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In-Store Signs Get Smart - Technology Review
I know this stuff is coming no matter what we think of it, but ad-signs that recognise you as you walk by and react is pretty mind-boggling.
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Peter Measures Blog : Business Process Management Suites – the future for business analysts?
I am not convinced by the tools, but really want to be.
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LinkedIn 2010 Overused Buzzwords: Extensive Experience, Innovative And Motivated
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Virtualisierung und Cloud Computing: 7 Ratschläge für die IT der Zukunft - computerwoche.de
Saturday, 18 December 2010
Twinstan's interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Twinstan's interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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Better Projects: BAs and Visualizing Information
Great visual on knowlegde pyramid.
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adrianh's agile and ux Bookmarks on Delicious
A fantastically rich collection of links on making UCD and agile work together - the most complete overview I have seen.
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Twinstan's interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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Business Model Canvas – Facilitator Cards | the architecture of everything
Looks like the Osterwaelder business model canvas is gaining traction...
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Twinstan's interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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This certainly resonates with me.
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Agile UX in Practice - some tips | Agile UX
A little general for my liking, but covers some of the methods that I have also found to be very useful in bringing together UCD type approaches and agile.
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Herding Cats: More Agile Claims
Another intelligent and balanced explanation from Glenn Alleman (Herding Cats) on why comparisons between agile and more "traditional" approaches are often flawed and unreasonably slanted towards the agile camp.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Twinstan's interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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TOGAF 9 introduces a very appealing concept of Capability-based planning for Business People
Not sure what is new about this, but it is at least a nice 1-pager on capabilities.
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The New York Times - Ebb and Flow at the Box Office
cool graphic
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Design Strategy at a Glance | Flickr
Great overview of the design process.
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YouTube - Do You Speak English? - Big Train - BBC comedy
OK - not a business architecture related link, but one of my favourites...
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BBC News - In graphics: Eurozone in crisis
A cracking simple infographic from the BBC - "makes one proud to be..." and all that... as long as you don't look at the figures, of course...
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Twinstan's interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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the perfect tool is not yet there,but this shows a good selection of free web drawing tools
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Before You Think Outside the Box, Think Inside of It
Refreshingly obvious!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Another TED talk on gaming
It seems that this whole behaviour manipulating gaming thing is very much in vogue (see also several posts from earlier this year (why not try my tag cloud? ;-)); TED published another talk on the topic from the Oxford TED conference earlier this year.
Although there was not much new material in the talk, Tom Chatfield certainly made a convincing case for the creativity of gamers. I particularly liked an anecdote about how a MMPORG required gamers to join forces in large numbers to defeat an evil dragon, but only rewarded a couple of the players. The result? A website set up by players to exchange an entirely invented currency ("dragon kill points") for items they wanted in the game.
If we can apply the same kind of motivation (or "engagement" as Chatfield calls it) to learning or enterprise "games" we can change the way we do business, whilst making it more fun in the process. Sounds to me like something worth exploring (think how performance reviews might work in a gaming context - check out the New Zealand company, sonar6 for a taste of where this is going!).
The talk can be found here; Tom Chatfield: 7 ways games reward the brain | Video on TED.com.
Although there was not much new material in the talk, Tom Chatfield certainly made a convincing case for the creativity of gamers. I particularly liked an anecdote about how a MMPORG required gamers to join forces in large numbers to defeat an evil dragon, but only rewarded a couple of the players. The result? A website set up by players to exchange an entirely invented currency ("dragon kill points") for items they wanted in the game.
If we can apply the same kind of motivation (or "engagement" as Chatfield calls it) to learning or enterprise "games" we can change the way we do business, whilst making it more fun in the process. Sounds to me like something worth exploring (think how performance reviews might work in a gaming context - check out the New Zealand company, sonar6 for a taste of where this is going!).
The talk can be found here; Tom Chatfield: 7 ways games reward the brain | Video on TED.com.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Twinstan's interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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» UX Book Reviews: October 2010 Johnny Holland – It's all about interaction » Blog Archive
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ECOMOD - Referenzgeschäftsprozesse und Strategien im E-Commerce
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6 Free Sites for Creating Your Own Comics
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Adding Sanity to Your Agility | Agile Software Development Videos Directory
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Blowing up the 20th Century Business Model | Management Innovation eXchange
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Twinstan's interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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Patrick Chappatte: The power of cartoons | Video on TED.com
Another cracker from TED
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Die 13½ Leben des Käpt’n Blaubär – Wikipedia
Käpt'n Blaubär has something to say about everything.. Sound familiar?
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» Radio Johnny: IDEA 2010 Johnny Holland – It's all about interaction » Blog Archive
Thoughts from the IA conference.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, 16 October 2010
Twinstan's interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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E-Commerce News: Opinions: The Do Not Track List and the Law of Unintended Consequences
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borderline philosophy, but intriguing...if I could just understand it...
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Who’s Suing Whom In The Telecoms Trade?
nice visualisation, amusing message ;-)
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Harvard Business Review article by booz fellows arguing for core competence/focused approach for companies - damn right!
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Business analysis is a career ender…
Be proud of the job ;-)
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Tim Jackson's economic reality check | Video on TED.com
Quite a thought-provoker, this one!
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Hans Rosling: The good news of the decade? | Video on TED.com
Not as mindboggling as his earlier lectures at TED, but still thoroughly informative.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, 9 October 2010
Twinstan's weekly interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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The Pyramid to Enlightenment is Upside-Down | Blog | design mind
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A Meditation on Root Cause Analysis (and Contest!) | Marcos Ferrer
Nice roundup on root cause and getting to the real root of a problem
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Twinstan's weekly interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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The_Future_of_Telecom_Operators.pdf
Another report on the necessary business model innovation in the telco-sector (a la Telco 2.0).
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Becoming a great BA: consulting lessons from Ellen Gottesdiener
Business analysis and architecture and business consulting overlap in man skill sets - some thoughtful remarks on this by Ellen Gottesdiener
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Anforderungen wachsen: Freiberufler sollen als Berater auftreten - computerwoche.de
A timely reminder that the expectations towards "external" support (freelance or consultant) are increasing all the time - good!
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The Dangers of "Checklist" Architecture | ZapThink
Another "fan" of checklists - lot of good sense here.
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Benchmarking can be destructive
Having earned big money running benchmarking studies, it looks like the big consultancies are beginning to reconsider...
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Twinstan's weekly interesting links roundup on Diigo (weekly)
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The Facebook Generation vs. the Fortune 500 | Management Innovation eXchange
Gary Hamel on the impact that Generation F(acebook) is having on strategy and policy creation within enterprises.
