by Gary Mintchell | Jul 31, 2023 | Commentary, News
Here is a bit of news in our rapidly maturing market. I don’t know that it necessarily means anything and I don’t know any of the people, but I do find it interesting that no long term PTC executives were promoted. That job goes to the CEO of a recently acquired company. I guess we can try to read the tea leaves about what that means for the future direction of the company—and what’s important. In a maturing market, the new CEO has a background in finance and most recently running the service operations.
PTC today announced that Neil Barua, President of PTC’s Service Lifecycle Management business, will succeed James Heppelmann as Chief Executive Officer of PTC at the time of the Company’s annual shareholder meeting in February 2024. At that time, Mr. Heppelmann will step down as CEO and retire, concluding a distinguished 26 years of service at the Company, including 13 years as CEO. Effective immediately, Mr. Heppelmann is appointed Chairman of the Board, and Mr. Barua is appointed CEO-elect and to PTC’s Board of Directors.
The CEO transition is the culmination of the Board’s comprehensive succession planning process to ensure leadership continuity and to position PTC for continued growth. Mr. Heppelmann and Mr. Barua will work closely together through February 2024 to ensure an orderly transition of responsibilities.
Here are the obligatory statements from the major players.
Bob Schechter, who has served as Chairman of PTC’s Board of Directors for the last eight years, said, “Neil is the ideal person to lead PTC in its next chapter. He’s a seasoned technology executive with a proven track record of growing software businesses and supporting industrial companies with their digital transformation journeys. He combines this with a strong financial acumen, a customer-first mindset, and a leadership style that empowers employees. The Board and I have great confidence that PTC has a bright future ahead with Neil serving as CEO alongside the rest of the Company’s experienced leadership team.”
Mr. Schechter continued, “Throughout his tenure as CEO, Jim has demonstrated unwavering commitment to PTC, and his positive impact on the Company cannot be overstated. His visionary leadership has helped transform PTC into the category leader in the product lifecycle management market and has driven record financial performance for shareholders. The Board sincerely thanks Jim for all his contributions to date, and we look forward to our continued work together.”
Mr. Heppelmann said, “I’m immensely proud of all that PTC has accomplished during my 26 years with the Company, including these last 13 as CEO. PTC has become a premier digital transformation partner to our customers, with the most differentiated software portfolio in our industry. I’m confident that PTC has never been in a better position to deliver value to our customers and our shareholders as we begin this next chapter. Having worked closely with Neil since the ServiceMax acquisition, I can attest first-hand to his focus on our customers’ and employees’ success, his understanding of PTC’s market opportunities for the entire software portfolio, and his principles of financial and operational discipline. I’m confident that Neil, along with our proven executive leadership team, will keep PTC on a path of sustained growth and success.”
Mr. Barua said, “It’s an honor to be named the next CEO of PTC, and I greatly appreciate the confidence the Board has placed in me. PTC is a terrific company with great customers, talented employees, and the strongest product portfolio in our industry. The Company has been performing exceptionally well, and we’ll build on this success as we enter our next chapter. I look forward to working with Jim and our executive team during this transition and deepening my relationships with our customers, employees, partners, and shareholders.”
Barua’s Experience
Mr. Barua has an extensive background in the technology industry and a proven track record of growing businesses. Mr. Barua is the former Chief Executive Officer of ServiceMax, a recognized leader in cloud-native, product-centric field service management software, which PTC acquired in January 2023. Following the acquisition, Mr. Barua led PTC’s Service Lifecycle Management business until his appointment as CEO-elect. Previously, Mr. Barua served as an operating partner at Silver Lake, a global leader in technology investing. Earlier in his career, Mr. Barua was CEO of IPC Systems, a global provider of specialized technology solutions for the financial services community. Mr. Barua holds a B.S. in Finance & Economics from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Board Changes
In connection with the announced leadership changes, Janice Chaffin, Chair of the Corporate Governance Committee of the Board, will serve as Lead Independent Director. Bob Schechter, previously Chairman of the Board, remains on the Board as an Independent Director.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 30, 2023 | Productivity
From my newsletter a couple of weeks ago.
What is productivity in this age, not only in manufacturing, but also in knowledge work? Do the old rules still apply? And, above all, how can we bring humanity into the workplace?
Seth Godin has written many books worth your time reading. His latest book, Song of Significance, is packed with thoughts that both inform and prod into action.
His themes according to my reading include bringing humanity into the workplace, doing work that is significant, meaning creating meaningful change.
My wife was discussing Facebook and other social media and why they all keep developing ways to capture your attention–not always in a good way (seldom in a good way). She asked why they do it. I told her it was to maximize income. It has nothing to do with serving people. In fact, people are their product. They sell people’s attention to advertisers.
Godin responds in this book as he has consistently in his books on marketing that the goal is providing useful goods and services to people. You win by serving.
I told my wife that in my career I’ve been in numerous meetings where the subject is how to increase sales. Only a few were about how to create a better product for our customers and prospects. One consumer products company I worked at for about a year 40 years ago still has product recalls. I’m not surprised. The culture hasn’t changed (even though the name has) in all this time.
