A Coffee Conversation on Career Progression

I was having coffee recently with one of my team members and the coffee conversation soon became a coaching session on career progression. These conversations come up often and I have given the same advice (or variants of it) many times. I wanted to share some of it here. You need to

Characteristics of a ‘True’ Analyst

Having worked as a ‘Business Systems Analyst’ for several years, I often ask myself: “What are the quintessential attributes of an analyst”? And, every time I ask this question to myself, there are few attributes that always come to the mind: Fearless -Asking questions when things are

Partner Sales Training At MicroStrategy HQ

Just before Halloween I had the opportunity to travel down to Tysons Corner, Virginia and attend the Partner Sales Academy at MicroStrategy headquarters. As a MicroStrategy Partner, we not only have the opportunity to promote and work with a best in class BI tool, we also get to parti

Project X Ltd Turns 9!

Project X Ltd has just celebrated it’s 9th year in business. We would not be able to keep growing and striving without the support of our loyal customers, employees, and partners. We want to take a minute to thank everyone who has supported us to become the company we are today.

Proper Project Communication is Key…right?

I was chatting with a friend recently about a project she is on that she described in her own words as a ‘master disaster’ – timelines in jeopardy, cost overruns, unrealistic expectations, and frustrated team. I thought back to my own experiences and research and my first

Project Plans and the SDLC Continued…Project Plan Models

Last week we talked about Project Plans and the SDLC and touched on the waterfall model of project plans. In case you missed the first post you can read it here. This week we will talk about other project plan models… The fountain model recognizes that although some activities c

Project Plans and the SDLC

As we all know every project starts with a plan.  It is crucial to have a roadmap to guide you on any endeavour that you plan to undertake.  As it is said, if you don’t have a plan then you plan to fail.  Of course, we need to have a plan that depicts your objectives and incorporates

The Wrong Users Manual

Does life surprize you or confuse you?    The book, “The Black Swan,” talks about events that come out of left field and surprise us.   A great example is 911.  Two things that baffled me about 911, the coordinated successful operation and the colapse of the buildings.  I

Poetry Versus Prose

Graham Boundy and Harvey Gellman would often say that this book would have made a good article.  Recently I read a peice that suggested expressing your ideas in a poem was much more efficient.  So maybe often a book should have been a poem. I have not completely digested t

Speaking Up

Sometimes we are annoyed when someone takes a controversial position in a discussion or meeting.   We want people to agree with our position and do not like contrary opinions.  However often if we are open to listening we can learn some important things.  Often the s