The enterprise is dead, long live the enterprise! The Italian monarch is an interesting analogy and I like thinking of GitHub as a guild. It fits with our experience at Assay Depot selling into pharmaceutical companies.

Levine compared this new “golden age” of the enterprise to the creativity and innovation that emerged in the city states of Italy.

Before the Renaissance, monarchs controlled the kingdom. In the old world of the enterprise, the monarch is the CIO. But no longer do business people need the seal of the CIO. They can buy direct from the developer. Small businesses, medium-sized businesses and departments in large companies are the new patrons for this new renaissance age. They need to get their work done, and the tools they use in their personal lives are the models.

Guilds, such as Github in its own way, are emerging in the communities where developers gather, learn and collaborate.