A few weeks ago I was reviewing the contents of the Venturelab workshop Effectuation by professor Saras Sarasvathy, to see if I could apply the effectual principles for personal development.

In this process I got connected via Twitter with Thomas Blekman, a part-time lecturer in Corporate Effectuation and Strategy at Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University Rotterdam, who recently published the book Corporate Effectuation.

In the article below I will write down my thoughts and experiences while reading the book. I hope it will provide a helpful overview, and invites you to read the book Corporate Effectuation (and apply its principles  in everyday life).

Effectuation ?

If you are not familiar with the term Effectuation, a fair question certainly is “What is Effectuation ?”. On the Effectuation website you can read the following definition:

“Effectuation is a logic used by expert entrepreneurs to solve problems in highly uncertain market environments. Entrepreneurs can learn to think and act effectually, thereby increasing their ability to create successful ventures.”

Five Principles of Effectuation

Effectuation consists of five principles, which are extensively explained in the the first chapters of the book.  The five principles of effectuation are:

1. Bird-in-hand principle:  Start with Who you are, What you know and Whom you know;
2. Affordable loss principle:  Invest what you can afford to lose;
3. Crazy Quilt principle:  Build a network of self-selected stakeholders;
4. Lemonde principle:  Embrace and leverage surprises (every day);
5. Pilot-in-the-plane principle:  The future comes from what people do.

Some time ago I reviewed The One Minute Manager — (Blanchard & Johnson, 1983) and The One Minute Sales Person  – (Johnson & Wilson, 1984). In these books I particularly liked the One Minute Manager’s- and the One Minute $alesperon’s Game Plan. The effectuation game plan is summarized below, while a larger version can be downloaded as long a s you share it with others.

If you are interested in some more background reading on effectuation, than the paper Causation and Effectuation: Toward a Theoretical Shift From Economic Inevitability to Entrepreneurial Contingency, is highly recommended.

The first two chapters of the book introduce the theoretical framework- and the essence of effectuation. The other seven chapters link effectuation to various other scientific approaches and like business modelling, reframing or the granularity of innovation. I will cover six of those chapters in the sections below.

High Performance Organization and Corporate Effectuation

This is an highly interesting chapter because in practice you can see process optimizations (focussed on improving efficiency and productivity) while on the other hand companies would like to innovate. At first sight it seems like a tension area, however with applying effectuation and its principles it might

Thomas Blekman uses Essent as an excellent practical example to illustrate that innovation and a focus on cost reduction and process optimization can go hand in hand (if effectuation is used). Effectuation empowers the explorative power of the organization, which perfectly fits the long term strategy of adding value to propositions.

Furthermore interesting to see three different levels of High Performance Organization(s), in line with sustainable change leadership types (Rowland & Higgs, 2008).

Business Modeling and Corporate Effectuation

When I got in touch with Thomas Blekman, one of my main interests was the relation of Corporate Effectuation and Business Modeling. But what is a business model ? According Osterwalder’s research a definition is:

“A business model describes the rational of how an organization creates, delivers and captures value“

A little more than a year ago I met Osterwalder and his book team, after which I wrote a preview of the book Business Model Generation. The essence of the book is the business model canvas, which consists of 9 building blocks.

Camilla van den Boom from Business Models Inc. describes in this chapter the use of this canvas as flexbile strategic business planning- or change management tool. She uses the case of the university hospital Maastricht, which made it highly interesting to read. Further more each of the effectual principles is applied during the process of developing a new (set of) business model(s) for the university hospital.

Reframing and Corporate Effectuation

Before reading Corporate Effectuation I didn’t knew Reframing.

On the KVD Reframing, a design and innovation consultancy firm, founded bij Ir. Gijs Ockeloen and professor Ir. Matthijs van Dijk, you can read a definition of the term reframing:

“Reframing is a design method aimed at understanding and predicting how people will interact with future products and services. Companies, instututes or any other other organisation may use the method to open the door towards innovation opportunities while bringing the future under control. Reframing adresses human behaviour rather than technology. Reframing offers a new way of looking at the relations between people and products and a practical tool to steer innovation.”

When you read the definition carefully it consists of a few highly interesting aspects (highlighted in bold). The focus on human behavior and the relations between people and products is an interesting approach. The focus on future products and services reminds me a little of scenario planning and future planning concepts I have heard during the vision on the future symposium some time ago.The picture above describes the reframing process, with the starting point in a current set of products (or services). Decomposing the product, man-product-interactions and the contextual aspects in the first phase. And designing the new product or service in 8 steps over the context, interaction and product levels.

I will certainly dive a little more in this framework !

Granularity of Innovation and Corporate Effectuation

Back in 2008 I attended the fith European Masterclass on Corporate Entrepeneurship & Open Innovation with Henry Chesbrough & Kenneth Morse together with a lot of people from Philips Research. During this masterclass I’ve met Corina Kuiper as one of the involved experts.

Therefore it is really cool to read her chapter in the corporate effectuation book about the granularity of innovation and the innovation portfolio management within Philips.