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The psychology of change management - McKinsey Quarterly - Organization - Change Management
Interesting article on McKinsey's thinking on why business transformation fails
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Customer Centric Market Model | Tyner Blain
Interesting model putting the customer at the centre of the a marketing model
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YouTube - How Multiplayer Games Will Change the Future of Work
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
"Thinking in Systems" - my favourite book this year
As some of you may have noticed, my reading this year has largely been around systems thinking (see here and here for earlier book reviews and thoughts on the topic).
This is largely a result of my ignorance regarding this approach to analysis and modeling, combined with a gut feeling that it is a "must-have" capability for a really good business architect or consultant.
Having been disappointed thus far by the competition, Donella H. Meadows' (sadly deceased) introductory book, "Thinking in Systems - a primer" has really impressed me.
Her book starts as a relatively dry introduction into some of the key concepts in systems thinking (she calls it the "systems zoo" - stock and flows, stabilising vs reinforcing feedback loops, response delays), but then moves on to describe some typical system archetypes in the real world (from business to government to the environment and back again) that really show how the thinking can and should be applied.
Even more interestingly, she then moves on to describe typical system traps and then defines her personal list of "leverage points" to address them.
As a consultant, this initially feels like it could be the holy grail of business architecture; it provides a lexicon to think about problems in complex environments, recurring patterns to look for and a process for identifying a solution. But, before you all run out and buy the book, let me bring you back from your euphoria; Meadows is smart enough to drag expectations back down - understanding is just the start, enacting the change necessary to move forward is the next challenge.. and enacting the change without building in more counterproductive issues to boot. On this topic, Meadows has little to say.
This notwithstanding, let me be very clear - this is the best book I have read on systems thinking (please note, there are still a load of books on my list, including the seminal work, "The Fifth Discipline", so this could change ;-). It is short, well structured and keeps you interested throughout.
So impressed was I that I actually ended up reading it twice. Indeed, this is the first book in a long time that I have added to my Amazon must-read list for business analysis and architecture.
As I have already talked about in a previous posting, I am convinced that the combination of systems thinking and visual thinking is a winning recipe for the consulting industry and this book has already gotten me thinking about how that might look in practice (hopefully more to follow on this soon, time permitting!).
Now go and buy it.
This is largely a result of my ignorance regarding this approach to analysis and modeling, combined with a gut feeling that it is a "must-have" capability for a really good business architect or consultant.
Having been disappointed thus far by the competition, Donella H. Meadows' (sadly deceased) introductory book, "Thinking in Systems - a primer" has really impressed me.
Her book starts as a relatively dry introduction into some of the key concepts in systems thinking (she calls it the "systems zoo" - stock and flows, stabilising vs reinforcing feedback loops, response delays), but then moves on to describe some typical system archetypes in the real world (from business to government to the environment and back again) that really show how the thinking can and should be applied.
Even more interestingly, she then moves on to describe typical system traps and then defines her personal list of "leverage points" to address them.
As a consultant, this initially feels like it could be the holy grail of business architecture; it provides a lexicon to think about problems in complex environments, recurring patterns to look for and a process for identifying a solution. But, before you all run out and buy the book, let me bring you back from your euphoria; Meadows is smart enough to drag expectations back down - understanding is just the start, enacting the change necessary to move forward is the next challenge.. and enacting the change without building in more counterproductive issues to boot. On this topic, Meadows has little to say.
This notwithstanding, let me be very clear - this is the best book I have read on systems thinking (please note, there are still a load of books on my list, including the seminal work, "The Fifth Discipline", so this could change ;-). It is short, well structured and keeps you interested throughout.
So impressed was I that I actually ended up reading it twice. Indeed, this is the first book in a long time that I have added to my Amazon must-read list for business analysis and architecture.
As I have already talked about in a previous posting, I am convinced that the combination of systems thinking and visual thinking is a winning recipe for the consulting industry and this book has already gotten me thinking about how that might look in practice (hopefully more to follow on this soon, time permitting!).
Now go and buy it.
Monday, 20 September 2010
Driving User Behavior with Game Dynamics
It seems that this behaviour-changing gaming movement really is building momentum - here is another interesting lecture from Stanford's HCI programme:
Scary, but definitely effective!
Scary, but definitely effective!
Sunday, 22 August 2010
"The game layer on top of the world" - another TED talk
Following on the heels of Jane McGonigal (see previous entries here and here for a little more on her frightening take on our current experiences; "the user experience of reality is broken" and the possible positive role that gaming combined with social media can have on this), TED.com just released a talk by Seth Priebatsch, "The game layer on top of the world".
As with Ms McGonigal, once you get beyond the initial shock of the key statements, the talk makes a disturbing amount of sense; the first decade of the century should be considered the time when the social media infrastructure was put in place that will enable the coming decade to be about influencing behaviours on a mass-scale through games and gaming concepts. Moreover his premise that this will based upon the Facebook online graph (see also here for an interesting blog entry from Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook) seems possible to me.
He sites several examples of this already happening (influencing when people go online and what they do via event-driven games a la Farmville, or any cocktail happy-hour for that matter, is just one trivial example, but there are many more).
What I like about his presentation is that it is doggedly optimistic. Given the obvious "big brother" concerns about any corporate or governmental attempt to influence behaviours through the social media, his appeal for us all to take part to make sure that the massive potential for manipulation is harnessed in a "positive" way feels long overdue (though this might simply be because I am getting older and am no longer on the pulse of what is "in".. actually thinking about it, I suspect I never was).
Of course, the biggest question is, what is "positive"? How do we ensure that it is the petrol efficiency competitions (see here) and not the "buy this to out-do your friends" competitions that win out?
Most certainly worth sacrificing 12 minutes for, his presentation is not very polished, but the simple messages and in particular the clear structure of his "game dynamics" - basically behaviour archetypes that many games are based upon (1. appointment dynamic, 2. influence and status dynamic, 3. progression dynamic, 4. communal discovery dynamic) - are spot on.
This stuff is happening today and is going to massively increase in the future - time to come to terms with it, I fear.
As with Ms McGonigal, once you get beyond the initial shock of the key statements, the talk makes a disturbing amount of sense; the first decade of the century should be considered the time when the social media infrastructure was put in place that will enable the coming decade to be about influencing behaviours on a mass-scale through games and gaming concepts. Moreover his premise that this will based upon the Facebook online graph (see also here for an interesting blog entry from Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook) seems possible to me.
