Although technology is still changing everything, we've come to view it as on a par with indoor plumbing. This suggests the industry is mature and unlikely to produce another upswing to match that of the 90s. Add to this the growing demands of globalization, and you could believe it was time to get out of the technology business completely.

Roger McNamee's talk at this year's Software 2005 Conference should give you the confidence to keep going. He examines the new rules that need to be learned and followed in this era of the 'new normal' and shows how the problems faced both by companies and technology staff can be turned into golden opportunities.

McNamee delivers an energetic and entertaining analysis of the state of the technology industry today and examines how the dominant trends of globalization, consolidation, collaboration, and the rise of the consumer will impact its growth and profits over the coming years. At the same time he looks at what this means for individuals working in the industry.

The overall message is that while this may be a time of great risk - he sees us as gathering more power as individuals but having to accept the fact that we no longer have the same safety nets under us - it is, above all, a time of great opportunity. The key thing for us as individuals attempting to thrive in the world of the new normal is to become strategic about time.

The final part of McNamee's talk looks at exactly how to become strategic about time. He introduces us to the crucial three Ps: Prioritize, Plan, and Participate. These are the keys to maintaining a healthy and appropriate family/career/financial balance. And it is this balance that will allow individuals to realize their full potential within the market conditions existing in the new normal.

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Roger McNamee is a co-founder and general partner of Integral Capital Partners, Silver Lake Partners, and Elevation Partners. He began his career at T. Rowe Price, where he managed its top-ranked Science & Technology Fund. Since that time he has developed a reputation within the investment industry for being a visionary when it comes to technology and, as a three-time entrepreneur, has left an indelible mark on the investment business.

Roger's latest venture has seen him launch Elevation Partners, an innovative partnership which seeks to apply to the media and entertainment sector the model used so successfully with Silver Lake Partners and technology businesses.

He is a frequent speaker at industry and investor conferences, as well as serving as a panelist on Louis Rukeyser's Wall $treet on CNBC. Between 1999 and 2001, Roger was named to the "Ultimate Investment Club" by Money magazine and was recently featured as one of BusinessWeek's "Voices of Innovation".

Roger serves on the Board of Trustees of Bryn Mawr College and on the Board of Overseers of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. He has a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School. Roger is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

In his spare time, Roger plays guitar and sings lead vocals in the Flying Other Brothers Band (FOBs), a rock 'n' roll band that plays shows throughout the US. They have a web site at www.flyingotherbrother.com.

Roger maintains a blog at www.thenewnormal.com, which complements the ideas in both his recent book and this talk at Software 2005.

Resources:

• Silver Lake Partners
• Our Software 2005 Conference series

This program is from the Software 2005 series.

For Team ITC:

• Description editor: Graham Stewart
• Post-production audio engineer: Paul Figgiani