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/2017/06/29/7-reasons-to-app-redux/

On this week’s show, we have an experimental recording from last week’s Cardstock gathering, a get together of people who use cards in their work. You will hear from: John Willshire, creator of Artefact Cards James Rutherford, creator of Kick Cards Sandie Bakowski, who has created games to help teams discover psychological safety Simon White […]

It seems like just yesterday that we were heading to the polls, but yet again we have another general election on the horizon. So in this week’s show, we cast a light on what our panel of political pundits think might be in the forthcoming manifestos, and speak to Nathan Young about the Election Tech […]

On this week’s show we speak with Sharon O’Dea from Lithos Partners about the changing world of work and collaboration. And because Chris is now an influential person in the world of IT, we look at the world of IT news in an influential way.

On this week’s show we celebrate the show’s third birthday with an interview with Ed Holroyd-Pearce from VirtualInternships.com.

On this week’s show, we speak to author and journalist Jamie Bartlett about some of the issues raised in his BBC Sounds programme The Missing Cryptoqueen.

On this week’s show we talk with Tim Hall from Influx about time-series databases and also try to understand what on earth is going on with WeWork.

On this week’s show, we speak with Jonathan Lacefield from DataStax about Graph database technologies, and also discuss the recent startup guide to no-deal Brexit from Heather Burns and Coadec. You can download it here: https://coadec.com/news/no-deal-a-guide-for-startups/ Matt also mentioned the great (if somewhat depressing) book Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. It’s well worth a […]

On this week’s show Matt interviews 77diamonds.com‘s MD Tobias Kormind. Chris also talks about his latest read, Tom Chivers’ The AI Doesn’t Hate You.

On this week’s show, Chris speaks with Mike Ames about Mike’s approach to networking. We also catch up with Paul Armstrong about the forthcoming TBD Conference in December. The first 10 WB-40 listeners can get a £600 for just £100 if you follow this link.

On this week’s show we speak to Jason Murphy from IMS Evolve about connected devices at scale. Matt and Chris also chew the fat on the challenges that WhatsApp poses in government organisations and politics.

On this week’s show you can hear Matt & Chris talking about some of the implications of facial recognition and deep fake technologies, and also quite how clever the Prince of Darkness Cummings may actually be. You can find Chris’s blog post here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/de-risking-personal-data-process-chris-weston/ And the Cummings post here: https://Dominiccummings.com/2019/06/26/on-the-referendum-33-high-performance-government-cognitive-technologies-michael-nielsen-bret-victor-seeing-rooms/ Matt is running a panel […]

On this week’s show we speak with Amy Golding about her nology project. Matt mentioned the Value Proposition Canvas which you can find at https://www.strategyzer.com/ If you are interested in The Social CEO book in which Matt (amongst may others) has a chapter, you can pre-order it here: https://amzn.to/2StevNy (sponsored link). We’ll be back in September […]

On this week’s show we speak with Consulting Artist Doug Shaw about the work he does with his corporate clients exploring ambiguity, and Matt accuses Chris of the most appalling crime. –Transcript by otter.ai.  Included for search purposes. ———– Matt Ballantine 0:20 Hello, and welcome to Episode 116 of WB 40, the weekly podcast with […]

On this week’s show Matt & Chris chew the fat over the concept of Innovation. Some of the models that Matt talks about can be found in this short thread of blog posts: https://mmitii.mattballantine.com/2019/06/26/innovation-in-4-diagrams-1-digital-architecture/ Chris’s South Park reference is here: -Transcript produced by Otter.ai. You might use it for accessibility, but it’s really here so […]

On this week’s show Matt speaks with Jeremy Hollow from Listen & Learn Research about social insight. We also have Yin & Yang, and here’s Chris’s scary Yang…

As we pass the two-year anniversary of the Grenfell Disaster, on this week’s show we speak with fire safety campaigner Phil Murphy about fire engineering and the role of tech. You can find Phil on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/manccommunities We also quiz Chris on his book knowledge. It didn’t go well.