He sites several examples of this already happening (influencing when people go online and what they do via event-driven games a la Farmville, or any cocktail happy-hour for that matter, is just one trivial example, but there are many more).
What I like about his presentation is that it is doggedly optimistic. Given the obvious "big brother" concerns about any corporate or governmental attempt to influence behaviours through the social media, his appeal for us all to take part to make sure that the massive potential for manipulation is harnessed in a "positive" way feels long overdue (though this might simply be because I am getting older and am no longer on the pulse of what is "in".. actually thinking about it, I suspect I never was).
Of course, the biggest question is, what is "positive"? How do we ensure that it is the petrol efficiency competitions (see here) and not the "buy this to out-do your friends" competitions that win out?
Most certainly worth sacrificing 12 minutes for, his presentation is not very polished, but the simple messages and in particular the clear structure of his "game dynamics" - basically behaviour archetypes that many games are based upon (1. appointment dynamic, 2. influence and status dynamic, 3. progression dynamic, 4. communal discovery dynamic) - are spot on.
This stuff is happening today and is going to massively increase in the future - time to come to terms with it, I fear.
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Nothing to post, but love the iPad
I really don't have anything to post, but want an excuse to try out the iPad blogging app.
I almost resent Apple for the fact that I have been hankering after an iPad since they came out, even though the functionality is severely lacking compared to the standard net book with Windows.
But only almost..
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I almost resent Apple for the fact that I have been hankering after an iPad since they came out, even though the functionality is severely lacking compared to the standard net book with Windows.
But only almost..
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, 8 July 2010
The Powers Behind the Prime Minister - a book review
Two hits in a row (see also previous post).
I admit that I am a bit of a politics nerd, but "The Powers Behind the Prime Minister" has a huge amount to offer for anyone interested in organisational dynamics.
The author describes in detail the inner workings of Number 10, the departments, their relative power and, most interestingly, the effect that the individual at the top has on the organisation.
Of course, the heart of government is a particularly intense organisation and the megalomania necessary to seek such an office, mean that career politicians are bound to be, well.. political, but there were loads of interesting lessons in the book from each government since the Second World War; from the support organisation that Churchill put in place when he returned to government in the fifties, through Heath's disciplined professional setup (proving that focusing on process alone without output is not enough) to the modern day (much expanded) office run for Mr Blair.
Another element of the book, that I had never really considered much, was the power of architecture and space in shaping the organisation within it - Number 10 has been confined by the building itself and has adapted accordingly. Compare it with The White House, the Kanzleramt or the Kremlin and it feels parochial.
As a study of power politics and the relationship between leaders and organisational culture, this book is simply outstanding!
I admit that I am a bit of a politics nerd, but "The Powers Behind the Prime Minister" has a huge amount to offer for anyone interested in organisational dynamics.
The author describes in detail the inner workings of Number 10, the departments, their relative power and, most interestingly, the effect that the individual at the top has on the organisation.
Of course, the heart of government is a particularly intense organisation and the megalomania necessary to seek such an office, mean that career politicians are bound to be, well.. political, but there were loads of interesting lessons in the book from each government since the Second World War; from the support organisation that Churchill put in place when he returned to government in the fifties, through Heath's disciplined professional setup (proving that focusing on process alone without output is not enough) to the modern day (much expanded) office run for Mr Blair.
Another element of the book, that I had never really considered much, was the power of architecture and space in shaping the organisation within it - Number 10 has been confined by the building itself and has adapted accordingly. Compare it with The White House, the Kanzleramt or the Kremlin and it feels parochial.
As a study of power politics and the relationship between leaders and organisational culture, this book is simply outstanding!
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Communicating strategy - a book review
I've been having an unlucky streak with my reading recently (see here and here). So, I am pleased to say that the latest read, "Communicating Strategy", by Phil Jones, was pretty good, though not great.
As with my previous reviews, I am bound to state upfront that I had high expectations of this book. I really enjoyed parts of it; Phil Jones clearly has a huge amount of experience as a coach and performance consultant and the book contains many interesting examples of how to approach strategy development and communication. The style is easy and I liked the fact that he did not provide a simple checklist reminding us to think about the audience, build a compelling story, consider the mode of communication etc. (see here for a posting on my aversion to checklists!), but rather opted for a more rhetorical approach (putting out questions without direct answers at the end of each section to make you think).
I particularly liked the second chapter, which describes "Ten Heresies" in his own thinking towards communicating strategy. That "people are not stupid", that you can "trust people" and that "you can over communicate" are certainly positions that I entirely agree with.
But what I liked most about the book was the constant reminders it contained to think consciously about what and how you communicate to whom.
It is easy to get into a rut in communications - everyone has a style they are most comfortable with and tend to use it irrespective of audience and need (I personally find it very helpful simply to try different communications techniques/modes just to force myself to think consciously about what it is I want to communicate from as many different stakeholders' perspectives - even if you end up shifting back to your comfort zone - as I personally undoubtedly often do - the act of considering things from multiple angles typically gives you insights that improve your thinking).
This is a good book with a lot of simple advice. Beware though that it also contains considerable references to NLP techniques - certainly interesting but not everyone's cup of tea.
As with my previous reviews, I am bound to state upfront that I had high expectations of this book. I really enjoyed parts of it; Phil Jones clearly has a huge amount of experience as a coach and performance consultant and the book contains many interesting examples of how to approach strategy development and communication. The style is easy and I liked the fact that he did not provide a simple checklist reminding us to think about the audience, build a compelling story, consider the mode of communication etc. (see here for a posting on my aversion to checklists!), but rather opted for a more rhetorical approach (putting out questions without direct answers at the end of each section to make you think).
I particularly liked the second chapter, which describes "Ten Heresies" in his own thinking towards communicating strategy. That "people are not stupid", that you can "trust people" and that "you can over communicate" are certainly positions that I entirely agree with.
But what I liked most about the book was the constant reminders it contained to think consciously about what and how you communicate to whom.
It is easy to get into a rut in communications - everyone has a style they are most comfortable with and tend to use it irrespective of audience and need (I personally find it very helpful simply to try different communications techniques/modes just to force myself to think consciously about what it is I want to communicate from as many different stakeholders' perspectives - even if you end up shifting back to your comfort zone - as I personally undoubtedly often do - the act of considering things from multiple angles typically gives you insights that improve your thinking).
This is a good book with a lot of simple advice. Beware though that it also contains considerable references to NLP techniques - certainly interesting but not everyone's cup of tea.
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Systems thinking - book review
Another short post. As mentioned earlier this year, I am merrily working my way through the enormous backlog of books that I built up over the Christmas holidays.
