---
title: My current bio
date: 2011-09-06T10:17:34Z
modified: 2011-09-06T10:17:34Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/my-current-bio/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 3488
categories:
  - Uncategorized
timestamp: 2011-09-06T10:17:34Z
tags:
  - Uncategorized
---

Biographies are a strange thing. Long form, short form, not a resume – do we tailor the event or always use the same one? Should we follow the Cluetrain principle and vary the bio according to the conversation? I would say probably yes. Certainly my bona fides are different depending on whether I am talking to Fortune 500 companies, the public sector, free and open source communities, or environmental groups.

The core is pretty stable. My old bio used to somewhat formal – perhaps because i felt I had something to prove. These days less so:

> James Governor is co-founder of RedMonk, the open source analyst firm, which specialises in developer advocacy and analytics. Based in Shoreditch, London, he advises enterprises, startups and major companies such as IBM and Microsoft on developer-led innovation, community and technology strategy. He is also proud to have open source non-profit organisations such as the Apache Software Foundation and the Eclipse Foundation as clients. James is co-author of the O’Reilly publication Web 2.0 Design Patterns: what architects and entrepreneurs need to know.
> 
> RedMonk makes extensive of both open source and social media tools in its business operations – James, aka @monkchips, has more than 11k twitter followers. Chairman of SAP’s external panel for stakeholder assurance in Sustainability Strategy and Reporting for 2009 he led the creation of the Greenmonk sustainability subsidiary.

Never mind the written bio – what photo to use is always a tough one. My hair, for example, changes length faster than the British weather, while a lot of photos make me look about 14…

![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-HvQLXoI8VWU/TmXw21U2OkI/AAAAAAAACF8/HnF1bF2SiLA/Redmonk-HowDaySoftwareFitsInAtAdobeKevinCochraneJamesGoverno125.jpg)