Culture defeats strategy.
I’ve also been thinking a lot about productivity. Industry pundits have bemoaned that productivity as defined classically (output per hour worked) has not grown. You can define productivity in manufacturing by how many widgets per hour. But even there, perhaps they should look at how many good widgets per hour.
But for knowledge workers (whose number can and should include trades people as well as desk workers) how do you define productivity when so much work involves working with other people? And generating good ideas? And developing good ideas into businesses. These things are not instantaneous rates of change. Trash the calculus and look at statistics as a model.
Get this latest Seth Godin book. Read it, then read it again. Mark it up. Keep it on your desk.
You can check out my thoughts on recent Siemens Digital, Hexagon, and Honeywell Process conferences on my business blog. For my thinking on personal growth and development, check out this website.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 27, 2023 | Personal Development, Productivity
Some economists and journalists looking for a passing story bemoaned statistics revealing a lack of productivity increase over a stated period of time.
Is this really a problem?
Whatever your job, whether in a business or church or other organization, do you feel that you have productivity metrics?
- Number of meetings attended
- Number of memos sent
- Number of articles written
Maybe what is more important is fewer meetings that actually accomplish an objective. Maybe it is effective communication that clearly explains or motivates change. Maybe something written with more depth and less gloss.
Are you working on a really big and juicy problem? Those take time to solve. That may not look good on your productivity chart. It may be really important work.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 26, 2023 | News, Software
Are you interested in building digital twins? Here is a potential source for ideas. Also, it can be a place to contribute to the growth of the technology.
The Digital Twin Consortium (DTC) announced the Platform Stack Architectural Framework: An Introductory Guide. The guide, designed for C-Suite and business leaders, provides foundational building blocks and central concepts of a digital twin system. System architects can use it to enable technology selection through development.
“Digital twins and enabling technologies are revolutionizing how we approach even the simplest of tasks, from managing the flow of stock in a warehouse to designing, deploying and maintaining a fleet of aircraft,” said Dan Isaacs, GM & CTO, DTC. “Digital twin systems accelerate digitization as they provide organizations the means to operate more efficiently, effectively and adhere to best practices and guidelines.”
The guide discusses the IT/OT infrastructure, virtual representation, service interfaces, applications, and mechanisms for synchronizing real-world data. The guide reviews commonly adopted technological approaches and standards and emphasizes the importance of security, trustworthiness, and governance.
“The Platform Stack Architectural Framework: An Introductory Guide answers fundamental questions such as “What are the critical constituent parts of a digital twin system?” and “What elements take a solution from being a great model or simulation to qualifying as a digital twin?” said Dr. David McKee, Entrepreneur and Portfolio CTO at Counterpoint Technologies, and Co-Chair of the Capabilities and Technology Working Group, DTC. “The guide also helps business leaders and developers understand how to design and architect digital twin systems with best practices for scalability, interoperability, and composability to realize their transformative value.”
The guide discusses five use cases of varying maturity levels with examples of how designers can use the architecture in practice. The use cases include buildings as batteries, emergency communication services, manufacturing quality control via remote operator, scope 3 carbon reporting emissions, and infectious disease management. Technology Readiness Levels (outlined in the guide) help designers understand the technical maturity of a system as it moves through the following stages:
- Technical modeling and simulation, starting with theoretical models and improving to being based on real-world data
- Digital twins as individual components based on actual data and validated in the real world through synchronization.
- Digital twin systems in production and operational environments, with system integration and clearly defined synchronization at a specified frequency
The guide is the first in a series of digital twin publications OMG consortia will publish in the coming months. For more information, please download the Platform Stack Architectural Framework: An Introductory Guide from the DTC website.
About Digital Twin Consortium
Digital Twin Consortium is The Authority of Digital Twin. It coalesces industry, government, and academia to drive consistency in vocabulary, architecture, security, and interoperability of digital twin technology. It advances digital twin technology in many industries, from Aerospace to natural resources. Digital Twin Consortium is a program of Object Management Group.
by Gary Mintchell | Jul 24, 2023 | Personal Development
I picked up this list from a tweet by one of my favorite modern writers, Nassim Nicholas Taleb. He wrote Black Swan, Fooled by Randomness, among other books. This is one of those lists you can tape above your desk and contemplate often.
TRUE WEALTH (2nd Ed)
- Worriless sleeping
- Clear conscience
- Reciprocal gratitude
- Absence of envy
- Foamy coffee
- Crusty bread
- Inexperienced enemies
- Frequent laughs
- No meals alone
- No gym classes
- Gravel bicycling
- Good digestive functions
- No Zoom meetings
- Periodic surprises
- Nothing to hide: financial and fiscal tranquility
- Muscular strength & endurance
- Ability to nap
- Access to a hammock
Note: That was from a tweet, as on Twitter. By the time you read this, Twitter may be X. Elon Musk seems to think X is a manly character. He says he’s changing the name of the service this week. Some people have more money than sense.