The latest book was "Systems thinking - managing chaos and complexity: a platform for designing business architecture". Just from the name, I had high expectations. Add to this the author, Jamshid Gharajedaghi, a protege of Russell Ackoff (Mr Systems Thinking) and I was really looking forward to this book.
I was disappointed. Now, the difficult thing is that I am not sure whether to be disappointed with the book, or myself; I did not understand half of the thinking in the book. Every time I thought I had a grip on a concept and how it related to the other parts of the frameworks presented, Gharajedaghi applied it in a way that I could not follow.
I am intuitively drawn to systems thinking (with its emphasis on the whole, on the interdependence of working parts in a system, organisation or problem and the analysis of their relationships with one another) and am sure that this book does provide lots of good material for those that have truly understood the basics, but as a primer, I have been defeated.
Next on the list: "Thinking in systems" - perhaps I will have more luck with this one - post to follow later this year.
The latest book was "Systems thinking - managing chaos and complexity: a platform for designing business architecture". Just from the name, I had high expectations. Add to this the author, Jamshid Gharajedaghi, a protege of Russell Ackoff (Mr Systems Thinking) and I was really looking forward to this book.
I was disappointed. Now, the difficult thing is that I am not sure whether to be disappointed with the book, or myself; I did not understand half of the thinking in the book. Every time I thought I had a grip on a concept and how it related to the other parts of the frameworks presented, Gharajedaghi applied it in a way that I could not follow.
I am intuitively drawn to systems thinking (with its emphasis on the whole, on the interdependence of working parts in a system, organisation or problem and the analysis of their relationships with one another) and am sure that this book does provide lots of good material for those that have truly understood the basics, but as a primer, I have been defeated.
Next on the list: "Thinking in systems" - perhaps I will have more luck with this one - post to follow later this year.
Monday, 7 June 2010
Scrum, agile and "real' project management methodologies
I have been following a blog "Better projects" for a while. A recent post arguing that "scrum" (an agile software development methodology) can represent a complete answer to project management for certain projects, reminded me that I had been intending to post a couple of thoughts on this matter myself:
In my humble opinion, agile project management (as a philosophy, rather than the specific flavour of agile suggested by Jim Highsmith - see also here for more on that), informs all areas of project management and the application of the principles found in and around the agile manifesto, can certainly provide answers and guidance to most/all parts of a project.
This does not, however, necessarily mean that scrum can entirely replace "real" project management methodologies.
In the context of full disclosure, I feel I should out myself at this point as a fan of agile approaches in general and - on the whole - of scrum as a specific flavour of agile (though, as with any methodology it has advantages, disadvantages and should be applied carefully, taking into consideration the context of the actual project...).
A few years ago, I did a bit of thinking about how the various agile frameworks map to the various project management disciplines and how they can effect the degree of risk on a project as part of a Masters degree that I did in my spare time. Back then I came (amongst other things) to the following conclusions:
It should be noted, that this thinking was done in an academic context and consequently involved a good deal of defining and differentiating terms (eg. agile "philosophy", "method", "methodology", "approach", "framework"), but I still absolutely stand by the findings (and they have been stated in the meantime several times over by many people much smarter than I (see also here for more details from someone who really understands this stuff in detail!): any framework is just that, a framwork - it does not replace thinking and applying one's knowledge to a given environment and project to adapt and use a framework.
I have nevertheless attached a few of the overview diagrams from the introductory/definitions section of the paper below for those that might be interested:
1. "Framework" for the analysis that combined "pure" project management and software development frameworks (since I argued that many of the agile project management approaches stretch across areas of both such frameworks):
2. An overview of how scrum and xp map to this framework
3. The resulting mapping of these methodologies to the idealised framework (where a "full-score" would be attained if all areas were fully addressed - unrealistic for any framework).
If you are interested in more detail and the other findings (based upon survey and case-study, and more explicitly describing the ways in which different types of risk are addressed using agile methods), please contact me directly, since the material cannot be shared in its entirety without permission from the university, myself and the participating companies.
In my humble opinion, agile project management (as a philosophy, rather than the specific flavour of agile suggested by Jim Highsmith - see also here for more on that), informs all areas of project management and the application of the principles found in and around the agile manifesto, can certainly provide answers and guidance to most/all parts of a project.
This does not, however, necessarily mean that scrum can entirely replace "real" project management methodologies.
In the context of full disclosure, I feel I should out myself at this point as a fan of agile approaches in general and - on the whole - of scrum as a specific flavour of agile (though, as with any methodology it has advantages, disadvantages and should be applied carefully, taking into consideration the context of the actual project...).
A few years ago, I did a bit of thinking about how the various agile frameworks map to the various project management disciplines and how they can effect the degree of risk on a project as part of a Masters degree that I did in my spare time. Back then I came (amongst other things) to the following conclusions:
- There is little that is contradictory between more traditional project management "meta"-frameworks like the PMBOK from PMI and agile methods though they do not bear direct comparison in all areas and in some areas they extend into software development (ie. domain specific disciplines) not covered explicitly by project management frameworks.
- Conversely, PM frameworks do address explicitly areas that are only implied or hinted to in agile.
- As such scrum can usefully be augmented by other practices (particular in the area of HR, but also in procurement, risk management, cost management etc.).
- Usage of scrum (and other agile methods) can lead to a reduction in risks on projects
- ...But this depends entirely upon the way it is applied.
It should be noted, that this thinking was done in an academic context and consequently involved a good deal of defining and differentiating terms (eg. agile "philosophy", "method", "methodology", "approach", "framework"), but I still absolutely stand by the findings (and they have been stated in the meantime several times over by many people much smarter than I (see also here for more details from someone who really understands this stuff in detail!): any framework is just that, a framwork - it does not replace thinking and applying one's knowledge to a given environment and project to adapt and use a framework.
I have nevertheless attached a few of the overview diagrams from the introductory/definitions section of the paper below for those that might be interested:
1. "Framework" for the analysis that combined "pure" project management and software development frameworks (since I argued that many of the agile project management approaches stretch across areas of both such frameworks):
2. An overview of how scrum and xp map to this framework
3. The resulting mapping of these methodologies to the idealised framework (where a "full-score" would be attained if all areas were fully addressed - unrealistic for any framework).
If you are interested in more detail and the other findings (based upon survey and case-study, and more explicitly describing the ways in which different types of risk are addressed using agile methods), please contact me directly, since the material cannot be shared in its entirety without permission from the university, myself and the participating companies.
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
Combining user-centric design and agile product development processes
As I have written before (see here), there is a blazing discussion in the blogosphere (and at every well-respected conference on agile development right now) about how best to combine agile development practices and user centric design processes.
