Eduard de Vries Sands
Writing on technology, leadership, and value creation

Customer's P&L first. Ours will follow.

I write about technology leadership that lives in the field, not the meeting room. About how boards read technology, how PE sponsors sequence investment, and why the best technology choices start with the customer's margin, not the company's roadmap.

Featured writing
  • Apr 14, 2026

    The third differentiator

    Most labs competed on speed and test menu. We found a third way to win, and it came from watching the customer work. The origin of the customer's P&L philosophy.

  • Mar 17, 2026

    Before You Accelerate Your Business, Read This

    AI does not fix a broken process. It scales it. Eliminate, simplify, accelerate. In that order, always. The business discipline behind the E-S-A framework.

  • Jan 28, 2026

    The unsexy middle: Why most product transformations fail

    You cannot jump from project chaos to product mastery. The three-phase progression most playbooks skip, and where transformation succeeds or dies.

Recent writing
  • Apr 21, 2026

    The board deck nobody asks for but every CIO should build

    Early in my career I was proud of the 40-slide board deck. I lost the board within two to three minutes. Here is the deck nobody asks for but every CIO should build.

  • Apr 8, 2026

    It's the outcome, stupid.

    In 1992, Carville put three words on a whiteboard to keep a campaign focused. Most executives running AI initiatives need a similar reminder on their wall.

  • Mar 31, 2026

    AI Is a Mirror. Not a Map.

    AI does not reduce complexity. It reflects it. Organizational gravity, the order intake form nobody questioned, and why elimination comes before automation.

  • Mar 24, 2026

    How to Say Yes to AI Faster Without Saying Yes to Everything

    Most AI governance slows safe projects and starves good ideas. A three-lens model that routes by risk, not by default, and gets smarter over time.

  • Mar 10, 2026

    You Cannot Lead From a Conference Room

    Finance loved the credit card system. Then I went to the clinic and watched a minute-long checkout and 30 minutes of daily reconciliation. Go see the real place.

  • Mar 3, 2026

    Get the basics right. Every single time.

    The customer does not care about your technology. They care about one thing: can you deliver for me, every time? Consistency is the strategy.

  • Feb 26, 2026

    Bison versus cows

    When a storm rolls across the plains, cows run east with it and prolong the pain. Bison charge into the storm. The calibrated leadership call that separates the two.

  • Feb 24, 2026

    The Basics Aren't Boring. They're the Whole Game.

    45 days to a decision, 90 days to alignment. The second number is the one that matters. The unsexy middle is where most transformations quietly fail.

  • Feb 17, 2026

    Technology Investment Portfolio Framework

    Public company boards govern capital allocation by portfolio, not project. A framework to align CIO strategy with board-level thinking.

  • Dec 2, 2025

    From roadmaps to revenue maps

    Outcomes create value, projects do not. How a product operating model replaces roadmaps with revenue maps and changes the board-level ROI conversation.

  • Nov 23, 2025

    Not every AI initiative moves the P&L

    Productivity add-ons, reimagined workflows, new business models. Three AI categories with different P&L impact, and where CIOs should focus.

  • Nov 18, 2025

    The Future CIO: From Operator to Growth Architect

    Technology is the product. The best CIOs are stepping into the role of Chief Product Officer for the enterprise, architecting topline growth, not just stability.