Posts about career, jobs, interviews and success at work.
I’ve been mixing with some of the top Execs (CIOs, CTOs, Heads of IT) over the last few days at the Forrester IT Forum in Lisbon, Portugal, and I’ve had a number of conversations about the top issues they face. Not surprisingly, delivery is still the key concern. What I discovered though is that this […]
Delivery is still the top concern of Execs! Read More »
You might think that Web 2.0 was set to totally disrupt and displace the big players in the IT industry. New players have risen in the last 15 years; Google, Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Myspace, to name but a few. All these new guy’s propositions are based on amassing large volumes of data on individuals and
The Phenomenal Power of Enablement: Implications for Corporates and Individuals Read More »
Have you noticed that when your organization announces something in the press that you begin to receive an unusual number of calls offering consultation and other services? Your company may have just announced a new product launch, division, lay-offs or a serious accountancy error.It can be a pain in the ass, quite frankly. But remember,
How to respond when prospectors call following Press Announcements Read More »
The media continues to report that we’re in the grip of a recession. Whilst this maybe true, I haven’t yet seen a cascade of severance and canceled projects; but that may still come. A little while ago I offered 5 recession beating tips for Technical Professionals which discussed some proactive measures to reduce your personal
Grip of recession (?) Read More »
This is a continuation of this previous article, which looks at the implications of the Product Life-Cycle. In the previous article, I discussed the phases Development, Introduction and Growth.Now onto Maturity. Maturity is the phase where the product is well established in the market in terms of market share and is turning a healthy profit for the
The Implications of the Product Life-Cycle (Part Two) Read More »
No this ain’t some odd sexual reference. (If you thought it was, what does that say about you? And what does it say about me for thinking you might?)Fudging in this context is manipulation which goes against standard, e.g. changing a value of something ‘illegitimately’ to see if you get the result you’re looking for. My
Are you OK with fudging? Read More »
Did you know that organizational shape and behavior tends to reflect it’s company’s products?
The Implications of the Product Life-Cycle (Part One) Read More »
Nobody has the monopoly on good ideas. You may find yourself in a situation where you have a good idea that can revolutionize your organization, if only ‘management’ could see it. You’re bursting at the seams to speak to someone who can sponsor the idea and make it happen. For the bright technical professionals who
Brilliant Basics: Converting ideas and opportunities in technology to business value Read More »
The Internet has brought unprecedented access to information, and to each other. Using email, we are now able to contact friends, family and colleagues worldwide at the same time and from the same place, at low cost and effort. The trouble is, (for the same reasons) other people can contact us, often unsolicited. Spam is
Brilliant Basics: Getting the Most from Email Communication in Business Read More »
This is a continuation of the topic of Lightworkers and Darkworkers currently buzzing around on a few blogs; I wrote about Darkworkers here.Lightworkers, as defined by Steve Pavlina here, believe their primary role is to serve the greater good of humanity, and act in general terms selflessly. This doesn’t mean Lightworkers will starve to put
Are there Lightworkers in your department? Read More »
The concept of Darkworkers and Lightworkers is buzzing on a couple of blogs I favor at the moment. In essence, Darkworkers align themselves to the needs of themselves, i.e. they are selfish individuals who live only for personal gain. On the flipside, Lightworkers align themselves to the needs of humanity. It’s important at this time
Are there Darkworkers in your department? Read More »
Information is the basis of the modern world. It’s the Information Age (wasn’t that Oracle who had that in their strapline in the 90s?) Information is power, so they say. But how do you get your information?This article covers how we get information from external sources, i.e. it isn’t about the coffee-machine chat. I’m talking
Build an Information Catalog Read More »
Frequently, I’ve felt my boss (in a number of organizations) is on another planet. Have you?
The ‘mystery’ boss: why your bosses behavior may occasionally look strange Read More »
Career development isn’t just about doing a great job (although mastering your craft is a solid way to build a career to the greatest of heights), it’s also about building, maintaining and developing your profile inside and external to an organization. You can build your profile as I’ve just mentioned, by doing a great job
Finding niche causes to raise your profile Read More »
Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) are often the ‘unsaid’ requirements of a new product or system. NFRs should describe an important business context. Organizations who express new requirements of an IT system or a product tend to be much better at describing how something should work rather than the conditions in which it should work. For IT departments,
NFRs: The mysterious requirements of a business Read More »
In today’s climate of risk management, compliance, ITIL, Prince II and sophisticated management (the ‘regime’) innovation often loses out, as strict control of projects and operations demand repeatable, mature processes. A lot of investment goes into that situation, and changing them is costly and disruptive. So how inside a regime can innovation be stimulated without being
Creating technical innovation in a regimented world Read More »
Developing and improving your public speaking skills is a sure fire way of improving your personal confidence. On a similar vein, research and experience tells me that people who can demonstrate a grasp of language succeed better in the workplace. It’s similar to the psychological phenomenon that overweight people are perceived as less intelligent (with
How to Articulate Better Read More »
I doubt many of us can answer this question Yes or No outright, but the answer maybe lurking there if you consider how frustrated you might be about not achieving your (realistic) desires. Career success, for example, is dependent on other folks supporting you and recognising your achievements. But I’d say in most cases, it’s
Are you restricting your own Success? Read More »
Technical professions require precision in language. We can’t express computer program code in slang, as much as we can’t express an insurance illustration without being exact. So in our profession, you’d expect all articulation and use of language to be unambiguous and precise, wouldn’t you? Well research has shown that technical professionals can still lack
How to Tune Into Language as a Technical Leader Read More »
I frequently see and hear about how organizations struggle with the planning of programmes or large scale projects, as is often the case nowadays, they involve the integration of many partners, business units, mavericks, doubters and in summary complexity. The complexity, at first, creates chaos which manifests itself as overwhelming dependencies and uncertain delivery dates.
Using Chaos to Organize large scale programs and projects Read More »
‘Governance’ is a term that is becoming more and more popular in today’s business. Governance, in essence, is the process of policing an organization internally, making sure standards and policies are adhered to, budgets are kept and that decisions are rational and appropriately transparent. Governance is there to ensure your organization complies with Sarbanes-Oxley, should
Is Governance a pain in the ass? Read More »