Jeremy Johnson (blog here), recently posted an interesting summary of the findings of the "Agile UX Retreat 2010 Group" here. In particular, I liked his take on the role of UX as a "glue" between product management ("product owners" in the agile scrum jargon) and software development (the "scrum team" to stick to the parlance). A nice slide summary can be found here.
This certainly matches with what I see in practice - really successful online development projects put UX as the centre of both the product development and software development processes - in fact this should practically be a "given" nowadays (even if it is hardly ever done successfully).
Nevertheless, for me, the really challenging issue is not doing this, but doing it efficiently - that is, bringing together traditional business analysis and design methods and roles with user experience practices efficiently (without undue overlap).
More to follow on this topic...
Jeremy Johnson (blog here), recently posted an interesting summary of the findings of the "Agile UX Retreat 2010 Group" here. In particular, I liked his take on the role of UX as a "glue" between product management ("product owners" in the agile scrum jargon) and software development (the "scrum team" to stick to the parlance). A nice slide summary can be found here.
This certainly matches with what I see in practice - really successful online development projects put UX as the centre of both the product development and software development processes - in fact this should practically be a "given" nowadays (even if it is hardly ever done successfully).
Nevertheless, for me, the really challenging issue is not doing this, but doing it efficiently - that is, bringing together traditional business analysis and design methods and roles with user experience practices efficiently (without undue overlap).
More to follow on this topic...
Monday, 24 May 2010
Blue ocean strategy in 8 slides
Another short posting today.
When I first read "Blue Ocean Strategy" a few years back, I was not so impressed - it was a good synthesis of thinking that had preceded it, but I failed to see what is new...
Several years on, I haven't really changed my mind about the content - it isn't new - but I guess I have gained an appreciation for what a professor during my undergraduate days used to call "masterful synthesis" ("there are no new ideas, just new configurations of old ideas", paraphrasing Audre Lorde) and I suspect I am a good deal more open to the fact that even small changes and innovations in business can be truly difficult to achieve.
BlueOceanStrategy.com is a really nice website that covers the core tools and techniques from the book; the strategy canvas,the "four actions" framework and others. If you haven't read the book, go here first!
And even "better", there is an 8-page summary deck. Now all that I have to do is work out where the blue ocean is in the IT consulting space.. which turns out to actually be quite difficult even with the nice tools.
Darn!
When I first read "Blue Ocean Strategy" a few years back, I was not so impressed - it was a good synthesis of thinking that had preceded it, but I failed to see what is new...
Several years on, I haven't really changed my mind about the content - it isn't new - but I guess I have gained an appreciation for what a professor during my undergraduate days used to call "masterful synthesis" ("there are no new ideas, just new configurations of old ideas", paraphrasing Audre Lorde) and I suspect I am a good deal more open to the fact that even small changes and innovations in business can be truly difficult to achieve.
BlueOceanStrategy.com is a really nice website that covers the core tools and techniques from the book; the strategy canvas,the "four actions" framework and others. If you haven't read the book, go here first!
And even "better", there is an 8-page summary deck. Now all that I have to do is work out where the blue ocean is in the IT consulting space.. which turns out to actually be quite difficult even with the nice tools.
Darn!
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Why checklists aren't all bad!
Just a short entry today...
Let me start with a bold statement; I hate checklists - people begin to rely on them and then stop thinking outside the lists....
However, at latest since Atul Gawande's "Checklist Manifesto" the checklist is back in.
I have been reminded over the last weeks of how useful a few simple checks are when you are in a hurry. More than this, checklists can be used to enforce standard behaviours - perhaps not the most up-to-date and empowered management thinking, but effective.
The key is to keep them lightweight, keep them simple and keep questioning them - they are the armbands for swimming and do not replace kicking your feet!
A useful link to finish: a checklist for checklists.
Let me start with a bold statement; I hate checklists - people begin to rely on them and then stop thinking outside the lists....
However, at latest since Atul Gawande's "Checklist Manifesto" the checklist is back in.
I have been reminded over the last weeks of how useful a few simple checks are when you are in a hurry. More than this, checklists can be used to enforce standard behaviours - perhaps not the most up-to-date and empowered management thinking, but effective.
The key is to keep them lightweight, keep them simple and keep questioning them - they are the armbands for swimming and do not replace kicking your feet!
A useful link to finish: a checklist for checklists.
Tuesday, 4 May 2010
Star trek & social media marketing
At the risk of destroying my "online image", I have a confession; I am a Star Trek geek (not that this is going to come as a surprise to anyone who knows me!). This is probably why I liked the following info-graphic that explains the roles and activities required to use social media as a marketing tool effectively. Check it out here.
Tuesday, 13 April 2010
Visualising the customer experience
OK, I admit that it is becoming a bit of a theme in my blog, but the value of visualisation tools to enable change in organisations, to clarify target-state goals and to motivate projects can hardly be over-emphasised.
I stumbled across a great blog, "Designing Change" that I would recommend - there are some great examples of customer experience visualisation (and I do not mean wireframes and visual design, but rather conceptual visualisation).
The challenge with such imagery (as I have found painfully, not being the most visual of people myself), is to find the right metaphor for the particular concern that you have. Of course tools and methods can help there a lot (and I have already posted several entries on this - see for example here, here and here). But the best way to get going is through "inspiration" (or copying, as I prefer to call it). Here is a great collection of conceptual visualisations to get you going (from a guy called Dave Armano who has impressed me a few times on his blog:
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Have fun.
I stumbled across a great blog, "Designing Change" that I would recommend - there are some great examples of customer experience visualisation (and I do not mean wireframes and visual design, but rather conceptual visualisation).
The challenge with such imagery (as I have found painfully, not being the most visual of people myself), is to find the right metaphor for the particular concern that you have. Of course tools and methods can help there a lot (and I have already posted several entries on this - see for example here, here and here). But the best way to get going is through "inspiration" (or copying, as I prefer to call it). Here is a great collection of conceptual visualisations to get you going (from a guy called Dave Armano who has impressed me a few times on his blog:
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Have fun.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
"The" 3-Ps of entrepreneurship
I finally caught up with a few of my podcast subscriptions this weekend. One that got me thinking was from the University of Stanford - the "Entrepreneurship thought leadership" lecture series. I have been following it for several weeks; each lecture is with another entrepreneur and, it being Stanford, they have had an impressive collection of names, but the last week's with Steve Case (ex-CEO of AOL) was particularly interesting.