“Granularity of innovation is the degree of differentiation among the different types of innovation.”  (p.136, 137)

Disruptiveness to the customer determines how to innovate. Philips has developed a 4×4 innovation martix, with disruptiveness and market life cycle on both axis.  Furthermore you can see that the left blue half of the matrix is aimed at existing (more mature) product categories, while the orange right half is aimed at new categories.

On the diagonal you can futhermore see numbered green dots, that combine the different stages of market life cycle and disruptivess. In fact you move from radical innovations in the upper right corner to incremental innovations in the bottom left corner.

Inspired by a book  The Living Company (Arie de Geus, 1997) the numbered green dots can be compared with different maturity stages of humans as well:

1. Baby
2. Adolescent
3. Adult
4. Senior

Almost every company has these four types of (innovation) projects, where probably most of the projects are in the adult stage. A baby is an radical innovation project for the long term in a very early stage. Management teams foster both adults and babies.

According to research large firms have problems with managing adolecents, because there are tensions with for example the current business model, current supply chains or first customers.

Philips uses the innovation matrix (and specific area’s like you can see in the picture of the book above) to visualize the different types of innovation (and the resulting specific approach). Boxed budgets, incubators, balanced scorecards for ventures and the stage-gated Bell Mason Group framework for new business creation are specific tools that support the various types of innovations.

Additional recommended reading is the slidedeck The flavors in corporate innovation by Fred van Ommen and Corina Kuiper for the Corporate Venturing Conference 2011.

Personal Development and Corporate Effectuation

Effectuation in a personal development setting, was the primary driver to review the scientific effectual framework and got me connected with Thomas Blekman.

Michael Faschingbauer has written the book “Effectuation, Wie erfolgreiche Unternehmer denken, entscheiden und handlen.”  (Effectuation, How successful entrepreneurs think, decide and act.) It has been the management book of the year in 2010.

Faschingbauer provides a few very helpfull tips, complemented with tips from Thomas Blekman. Despite the highly interesting tips, I will try to get my hands on the book of Faschingbauer, and go a few steps deeper into the personal development aspects of effectuation.

Orchestration of Corporate Effectuation

Orchestration of corporate effectuation is the final chapter of the book, which focuses on integrating a Corporate Effectuation mindset into a company or how can Corporate Effectuation become part of an organization’s DNA. Thomas Blekman and Henri Mennens provide an overview  of relevant organizational “parts” where Corporate Effectuation can make the difference:

1. Support of top management;
2. Organizational structures;
3. IT Systems;
4. People development;
5. Other HR processes;
6. Other corporate processes;
7. Integration in operational processes;

While it really depends on the organization which of the “parts” are applicable and which set of the organizational parts has the highest impact.

I was interested in the combination of IT systems and the Corporate Effectuation mindset. IT systems can provide the latest information, latest views, latest research or even ideas that help employees with driving innovation and absorbing new knowledge. Furthermore you could think about the use of knowledge management platforms combining the brain-power in a company, or the use of business intelligence solutions that help to make informed decisions.

Thomas Blekman and Henri Mennens provide an approach to integrate the Corporate Effectuation mindset into a company. The Corporate Effectuation Business Program is a seven-step process that combines different tools that are covered before in the book like business modelling and reframing.

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

I got connected with Thomas Blekman via social technology (thank you Charlene Li) while in our meetup he explained his background and drivers to write the book !

The Corporate Effectuation book first builds the foundation with effectual principles in the first two chapters and connects with other scientific frameworks and management theories in the other chapters.

I really liked this positioning between academic research/science and everyday business practice. However that really represents the personality of Thomas Blekman:

“In Thomas’ opinion scietific knowledge is only relevant if it has practical value.”

Corporate Effectuation consists of a bulk load of highly interesting examples that help building understanding of the Effectual principles in various settings and situations. The look and feel of the book shows similarities with the Business Model Generation handbook (Osterwalder et al. 2010).

Overall it is fun to read and remark the post-it on the front cover: “Irritant goed boek !” That is what the Corporate Effectuation book is, a must read for every entrepreneur, manager or professional. Corporate Effectuation is available in Dutch and English.

About Thomas Blekman

Thomas Blekman is a part-time lecturer in Corporate Effectuation and Strategy at Rotterdam School of Management Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has recently finished his new book Corporate Effectuation. Corporate Effectuation is the very first work in The Netherlands about this new and very successful approach. Thomas Blekman is partner of De Beukelaar Group, dean of Corsendonk College in Belgium. In other words, he is with one foot firmly in daily practice, while footing the other on solid science; in short, the living proof of Effectuation! Thomas has extensive experience in the corporate field and is specialized in consulting and facilitating firms becoming more innovative and entrepreneurial. In Thomas’ opinion scietific knowledge is only relevant if it has practical value.

If you are connected with me on LinkedIn, you probably know that I’m working at Microsoft Netherlands in the role of Next Generation Consultant (within Microsoft Services). It has been a very exciting rollercoaster ride so far, and keep in mind that Microsoft Netherlands won the Great Place to Work award for the third year in a row.

