According to software review aggregator site G2, there are over 400 Project Management applications out there – that just they have reviewed. Other software review sites have many more. The market for productivity is quite vast, and finding a way to manage projects and tasks is big business. In choosing these apps, there are multiple factors:
Does The Application Work Like You Do?
Are you visual and love Kanban boards and colors. Are you structured and prefer grid like excel layouts? Are you organized and like grouped layouts? Of course you can be all three – but the reality is each system leads with a different approach, and only test driving it will let you know of you like it or not.
Does The Application Suit Your Business / Project Size?
For people that do smaller numbers of large projects (measured in months) or undefined / custom development projects, Project Management applications are ideal. The number of tasks for each project are much larger, and milestones at each phase may change future phases. They key here is to always have the big picture view as well as the task view.
For people that do large numbers of smaller projects (measured in weeks) or very well defined repetitive projects, Task Management Systems are ideal. The number of tasks for each project are limited and the team gets into a groove with them and know how they work.
How Many People Are On Your Internal Team?
And can you afford the monthly SAAS pricing? Some really beautiful systems are designed for smaller teams of power users. The difficulty comes when you have a larger number of users who only use the application some of the time. Then the pain of each license comes in. It’s a good idea to calculate a three year window of license costs. Is the price right at your current user base? I’ve seen some people take the approach – well not everybody needs to use it, so we’ll only license some team members. That won’t work. People will find workarounds and start using free systems like Slack.
How Many External Team Members / Customers Need to Use The Application?
In our interconnected world, there is every chance you will want to share project plans / updates with your customers. Will you be paying for them too? For external team members, how will they co-ordinate task updates? For customers, will weekly / milestone status reports be enough?
Finally, Is Your Business Disciplined Enough?
There is a saying that the best applications are the ones that you will use all the time. If your business is free flowing – and people will not use the application all the time – then maybe spreadsheets on Google Drive are good enough. If you are drowning in spreadsheets, and want to scale your business – then you need to put the processes and discipline in place first. Only then will you be able to start to find the right Project / Task Management application for your business.
10 Project / Task Management Applications To Consider
While undertaking research for a new client, I read my journal from the fall of 2017. I’d recently left a corporate position and was active looking for a new outlet to share my professional value. That’s when I started my journey as a business owner. I believe every decision should be a conscious choice. Our daily, character-driven investments are a key to creating a happy and productive life. When we listen and follow our intuition, it is validated and rewarded.
A Family of Engineers
People say they come from families of teachers, physicians, mechanics or policemen. I come from a family of engineers and was raised with this distinctive style of thinking and behaving. Their respect for mathematics-based logic and their problem-solving approach to processing information. The desire to create order out of chaos and make the world a better place. Many of the nicest, smartest and funniest people I knew were engineers. In searching for a community of high-quality peers, I had an intuition that it would likely have a high concentration of engineers.
With that focus, I joined Silicon Halton and attended my first Internet of Things peer-to-peer group. It had been a referral by a respected colleagued when I wasn’t interested in commuting into Toronto. I remember asking about the culture and kind of people who were members. He mentioned his positive association with a focus on grassroots tech entrepreneurship and small business. In reflecting back on that time, I realize the importance of this decision.
IoT Peer2Peer
In the last three years, things have changed for better for me. Then, my mom said, “Well, at least you’ll like your boss. It’s so much more that. Robert Kiyosaki says that the greatest gift of entrepreneurship is “You always choose who you want to work with.” This is the real blessing for me. Silicon Halton has proven to be a worthy investment. It helped me in developing my identity as a business owner and building relationships with high-quality professionals. In the beginning of 2019, I assumed the role of organizing the Silicon Halton IoT peer-to-peer group.
On Friday, November 6th, we presented our 33rd Peer2Peer. It stands out as one the best sessions I’ve attended. Even with Covid and the limitations of Zoom, it was a testament to the power of a good story. Anthony Khoraych, CEO of Advanced Test and Automation and Professional Engineer shared his inspiring demonstration of values-based leadership and resiliency in becoming a stronger company by adapting to the changing economic environment. ATA Inc. located in Milton, switched gears to manufacture and meet the emerging healthcare needs of the coronavirus pandemic by developing modules for the Winnipeg Ventilator, an NGen funded project. You can read the case study here.
A Source of Value Creation
Anthony’s story served as a validation and a reward for following my intuition in the fall of 2017. My company, Purposeful Selling, creates values-driven brand strategy for family-run businesses. I make my living by telling stories that connect small business owners with their authentic value proposition. Silicon Halton was there when I started writing my small business story and today it continues as a source of value creation. Proving yet again, engineers are handy people to have around and still a reliable source of good stories.
The next Silicon Halton IoT P2P will be held on Friday, December 4, 2020 via Zoom at 9 am.
One of the things I’ll be focusing on over the next couple of years is the growth of the technology industry in Halton region. When I founded Silicon Halton with Rick Stomphorst and Reema Duggal in 2009, I believed there were hundreds of technology entrepreneurs and companies in Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton and Oakville. And, that there were thousands if not tens of thousands of technology professionals that called Halton Region home.
The challenge in 2009 was no one new this!! There was no catalyst to bring Halton based technology ventures and people in and interested in technology together. A catalyst that could, in part, mobilize people and motivate organizations to meet, learn from each other and grow. Grow their knowledge, networks and ventures (of all sizes).
A catalyst that could evolve into a tech community and perhaps even become a cluster.
While there were some amazing leaders creating and building technology ventures and tons of technology professionals (and future tech stars) there wasn’t anyone that I could see that had the time to build the technology industry in and for the region. So, Rick, Reema and I decided to create grassroots technology community and we called it Silicon Halton.