He spent most of his time talking about his "glory years" (though of course he did not formulate it quite like this) and came across as an authentic and reflective guy, but I particularly liked the structure of his overall talk - his 3-Ps for entrepreneurship: People, Passion and Perseverance.
Working for a fairly large organisation, I was pleased that he tipped his hat to the entrepreneurial spirit that can be achieved in the best big companies and reducing it to passion and persevance with the right people is a nice simple formula.
Listen in if you get a chance.
The title of this entry is "The" 3-Ps (with the "The" in inverted commas) because a short search of the web reveals that there appear to be dozens of 3-Ps (of success, sales, business etc. - most often they seem to be People, Process, Product...)
Case's flavour seems more immediate and actionable than most, and it also mirrors my own thinking on hard work, coaching and enthusiasm in the workplace. Perhaps this makes me biased but I am going to stick with Case on this ;-).
He spent most of his time talking about his "glory years" (though of course he did not formulate it quite like this) and came across as an authentic and reflective guy, but I particularly liked the structure of his overall talk - his 3-Ps for entrepreneurship: People, Passion and Perseverance.
Working for a fairly large organisation, I was pleased that he tipped his hat to the entrepreneurial spirit that can be achieved in the best big companies and reducing it to passion and persevance with the right people is a nice simple formula.
Listen in if you get a chance.
The title of this entry is "The" 3-Ps (with the "The" in inverted commas) because a short search of the web reveals that there appear to be dozens of 3-Ps (of success, sales, business etc. - most often they seem to be People, Process, Product...)
Case's flavour seems more immediate and actionable than most, and it also mirrors my own thinking on hard work, coaching and enthusiasm in the workplace. Perhaps this makes me biased but I am going to stick with Case on this ;-).
Saturday, 20 March 2010
Design thinking & strategy - a book review
As threatened in an earlier post, this entry is another book review.
"Design thinking; integrating innovation, customer experience and brand value", edited by Thomas Lockwood (of course, available via amazon), brings together a bunch of big names in design management and provides a nicely balanced overview of current ideas about the role of design in innovation, service delivery, but in particular in developing brands.
I especially liked the contributions by Kevin Clark & Ron Smith from IBM Corporate Markting (on the value of leveraging design professionals and skills to provide insights in all aspects of the business), Erik Abbing & Christa van Gessel (who provide a 4-step method for brand-driven innovation) and Mark Jones & Fran Samalionis from IDEO (who have put together a nice framework to design new service innvoations).
Despite the many interesting essays, I was underwhelmed by the book as a whole. I guess it is my nature (or background, or both), but I was looking for a more complete answer, showing how design thinking can be applied / integrated into the business - beyond the straightforward application of ideation and visualisation techniques to the product and brand development process.
Using design thinking (and at the very least design techniques) combined with more analytical/structured methods in the business strategy space to bring the "outside-in approach" into an organisation and to give those ideas traction feels like an idea on the brink of maturity - in a couple of years this is going to be entirely mainstream.
Nevertheless, if this book was anything to go on, there is a lot of work to be done before then. The tools need to mature to be applied in the broader business strategy arena (ie. outside of the product development space where they are most at home). It feels like progress is being made quickly (with new blogs and companies popping up daily) - it is a fun time to dig into this space!
Given my own more analytical background, I personally find it rather frustrating trying to create rather than deduce, but also all the more rewarding when it pays off - I hope to be posting later this year on the topic of design thinking in the context of business architecture as my ideas mature.
As such any help that can be found in books like this on methods and approaches are thoroughly welcome!
"Design thinking; integrating innovation, customer experience and brand value", edited by Thomas Lockwood (of course, available via amazon), brings together a bunch of big names in design management and provides a nicely balanced overview of current ideas about the role of design in innovation, service delivery, but in particular in developing brands.
I especially liked the contributions by Kevin Clark & Ron Smith from IBM Corporate Markting (on the value of leveraging design professionals and skills to provide insights in all aspects of the business), Erik Abbing & Christa van Gessel (who provide a 4-step method for brand-driven innovation) and Mark Jones & Fran Samalionis from IDEO (who have put together a nice framework to design new service innvoations).
Despite the many interesting essays, I was underwhelmed by the book as a whole. I guess it is my nature (or background, or both), but I was looking for a more complete answer, showing how design thinking can be applied / integrated into the business - beyond the straightforward application of ideation and visualisation techniques to the product and brand development process.
Using design thinking (and at the very least design techniques) combined with more analytical/structured methods in the business strategy space to bring the "outside-in approach" into an organisation and to give those ideas traction feels like an idea on the brink of maturity - in a couple of years this is going to be entirely mainstream.
Nevertheless, if this book was anything to go on, there is a lot of work to be done before then. The tools need to mature to be applied in the broader business strategy arena (ie. outside of the product development space where they are most at home). It feels like progress is being made quickly (with new blogs and companies popping up daily) - it is a fun time to dig into this space!
Given my own more analytical background, I personally find it rather frustrating trying to create rather than deduce, but also all the more rewarding when it pays off - I hope to be posting later this year on the topic of design thinking in the context of business architecture as my ideas mature.
As such any help that can be found in books like this on methods and approaches are thoroughly welcome!
Thursday, 18 March 2010
"Save the online damsel, save the world!"
Having recently posted a presentation from the somewhat frightening Jane McGonigal (games designer and director at the Institue for the Future), I have been on the lookout for more from her that perhaps backs up her claims regarding the user experience of reality.
I am very pleased to be able to write that her voice-over on the presentation (well, at least on a very similar presentation that she gave at TED recently - see below), is much more positive and pretty convincing - the basic message is as follows; millions and millions of people are spending serious amounts of time building "virtuoso" skills (her word not mine) in these online games and they can be harnessed to achieve breakthroughs in the "real world" (ie. the non-digital part of the world). She goes on to give some nice examples of games adjusting behaviours in the real world.
At the very least, the presentation was uplifting (and made me think back to the notion of passionate engagement that I posted on recently).
I am intuitively enthusiastic about her belief in the online generation, the value of "MMORPGs" in developing real skills and am absolutely convinced in her assertion on human need for meaningful exertion (ie. for a valuable cause, for an "epic" in her words), rather than "just" work.
On her website she sums it up nicely: "What the world needs now is an epic win." - So finally my younger brothers have all the justification that they need to get back online and start gaming.
Thanks Dr McGonigal!
Here is the post from TED:
I am very pleased to be able to write that her voice-over on the presentation (well, at least on a very similar presentation that she gave at TED recently - see below), is much more positive and pretty convincing - the basic message is as follows; millions and millions of people are spending serious amounts of time building "virtuoso" skills (her word not mine) in these online games and they can be harnessed to achieve breakthroughs in the "real world" (ie. the non-digital part of the world). She goes on to give some nice examples of games adjusting behaviours in the real world.