Are you a talented student in the final phase of your study ? Are you creative and passionate about technology and ready to challenge the status quo ? If these are descriptions that suite you will, don’t hesitate and enroll for the Mixed Minds Business Course on September 29th 2011.

Mixed Minds Business Course

The Mixed Minds Business Course would be a great moment to start your journey within Microsoft Netherlands.

It will be a lot of fun, with various activities (for example a great social media session with Joris Coppes) that let you explore the entrepreneurial Microsoft culture. You will have the time to talk to Microsoft employees (and their daily occurences), feel the New World of Work office environment and have a sneak peak at innovative technology.

Furthermore you will be working with other tallented students on realistic business cases about:

• New World of Work

  Want to know more about the New World of Work, start reading the Microsoft Executive E-mail by Bill Gates (2005) about New World of Work or download the New World of Work Whitepaper.

• Windows Phone 7

Check-out the Mixed Minds Facebook page and drop a comment there ! You can find more information about the traineeships on the Microsoft NL website.

Interested ? Send your resume to mixedminds@microsoft.com and share your motivation in an original / creative way (and use your current view of Microsoft)

Hope to see you on the 29th of September, and have a cup of coffee !

By accident I noticed the Move Collective Bobble water bottle in a store. I was directly caught by the cool design, and the fact that a water filter is integrated into the nozzle of the water bottle. However there is a great story of entrepreneurship and environment behind this product !

Bobble Water Bottle – A closer look

I’m using the Bobble water bottle for a few weeks now, and the comments I get are about the fancy design, mainly aimed at the integrated filter in the nozzle. The Move Collective Bobble is the work of a great designer, Karim Rashid.

“Bobble is designed, under exclusive agreement, byu the famous multi award winning designer Karim Rashid.”

The bottle itself has a great (female) curve, which gives it elegant looks. The used plastic is thin, which makes it easy to squeeze the bottle while maintaining the strength (just in case you would accidentally drop the Bobble Water Botttle). The bottle diameter is not a perfect circle, but a little elliptical, which makes it easier squeeze (and drink). The Bobble water bottle is made of recycled plastic:

“Bobble is made from FDA approved recycled PET that is free of BPAm Phthalates and PVC & is 100% recyclable.”

The most eye-catching part is the colorful nozzle, with integrated filter, of the Bobble water bottle. It is a carbon filter, like you might know from outdoor- or hicking activities. The carbon filter cleans the water as you drink.

Therefore you can use the bottle in area’s where you can’t drink clean drinking water from the tap. But also in the Netherlands where you can drink from the tap, it seems like the water taste gets a little more sweet (assuming that the carbon filter has some impact).

I haven’t tried if you can put the nozzle with integrated filter on a different bottle, for example a 1.5 l soda bottle. This was a question I got from a fellow traveler during my commute from the office to home.

Business case – The entrepreneurial view

I mentioned in the introduction that there is a great business case behind the Bobble water bottle. From a business perspective it is not just the design that matters, but also the hard facts and financial numbers. So let’s do the math:

“Americans alone spend $17 billion every year to slake their thirst for portable water. The cost are not limited to our wallets either. Each year nearly 1.5 million barrels of oil are used to make plastic water bottles. Most of those bottles are casually discarded. They end up in our landfills, in our oceans, littlering our sidewalks.”

I was impressed with the ammount of oil barrels used in the times where predictions are made about running out of fossil fuels. On the other hand there is are complete industry value chains and supply chains build around the production and distribution of bottled water.

“Approximately 38 billion plastic water bottles end up in landfills each year. By using bobble, which is made from recycled materials, we can do all our part to eleminate unnecessary waste. Bobble helps fix the problem by using recycled material to make new bobbles. Botteled water is also a costly addiction. Bobble retails under $10 and can be refilled at least 300 times before changing the filter.”

Again an impressive figure how the environment is affected. The costs are kept relatively low, however $10,- is a lot of money in developing countries. At the office of my employer Earth water bottles are used, which are made of bio-degradable plastics. This could be a next step for Bobble 2.0 !

Overall you can build an strong business case from the number above, and I do hope that some impact can be made.

Overall conclusion and wrap-up

I’m using the Bobble water bottle for a few weeks now. I get a lot of questions when I’m commuting by train about the modern design and the colorful nozzle. I would conclude Karim Rashid did an excellent design job, it looks fresh, modern, minimalistic and clean. :)

As a hobby cyclist I’m used to drinking from a water bottle on my road bike, with the difference that these sports water bottles are not fitted with a filter. There is no need for it as well, otherwise the filter would get full of Maxim Electrolyte energy drink.

Over the past weeks it seems to be a very durable product. Just like the Camelbak drinking systems you need to be aware of cleaning the bottle and end cap from time to time.

The filters can be replaced as well, so you don’t need to throw away the bottle itself. I’m not sure if I will be counting the number of refills, however everyone should create some (corporate) social responsibility and save the environment about 299 bottles with the Bobble water bottle.

