Big Wave Surfing: Author

Unpredictable

Big Waves are Unpredictable

The Big Wave Surfing Book is about managing unpredictable events!

Value is created when you can exploit rapid changes in the technology environment. You must be quick because the window of opportunity can close very quickly. Be quick and you will catch the latest big wave. Be slow and miss the wave. Be sloppy riding the face of the wave and you will wipe out.

Author

About the Author

Kenneth J. Thurber has spent his career working in the field of computer and system architecture. He has written or led nearly 500 technical proposals (winning over 200) leading to over $2.5 billion dollars in research, development, and product derived work since 1969. He also consulted on the purchase by end users and/or product introduction by manufacturers of over $10 billion dollars worth of equipment. He was the system architect for the specification of the Local Area Network and distributed processor concepts that resulted in the deployment of a real time system worth over $7 billion dollars. He developed the concepts of technology big wave surfing as a metaphor for ways to capitalize on the disruption that technology brings to the product marketplace. He is the creator and the world’s leading practitioner of extreme ways to develop, manage, market and invest in the technology product marketplace. In addition to forming and running several companies he has been a consultant to many Fortune 500 companies. He is considered by many to be the “Consultant’s Consultant”.

Work Experience

Kenneth J. Thurber has worked for several major corporations including Honeywell and Univac. He was on the adjunct faculty of the Computer Science Department of the University of Minnesota. He is currently the president of Architecture Technology Corporation which he co founded.

Further Author Information, Education and Publications

Written by Kenneth J. Thurber

PhDEE 1969, Montana State University

Papers

Books

Books (edited by)

Books, Newsletters and Reports (as published by Architecture Technology)

Past Volunteer Activities

Charter Member IEEE Computer Society Golden Core

Governing Board IEEE Computer Society

Chairman IEEE Computer Society TCCC (Technical Committee Computer Communications)

Distinguished Visitor IEEE Computer Society

Member of IEEE Computer Society, ACM, and SME.

Registered Professional Engineer License

Spotting Big Waves

Storms Create Disruption Disruption can take many forms: political, economic, legislative and technology. You want to think about the impacts of disruption on the possible future of products and systems. You need to develop unconventional scenarios that look at the possible effects of disruption. You need not be the person who causes disruption, but you can be the person who uses disruption to your advantage.

Riding Big Waves

Appropriate Tactics Avoid Wipe Outs

The main categories of players that can set out on the big wave are the lead developer (and the development team), the technical management, the marketing staff, and the investors supplying money to the product process. Each of these groups has a unique perspective. However, there are some lessons learned about how to achieve success within these various disciplines in fast growing companies. The lessons of how to achieve a fast growth rate and the sacrifices that growth may cause can be very painful.