Meetup #1: The Most Important Meetup
So, we got to work on the Silicon Halton experiment! At that time “meetups” were the new thing. Instead of “events” people would self organize get togethers at coffee shops.
Our first meetup took place at Williams Cafe in Oakville (now a restaurant). We used the LinkedIn meetups app (no longer available) with no idea whether anyone would register let alone attend. But, fifteen did and that was encouraging to say the least!
Picture: Silicon Halton Meetup #1 2009.
I met some amazing technology professionals and entrepreneurs … some of which I’m honoured to say became clients of my agency and more importantly people I’m proud to know and to continually be in contact with. Meetup #1 was a success and it spurred us on to have a second one! I can only guess what would have happened if no one showed up… maybe SH would have never happened.
What Two Members Said
I think it was the third or fourth meetup that had significant impact on me as well. The focus of that meetup was to ask members what the future of Silicon Halton would look like. Two things stood out more than anything for me. The first was how collectively SH members could and should work together to “build our house” which is a great analogy for building our local technology industry.
The second was making Halton Region a fertile ground for youth to develop their business and technology skills and remain here, or come back, to start technology ventures and their careers.
Their Words Converted into Action
I’m gratified to see key people helping build our house particularly those that are leading our peer2peer groups.The Silicon Halton TU20 program has grown from one event five years ago to a range of events and engagement opportunities for youth in Halton.
I’m encouraged by the support we’ve received, and given, to economic development teams at Town of Oakville, City of Burlington and Town of Milton.
Now What?
So, we’re ten years into this community experiment! The technology industry has changed both here in Halton and globally.
In Halton, we’ve seen Geotab grow into the global leader in telematics. We’ve seen and welcomed Haltech, TechPlace and MEVIC to the ecosystem. Heck, we even took a crack at creating a Silicon Peel!
Globally we’ve seen the mass market of technologies especially mobile devices, social network platforms and on the business side cloud based technologies. New emerging technologies, there are too many to list, represent opportunity for SH and our technology cluster.
So, what’s next for Silicon Halton, me and you? That’s a great question! I’m giving this some thought this summer … but I know a key thing we all have to do is work together better and more often.
I don’t know if it’s a Canadian thing or not, but we seem to go our separate ways and “do stuff”. There are attempts to “work together” but they start and stop with events about working together as opposed to well … actually working together!
This needs to change and working together needs to become second nature. The future is collaborative work, collaborative partnerships and collaborative economic development and venture building.
I’ll be at numerous Silicon Halton events in August asking SH members for their thoughts and ideas. One such event our 25 Community Conversations events in partnership with Oakville Community Foundation. The theme of these conversations is what’s it take to “belong in Oakvile”. [More information | Sign up]
Sport and Business Share Common Ground when it comes to Performance.
On April 29, 2019, a unique event was held on the floor of the Mattamy National Cycling Centre (Velodrome) in Milton on Leadership Lessons In Sports (read about the event here). This event was held by the Town of Milton and the Milton Education Village Innovation Centre and produced by Silicon Halton. The presenters provided almost three hours of valuable leadership lessons.
We’ve captured the salient points below.
Keynote Presenter
Dr. Nicole W. Forrester
Dr. Nicole Forrester is an Olympian, 8-Time Canadian Champion, Commonwealth Games Gold and Bronze medalist, and a Pan American Games Silver and Bronze medalist. She is an assistant professor at Ryerson University, specializing in sport psychology and high performance. She is also a registered consultant with the Canadian Sport Psychology Association.
Lessons Learned:
Top medalists performance is 90% mental and 10% physical
Strategically tie short term goals that you can control with long term big goals; think of it as a process
“Everyone on your team has to know the Goal (your mission)”
To improve performance, in athletics (in life and business!), establish an IST (Integrated Support Team); use same approach to teams that Jim Collins talks about in Good to Great
Belief in your ability to make the challenge your faced with
Dr. Simon Taggar, Professor of Management, Wilfrid Laurier University, BSc, MBA, PhD.
Simon is Professor of Management in the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University. Dr. Taggar researches leadership, creativity and strategic human resources management. In addition to his research, Simon’s experience includes working as a management consultant and as a commercial Banker.
Lessons Learned:
“A Leader’s ‘Mission and Vision’ has to win the hearts & minds (of employees, customers, the board, etc.)”
The essence of Fit = 1) do you have the same values and 2) do you have skills that are complementary to the team?
Better leaders focus on visible performance outcomes
Competence as team is critical to success
The great leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. She the one who jets the people to do the right things
Leadership is defined as the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision or set of goals.
Obviously we all want great players, but find the ones who think team first – that’s a challenge
Winning is a habit. Watch your thoughts, they become your beliefs. Watch your beliefs, they become your words. Watch your habits, they become your character.
A series of short sprints from a cross-section of industry speakers, covering a unique aspect of their business or market, and a leadership and team techniques that works well in their company or market, or by them personally.
Ben Zimmer, Founder & CEO, Enable Education
Enable Education helps local business onboard, upgrade, and engage their staff by creating custom training experiences at their innovative facilities in Milton, Ontario.
Lessons Learned:
“If you don’t live your values, they are meaningless”
Values is not just words they have to be lived. Enable’s values is: RECIPE (Revolutionary, Effective, Curious, Inclusive, Passionate, Ethical)
“We added a company values video to Job Postings and overnight it changed the quality of candidates (we received)”
Michelle Stanford, Senior Vice President, Industry Services, Canadian Welding Bureau
CWB Group is a non profit regulatory body overseeing the welding sector in Canada. They provide certification, education and consulting services to companies and ensure the quality and safety of welding in manufacturing and construction and has their head office in Milton.
