Welcome to The Systematic Summary, Systematic’s weekly roundup of the news, books, and interviews that will make you a more informed business technology professional. Every week, I’ll be bringing together the best media for IT and BT leaders to consume in one, easy-to-digest list. Let’s get started.
Catch up on this week’s news:
As chatter about Reddit preparing to go public increases, the company hired its first CFO.
15-year-old internet message board Reddit is on the road to going public, but the company’s chief executive has yet to say when. In the effort to be better prepared for the moment, the company hired Drew Vollero as its first-ever CFO. Vollero, who comes with experience from Mattel, Snap, and Allied Universal, will be leading the company through the process of getting their financials in place to go public and eventually through the transition as well. Reddit’s valuation came in at $6 billion during their most recent round of funding last month. As the company expands, the goal is to make Reddit more accessible. “Reddit can be hard to get at first,” said the company’s CEO. “It takes a little time. We want to shorten that time.”
Despite the fact that enterprise messaging platforms like Slack have tried to overtake email, the decades-old form of communication is still a major player in our work ecosystem.
Last week I talked about how email is ruining our lives. So why are we so hesitant to fully embrace alternatives? Thomas Randall, research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group, explains that being the incumbent platform comes with hard-to-shake loyalty. The ability to collaborate with colleagues in an asynchronous way is also managed less efficiently via chat platforms, where you feel like you have less time to think about ideas and respond. Millennials definitely won’t be phasing out the platform, but will Gen Z?
70% of digital transformations fall short of their objectives.
Research from Boston Consulting Group recently found that 70% tech initiatives within an organization do not achieve the goals they were meant to meet, a statistic that is consistent with other studies and research from the last few years. Some of the greatest contributors to the underperformance of these initiatives are the lack of alignment throughout an organization, an unclear definition of what success looks like, and being so dedicated to a plan that a team lacks agility. CIO spoke to CIOs, VPs, and directors in the field to better understand how to combat some of the biggest issues IT practitioners face.
Do you want to level-up your career? Consider finding a mentor.
Last week, Systematic community member Natasha Irani hosted a meetup all about mentorship and how to find a mentor in a remote world. Some of the major takeaways included: pursue an organic connection, don’t feel the need to define the relationship, be patient and proactive, and understand your values. If you’re curious about what it takes to be a mentee and find a mentor in a world without in-person networking events, this read is for you.
Learn from the experts:
Next Wednesday, March 10th, Workato’s CEO Vijay Tella and Pauline Yang, Partner at Altimeter Capital, are meeting to discuss how Covid has affected the automation space and what shifts have occurred in customer behavior.
Jia Tolentino, staff writer at The New Yorker, goes on Reply All to talk about the $80 worth of Bitcoin she bought six years ago. The problem? She lost her key. Alex Goldman and PJ Vogt try to help her find it.
Feedback for The Systematic Summary: If there is something you’d like to see in next week’s roundup, email me at [email protected] with the subject line “The Systematic Summary.”
