Brian Madden

Brian Madden photo

I'm a technology officer and futurist at Citrix, where I explore how AI is reshaping knowledge work. I blog regularly on citrix.com/blogs, discuss workplace AI on LinkedIn, and give talks globally on this topic.

Check out my latest writing & talks for links to what I've done most recently, including videos of recent talks.

I've spent the past 31 years focusing on end-user computing, digital workplace trends, and the evolving nature of knowledge work. Along the way I've started and invested in companies, written 6 books, published more than 2,000 articles, and delivered over 1,000 talks around the world.

I’ve advised and invested in several startups, including FSLogix (acquired by Microsoft in 2018), and worked at VMware as a Distinguished Technologist in the EUC Office of the CTO.

Right now

I’m helping Citrix connect the dots between AI, secure workspaces, and the future of work. That includes shaping our strategy, writing about the shift in knowledge work, and showing how Citrix is uniquely positioned to support the rise of AI-assisted and AI-driven workers securely and at scale.

BrianMadden.com & BriForum

I launched The Brian Madden Company—best known for our independent EUC industry site BrianMadden.com—and founded the BriForum conference, which ran for over a decade across cities worldwide. TechTarget acquired us in 2008, and I stayed on until 2016.

Best-selling author

I've written six books and edited & published four others, all about end-user computing technologies and strategies. My favorite is "The VDI Delusion" from 2012. My most recent book was a strategy guide on Desktops as a Service. Details are on the Books page.

Creator of the Mission Pinball Framework (MPF)

I love mechanical things and pinball. I started building my own pinball machine in high school in the 1990s and discovered there's a whole community of pinball makers and geeks who build their own pinball machines in the 2010s. In 2014, I started working on a free & open source pinball machine software framework (e.g. the software which runs a pinball machine) which I called the Mission Pinball Framework. (I was living in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood then and I thought it was a cool name.) Today MPF is the de facto standard software framework for people building their own machines, having been used to power hundreds of personal projects and several commercial pinball machines. (Check out my very first post announcing MPF more than 10 years ago. Wow!)

Creator of FAST Pinball's tech docs

I love technical writing and I love pinball. From 2022-23, I took a sabbatical from enterprise tech and wrote all of the technical documentation for FAST Pinball, including product docs, manuals, tutorials, how-to guides, etc. FAST Pinball is a pinball platform company who makes pinball control systems (electronic boards, etc.) for pinball machines. Most of their business is as the hardware platform provider for commercial pinball companies (Barrels of Fun, European Pinball Company, Pedretti Gaming, Pinball Brothers, Haggis Pinball), but they also provide their platform to individual pinball makers who build their own machines in their garages and basements. Fun!

Follow & connect

Contact me

The best way to reach me is via LinkedIn.

See what I’ve been up to

Check out my Latest Writing & Talks for blog posts, talks, interviews, and whatever else I’ve been doing lately.

Personal

I grew up in Akron, Ohio (Go Browns!). I now live in Paris. 🇫🇷