ForwardThinking 🤔 I spent the first part of the week at HumanX, the AI-focused conference in San Francisco where I moderated a couple of panels, talked to a bunch of smart people and caught up with many old friends. One thing that stuck out, especially on the main stage, was that
![Human[X] logo on blue background on main stage at HumanX conference.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/37/03/370356ed-dc1d-4cfd-956b-ac4fe1e6cfad/content/images/size/w600/2026/04/IMG_2289-2.jpg)
Editor’s Note: I was at HumanX this week, so this is an abbreviated newsletter without the News of the Week section. If you have any questions or comments, please email me at feedback@fastforward.blog. ForwardThinking 🤔 AI hype...AI reality I spent the first part of the week at
Enterprises want to love agentic AI, they really do, but three years after ChatGPT blew onto the scene, companies are still struggling to find value. Agents are the latest manifestation of 'describe it and it will come,' yet like all enterprise automation efforts over the last couple of
On Tuesday morning, thousands of Oracle employees were sent packing with an email. While there is no great way to conduct a mass layoff, this move felt particularly cold, waking up to an impersonal missive with the line: "We are sharing some difficult news regarding your position." It
ForwardThinking 🤔 Oracle's Tuesday morning massacre On Tuesday morning, thousands of Oracle employees were sent packing with an email. While there is no great way to conduct a mass layoff, this move felt particularly cold, waking up to an impersonal missive with the line: "We are sharing some
Over the last six months, I’ve interviewed a range of enterprise leaders. I went back through those conversations looking for one thing: how they’re thinking about the so-called SaaSocalypse (the predicted end of SaaS). We've been hearing a lot about the end of SaaS as we
CrowdStrike's Elia Zaitsev spent a decade at the company before being promoted to CTO in 2023, just months after ChatGPT's debut. It was a pivotal moment for his career and for the broader technology landscape. He understood the magnitude of the shift and how generative AI
Well, it's been building up inside of me For, oh, I don't know how long I don't know why, but I keep thinking Something's bound to go wrong ~Beach Boys, Don't Worry Baby A backlash against AI has been building
ForwardThinking 🤔 Everyone hates AI Well, it's been building up inside of me For, oh, I don't know how long I don't know why, but I keep thinking Something's bound to go wrong ~Beach Boys, Don't Worry Baby A backlash against
Databricks has spent over a decade establishing itself as a cloud data platform company. This week, the company announced a new cybersecurity product that will put it in front of an entirely different buyer: the CISO. The new Lakewatch product is predicated on the idea that security is increasingly a
We’ve all heard the relentless hype around AI agents. They will be so potent they will come for our jobs, our software, our workflows. Agentic workforces will force an all-encompassing overhaul of how we do business. Wall Street has bought into this vision so completely, it is starting to
ForwardThinking 🤔 Agents here, there and nowhere We’ve all heard the relentless hype around AI agents. They will be so potent they will come for our jobs, our software, our workflows. Agentic workforces will force an all-encompassing overhaul of how we do business. Wall Street has bought into this vision
Analysis
Last week, Shantanu Narayen announced he was stepping down as Adobe CEO after 18 years, leaving behind a legacy of transformation. Perhaps his biggest achievement was moving Adobe’s popular Creative Suite from boxed software to a cloud subscription business. "He did the impossible by saving and transforming an
Profiles
When you think about a company the size of Amazon, the idea of one person being responsible for everything from the locks on the doors to cybersecurity and employee safety might seem absurd. Yet that's exactly what the company decided to do. That person is CJ Moses, who
Analysis
The following post is a collaboration with my long-time friend, colleague and writing partner Alex Wilhelm. Subscribe to Alex's newsletter ‘Cautious Optimism‘ here. You'll be glad you did! In 2023, following an uninspiring AWS re:Invent, Amazon's enormous annual customer event in Las Vegas,
Commentary
As the drama unfolded last week over OpenAI’s sudden partnership with the DoD, the department was also threatening to treat Anthropic as a supply chain risk (a designation that has since been made official). One of the key sticking points was whether these models should be used to conduct
Newsletters
ForwardThinking 🤔 Sam and Dario's not-so-excellent AI adventure As the drama unfolded last week over OpenAI’s sudden partnership with the DoD, the department was also threatening to treat Anthropic as a supply chain risk (a designation that has since been made official). One of the key sticking points
Profiles
Cassie Crossley has literally written the book on software supply chain security. She was previously VP of supply chain security at Schneider Electric and is currently CEO and co-founder at a stealth AI cybersecurity startup. She understands supply chain risk as well as anyone, and she believes that AI-generated code
Commentary
As the winter snow keeps accumulating in the Northeast and the tech news continues to pile up with it, I thought it would be fun to once again pay homage to Dan Shaughnessy, the long-time sports columnist at the Boston Globe, who regularly writes columns gathering his random thoughts about
Newsletters
ForwardThinking 🤔 Been a long cold lonely winter As the winter snow keeps accumulating in the Northeast and the tech news continues to pile up with it, I thought it would be fun to once again pay homage to Dan Shaughnessy, the long-time sports columnist at the Boston Globe, who regularly
Analysis
We keep hearing that agents are going to be a big deal. Even if that hasn’t happened yet at scale, it's a fair bet that agents are going to become a significant part of every company's enterprise software strategy in the years ahead. The hyperscalers
Profiles
Tien Tzuo has been around SaaS for much of his professional career, joining Salesforce as employee #11 in 1999, the year the company launched. He later founded Zuora, a SaaS subscription management and billing platform. He understands SaaS as well as anyone, so when he says SaaS companies need to
Commentary
I was at an event recently where I had an interesting discussion with a college dean about preparing young people for the changing world AI is creating. When I asked about his students' interest in AI, he surprised me with his answer: he said they were more concerned about
Newsletters
ForwardThinking 🤔 The true cost of easy-peasy AI I was at an event recently where I had an interesting discussion with a college dean about preparing young people for the changing world AI is creating. When I asked about his students' interest in AI, he surprised me with his answer: