Future proofing by pushing the boundaries

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Do you want to future proof your team or organization? One key is to overdo things like the makers of box office hit Avatar did.

I finally watched Avatar with my daughters last night and they loved it. Not bad for a movie made 10 years ago.

It got me thinking. One reason Avatar aged so well is because they used the latest and greatest film making technologies available. They kind of overdid it compared to other movies from that era.

It’s like the desktop PC I use at home. I bought it about 5 years ago for a software development project. I couldn’t afford compilation and startup time to slow me down so I got as close to the best of everything I could afford. It made that project a breeze and still runs well today.

Since taking over as head of Operations for Iress in South Africa, I’ve hired two former IT managers as systems engineers. I’m not a big believer in the whole “someone is overqualified for a job” thing. I think we want people who have the character and capacity to push the boundaries of what the “job” even is.

I’m proud of successfully recruiting these two high caliber individuals. And I make no apologies for “over doing it”. Like Avatar and that beast of a PC under my desk at home, these hires will stand the test of time.