Lessons Learned:
“High performing welding teams know the big picture”
“Welders take pride in their work and they’ll even brag about it. They’re reinforcing when they do something good and right”
Seconded importance of “IST”that Keynote Nicole Forrester referred to.
Everything you need personally and professionally is available to our employees in the Town of Milton.
Key traits of high performance people and teams: 1) Character, 2) Competence and 3) Commitment
Matt Cavalieri, MBA, P.Eng. Plant Manager, LVDA at Eaton
Matt joined Eaton in 2010 as part of the Leadership Development Program (LDP) and has held a number of Operations & Engineering Leadership roles within the Milton Low-Voltage Distribution Assemblies (LVDA) operation. In June 2018 Matt officially became the youngest Plant Manager in LVDA history!
Dixon Lee, Product Manager, Residential, Retail & Light Commercial. Joining Matt will be Dixon Lee who joined Eaton in 2008 as Product Specialist, Automatic Transfer Switches & Power Quality, leveraging his unparalleled passion to quickly advance through the ranks of the Canadian Marketing organization.
Lessons Learned:
“Our company is ‘values driven’ with ‘passion’ being one (of the values) and the glue that marries strategy with the hearts and minds of the people that care deeply about the things they do”
Expect leadership to think strategically
“We interview for EATON values”
“Collaboration 2.0” – EATON leverages Yammer for online collaboration to reduce barriers to collaboration across borders and functions.
Augmented Reality is used on the factory floor. One benefit is faster onboarding of new employees
“We only have to walk across the street to get talent” (once Wilfrid Laurier University starts classes at MEV Innovation Village)
Lisa Macneil, Divisional President of Ontario, Gordon Food Service
From the beginning, Lisa’s career has spanned across three major corporate acquisitions. Her diversified professional experience has taken her through many key positions within the organization, ultimately leading to her current role as the President of the Ontario. Within this role Lisa oversee’s all aspects of the Division from Operations to Sales, Marketing, HR & Finance.
Lessons Learned:
We have a Values driven leadership (values posted on their website).
Shared how they communicate to each person that “Your role has a purpose and impact”
Each year we feature an interview with a key leader involved in the event. I’ve been fortunate enough to interview, Whitney Rockley and Scott McDonald in 2017 and 2018.
This year’s interview, is my first in my new series “The Leading Edge”. It’s with Remi Schmaltz, CEO and President of Decisive Farming. Our conversation covers emerging technologies being adopted by broadacre farms and farmers and why. You’ll learn about his company and the role it is playing in helping farmers be successful.
We also talk about Decisive Farming’s relationship with McRock Capital, their Canadian VC partner, and McRock’s IIoT Symposium taking place Jun 12, in Montreal, Canada.
Timeline
Use the timeline to pick what you want to listen to
00:00
Market: What is a broad acre farm and how big is the market? Where is Decisive Farming focusing today and in the near term?
02:50
Technology: How is technology solving key challenges for farmers and the agriculture market? What technologies are being used today? What challenges are farmers facing because of technologies?
07:50
Farmers: Are they innovators and early adopters of technology? What’s their mindset and approach to trying technology and eventually implementing it into their farm operations?
10:30
Decisive Farming: What’s the journey been like for you, your family and your company? Tell us more about your web platform My Farm Manager™ and the supportive mobile app Croptivity™ and the role they play in helping farmers be successful. How important is data and system integration.
16:43
Customers: What’s the typical farm client for Decisive Farmer? What are they like and how are you engaging with them to develop the market and acquire new customers? What are the key issues that you’re platform is addressing and delivering value to farmers?
24:00
McRock Capital & IIoT Symposium: How are they unique and what’s the relationship like with them as a funder? How are they different from other venture capital firms? What do you think about McRock’s IIoT Symposium? How is this annual event valuable to you and others that should attend?
30:18
Final Question: What advice would you give a new tech entrepreneur in order to improve her or his chances of success?
Learn more about McRock Capital’s IIoT Symposium and take advantage of the early bird special before May 1/19.
Chris Herbert
Cofounder
Chris Herbert is the founder of Mi6. Mi6 is a B2B (Business to Business) marketing and business development agency dedicated to helping companies build their brands and develop commercial relationships. He is the founder of ProductCamp Toronto and the Hi-tech community Silicon Halton. He tweets under the handle @B2Bspecialist.
Getting immersed into your community uncovers amazing things, people and opportunity. My journal post today focuses on the reality that exists here in [Silicon] Halton. We hear stories about there being a talent shortage. Perhap there is but take a look around and you’ll see that where we live, work and play in Halton region….talent, enthusiasm and entrepreneurship is thriving thank you! Read on!
2019 TU20 Cup the Best Ever!
Picture: Winning teams, mentors, supporters and judges group shot (SH TU20 Cup 2019)
Congratulations to the winning teams and the TU20 leaders from this years Silicon Halton TU20Cup held Saturday March 4, 2019 at Sheridan College. This is our third year and it was the best yet! Thirty teams, representing over 100 students, registered in this years competition with 27 pitching their business ideas to help solve key issues facing youth in Halton Region. There will be more post coverage later on but in the meantime check out the Twitter moment to see what happened and who won. Here’s our press release announcing our ongoing partnership with Oakville Community Foundation.
Here’s an interesting tweet from Katherine Scott, Image Analytics Team Lead at 3Scan that all developers in the AI space need to heed. And, youth developers in high school and university need to focus more on data base design and developing in the cloud. Two key weak areas we’ve seen during TU20s Learn to Get Hired events.