At the very least, the presentation was uplifting (and made me think back to the notion of passionate engagement that I posted on recently).
I am intuitively enthusiastic about her belief in the online generation, the value of "MMORPGs" in developing real skills and am absolutely convinced in her assertion on human need for meaningful exertion (ie. for a valuable cause, for an "epic" in her words), rather than "just" work.
On her website she sums it up nicely: "What the world needs now is an epic win." - So finally my younger brothers have all the justification that they need to get back online and start gaming.
Thanks Dr McGonigal!
Here is the post from TED:
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
BA Body of Knowledge 2.0 available online for free
OK, I admit it; I am a little miffed that the IIBA has released the latest version of the BABOK (see also previous entry) for free at Google Books, but it is definitely a good reference.
Beyond the convenience of the whole online book experience, I like the fact that book comes with a neat little web-cloud that gives you an immediate overview of the book. Once this is expanded to work across all the books and into a snazzy visual navigation widget I will be more than happy ;-).
Beyond the convenience of the whole online book experience, I like the fact that book comes with a neat little web-cloud that gives you an immediate overview of the book. Once this is expanded to work across all the books and into a snazzy visual navigation widget I will be more than happy ;-).
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Microsoft is not all bad
As much as I hate to admit it, the guys at Microsoft really do some pretty cool stuff. A couple that have caught my eye recently:
Xbox - project Natal
This is going to be transformational like the Wii
Pivot from Live Labs
This is the kind of data visualisation tool that I love - you can just feel what this is going to mean for managing and traversing large chunks of data and information (think Jonathon Harris' universe - see also previous entry). It build on the wonderful seadragon technology (not that I really understand what that is, but it allows you to zoom in and out of pictures really quickly and I like that - see also this link for great examples).
Bill and Ballmer are not all bad.
Xbox - project Natal
This is going to be transformational like the Wii
Pivot from Live Labs
This is the kind of data visualisation tool that I love - you can just feel what this is going to mean for managing and traversing large chunks of data and information (think Jonathon Harris' universe - see also previous entry). It build on the wonderful seadragon technology (not that I really understand what that is, but it allows you to zoom in and out of pictures really quickly and I like that - see also this link for great examples).
Bill and Ballmer are not all bad.
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Propaganda meets visual thinking
I was just catching up on the latest from adaptive path and stumbled across an interesting if slightly depressing blog entry on the bush vs obama administrations. Nice simple graphics, entirely inappropriate music for the context.. propaganda meets visual thinking...
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
Tribes, passion & getting ideas off the ground
Following on from the previous post on "Tribes" and the power of passionate leadership, I stumbled across a great site, the99percent.com that focuses on getting ideas off the ground. One videocast that jumped out was by Ji Lee (Director of Google Creative Lab) - he talks about the transformative power of personal projects (and the fact that the professional and personal world inevitably intersect if we are passionate about what we do, even if we like the idea of keeping them separate).
Posted using ShareThis
Posted using ShareThis
Tribes & leading vs managing
Over Christmas I finally got around to using up a couple of Amazon vouchers that I have had for a while... OK, it was well over €500, which means that I have got enough in the way of business reading material to keep me going for most of the year (I try to balance my reading by cycling through 1x professional book, 1x non-fiction, non-business, 1x fiction and back to 1x professional book etc., but now have far too many in the professional category to make this work this year!). As such, you should expect to see a few reviews, or at the very least references to books worth checking out.
The first two books on my backlog this year were "Tribes" (by Seth Godin) and "Building great customer experiences" (by Colin Shaw & John Ivens) and I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with both:
Having seen a few talks by Seth Godin, following his (unbelievably popular) blog and enjoyed "Permission Marketing" immensely, I was really looking forward to Tribes. The underlying premise (that in the "new world" organisations need leaders of "tribes" of interest to innovate, make changes happen and to create new value and that these leaders are not the managers of old, but rather thought leaders) is potent and attractive - especially for someone working in a professional services organisation that lives from subject matter expertise alongside management competence ;-), but the book failed to deliver any "meat" to back this up.
That said, the book is a quick and easy read. Its appeal to individuals to be passionate about things that they believe in - and to channel this passion into a community to effect change - resonates.
"Building great customer experiences" has the same informal journalistic style as "Tribes", and lays out a set of "philosophies" for delivering customer experiences across channels. To be fair, the book is several years old and may at the time have been innovative, but today it seems to reflect the received wisdom - the power and importance of emotions in customer experience, designing processes "outside in" (rather than "inside out") etc.
The authors are clearly very experienced (and the case-studies within the book are certainly interesting and varied), but the frameworks that they provide are rather generic.
Nevertheless, there were definitely a couple of points that they really hammered home -
The first two books on my backlog this year were "Tribes" (by Seth Godin) and "Building great customer experiences" (by Colin Shaw & John Ivens) and I have to admit I was slightly disappointed with both:
Having seen a few talks by Seth Godin, following his (unbelievably popular) blog and enjoyed "Permission Marketing" immensely, I was really looking forward to Tribes. The underlying premise (that in the "new world" organisations need leaders of "tribes" of interest to innovate, make changes happen and to create new value and that these leaders are not the managers of old, but rather thought leaders) is potent and attractive - especially for someone working in a professional services organisation that lives from subject matter expertise alongside management competence ;-), but the book failed to deliver any "meat" to back this up.
That said, the book is a quick and easy read. Its appeal to individuals to be passionate about things that they believe in - and to channel this passion into a community to effect change - resonates.
"Building great customer experiences" has the same informal journalistic style as "Tribes", and lays out a set of "philosophies" for delivering customer experiences across channels. To be fair, the book is several years old and may at the time have been innovative, but today it seems to reflect the received wisdom - the power and importance of emotions in customer experience, designing processes "outside in" (rather than "inside out") etc.
The authors are clearly very experienced (and the case-studies within the book are certainly interesting and varied), but the frameworks that they provide are rather generic.
Nevertheless, there were definitely a couple of points that they really hammered home -
- that brand and customer experience must be aligned to be effective and
- only by seeing customer experience as a central part of one's overall strategy (complete with a gimmicky, but helpful "customer experience statement" a pinnacle of a "customer experience pyramid" (TM), will it be possible to truly deliver a customer-centric service
Monday, 15 February 2010
User Experience of Reality
I am an enthusiastic proponent of online gaming and its value in the development of children and adults alike, but I have to say that this presentation by Jane McGonigal even frightened me a little bit.. "the user experience of reality is broken". Hilfe!