In this article I will have a closer look at the Waterfield Sleevecase for a Lenovo T61p with an extended 9 cell battery.It will not only be an indepth look at the product and its features, but I will also highlight the pre-sales advice and its underlying process.

Waterfield customer pre-sales service

The Lenovo T61p is a very robust and reliable machine, that is stall widely used in corporate environments. In my case it is a reliable workhorse for daily work, and with the extended 9 cell battery I can work during my daily commute without any problem.

SFBags order process

The ordering process and customizations consists of six general steps:

1. Tell us what type of laptop you have
2. Select Orientation
3. Trim Style
4. Add a Flap
5. Add a shoulder strap
6. Add a Piggyback pouch

1.  Tell us what type of laptop you have

The first step in the ordering process is defining the exact laptop model, for which you would like to order the Waterfield Sleevecase. From the pull down menu you can choose the manufacturer, which is in my case Lenovo. Furthermore note the “Laptop not listed? Click here.” link which allows you to choose a manufacturer or notebook that isn’t in the list.

Lenovo is listed, so I can select Lenovo from the pull down menu. As a result a pop-up window with a table of predefined Lenovo notebook options is shown. I couldn’t choose the Lenovo T61p from the table because it is an older machine. Remark the differences in orientation, and the use of a normal vs. an extended battery. On the bottom of the table you can click on … and fill in the form. This form is exactly the same page as the “Laptop not listed? Click here.” like described above.

This is the point where Waterfield customer service kicks in, to help you with some pre-sales advice. Based on the information from the form, you will be contacted to check the measurements of your machine (both in metric and US units, otherwise use the unit converter in Microsoft Mathematics ). After a check double-check loop, you will be provided with the optimal size for the Waterfield Sleevecase. Based on my experience the Waterfield Sleevecase always has a perfect fit. Remark the comparison of a Waterfield Sleevecase for HP Mini 1000 and a no-name netbook sleeve from eBay.

The funny part in here is that Gary, the brilliant mind behind Waterfield and its designs, also helped with the pre-sales advice. So it is not just a single person, but Waterfield Designs consists of a great and knowledgeable team.

2.  Select Orientation

The second step of the ordering process is the selection of the orientation of the Waterfield Sleevecase. You can choose the horizontal or vertical orientation. Since I use a Tom Bihn Empire Builder messenger style bag, I choose for the horizontal option. If you are a hardcore backpack user, you probably would prefer the vertical orientation.

3.  Trim Style

In the third step of the ordering process you can select a leather or an indium trim. In functional terms there is not much difference, so it is a matter of style and personal taste. I simply choose the Lead Indium option.

4.  Add a Flap

In order to fully protect the precious workhorse I chose the option to add a flap to the Waterfield Sleevecase. Another advantage of adding the flap to the Waterfield Sleevecase is the fact that the notebook is that well protected, that you can drop your laptop in a backpack as well (or any other bag). If you use a messenger-style bag you might think about the option not to add a flap so you have easy access to your laptop. However I would go for the optimal protection.

5.  Add a shoulder strap

If you want to travel really light you select the option to add a set of D-rings and a shoulder-strap to the Waterfield Sleevecase. You can  select the option to just add the D-rings, which is my preferred option. For the $5,- it gives you the opportunity to attach a shoulder-strap when needed. In the daily use it is often easy to grab the Waterfield Sleevecase (and the laptop) on one of the D-rings from the bag. Just hook one of your fingers in the D-ring and here you go …

6.  Add a Piggyback pouch

The final step in the ordering process is the option to choose a piggy bag or not. It is simply a small bag, which you could clip onto the D-Rings of your Waterfield Sleevecase. Personally I don’t have a need for this, since I use a Waterfield Medium Cableguy and a Waterfield 7 x 10 to stash away my power adapter mouse and some other accessories.

Waterfield Sleevecase a closer look

The Waterfield Sleevecase for Lenovo T61p is an almost custom build case. Furthermore you will get a Sleevecase that perfectly fits your notebook, instead of a one-size fits all. I haven’t seen many competitive products that take the use of a standard or extended battery into account.

Like I outlined in the review of the Waterfield Sleevecase for Lenovo X60 tablet, the used materials are really durable. The neoprene is really thick, providing excellent cushioning for your notebook. The ballistic nylon is normally used for bulletproof vests, where it now protects your precious machine.

On the backside of the Waterfield Sleevecase there is a convenient storage for some papers or a privacy filter that I use on my screen during the commute time. Remark the slope of the compartment for easy access to your papers.

Overall conclusions and final thoughts

The Waterfield Sleevecase for the Lenovo T61p is a great investment, even for an older machine like the Lenovo T61p. I pack and unpack the Lenovo T61p, and thus the Waterfield Sleevecase several times a day from the Tom Bihn Empire Builder bag that I’m currently using. The Waterfield Sleevecase is a very robust, well build product that perfectly protects your notebook while you are on the go. It allows you to easily switch between a custom laptop bag or a simple backpack that is not primarily designed for laptop use.