One of the biggest failures I see in junior ML/CV engineers is a complete lack of interest in building data sets. While it is boring grunt work I think there is so much to be learned in putting together a dataset. It is like half the problem.
These journal posts are done monthly and I report on the things I’ve been up to and caught my interest. If you’ve got something going on that you’d like me to participate let me know. Any key announcements you’d like for me share I can do so here as well, subject to space and time availability. Those members and their businesses that are giving first to the community take precedent along with strategic priorities and partner sponsors. Contact me on LInkedIn or @ me on Twitter when you have something you’d like me to share.
What’s Next in Our Community?
Lot’s of stuff happening in our community and there are many places to refer to regularly. Places to check out are: our newsletter, events page and blog posts. And, remember to check out what our TU20 team is up to as well.
Some key activities I’d like to high lite are below.
With the recent release of The Oakville Community Foundation’s 2018 research the ‘Vital Youth Report: A Tale of Two Childhoods’, The Oakville Community Foundation has identified a unique partnership. They will provide a first place and second place prize to the successful TU20 Cup teams, and the award must be used to work with a local charity to resolve a pressing issue as identified in the Youth Report.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the Oakville Community Foundation and the RBC Foundation,” said Denys Linkov, President of Tech Under Twenty. “We’re grateful to both foundations for their support in the type of work we’re trying to accomplish at Tech Under Twenty.”
The TU20 Cup is a multi-month entrepreneurship competition that focuses on motivating youth to get involved with technology and business. In teams of two to six, students develop solutions to issues related to a yearly theme.
This year teams were challenged to come up with solutions to issues relating to youth in Halton which are laid out in the Watchlist in the Oakville Community Foundation’s 2018 report.
The 30 teams, made up of 120 students, work with a mentor to develop a prototype for their solution as well as a business plan and pitch. They then present their solutions to a team of judges on the final day of competition.
“The TU20 competition is making terrific use of our 2018 Vital Youth Report,” said Wendy Rinella, CEO of the Oakville Community Foundation. “These are real issues that are being faced by youth in our community and this group of students has taken it upon themselves to create solutions. We’re very proud to support this project and give the winning teams the chance to implement their solutions.”
As part of their work, the teams were asked to identify local Halton charities that could benefit from their prototype solutions. A monetary prize is being provided to the first and second place winners which will help the teams implement their solutions with a charity partner.
The first place team will be given a contract with a charity partner valued at $15,000, jointly funded by the Oakville Community Foundation and the RBC Foundation with the funds directed to the charity to implement the winning solution.
An additional contract valued at $7,500 will be provided for the second place team, funded solely by The Oakville Community Foundation.
“RBC is excited to support the work being done by Silicon Halton’s Tech Under Twenty,” said Peter Choma, Vice President, Commercial Financial Services, Halton South for RBC.“ These issues affect so many youth in Halton and it’s inspiring to see the great work for youth being led by youth”
The teams are coming together for one day of competition on Saturday, March 2 at Sheridan College’s Oakville-Trafalgar Campus from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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About Tech Under Twenty Tech Under Twenty (TU20) is a student community focused on technology, entrepreneurship and business. With a project focused approach, we help students understand the future of technology, help them build key skills and connect them with career accelerating opportunities. Since its creation in 2015, TU20 has grown to over 400 members and has an alumni group that has worked at some of the top Canadian and International Companies. TU20 is a key part of the Silicon Halton Community and Halton’s innovation ecosystem.
About the Oakville Community Foundation The Foundation is a registered charity in its 25th year of Building Community Through Philanthropy. The Foundation is a registered charity that has granted $40 million to charities since 1994 and supports investments of over $100 million in charitable assets. We welcome families, businesses and residents into our community and give everyone the opportunity to be a philanthropist. The Foundation is one of the largest members of a national network of more than 190 Canadian community foundations.
About the RBC Foundation Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles- led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 84,000+ employees who bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada’s biggest bank, and one of the largest in the world based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our 16 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 33 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com.
We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/community-sustainability.
Kudos to Microsoft for investing in Canada and affordable housing in Seattle. These two, albeit, separate news items and decisions are more significant when looked at together.
In this journal update I dig in a bit on these announcements and ask us to think through two lenses. The first is whether we think gentrification is an issue in Canada and yup in Halton region. I would say not yet but affordable housing is an issue.
Second, the investments being made by foreign companies are, for the most part, a positive sign about the attractiveness of the Canadian technology scene.
But, we cannot take our eye off the made in Canada ball. Canada must become a leader in creating and growing technology companies and creating world class entrepreneurs.
Will Other Tech Companies Follow in Microsoft’s footsteps?
In my October Journal post I talked about the importance of affordable housing in Toronto. I’ve had conversations with younger engineers in the tech sector in Halton region and the topic of affordable housing has been brought up.
The challenge facing young tech professionals is the cost of houses in Halton region. It’s difficult for them to settle here and start families. Imagine what it’s like for low income families and the 1 in 8 youth who live below the poverty line in Oakville?
The fall out of technology industry success has been gentrification. Lower income neighbourhoods are being taken over by startups and people are being driven away as a result. A fully functioning society has to accommodate diversity.
People of all ages, all incomes, all religions, all cultures and all sexual orientations must have the chance to live and work in their towns and cities. It was encouraged to see that Microsoft has pledged $500M to help address affordable housing in Seattle. Will other tech companies follow suit?
Big Investment in Toronto by Tech Companies
You’ve probably heard about the $570M investment Microsoft is making in Canada. It’s great to see this type of investment in Canada. It’s not surprising given the talented technology professionals coming out of school and already working in technology.
