Getting Busy Again

In the past week or so we've really felt things beginning to buzz again here at Synergy as the summer lull draws to an end. With our Enterprise Launch Programme starting on the 4th September and being in the midst of recruitment for the Synergy Enterprise Platform Programme we are looking forward to welcoming a new crop of enterpreneurs to Synergy Centre. In the meantime Jos, Onray and myself are planning the coming year in terms of "The Juice" speakers, Brown Bag topics and book club reads - all suggestions gratefully accepted. Synergy centre is also leading the iFactor - a competition for Dublin incubation centres which challenges them to come up with the most innovative product or service. The Student Synergy Awards for 2009/10 are also looming on the horizon and Onray is working hard to have everything ready to kick that off when the students start back in September. In the meantime we are all reading "Who Moved My Cheese" ready for book club on the 25th August - everyone welcome.

Bizarre - we want a 40 (+) Hour Work Week

Thus was the verdict of the Synergy Book Club this afternoon having read Timothy Ferris' book The Four Hour Work Week. Mr Ferris didn't win too many friends through this book and readers questioned whehter he will ultimately be happy with a business based on online reselling and working hard to master various life skills from martial arts to languages. Some lessons were taken from the book however on rationalisation and eliminating unnecessary tasks and people from a business. Automation and outsourcing were key to freeing up time and buying life-flexibility. The August book is "Who Moved my Cheese" - a short read for the quiet month.

Book Club Kicks Off

So we had the first meeting of the Synergy Book Club at lunchtime today. The book up for discussion was Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat" and the general consensus was that it is an eminently worthwhile read (some attendees might actually be reading it post-event!). Discussion focussed on the ups and downs of increasing technology-driven communications such as blogs :-) that facilitate easy information sharing but are open to abuse and can damage a company's reputation if not monitored and managed. Also on the table was the insourcing/outsourcing phenomenon epitomised by Dell and UPS operations. The Synergy group tended to be a bit more cynical about outsourcing elements of a business to the India/China of this world and the lack of control that might entail, but were all agreed that by sheer dint of numbers, these countries are a serious threat to Ireland's goal of becoming a knowledge economy. In fact, the feelign was that if we stumble and fall now due to short-sighted economics and decisions, we may well never pick ourselves up. The next book for review will be "The Four Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferris. I'll let you know when copies are in.

Books Abound

News just in that 3 copies of The World is Flat, Synergy Book Club's June read are now available in the ITT Dublin library - just ask for the Synergy Book Club book - and thanks to Niamh and Gilian for organising. Two copies are also available from the Synergy Honour Library. The book's fairly big so you can just focus on chapter Two - The Ten Forces that Flattened the World - if you're struggling! The club will meet at 1pm on Thursday, 25th June in the Glasshouse in Synergy Centre - all welcome.

Business Book Club

The new Synergy Business Book Club will meet for the first time on Thursday, 25th of June from 1-2pm in The Glasshouse. The first book under discussion will be "The World is Flat" by Thomas Friedman (2006). The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors have an equal opportunity. The book is all about globalisation, outsourcing, insourcing, offshoring, uploading, workflow, etc with lots of examples of companies such as Dell, Wal-Mart, UPS, Infosys, Microsoft and AOL. Apparently, Ireland even gets a couple of pages. Haven't read it yet myself but looking forward to it. There'll be a couple of copies available in the Synergy library(please try to turn them around as quickly as you can) and we're hoping to get some stocked in the ITT library too - stay posted for more info. Thanks to Seamus for kicking this off!