Over the past months, you can’t see any signs of wearing out. More in particular I’m using the Waterfield Sleevecase for the Lenovo X60 tablet over 2 years now. An excellent product combined with a knowledgeable staff that consults customers with excellent pre-sales advice is simply a winner ! If you are rocking an Apple MacBook Air, I would definitely recommend to check out the MacBook Air Travel Express case !

Microsoft Mathematics is probably one of the most under estimated pieces of software, that I started to love in the last few years.

The default Microsoft Windows Calculator is often fairly limited if you want to perform a little more complex calculations. On the other end of the spectrum you could use a specialized full blown engineering suite like Mathworks Matlab. However in a lot of (relative simple) scenario’s such an extensive toolbox is overkill. Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 is in the middle between both ends of the spectrum. You can do more advanced calculations from different mathematical fields, that are more than sufficient in most cases.

Graphical calculator

As you can see in the screenshot Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 looks like a typical graphical calculator. In the calculator screen on the left you can expand or collapse different sets of buttons aimed at a specific professional / scientific field:

1. Calculus;
2. Statistics;
3. Trigonometry;
4. Linear Algebra;
5. Standard;

This means you can do a lot of advanced higher order mathematics, without any problem. While this is extremely helpful for students studying mathematics or other engineering fields, it can be an excellent tool for a wider audience f professional who need to do some calculations or solve complex problems.

The Ribbon

Microsoft introduced with Microsoft Office 2007 the so called ribbon,  a “modern way to help users find, understand, and use commands efficiently and directly—with a minimum number of clicks, with less need to resort to trial-and-error, and without having to refer to Help.” I will cover the features of Microsoft Mathematics 4 by following the structure of the ribbon.

In the Home tab of the ribbon you can see the first block of Clipboard options like copy, cut, paste, undo, redo.

A second block is called Numbers and Angles, where you can easily switch between real and complex numbers, or change from degrees to radians or gradians dependant on the calculations you are performing.Finally you can set the decimal places from the drop down menu.

Input is the label of the third block, which allows you to swtich between keyboard input or pen input.

The final and last block in the ribbon of the home screen is labelled Tools. Each of the tools will be described in the sections below.

Equation solver

One of the unique features of Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 is the equation solver tool, which helps you to solve equations within a single click.

In the example I processed the equation x + 3 = 2 with the solution x = -1 ! From the solution x = -1 in the worksheet you can easily plot the equation fairly easy in various typs of graphs. Below the solution in the worksheet you can see some hyperlinks, which act as the drawing shortcuts.

Formulas and Equations

The second tool is called formulas and equations. You can choose a specific category of equations you want to solve, from the pull down menu:

• Formulas and Equations
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Trigonometry
• Physics
• Chemistry
• Laws of Exponents
• Properties of Logarithms
• Constants

For example you choose the category physics from the pull down menu. One of the equations shown is d = v * t or v = a * t + v0 ! With a single right click on the selected equation you can choose to solve the equation, to plot the equation on the graphing area, or simply copy the equation.

Triangle Solver

The triangle solver is the third tool, which helps to calculate sides and angles of any triangle. This tool will become really helpful when studying the Pythagorean theorem. The example shows the basic triangle with sides of length 3 and 4 (with one angle of 90 degrees). Furthermore the used theorem for calculation is shown in the middle part of the triangle solver.

Unit Converter

The last tool of the ribbon home tab is the unit converter, that allows you to easily covert units for example in the engineering or physics fields.

• Length
• Area
• Volume
• Mass
• Temperature
• Pressure
• Weight
• Energy
• Power
• Velocity
• Time
• Force

From the pull down menu you can choose one of the variables above, for example you can easily convert a length from the metric system to US units. Another helpful tool in Microsoft Mathematics 4.

Let’s have a look at the Insert tab of the ribbon. This tab is less extensive, and consists of three blocks:

1. Matrix;
2. Variable;
3. Data set;

You can insert a matrix to your worksheet and perform Linear Algebra calculations. You can set the rows and columns of the Matrix. You can also insert variables to your worksheet to do some abstract calculations as well. Especially in the engineering fields, for example mechnical engineering it is common to use certain greek variables. For example phi and theta are common variables to use. Finally you can insert a complete dataset, and manipulate this set.

In the view tab of the ribbon you can change some visual things. The first block has the label Appearance, where you can change Skins and Color Schemes of the graphical calculator on the left. In the second block labelled Show, you can hid or unhide the calculator pad (the grpahical calculator on the left) and your stored variables, which are showns in a pop-up window. Finally you can see the block Zoom, which allows you to easily zoom in and out.

Graphing Tools

In the contents above I already touched the equaction solver. When you solve the equation x + 3 = 2 you receive the answer in your worksheet. However next to the blue Worksheet tab in the main window, you also can switch to the dark blue graphing tab. You can plot the equation or both sides of the equation with a simple click. Notice that there is a contextual extra ribbon tab opened called Format, with a pink Graphing Tools label.

