Authors Steven Sinofsky

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Steven Sinofsky
Steven Sinofsky
@stevesi
1/ "Consumerization of IT" bit of tired phrase. There’s a much more important shift with changing role of biz productivity software. We're in a new era where software solutions can be more like office "supplies" than office "buildings".


IMPORTANT: TAM for productivity s/w is going UP and not just because h/w & svcs dollars shifting to MS365 from on-prem, but because most cost/spend was hidden as spreadsheets, old templates, one-offs, or internal custom dev. So cloud+commercializaton=BIG TAM.

Consumerization attributes include buyer, user experience, pricing, etc. Key is productivity is minimizing usage or time to complete task, maximizing the value of single use case. Design point very different than consumer services MAU, MPU so "consummation" can be misunderstood.

PC era was "bring your own" with ppl buying s/w at computer stores, using for work. IT took over—*all* software was bought, deployed, controlled. Always some "leakage" of course. SaaS (eg SFDC, DBX, Gmail) showed people do go around IT but this was rough.

Important part of this whole model (especially early) was a "departmental customizer". Ppl writing VBA macros, templates, even big Access database apps. Or buyers of first gen SaaS infrastructure. Created infrastructure highly dependent on single employee or contractors. FRAGILE.
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Steven Sinofsky
Steven Sinofsky
@stevesi
Alt-view on Amazon global domination of all retail and the last company standing. :-)

Recent moves by Amazon are an indication not of domination but convergence towards the same drivers of retail success in prior generation. “Everyone eventually becomes their parents.” 1/n

Retail has always been generational. Retail success stories are a graveyard of iconic brand names. Just brutal in how they roll over every generation.

Here are a few from my own childhood that no longer exist.


Historically rollover is due to a secular change in how people both buy and sell stuff. We might call this disruption, but these changes are tied to transport, communication, suburbanization, etc. No mistake, there’s innovation but in retail this is a response to secular change.

Sears famously was a catalog store (farms!) anchored in appliances, tools, etc. As fashion and shopping malls became big, Sears position would weaken.

Discount stores became a big thing, especially during down economies. That drove innovations like cheap house brands, bulk buys.

The stories of being “disrupted” in retail are as numerous as there are defunct retailers. Hey check out https://t.co/7dIEeqNP1f for a whole site of defunct retailers.
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