BUSINESS ANALYSIS PRACTICE MANAGER | UNISYSTEMS
Spyridon Kakos
Spyridon Kakos has worked as a senior technical advisor at large IT projects across multiple countries and across different industries. These projects include large projects in European agencies, like ECHA, EBA and DG CLIMA, and projects for some of the largest banks in Greece and Middle East. Besides business analysis, his passion is writing about philosophy. Has participated in various conferences and published work mainly in the philosophy of science area. Editor-in-Chief of Harmonia Philosophica from its inception.
Presentation: Doing nothing as an innovation force
Modern humans have an urge for constant action. That is so deeply rooted in our philosophy and culture that calls for ‘doing things’ and we cannot even think of any other path to follow. But doing constantly something is not always the most active thing to do. Doing nothing is incorrectly mistaken for inaction and under certain circumstances it can be a source of innovation. Philosophy has been pondering on both options for centuries with mixed results regarding their justification and their need. From Pascal and Feyerabend to Camus and Sextus Empiricus, the ‘Do nothing’ and ‘Do something’ paths are philosophically considered equally valid or invalid, depending on the assumptions we choose to accept for questions that run too deep into the very foundations of our existence. In the modern world of projects and business analysis, this translates to a much more practical need. A need to always be open to both paths, despite the pressure we usually get from projects to act when a new need from the customer arises. When all the forces urge for action, doing something is the easy way out. If a business analyst wants to deliver true value to stakeholders, then one should help the customers change state of mind to realize that perhaps the value they seek can only be unlocked if they do nothing to obscure it from being seen.