In this Format ribbon tab you can see four blocks. You can change the Display in the first one, by zooming, hiding axes or gridlines. Or you can change the plotting range or restore the graph. The second block has the Create label, in which you can create a table with data entry points from the graph (in other words a set of x and y coordinates). In the third building block Export you can save the plotted graph as a picture. Of course you can choose among some common formats. The last building block of the format ribbon tab is called Reset, which allows you to reset the graphing tab.

Overall thoughts and wrap-up

Overall Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 is a brilliant application that features a wide range of scientific tools and calculation engines. It can cover a wide range of end-users, not only students but also professionals who calculate a lot, who don’t always want to use an engineering suite like Mathworks Matlab.

Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 is completely free, where the previous version Microsoft Math 3 did cost a small but fair amount of money.

Microsoft Mathematics Add-In for Word and OneNote

In addition you can also download and install a completely free Microsoft Mathematics plugin, that allows you do a lot of the cool Microsoft Mathematics stuff inside your Word documents or OneNote notebooks. Once installed you will find an extra Mathematics tab in the ribbon of Microsoft Word or Microsoft OneNote.

It simply is a must have, and very useful tool ! Download your copy of Microsoft Mathematics 4 and don’t forget to grab the Microsoft Mathematics Add-in for Word and OneNote !

Matt Miller, Editor of ZDNet Smartphones & Cell Phones blog and one of my international Möbius friends has published the book “Windows Phone 7 Companion” on Wiley. I’ve been fortunate to receive a signed (!!!) review copy of the book, and the overall conclusion is that I’m very impressed with the incredible amount of detail that Matt was able to include in the book.

A little while ago I wrote an extensive 5000-word review about the core OS features of Windows Phone 7 on MobilityMinded. Windows Phone 7 is the latest mobile operating system from Microsoft which has recently been launched. When I published this review Matt commented in a blogpost on ZDNet:

“Remo broke the review up into sections similar to a few chapters in my upcoming Windows Phone 7 Companion book, including the lock screen, six hubs, other core features, settings, and other thoughts. Similar to his experiences, I have found Windows Phone 7 to be extremely stable in both the Technical Preview phase and in the final retail release candidate. Remo likes Windows Phone 7 and as I spend the last couple of days on the road in DC with the HTC Surround I am finding I too am really liking Windows Phone 7 and am planning to buy the HTC HD7 next week.”

When I read the book I could see the similarities Matt was talking about, however writing a book is something completely different than writing a complete book about Windows Phone 7.

Windows Phone 7 Companion – Table of Contents

The book consists of an impressive 22 chapters that cover every function or feature of the mobile operating system:

• Chapter 1 How Do I Set Up and Customize My Windows Phone 7 Device?
• Chapter 2 How Do I Get Around My New Windows Phone?
• Chapter 3 How Can I Make Calls and Send Text Messages?
• Chapter 4 How Do I Connect with My Family and Friends?
• Chapter 5 How Can I Set Up and Sync Services to My New Windows Phone?
• Chapter 6 How Do I Connect My Windows Phone to My Computer?
• Chapter 7 How Can I Enjoy Music and Videos on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 8 How Can I View, Share, and Capture Pictures on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 9 How Can I Read and Use Email on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 10 How Do I Get More Organized Using My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 12 How Do I Use GPS Navigation and Mapping on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 13 How Do I Surf the Internet from My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 14 How Can I Play Games and Connect with Others Using Xbox LIVE on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 15 How Do I Use Word Mobile 2010 on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 16 How Do I Use Excel Mobile 2010 on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 17 How Do I Use OneNote Mobile 2010 on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 18 How Do I Use PowerPoint Mobile 2010 on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 19 How Do I Use SharePoint Mobile 2010 on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 20 What Other Apps are Loaded and How Do I Get More from the Marketplace?
• Chapter 21 How Do I Manage Settings on My Windows Phone?
• Chapter 22 How Do I Deal with Problems on My Windows Phone?

On the Wiley website you can download the pdf versions and experts of Windows Phone 7 Companion:

Read Excerpt: Chapter (PDF)
Read Excerpt: Table of Contents (PDF)
Read Excerpt: Index (PDF) 

Let me echo again that the 22 chapters cover every aspect and function of Windows Phone 7. In the picture above you can see that each chapter features one of the Windows Phone 7 theme colors. Cool to see the themes and its colors return in paper form as well.

Matt provides general information as wel as step-by-step tutorials how to set-up or change certain features or functionality. Matt futhermore had a look at the Zune desktop software that is the connection of your Windows Phone 7 device with your Windows PC or Mac.

Personally I liked the chapters about the Xbox LIVE Hub (chapter 14) and the Zune Hub (chapter 7), mainly because the backend of the services isn’t available yet in the Netherlands until a later point in time this year (according to the Dutch Windows Phone Lead, Maarten Sonneveld).

Part of the Windows Phone 7 value proposition is Office 2010 for Windows Phone. Matt provides a deep-dive into this well known productivity suite from Microsoft. Each of the Office applications is included in a separate chapter.