On this week’s show Matt speaks to RoleShare’s Sophie Smallwood about all things job sharing. We also see the welcome return of Internet Yin and Yang. If you really must, Chris’s new favourite spreadsheet can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19gMMn4Wmw3BNLWMojEy7kgrjnjVB2JlMSwd1s-nYyUc/edit#gid=0

On this week’s show Matt speaks to Caroline Carruthers and Peter Jackson about their new book Data Driven Business Transformation. We’ve got three copies to give away. Just tweet us the answer to the question we set in the show – two books for the first two correct answers, and one to the one we […]

On this week’s show Chris and Matt report back from the IT Directors’ Forum at The Grove Hotel in Hertfordshire. You can find out more about Avril here: https://www.cancercentral.org.uk/moreAboutUs.jsf And about Ian here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dudleyian/ We’re off for a week – next show and back to usual format on June 3rd

On this week’s show, partly recorded at the Richmond Events IT Directors Forum, we speak to Freshworks’ CEO Girish Mathrubootham about Customer Experience and starting up in India.

On this week’s show, recorded live at the first WB-40 Meetup, Chris & Matt speak to Steve Brown from Empiric, our wonderful hosts, about the initiative to get female students into tech work experience, Next Tech Girls. If you are interested in a WB-40 T-Shirt, then Chris still has plenty to sell. Tweet us at […]

On this week’s show we speak with Rina Atienza, Lynette Nusbacher and Jim Wallman about brexitgames.com This week’s Internet Yang was this cracking post by Peter Kappus. And don’t forget you’ve got about 24 hours from publishing to be able to nab one of the last few returns for WB-40 Live this week in London. […]

CIO Advisory services. What are they for? Who buys them? And what are the needs that are being fulfilled? On this week’s show Matt and Chris reflect on some research recently completed looking at why people buy from the likes of Gartner. We also have another episode of I Must Read It Again, where Matt […]

On this week’s show, Chris speaks with data expert Laura Paterson. And we also have Senan Largey talking about a book he must read again – Cal Newport’s Deep Work. The last few tickets for the WB-40 live event in London on May 2nd – get one now! ——Transcription provided by otter.ai — provided to […]

On this week’s show we speak to Sedge Beswick from SEEN Connects about the world of influencer marketing. We also discuss LinkedIn and DNAFriend on this week’s Internet Yin and Yang. Finally, we have now announced the first WB-40 MeetUp – tickets are going fast at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wb-40-podcast-meetup-tickets-59331103929 for the event that takes place on the evening of […]

On this week’s show we speak to Darren Timmins about data in organisations. We also have another episode of I must read it again from Mark Wilson who tells us about The Innovator’s Dilemma. If you want to find out more about the Podcast Powered Projects initiative you can find out more at https://podcastpoweredprojects.com/

On this week’s show, we speak with Jude Jennison from Leaders By Nature. We also have internet Yin – this from AfterBrexit.tech https://afterbrexit.tech/data-protection/ and this Yang from the Richmond Library service: https://richmond.gov.uk/services/libraries/branch_libraries/reference_library/reference_services/magazines_and_newspapers Don’t forget you can join the conversation on our WhatsApp Group. Just drop us a line on Twitter to find out more.

On this week’s show, Chris interviews Menno van Doorn about his new report The Synthetic Generation. You can access the full report here: https://www.sogeti.com/explore/reports/the-synthetic-generation/ We also hear from Andy Callow about a book he must read again – Jurgen Appelo’s Managing for Happiness. If you haven’t seen it yet you can read our special Episode 100 […]

On this week’s show we speak to Gallium Ventures’ Heather Delaney about the world of crowd-funded startups. This week’s internet Yin is this article from The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2019/2/25/18229714/cognizant-facebook-content-moderator-interviews-trauma-working-conditions-arizona And the rather obscure Yang is here: https://www.ewireasonsounds.com/ Don’t forget you can continue the conversation with us on WhatsApp – just send us a note on Twitter to […]

On this week’s show we speak to Tracy Keogh about the Grow Remote project developing remote working communities across Ireland. We are also joined by Craig Hogan whose book he must read again is Bounce by Matthew Syed. If you’d like to contribute to that feature in future episodes, you can find all the details […]

On this week’s show we speak to Risual’s Mark Wilson about the nature of modern systems integrators. We also see a welcome return to Internet Yin and Yang. Matt’s ire was raised by this tweet… WATCH: From autonomous vehicles to the Internet of Things, edge computing will play a “pivotal” role in enabling the most […]

On this week’s show, Chris speaks once again with software licensing expert Kylie Fowler about how the world of buying software is changing. Matt also reflects on a preview screening of the documentary film General Magic the Movie.