There are other mitigating factors for this investment including Canada’s supercluster program, our academic leadership in AI and immigration policies.
My bet is that AI will be a key focus area for Microsoft in Canada especially since they lead in AI patents. AI patents are the fasted growing IP category.
I love creating sqwords (where two words are combined to create a new one, also known as a neologism. A Twing means things on Twitter that got my attention.
Here’s something we should all read and maybe comment on in our LinkedIn group.
Silicon Halton cofounder Reema Duggal was recently interviewed by Silicon Halton member Philip Bliss on the Canada Podcast Network. Here’s a good opportunity to learn more about Reema’s experience and expertise and her ventures: Sitaran Group and Configrr. Phil asks some interesting questions about Reema’s transition from working a Fortune 1000 company to becoming an entrepreneur. A must listen interview!
Last Friday, I attended the AMS Halton TechConnect Event. It was great to see Silicon Halton members there (there were ten). Thanks to the Milton Chamber of Commerce. I was live tweeting at the event.
Silicon Halton was a promotions sponsor of the event which was designed to bring Halton area manufacturers and technology entrepreneurs and professionals together to learn more about the supercluster program and NGen Canada.
These journal posts are done monthly and I report on the things I’ve been up to and caught my interest. If you’ve got something going on that you’d like me to participate let me know. Any key announcements you’d like for me share I can do so here as well, subject to space and time availability. Those members and their businesses that are giving first to the community take precedent along with strategic priorities and partner sponsors. Contact me on LInkedIn or @ me on Twitter when you have something you’d like me to share.
What’s Next in Our Community?
Lot’s of stuff happening in our community and there are many places to refer to regularly. Places to check out are: our newsletter, events page and blog posts. And, remember to check out what our TU20 team is up to as well.
Some key activities I’d like to high lite are below.
For those of you out there who know me I’m a big fan of experimentation and learning! This journal has, and continues to be, an experiment! I’ll continue to update the community through this journal series but the frequency is going to vary a bit…. well it already is. There will be some weeks when there’s not much to share as well. Ideally, at some point, I’d like to see this journal update penned by others who want to guest post on the SH site. If you’re interested contact me
Focus on Canadian Entrepreneurs and Local Ecosystems (continued)
Bluewater Wood Alliance (BWA) Cluster
On November 21st, I attended the Bluewater Wood Alliance’s quarterly networking event at the Ron Joyce Centre, which is home to the DeGroote School of Businesses MBA and Executive Education programs. It’s important for Silicon Halton members to be aware of organizations like BWA, a not-for-profit wood manufacturing cluster serving Southwestern Ontario, that facilitates the interests and needs of their members. They are integrally involved in the Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster initiative being managed by Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen). BWA will be helping their members – wood manufacturers – gain access to a portion of the $950M being allocated through Federal Government’s Supercluster Initiatives program. BWA represents an end customer market for Silicon Halton members who deliver technology services and solutions that will enable BWA members to adopt newer technologies to help them become more competitive and digitally transform.
It’s very important that Halton Region stands apart and is recognized as fertile ground for cluster development programs and cooperative collaboration. A good example of this in action is the AMS Halton working group formed by the Milton Chamber of Commerce. This working group includes representatives from Silicon Halton, MTechHub, HalTech, bdc, Oakville and Burlington Chambers of Commerce, Milton Economic Development and more. Stay tuned for updates.
The Entrepreneurial Life!
I really get a kick out of bumping into Silicon Halton members outside of “our orbit” of meetups and peer to peer sessions! I was playing a squash game at Glen Abbey Recreation Centre last weekend and sitting on the bench outside the court watching was SH member Brett Gillett! His comment to me “you look a lot more tired than the other guy”! He was right! The good news is I won the match.
It turns out that his partner, Karen, was exhibiting in the craft fair at Glen Abbey. She offers really interesting art maker kits for kids and it was a great Christmas present for one of my niece’s little ones.
These journal posts are done weekly (ish) and I report on the things I’ve been up to. I try to get out three to four times per week. If you’ve got something going on that you’d like me to participate let me know. Any key announcements you’d like for me share I can do so here as well, subject to space and time availability. Those members and their businesses that are giving first to the community take precedent along with strategic priorities and partner sponsors.
What’s Next in Our Community?
Lot’s of stuff happening in our community and there are many places to refer to regularly. Places to check out are: our newsletter, events page and blog posts. And, remember to check out what our TU20 team is up to as well.
Some key activities I’d like to high lite are below.
FRIDAY 9AM: Proof of Concept to Proof of Product – Getting an IoT device from idea to production
The week has gotten away from me but my commitment to a weekly journal post remains in tact! These posts, pretty much reflect on, some of the things I experienced within our SH community and with members. Some times I’ll post things that reach outside of the community but merit you knowing about them. My theme, if you will, is all about focus. All of us, in my humble opinion, must focus on our collective success as Canadian entrepreneurs and professionals.
Focus on Canadian Entrepreneurs and Local Ecosystems
Government’s View and Approach on Economic Development is Bass Ackwards!
The distraction of attracting Amazon to every Canadian city (no doubt with serious concessions) is just one example of how we aren’t focused on what matters. I’m not a nationalist and believe that partnerships with people and companies around the world should be encouraged. But, the focus has to be on how we, as a country (and a region), are building an entpreneurial and economic ecosystem that is based on self determination.
Made in Canada matters more today than it ever has. So, sorry Amazon, Google and [put non-Canadian company here being courted by politicians] we’re good. Yes, I up, a see a sense of irony in that we named our community Silicon Halton to emulate Silicon Valley but I like to think we have the opportunity to be better…. especially in the areas of social responsibility, inclusion and ethical use of data.