Since I don’t have a SharePoint environment at home, it was highly interesting to read about SharePoint Mobile 2010 (chapter 19). Since the Windows Phone 7 operating system is highly stable and very robust, I don’t think you need the last chapter for trouble shooting.

Finally Matt has included very helpfull tips throughout the book, just like the example below:
- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

MAKE YOUR APPOINTMENT YOUR DESTINATION. If you add in an address for your appointment location, you can tap the location in your calendar and have Bing Maps launch with the location defined. You can then choose the location as your destination and have your Windows Phone guide you to the location.

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -

Concluding thoughts

Matt Miller has pulled of an incredible job with the Windows Phone 7 Companion book, that is extensively packed with tips, tricks and tools to get the most out of your Windows Phone 7 device.

I think it doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or a power-user. For both types of end-users there are interesting parts in the book. In the Netherlands the full Zune (Pass) experience as well as Xbox LIVE won’t be available until some point later this year. Windows Phone 7 Companion provided me with very helpful insights in these area’s.

Wiley is a well known publisher of high quality books, and I would summarize that this book provides a complete in-depth overview of Windows Phone 7 (and its features). It is like the Dubbel work for Mechanical Engineering, that provides a complete overview as well.

For about € 16,00 , which is more than a fair pricepoint, you can order the book at Amazon or directly from Wiley.

Furthermore I hope that it will help a lot of people to get more expertise about Windows Phone 7, or it might provide people with an idea about the options, features and possibilities that Windows Phone 7 provides. Finally I would like to thank Matt for all the hard work he has put into writing the book, in my opinion you can be really proud of the result.

About Matthew Miller

“Matthew Miller is a co-author of Master Visually Windows Mobile 2003; regularly writes news, reviews, commentary, and analysis for ZDNet; has published works in the Sideways iPad Magazine, Pocket PC Magazine, and iPhone Life Magazine; and is a cohost of the Mobile Tech Roundup podcast.”

Stress, the University of Twente’s largest study association, organized an awesome guest-lecture with Steve van Wyk, CIO @ ING Bank. The theme of the lecture is  ”Challenges @ ING” and one of the topics is the merger of the Postbank and ING, the challenges that came with it and how they were overcome.

In this article I will provide some of the interesting topics from the lecture, and for those who haven’t attended this lecture you really missed a great opportunity to have a detailed look at the technology-side of ING.

Picture used with permission of Stress, study association

Who is Steve Van Wyk and why working for ING ?

Steve van Wyk briefly introduces himself and his family. He has Dutch roots, worked 11 years for Morgan Stanley in the USA and is now at ING for about 5 years now.

Remarkable was the fact that Steve van Wyk was at work in the Twin Towers at 9-11, because Morgan Stanley was at the second floor of tower two ! That day has made tremendous impact, and he will never forget how it required leadership. Not only to get the co-workers safe out of the building, but also a leader in terms of technology (off-load the data to other data centers and get the bank back online as soon as possible).

Honestly I think this is an event that shaped and polished someone as a person. Therefore I’m not surprised by his mantra that there are three important things in professional life:

1. People;
2. People;
3. and people !!

Why ING ?

Steve van Wyk shares three reasons why he loves working for ING:

1. Great entrepreneurial and bright people with lots of passion and corporate responsibility;
2. ING is an excellent brand and company, with exceptional distribution. Remark for example that ING developed the direct online (banking) model !
3. The ability to make a difference, personally as well as inspirational for the surrounding team Steve van Wyk works with on a daily basis.

Later in the Q&A session Steve van Wyk would share that he is most proud of the cultural change within his team and the whole organization, to make a difference and be aware of that ability every day.

]]> http://www.remo-knops.com/2576/steve-van-wyk-cio-ing-bank-building-the-preferred-bank-with-technology/feed/ 0 http://www.remo-knops.com/2544/modaco-fighting-childhood-leukaemia-supporting-cancer-research-uk/ http://www.remo-knops.com/2544/modaco-fighting-childhood-leukaemia-supporting-cancer-research-uk/#comments Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:30:56 +0000 Remo Knops http://www.remo-knops.com/?p=2544

One of my international friends, Paul O’Brien founder/owner of MoDaCo (a leading online community about smartphones & mobile technology), has started a great initiative for the good cause to fight Childhood Leukaemia. 

A few months ago I wrote about the Child Cancer Just BEAT it foundation, great initiative of Berner Benelux in the context of Corporate Social Responsibility. During the HTC Participation Ride the day before the start of the Tour de France in Rotterdam, I attended the HTC participation ride in a special role as goodwill ambassador for the ”Child Cancer Just Beat It” foundation, and asked the team if it was possible to sign a HTC-Columbia jersey that will be auctioned for the fight against child cancer. 

Therefore I have some feeling and insights in the good work Paul O’Brien is doing with all the people from the MoDaCo community. In the rest of the article I will have a more detailed look in the initiative and the specific project that is supported. 

