At the Teradata User Group meeting in Toronto I attended a great session lead by Betty Knight of Teradata.  Before I jump in I had one great observation on this presentation – it was good and mixed tech and bus together nicely.  So here are my observations: As in previ

I have been envolved in a process change role out over the past 2 weeks. One of the main observations though wasn’t what was intended. Start the meeting on time. These have been large meetings of over 100 people. I have been in two where a 1.5 hour meeting started over 30 minute

We were hired several years ago by a client because management was very uncomfortable that people were wasting money on personal computers.  The executive had frozen expenditures on personal computers until we completed the study.  Our initial assessment concluded several th

I was called by a potential client to make a proposal for a Strategic System Plan.  The company had organized a steering committee and a working group to develop the plan and were looking for consulting assistance.  Many consultants have a very extensive methodology for deve

I was playing golf with fellow today who runs a company that makes coffee creamers, milk and cream in the little plastic containers.  So decided to interview him to see if I could find out his information requirements.  I was truly amazed how unaware he was of his informatio

When we are on projects and difficulties arise, often people start to run for cover and blame other parties.  The key to leadership is to keep people focusing on solving the problem as opposed to deciding who is to blame.  When pressure is on, people are tired and working on

I will provide in this post some ideas on assessing readiness.There are many factors in creating readiness.  Some are personal, some are organizational, some are from history and some our related to relationships. If a person says "I’ll try."  Alarm bells sho

I have written and been quoted many times about readiness.  However understanding readiness and using the concept in my consulting practice has been my most important lesson for my consulting practice.  The simple statement is that people will only do what they are ready to

I learned this methodology from a friend of mine, Don Fowke.  The idea is very simple and is great model for consulting about an issue a group is facing.  First we listen to members of the group gripe individually and in groups and then present what we found to the group.&nb

I have recent finished a couple of great and fun projects.  That does not mean that we did not run into problems and learn along the way.  As part of the Rapid Results methodology (also Agile) there are time throughout the project where we are to grasp, share and reflect on