Brian Prentice

Brian Prentice
Research VP
9 years at Gartner
26 years IT industry

Brian Prentice is a research vice president and focuses on emerging technologies and trends with an emphasis on those that impact an organization's software and application strategy... Read Full Bio

It’s Time To Retire The Term “User Experience Design”

by Brian Prentice | February 11, 2016

We’ve hit the point were the term “User Experience Design” has become counterproductive. It is obfuscating to the world outside the user experience design community that something important and different is going on. The fundamental problem is that “user experience design” manages to squeeze in two oxymorons into a single three-word term. That’s quite an […]

The IT Industry’s 95% Problem

by Brian Prentice | January 20, 2016

I just had a chance to read Chris O’Brien’s informative piece on VentureBeat titled “Evernote’s 5% problem offers a cautionary lesson to tech companies”. The article examines how Evernote ended up with a product that has too many features. Based on an interview with former Evernote CEO Phil Libin, he was quoted as saying: “What […]

Over-Engineering 2.0 – Incessant, Thoughtless Automation

by Brian Prentice | January 16, 2015

Here’s a prediction. By 2017, the single biggest way in which digital technology will annoy people is through thoughtless, intrusive and annoying algorithmic automation. Let’s call it Over-engineering 2.0. Over-engineering 1.0 has been all about feature bloat. It’s the result of an approach to system design that thinks the more things we can give people […]

Digital Humanism At Google

by Brian Prentice | November 27, 2014

Last month, at Gartner Symposium, we introduced the concept of digital humanism. This concept emerged after reflecting on the profound philosophical considerations that will be driven in an era of digital business. Digital business will require us to orchestrate a vast array of sensors, data, and devices into impactful new systems. The manner in which […]

Breaking Through the Enterprise-UX Disconnect

by Brian Prentice | January 29, 2014

Let’s face it. Enterprise software is the land that UX design forgot. Whether it’s an internal enterprise application development team, or the R&D department of an enterprise software vendor, the practices commonly found in UX design agencies the world over are poorly understood and rarely implemented. Pre-development ethnographic research is almost never conducted. Personas seem […]

The Post-Apple WWDC Icon Obsession Belies An Appreciation of UX Design

by Brian Prentice | June 18, 2013

The series of tubes we affectionately know as the internet has been abuzz over the last week with talk of Apple’s flat design detour with iOS7. As with anything aesthetic, there’s bound to be be the highly positive views and the highly critical. We’ve seen psuedo-conspiracy theories emerge along with some trending memes. So does […]

iPhone 5…Meh

by Brian Prentice | September 14, 2012

There, I said it. Actually, I was toying with two other titles; “iPhone 5, The Emperor Has No Clothes,” or “iPhone 5, What’s In A Name That A Phone By Another Other Would Operate The Same.” Look, I’ve been going through the same rationalization process I think a lot of other people have. Is it […]

Australia’s Parliament Is Asking The Wrong Questions On Price Gouging

by Brian Prentice | May 1, 2012

I guess I should be delighted to hear that the Australian Parliament is going to start examining the reasons why Australian businesses and consumers are paying huge mark ups on on technology products compared to US customers. But I’m not. See, I don’t really care whether my apps, my songs, my video games, and my […]

A Quick Thought On Facebook’s Instagram Acquisition

by Brian Prentice | April 10, 2012

One BILLION dollars! It’s hard to fathom that type of money without putting my pinky to the corner of my mouth. I’m prepared to give Facebook’s management the benefit of the doubt. I think they have some very good reasons for paying the type of money they are for Instagram. So I won’t be spilling […]

My New iPad Buying Experience

by Brian Prentice | March 15, 2012

Daddy’s got a new iPad! I just got it home. Since I live in Australia, I guess I’m one of the first. And the experience I had getting it was a lesson in retail done right. Heck, it was an example of capitalism done right! There were five keys to making my purchase a great […]

Older posts

Gartner Blog Network