On this week’s show, Matt talks to artist and consultant Steve Chapman about his work, testing accepted thinking in many creative ways. We also had the Internet Yin and Yang. Our Yin was the recent announcement from Facebook that they will be merging Instagram and WhatsApp into that platform. To bring the world back into […]

On this week’s show, Matt & Chris discuss the fascinating article Survival of the Mediocre Mediocre by Venkatesh Rao. We also have the second edition of I Must Read It Again, this week with Tom Geraghty talking about The Phoenix Project. You can find out more about Tom at http://www.tomgeraghty.co.uk/ ****Transcript created by http://otter.ai – […]

On this week’s show we speak to Adam Billing from Treehouse Innovation about design thinking, and the software his company have developed to help design thinking initiatives span geography. On Internet Yin and Yang this week Chris raised the spectre of data-collecting televisions, and Matt looked at who (doesn’t) own England. Don’t forget you can […]

On this week’s show we interview Ben Newton about his podcast Masters of Data, We also introduce our new books feature I Must Read It Again – a big thanks to Matt Jukes for his inaugural contribution which is Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody. A minor disclaimer – this week we tried an interesting new tool for […]

It’s the last show of the year, and so as is customary, Chris and Matt look back on what they’ve learned in 2018, and what might be coming up in the year ahead. If you’re interested in joining the WhatsApp channel just drop us a line on Twitter.

In the second episode of The Flexible Movement, Pauline, Chris and Matt catch up on the things that we’ve found out so far on the journey into the world of flexible working. You can find out more about the project at https://www.flexiblemovement.com/, and if you want to hear further episodes of the show you can […]

On this week’s show we speak to consultant Simon Minty about using comedy to help get serious messages and change to happen. On the bookclub, we look back on Grant Leboff’s Sticky Marketing. And we also get up to date with the latest on Bitcoin energy consumption in the form of national anthems… Don’t forget […]

On this weeks show we chat with Ben Schein, VP of Data Curiosity and Innovation at Domo. If you want to hear more from Ben, there’s a slightly extended version of the interview available here: https://wb40podcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ben-schein-interview-longer-edit.mp3 We also see the welcome return of Yin and Yang. Here’s the Yin: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2186512-exclusive-uk-police-wants-ai-to-stop-violent-crime-before-it-happens/ And here’s the Yang: https://www.1843magazine.com/features/a-rockers-guide-to-management […]

On this week’s show, Chris talks to Mark Aikman about developing software, and we look back on Simon Sinek’s Start With Why. The next book on the list is Grant Leboff’s Sticky Marketing. You can find the material Matt used at the Business Partner event here: https://stamplondon.co.uk/sitp

On this week’s show Matt speaks to Guru CEO and co-Founder Rick Nucci about using AI to help people be better “people people”, the trouble with CRM, and why Philadelphia is a great place to found a startup. We also delve into the dark and shade of the internet with the ludicrous 3M marketing campaign […]

This isn’t an episode of WB-40. This is the first episode of a new project we are working on. And this episode runs a little ahead of the rest, as you’ll hear. It’s a bit like that early show of Strictly Come Dancing that happens at the end of the summer before the celebrity contestants […]

On this week’s show we look back on Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers  Next up in the WB-40 Bookclub is Simon Sinek’s Start With Why We also have a fabulous interview with Society Inside’s Hilary Sutcliffe. Don’t forget you’ll be able to hear our new experiment in Podcasting Powered Projects from 10am on Wednesday at https://wb40podcast.com/the-flexible-movement —- […]

On this week’s show we speak to Simon White about his Shift Strategies project. This week’s internet Yang was the remarkable Jimi Halloween. Don’t forget you can join the conversation on WhatsApp – just drop us a line on Twitter for the magic link.       —- This transcript is generated by http://otter.ai.  It […]

On this week’s show Chris interviews Tony Harper from Digital Native about the current state of apprenticeships in the UK. We also reflect on Dan Pink’s book Drive, and pick the next WB40 Bookclub book – Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. Don’t forget you can join the conversation over on our WhatsApp Channel – just drop us a line […]

On this week’s show, Matt spoke with Simon Hayward, author of the book Agile Leadership. Don’t forget you can join the WB40 WhatsApp Group – just drop us a line on Twitter, and we’ll send you a link.

On this week’s show we review Bob Hayward and Nick Baldock’s book Persuade. The next book up on the WB40 Bookclub list is Dan Pink’s Drive. Matt also speaks to NetGuru CEO Wiktor Schmidt about how he’s built his business on the principle of Remote First. Don’t forget you can join the conversation on WhatsApp – just […]

On this week’s show Matt speaks with Quby’s Head of Data Science, Stephen Galsworthy at the Databricks Spark+AI Summit about the challenges of using data to change behaviours. We also have the return of Internet Yin and Yang. Chris chose this minor mishap from Google as his Yin, and the remarkable Brexit tech resource after […]

On this week’s show Chris & Matt speak about Judgement – judgement of the book that was this week’s Bookclub focus, The Master Algorithm, judgement of whether computers will ever possess judgement, and last but not least how to make a judgement of technology suppliers, especially in regard to information security. You can find the […]

On this week’s show Chris & Matt discuss the nature of “Bernie” projects – those IT initiatives that continue to chug along even though everyone involved knows that the patient is dead. We also have Internet Yin in the form of Google Don’t Be Evil and Google, really, Don’t Be Evil. And the best Internet Yang so […]

On this week’s show, Matt interviews psychologist Nancy Doyle about neurodiversity and the tech industry. You can find Nancy’s BPS report here: https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/psychology-work-improving-wellbeing-and-productivity-workplace And Genius within can be found at https://www.geniuswithin.co.uk/ This week we also reviewed Seth Stephens-Davidowitz’s Everybody Lies. The next Bookclub book is The Master Algorithm.

On this week’s show Matt meets workplace specialist Neil Usher to discuss the nature of digital workplaces. You can find out more in Neil’s book The Elemental Workplace. This week’s Internet Yin is best described here: http://time.com/5339037/turtle-video-plastic-straw-ban/ And the Yang, the Web Design Museum, is here: https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/ (Hat tip to the wonderful Imperica Web Curios – https://www.imperica.com/en/newsletter) Chris’s spot […]

This week we review Daniel Coyle’s The Culture Code. The next book on the Bookclub shelf is Everybody Lies, by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. The Economist’s series of articles on Blockchain, Bitcoin and Distributed Ledgers start here: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2018/08/30/bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies-are-useless

On this week’s show Chris speaks to Charles Joel from Gardner Denver about how the world of IoT is maturing in the realm of heavy industry.  Further detail on this can be found in their white paper. The Austrian National Anthem was brought to you in reference to this site: https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption Next week we’ll be reviewing […]

On this week’s show Matt and Chris discuss their summer holiday reading, in which they got to at least chapter 3 in the following: Be More Pirate The Everything Store The Upstarts The Psychopath Test Alastair Campbell Diaries Volume One The next WB40 Bookclub Book is The Culture Code. You can find more details about […]

Chris and Matt are now off on their summer holidays, but a few weeks ago Matt caught up with Ben Newton to be interviewed on Ben’s show Masters of Data. So we thought you might like to check that out. Normal WB-40 Service will resume on August 20th. And you can keep in touch in […]

On this week’s show we welcome back the WB40 Bookclub. We review Ryan Holiday’s The Obstacle is the Way (Spoiler: we didn’t like it). For the next four weeks we have two more titles for your reading pleasure: Be More Pirate by Sam Conniff Allende The Everything Store by Brad Stone Also on this week’s show […]

On this week’s show we interview Diffrnt Group CEO Rachel Murphy about a new approach to consulting, and the challenges of digital in the Health industry. This week’s fontastic Internet Yang is retold in this story from The Globe and Mail. Join us at the WB40Podcast WhatsApp group! Just drop us a line on Twitter and […]

On this week’s show we are joined by Wyndham Plumptre, founder of Future Arc, to talk about the challenges of doing business sustainably.