10K for £10K for Childhood Leukaemia campaign

Paul O’Brien created a post on the MoDaCo forums in which he shares some background details about the initiative and the 10K for £10K campaign: 

“Since the very early days of MoDaCo back in 2002, we have been involved with raising money for Cancer Research. When we’ve held our face-to-face events over the years proceeds have always been donated to CR and other fundraising efforts since have always contributed to this extremely worthy cause. Just recently I noticed that my follower count on Twitter was heading towards 10,000 and this got me thinking about whether I could use this following to do some good. This in turn led me to wonder if we could raise £10,000 for the MoDaCo Cancer Research ‘My Project’ in aid of Childhood Leukaemia, which equates to a donation of £1 per Twitter follower. “ 

Great to see the longterm commitment of a technology community like MoDaCo to Cancer Research UK. Cancer is a terrible class of disseases, but it is even more frightful when it strikes young childeren (where the lifestyle through the years doesn’t have as much impact as a 60-year old person who smoked all his life).

In the section below you can read more about the work of  professor Vaskar Saha, a world-renowned for research on childhood leukaemia, who’s projects will be supported with the 10K for £10K campaign.

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

With a small donation to the special 10K for £10K campaign MoDaCo donation page on the Cancer Research UK website,  you can really make a difference and change the lives of children diagnosed with cancer, their parents, friends and family!

About Professor Vaskar Saha

“Professor Vaskar Saha is world-renowned for research on childhood leukaemia. Sadly, around one-third of all deaths from cancer in children in the UK are caused by leukaemia. Professor Saha’s vital work could improve the outlook for the 20% of children with an acute form of the disease who do not respond well to chemotherapy.” 

Last week I published a book review of Open Leadership – How Social Technology Can Transofrm the Way You Lead,  the latest book of Charlene Li. 

In this article I will share some personal practical experiences about the use of social technology and some form of open strategy that was in place at the company. 

Introduction of EndNote X3 ”problem”

Since a few years I use Thomson Reuters EndNote to manage my references and easily include these in academic texts and -assignments. 

Therefore I bought Thomson EndNot X3 at Surfspot.nl, an online shop for higher education students. It worked perfectly with Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate, especially the integration with Microsoft Word 2007 has been excellent. 

Back in May this year I was fortunate to attend the Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 launch event in the Netherlands. Impressed with the new productivity features it didn’t take long for me to install Microsoft Office 2010 Professional on my Lenovo X60 Tablet powered by Windows 7 Ultimate.  

Unfortunatly Thomson EndNote X3 didn’t integrate with Microsoft Office 2010 Professional. Some online research taught me that Thomson Reuters released EndNote X4 that did integrate really well with Microsoft Office 2010 (plus EndNote X4 included other new helpfull features as well).    

After contacting the local distributor that provided me with different options, I shared my thoughts about a possible, rather expensive upgrade, on Twitter: 

“Thomson Endnote X3 is not compatible with Microsoft Office 2010 ! Endnote X4 is but that requires an upgrade of +/- E100,-  #expensive” 

Thomson Reuters’ “solution”

A Thomson Reuters’ employee Nancy noticed my tweet and replied to me via the EndNoteNews Twitter account: 

“@remoknops When did you purchase EndNote X3?” 

“@remoknops Yes – a message was posted via your web site requesting proof of purchase.” 

She also left a similar message via the contact form on this website, my personal blog which you can read below: 

“I sent you the tweet about your EndNote purchase and possible upgrade for Word 2010 compatibilty. If you could email your proof of purchase, [...]“ 

Of course I sent the proof of purchase of my EndNote X3 copy, an Adobe PDF scan from the original invoice, to Nancy for approval.

If it was the timeframe in which I bought Thomson EndNote X3 that made me eligible for an upgrade to Thomson EndNote X4, or I was simply lucky to experience a great example of customer satisfaction. 

The result

A Thomson Reuters EndNote X4 upgrade that perfectly integrates with Microsoft Office 2010 Professional !

Concluding thoughts and wrap-up

A first I want to thank Nancy (and Thomson Reuters) for contacting me and providing excellent customer service, that has been initiated by the social network Twitter.

“We no longer search for the news, the news finds us. We will no longer search for products or services, they will find us via social media.”

Above you can read one of the final screens of the video introduction of the “Making the Social Connection” session with Tony Krijnen,  Daniel van Soest and Charlie Kindel @ DevDays 2010 !“. The described situation certainly holds for the Thomson Endnote X4 customer service example that I have described in this article. So this is an interesting fundamental shift in communication that wasn’t there some years ago !

Let’s recall the four open driven objectives, (1) learn, (2) dialog, (3) support, and (4) innovate, that are integrated into almost every successful strategic plan. If you have a quick look at this example there are certainly a few of these objectives in place.

Furthermore the publication of social media guidelines on the Thomson Reuters website is evidence that an open strategy and use of social technology is integrated in the overall corporate strategy of Thomson Reuters. The leadership part is a little hard to oversee from this side, however you can clearly see that Thomson Reuters is practicing a long the open leadership line of thinking !