This blog – Symbian pathways – is now mothballed.
This blog used to provide a means for me to carry out key aspects of my Symbian Catalyst & Futurist roles.
From my professional biography on LinkedIn:
I have spent more than 20 years envisioning, architecting, implementing, and avidly using smart mobile devices (devices that can also be called “personal electronic brains”): ten years with PDA manufacturer Psion PLC, and then ten more with smartphone operating system specialist Symbian Ltd. Since 2009 I have been part of the Leadership Team of the Symbian Foundation.
My background includes: many years building and integrating UI system software and application frameworks in 16-bit and 32-bit versions of “EPOC” software (later named “Symbian OS”); growing and directing the technical consulting teams that worked with leading phone manufacturers to create the world’s first successful smartphones; and defining and running development programs to stimulate and nurture the fast-growing Symbian partner ecosystem.
As ‘Catalyst’, my role is to enable the Symbian software movement to discover and explore innovative solutions for the many challenges and opportunities faced by the mobile industry.
As ‘Futurist’, my task is to distil compelling visions of the future of technology, business, and society – visions that provide the energy and inspiration for deeply productive open collaboration among the many creators and users of mobile products.
The Wikipedia article on “Catalysis” contains the following astute remark:
A catalyst works by providing an alternative reaction pathway to the reaction product.
The same article also contains a fine picture. The picture shows that, in the presence of a catalyst, a reduced amount of energy is needed to make a reaction happen. The energy is reduced because there’s an alternative pathway for the reaction:
Don’t worry if you don’t understand any chemistry! The point is simply that, through highlighting and exploring possible new visions of the future of mobile industry, it can become possible for us to collectively travel to where we want to reach, without having to introduce so much energy. That can make all the difference between success and failure.
Switching metaphors: these alternative pathways, if successful, can dramatically reduce the learning curve for us to reach a full solution.
I’ll end by repeating something I said some time ago in my personal blog:
As Catalyst & Futurist, I’ll be acting from time to time as an ambassador for Symbian, as an agitator, as a networker, and as an evangelist…
I’ve got mixed views about the term “evangelist”. On reflection, here’s why I prefer “catalyst”:
- Evangelists come with pre-cooked solutions – they already know the answers;
- Catalysts come with suggestions and ideas, but the answer actually comes from the ecosystem, rather than from the catalyst;
- Evangelists listen, but only to improve their prospects for converting the listener;
- Catalysts listen, in order to find the ingredients of a solution that no one fully understood in advance.
If I should forget this advice in the future, and speak more forcefully than I listen, I’m sure that members of the ecosystem will find the way to remind me of what true openness really means!
Footnotes:
If you’re looking for my writings on topics outside the scope of the mobile industry, look here: Eclectic thoughts on technologies, markets, innovation, openness, collaboration, disruption, risks, and solutions.
From time to time I also used to write articles on the main Symbian blog.
Follow my micro-blogging at http://twitter.com/dw2
And just in case it’s not clear:
- Nothing written in this blog should, by itself, be interpreted as a definitive statement of Symbian policy;
- But everything in this blog was intended to help advance discussions that will, in due course, improve and support Symbian policy.