User Experience of Reality
View more presentations from avantgame.
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Fantastic complex information visualisations
I just stumbled across a wonderful collection of images showing complex data/information sets in a easily understandable way. Check them out here.
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Anyone can draw apparently - effective visualisation
Not being the greatest at drawing, but having an acute awareness at how useful visualisation is for communicating ideas, I am always interested in learning useful techniques that can be applied easily (see also my review of "The Back of the Napkin"). Over the last year I have had the opportunity to work with some very bright and creative people to create conceptual imagery to and have been impressed on how effective it can be.
As such, I was pleased when I stumbled across this nice set of video guides to drawing on VizThink (a favourite website of mine). Ultimately this is the same material that comes up in every 101-type book and course that I have seen, but it is succinct and easy to remember (my favourite kind of method!).
Having said this, I was a little disappointed that the post did not go beyond how to visualise particular elements to how to really use them effectively in presentations, meetings and workshops and simply to guide one's own thinking. On this front, I have been much more taken by the simple approach:
Of course it is the third step that is the most challenging (and the one that I certainly struggle with the most), but the good news is that there are literally hundreds of interesting sources for ideas on this front.. but that is something for later post!
As such, I was pleased when I stumbled across this nice set of video guides to drawing on VizThink (a favourite website of mine). Ultimately this is the same material that comes up in every 101-type book and course that I have seen, but it is succinct and easy to remember (my favourite kind of method!).
Having said this, I was a little disappointed that the post did not go beyond how to visualise particular elements to how to really use them effectively in presentations, meetings and workshops and simply to guide one's own thinking. On this front, I have been much more taken by the simple approach:
- Start with identifying the elements that are relevant to the problem or issue to be visualised
- Then decide upon the relationships between the elements (which are important and what flavour are the relationships)
- Once you have the block diagram in place, start playing with "visual metaphors" that can transport the key message best.
Of course it is the third step that is the most challenging (and the one that I certainly struggle with the most), but the good news is that there are literally hundreds of interesting sources for ideas on this front.. but that is something for later post!
What about an effective meeting?
Like so many others, I made some resolutions at New Year and will probably only manage to keep to them until the middle of February, but one of them was - how predictable - to rejoin the gym. In fact it was not just to rejoin the gym, but to actually go to it several times a week too and therein lies the challenge!
To keep my motivation, I am combining the gym attendance with working down my backlog of podcasts (I have about 100 hours of "stuff" that I want to get through). This evening one cast really stuck in my head - "Timely meetings" from the manager-tools team.
Admittedly, I have written about manager-tools' "Effective Meeting Protocol" before (see here for links and a brief overview), but I think it is worth reiterating (at least for myself if not for others!). In this latest cast they focus on the timeliness element of effective meetings - starting on time, having the agenda out in advance (and with time allocations for each discussion item).
18 months ago, when I first wrote about this, I was humble enough to admit that I am not the best at this (humble not necessarily being a trait that I am really known for, I think it worth mentioning). Today, I find I have to admit that I have got worse. It is frustrating to recognise how easy it is to slip on very simple things when under time pressure and when it is seen as nothing unusual.
So it is time to "get back to basics" and that is, in fact, my small business related resolution for the year; be on time to meetings, no meeting without an agenda, define goals upfront, seek to have actionable results leaving the meeting.
I remember well one of my first managers when I started in the consulting industry; a charming man, but ruthless in the workplace and the lesson I learned from him (though I admit, I find myself getting sloppier over time) was that simply keeping meetings running on time has an enormous effect on increasing focus and raising the sense of urgency within a project.
For that I thank him, (though we never did see eye-to-eye on my belief that it is possible to achieve the same effectiveness in meetings with a "light touch" (i.e. without forcing the formality of a meeting structure artificially and cutting off fruitful discussion - do "timeout" and "take that offline" sound familiar?).
Good luck to us all on improving our effectiveness with simple small steps this year!
To keep my motivation, I am combining the gym attendance with working down my backlog of podcasts (I have about 100 hours of "stuff" that I want to get through). This evening one cast really stuck in my head - "Timely meetings" from the manager-tools team.
Admittedly, I have written about manager-tools' "Effective Meeting Protocol" before (see here for links and a brief overview), but I think it is worth reiterating (at least for myself if not for others!). In this latest cast they focus on the timeliness element of effective meetings - starting on time, having the agenda out in advance (and with time allocations for each discussion item).
18 months ago, when I first wrote about this, I was humble enough to admit that I am not the best at this (humble not necessarily being a trait that I am really known for, I think it worth mentioning). Today, I find I have to admit that I have got worse. It is frustrating to recognise how easy it is to slip on very simple things when under time pressure and when it is seen as nothing unusual.
So it is time to "get back to basics" and that is, in fact, my small business related resolution for the year; be on time to meetings, no meeting without an agenda, define goals upfront, seek to have actionable results leaving the meeting.
I remember well one of my first managers when I started in the consulting industry; a charming man, but ruthless in the workplace and the lesson I learned from him (though I admit, I find myself getting sloppier over time) was that simply keeping meetings running on time has an enormous effect on increasing focus and raising the sense of urgency within a project.
For that I thank him, (though we never did see eye-to-eye on my belief that it is possible to achieve the same effectiveness in meetings with a "light touch" (i.e. without forcing the formality of a meeting structure artificially and cutting off fruitful discussion - do "timeout" and "take that offline" sound familiar?).
Good luck to us all on improving our effectiveness with simple small steps this year!
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Another year, another resolution
OK, let's just pretend that my New Year's resolution post from last year, was in fact posted at the weekend and carry on.
The good news is that, although I have not blogged for almost a year, I have been collecting articles, links, blogs, video-casts and topics that I am interested in sharing and commenting on for most of that time, so I have a huge backlog.
I considered posting some headlines now to force myself into writing the entries this year, but I am going to wimp out on that. Instead, let's start with something a little lighter - without doubt my favourite you-tube video from last year: the death star canteen (OK, it has been around for years, but I have only just discovered it).
Eddie Izzard is brilliant.
The good news is that, although I have not blogged for almost a year, I have been collecting articles, links, blogs, video-casts and topics that I am interested in sharing and commenting on for most of that time, so I have a huge backlog.
I considered posting some headlines now to force myself into writing the entries this year, but I am going to wimp out on that. Instead, let's start with something a little lighter - without doubt my favourite you-tube video from last year: the death star canteen (OK, it has been around for years, but I have only just discovered it).
Eddie Izzard is brilliant.
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