We all know that it takes more time and money to acquire a new customer than to retain one. Then why is it that all levels of government are obsessed with attracting new companies vs. addressing the needs of local companies? Why is it that some of our Universities are developing IP for foreign companies and countries with no strings attached [read the story here]? While, a local Canadian startup is in a dispute with a Canadian University regarding rights to the IP they developed while in their incubator [read about it here]. This is crazy! Why is it that our Prime Minister declined an invitation, twice, to visit a local technology company but was more than willing to fly to Silicon Valley and court the local technology companies about the quality of our talent [yup, this is true too]?
“Well, for starters we need to see our government supporting more Canadian companies that are looking to build and grow at home.
We need our government to work with industry leaders to develop the right innovation growth strategy for Canada, a strategy designed to support our scale-up companies that are emerging on the world stage.
We need government to listen to and nurture our scaling companies here at home, instead of chasing giants from abroad.”
– Carl Rodrigues, CEO of SOTI, Inc.
How committed are we all to developing a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem that’s primary focus is on starting, growing and sustaining made in Canada companies? The recent Supercluster program is encouraging but it’s early days. So, I will continue to step up and do what I can personally and through my ventures to be focused on creating and supporting world class Canadian entrepreneurs and companies. In fact you need to as well. So when a local entrepreneur asks you for help and wants to partner talk to her. Be open and realize that if we don’t lead in the creating and growth of Canadian companies we won’t be able to control our destiny in any industry.
China Will Lead in AI … but for the Wrong Reasons
Canada, supposedly is the leader in AI, or is it? Yes we have some well known pioneers in AI heading up labs and holding senior roles at Universities. But, how does one define “leading”. I would argue that China already leads based on investment, number of AI developers and outcomes. But, it’s for the wrong reasons, just watch the video below and you’ll see why. My question to Universities is will you being doing more research and development for Chinese companies for AI? Or, should you go “all in” and focus on Canadian companies exclusively? You know where I stand.
But, We Can Lead … for the Right Reasons!
I’m believe strongly that we have the best talent, the best entrepreneurs and the greatest opportunity available to us more than any other country. If we can do it in hockey why not building great forever lasting ventures?! But, I have to call out the things that concern me about whether we’re on the right path or not. And, we need to believe that there is an abundance of opportunity for us all and work together to create a path that will make us succeed as professionals, entrepreneurs and yup, human beings! And we need to step up and contribute.
Last week’s TU20 Policy in Technology event is one example where people, in this case students, are choosing to lead and give a voice as to the path we should take. In this case it had to do with policy an AI. Below are some select tweets from the thread we published during the competition. Check the thread out here.
[Thread] Coverage of @techundertwenty Case Competition on Technology and Policy. Over 30 students have broken into groups and are discussion policy and #AI. pic.twitter.com/cO8vLqt6qf
I was at the event and witnessed an amazing group of students who put forward policy recommendations as part of a case competition focuses on policy and technology. There were three winning teams and you’ll notice that five of the seven winning team members were women. Overall there were more male students participating in the event but we were encouraged with the number of female students participating and their result! Each winning team member received a plaque and the first place team $1500.
These journal posts are done weekly and I report on the things I’ve been up to. I try to get out three to four times per week. If you’ve got something going on that you’d like me to participate let me know. Any key announcements you’d like for me share I can do so here as well, subject to space and time availability. Those members and their businesses that are giving first to the community take precedent along with strategic priorities and partner sponsors.
What’s Next in Our Community?
Lot’s of stuff happening in our community and there are many places to refer to regularly. Places to check out are: our newsletter, events page and blog posts. And, remember to check out what our TU20 team is up to as well.
Some key activities I’d like to high lite are below.
Last week was fantastic! In addition to serving our Mi6 Agency clients my Silicon Halton travels including getting together and engaging with SH members and the broader Halton community. I’m a big believer in the concept of “abundance” — thanks to Mark Fornasiero [LinkedIn | Twitter] who is a growth and exit strategist who introduced me to this concept — which means there is plenty to go around for us all.
This way of thinking means that collectively we can all benefit from progress by sharing, helping and collectively aiming for success. In fact it’s my strong view that the current way we to business is broken and too few are generating too much for themselves. A new vision on what business can and should do to distribute value to our society and to each other is long overdue.
I’d like to think that Silicon Halton plays this role for many of us. Our community, our companies and our economy leave people behind… that has to change.
Youth at Risk in Halton Region
Oakville Community Foundation (OCF) Releases Vital Youth Report
On Nov 6th I attended Oakville Community Foundations launch event for their: “Vital Youth Report, A Tale of Two Childhoods”. I was taken aback at the realities of youth at risk in Oakville and the surround area. However, the presentation and event achieved a balance of dire news with hope and opportunity.
But first, we all must understand what’s happening to our youth and the vulnerable groups within it. Watch the video below or check out my tweet thread for some alarming stats.
So, Canada sucks when it comes to supporting youth. So does Halton Region. Let’s call a spade a spade first!
4/ 1 in 8 youth U18 in Oakville live below the poverty line [RT]
Now, let’s do something about it shall we? Get involved in local charities, make a donation to one of OCF Funds, not for profits and programs like Silicon Halton’s TU20 program. Equally important is be mindful that more of our youth are in need than you’d think. Start with your own kids and families. Silicon Halton the the TU20 team are proud to be working with OCF in 2019 to help affect positive change in our community. Stay tuned to learn more.
