Dirk Rejahl
This year has been fairly terrible in many ways.
Most of us in the UK are reeling from one blow after another, and the news from around the world hasn’t sounded much better. Amidst the various global calamities, there have been, as always, various private calamities — which this year are hard to distinguish from the wild storms of circumstance which rage all around us.
In September, on the day of my wedding anniversary, I lost Dirk — a friend of whom I am exceptionally fond. His death had nothing to do with the pandemic — but then again Dirk never was conventional.
I didn’t get to know Dirk for very long. In fact we only worked together for a few months, at Deutsche Telekom (aka EE), before continuing our friendship remotely. I was casually involved in his Digiglu and Experimenz business ventures. He was always telling me about his latest exploits in the consultancy world, and his involvement with TM Forum. He was innovative in moving technology-business concepts forward, introducing ideas like his Service Impact Canvas, which I still find to be a useful mental model when doing strategic planning.
Dirk was one of those people who I could talk to about the technology business — often over a pint of beer. Specifically, Dirk was one of the few people who I knew would always enjoy talking with me about the interplay between technology and business.
Now there are plenty of people who are passionate about technology, and who have a business. I’m not suggesting otherwise. And, there are plenty who are passionate about their business which is built around some particular technology.
These two concerns — business and technology — go together more often than not. The practical outworking of either usually involves the other. But, it is rare that you find someone who is truly passionate about the interplay between the two. Dirk was one of those people who understood — who was passionate about technological businesses.
I loved Dirk’s open mind, and his excitement about technology. Dirk knew that we frequently don’t get technology right — I remember him sitting with me debugging C++ memory leaks a few days before go-live :). And, where beer was involved, there would usually also be stories of ridiculous inefficiency and terrible digital products.
But, with the unflinching critique came boundless optimism about the potential for technological business — Dirk was on a journey to help us find wonderful ways to do business together using technology, and I loved that about him.
Dirk was encouraging, funny, interesting and innovative. He cared about people and he ignored the traditional boundaries and silos which we too often look to impose upon our technological business endeavours.
I will miss him terribly, and as this year ends (thanks be to G-d), saying goodbye to Dirk is one of the things which is making 2020 hard to let go of. I think I will struggle to find another like him.
Dirk, I will try to carry some of your optimistic, can-do, innovative spirit with me into the future.
— Andrew Gibson, December 23rd, 2020