Two key activities happened last week on the subject of diversity. First, we had a kitchen table discussion with a small group of SH members on the topic of diversity. Elizabeth Bolton Lim [LinkedIn], Diversity Officer from BDC share with SH members how BDC has implemented a diversity program. And, we met with Kimberly Neale [LinkedIn], who is working with SH member Noel Martel [LinkedIn] to launch a diversity program for SH. Stay tuned.
Taking it To The Street with Santa!
Some of you may know that I’m an advisor at Emoggo [Website | Facebook| Twitter], a social enterprise and app, designed to help local shops and restaurants connect with shoppers. It’s now launched in Milton, Burlington and Oakville. Last week Lisa Denis [LinkedIn]. Last week we visited local stores in Milton wearing out ugly Christmas sweaters (photos were banned from the Internet!). Our goal was to tell them about Emoggo and that a team from Emoggo and Re:Soul Youth Centre [Website] will be in Milton’s Santa Claus parade on Nov 17th! And, Emoggo will be in the Burlington Santa Claus parade as well.
The goal is to generate awareness, end users and enhanced business listings. Emoggo is designed to help the following groups: 1) Businesses: to generate foot traffic and mobile first customers; 2) Shoppers and Diners: to discover, support and remember nearby shops, restaurants and more; 3) Community Partners : like BIAs and business groups to deliver more value to their members, and 4) Charities and Clubs: as another channel to generate awareness and financial support.
Now It’s Your Turn
These journal posts are done weekly and I report on the things I’ve been up to. I try to get out three to four times per week. If you’ve got something going on that you’d like me to participate let me know. Any key announcements you’d like for me share I can do so here as well subject to space and time availability. Those members and their businesses that are giving first to the community take precedent along with strategic priorities and partner sponsors.
What’s Next in Our Community?
Lot’s of stuff happening in our community and there are many places to refer to regularly. Places to check out are: our newsletter, events page and blog posts. And, remember to check out what our TU20 team is up to as well.
One key activities I’d like to high lite is below.
I found myself out and about the Silicon Halton community for a host of reasons this past week. Getting out of the office and talking to people can be such a rush and last week was like a breath of fresh air. Many of us spend so much time in our offices and in front of screens! What’s even more cool is that many Silicon Halton members were out and about last week too!
Last IoT and Women in Tech Peer2Peers Were Awesome!
Great Turnout at IoT Peer2Peer
On Friday November 2nd, Jacques Lirette [LinkedIn] from SKY data sims [Website] discussed how combining IoT hardware, sensors and global data coverage can simplify and speed up IoT deployments.
You can think of Peer2Peer groups as splinter SH community groups that get together based on a topic area, such as IoT, or role (entrepreneurs), gender etc. Special thanks to the MEV Innovation Centre [Website | LInkedIn | Twitter] who is a strategic partner of Silicon Halton.
Women in Tech Talk and Learn About Body Language
No photos, that I could find, from the last Women in Tech Peer2Peer session. The topic was very interesting though! Technically this didn’t happen the week of the 28th but I wanted to give a shout out to the WIT team.
Women In Tech Peer2Peer – tonight at 7:00 pm – Apple Suites. Topic: Body Language. Vanessa Greenblatt, Profiling and Deception Analyst Ç Founder of VMG Investigative Consulting – how to master the science of body language to maximize success. https://t.co/9cxcVpJLkvpic.twitter.com/49nGwkZ3ui
Rob McCann [LinkedIn], the President of Hamilton Technology Centre [Website | LinkedIn], gave me a tour of his facility which his company Clearcable [Website | LinkedIn | Twitter] purchased from the City of Hamilton [Article] in 2017. This is an interesting story in that Hamilton Economic Development sold their technology innovation hub and incubator to an entrepreneur as part of a strategic decision. Check out the video below to learn more about the Centre and thanks to Rob for the tour!
Enable Education Grows and MTechHub Welcomes Visitors from Spain!
Enable Education’s Brand new 8000 sq ft Space With World-class Training and AV Studios
Congratulations to Ben Zimmer [LinkedIn] and Amy Leask [LinkedIn | Twitter] on the continued success of Enable Education [Website | LinkedIn | Twitter]. On Nov 1 they held an open house to show off their new digs! One of the coolest things, and offering, is Enable’s classroom and AV suite which you can book to teach, record and then edit your session! Here’s a promotion video they made and some Twitter chatter about the opening as well!
Key leaders from various technology innovation centres in the region of Murcia, Spain visited MTechHub [Website | LinkedIn | Twitter] last week to learn about their work and capabilities and to look for collaboration and synergies with MTechHub and their membership. MTechHub is an Industry 4.0 Innovation Centre and Community located in Burlington. Silicon Halton is working closely with MTechHub, and they are an Mi6 Agency client (one of my ventures) .
Last week MTechHub had visitors from key technology innovation groups from Murcia, Spain. We presented on our connected system which includes key technology stacks designed to transform small to midsize manufacturers digitally …. and cost effectively. pic.twitter.com/NZKMNnHPzY
Over the past 18 months the MTechHub team has been investigating digital adoption use cases, academic and innovation center Industry 4.0 initiatives. Numerous “point” technologies were examined. However, the cornerstone of Industry 4.0 is connected systems.
What’s Next in Our Community?
Lot’s of stuff happening in our community and there are many places to refer to regularly. Places to check out are: our newsletter, events page and blog posts. And, remember to check out what our TU20 team is up to as well.
Two key activities I’d like to high lite are below.
It’s Saturday October 27th and this weekend finds me catching up on my Journal posts, playing in Squash Ontario’s Masters Tournament [Twitter thread] and wishing my youngest grandson a very, very happy fourth birthday. Some cool things happened this week in and around our community and here’s three things that came to mind.
Technical Deep Dive at Silicon Halton Software Peer2Peer (P2P) on JSON Web Tokens
On Mon Oct 22 Chris Larsen [LinkedIn | Twitter] gave a presentation on JSON Web Tokens.
Chris’ presentation is below and to learn more read his post “JWTs: More Than You Think“. Here’s a snip from his post:
JSON Web Tokens, or JWTs, are a very important aspect of internet technology, be it Internet of Things, or Internet of People. Knowing this makes it very confusing as to why there’s so little discussion about it, and so much misinformation about it. So I’m writing this blog post to share some information, and hopefully clear away the mists that surround this subject.
This software P2P group is one of our strongest with over 270 members led by David Ashton with support from my cofounder Rick Stomphorst, other P2P members and organizations like Indellient [Website | LinkedIn| Twitter], Apple Suites [Website | LinkedIn] and alternawork [Website | LinkedIn | Twitter] . The topics have been set for Nov and Jan. [Learn more].
Make in Halton App Emoggo Launches!
Congratulations to Lisa Denis on the launch of her new venture Emoggo [Website | LinkedIn | iOS | Android | Twitter]. Emoggo is a mobile digital marketing channel developed to generate a community of customers who will support, through sales, local businesses. It’s an app that connects consumers with all the local businesses that are around them in Halton Region. Plans are to roll out Emoggo in other markets.
Halton is the pilot market. Download the app [iOS | Android] and if you own a business or know of someone that does make sure the claim the listing and find out how to use Emoggo to generate traffic and sales. I’d like to personally thank and acknowledge Mark Arteaga [LinkedIn | Twitter] , Hazel van der Werken-Small [LinkedIn | Twitter] and the RedBit Development team [Website | LinkedIn | Twitter] for the amazing work they’ve done working with Lisa to bring this app to life! A great example of Silicon Halton community members working together!
4/ Lisa and I will be using the @emoggo app to visit #Milton local businesses this Monday to show them the app and talk about how Emoggo is participating in the @miltonSCparade and supporting @resoulyouth
As some of you may know Silicon Halton has held two smart cities meetup in 2018 including: Silicon Halton Meetup #102 – IoT in Smart Cities and our Smart City Meetup with Silicon Halton and Town of Oakville. The IoT Peer2Peer group has presented on smart buildings and LP Wan as well. There’s a very important reason why we’ve been doing this and the video below illustrates this very well. It’s from the Intelligent Communities Forum who had a round table event earlier this week which I attended on behalf of the SH Community. Invest seven minutes of your time to learn why it’s important for the broader community to work with government and in some (many?) cases take a leadership role.
I tweeted the agenda below and this is what makes ICF THE organization to be involved with when it comes to Smart Cities. Case study after case study! Sharing lessons learned with each other! Awesomeness! intelligent communities! You can check out my full tweet thread from coverage of ICF Canada’s [Website | Twitter] Round Table Forum earlier this week here.
One of the best presentations was by the City of Hamilton which included this awesome video promoting Hamilton. The video is great, the tune is great and what makes this video very special to me is the City of Hamilton is using local artist’s Monster Truck [Website | Twitter] song “Not Enough” [Spotify]. This City gets what it takes to be an intellligent community.
What’s Next in Our Community?
Lot’s of stuff happening in our community and there are two places on this site to refer to regularly. Places to check out are: our newsletter, events page and blog posts. And, remember to check out what our TU20 team is up to as well.
Well it’s October 23rd and I’m finding myself behind in my weekly journal posts! These posts share some of the things that happened the previous week within the SH community and news that caught my attention that is relevant to our local tech ecosystem. I’ll allow editorial leeway as well though!
Affordable Housing
A key issue facing Toronto (any city for that matter), especially those developing technology clusters, is the availability of affordable housing. There are many factors that contribute to this problem, some caused by technology companies specifically, but regardless of the cause affordable housing for all people is vital in any community. I mean ALL people including those in need, young professionals, new families and older people. And, we need fresh thinking when it comes to commercial and residential property development especially when it comes to mixed use. I’d love to see a complex that is designed specifically for first time commercial AND residential property buyers.
Silicon Halton member and Women in Tech Peer2Peer co-lead Lisa Denis is a 2018 winner of the 50 over 50 awards [More here] . Lisa’s newest venture is Emoggo [Website] a social enterprise and application that will help small businesses grow while supporting local community groups. It’s great to see that entrepreneurs over 50 are being recognized! The 50+ group pumps out more entrepreneurs than any other demographic [Source]!
Special thanks to our sponsor Bereskin & Parr who presented at meetup 108 on October 8th. What’s great about our community is the talent and expertise our members have and offer. This meetup was a “drinking through the firehose” experience! It was quite comprehensive and time well spent for sure. The takeaway? If you’re developing a technology product be sure to invest time, effort and money in understanding IP protection and how it can be used to your advantage. In my experience working with technology professionals not enough time is spent in this area! The Oct 8th meetup was a great information primer. Thanks to Ian McMillan, Patent Partner [LinkedIn]; Catherine Lovrics, Partner, Laywer and Trade Mark Agent [LinkedIn], and Matthew Graff, Partner [LinkedIn] from Bereskin & Parr for presenting and allow us to share the presentation deck below.
I’m still playing catch up with my journal posts so look for a couple more very soon. In the meantime check out Silicon Halton’s upcoming events [Events page]
Sport and Business Share Common Ground when it comes to Performance. 
Dixon Lee, Product Manager, Residential, Retail & Light Commercial.
