Commit yourself

This is more of a personal thing that I do rather than something I picked up during the seminar. During sessions like this I always sit at the front of the room. There is a lot of value in this because I then feel that I am really involved. As well as being able to see any slides, etc, clearly, and being able to hear the speaker clearly, I can “interact” with the presenter more. I make eye contact, and acknowledge that I am listening (with small actions such as head nods, etc). As a result I feel that I am more receptive to what is being said.

Keep it Simple

The lady presenting was what I liked to refer to as a “library bod”. That is, someone who was fully immersed in the world of research and study. In fact she worked in the research section of the library. She was completing a PhD, and had written several historical papers, and was very knowledgeable. However her language was simple, and the things she discussed were far from confusing.

Break up the presentation

The presenter broke her presentation into “chapters”. She would introduce the particular area that would be talking about with a PowerPoint slide (containing the title of that “chapter”, and then she just talked about it. No further PowerPoint slides, no further distractions (however, I do comment further on this below).

Keep still.

While the presenter was talking she stayed to one side of the room. She used her arms to help “explain” some parts of the speech, but she did not move around the room. This meant that you could focus more on the message rather than the movement.

Know your stuff

Nothing new here. It was obvious that she knew her subject. I didn’t get a chance to ask whether she had practiced her presentation or not, but she certainly never faltered, or seem “lost”.

 Avoid “busy-ness”

I mentioned above that he presenter made minimal use of PowerPoint. She had a slide with the name of the particular area that was talking about, and that was it. This was left displaying until she changed to a new sub-topic. Many of these slides, however, had impressive looking word clouds on them – in multiple colours. I found that I would try and read these, which distracted me from what was being said. I think, in his case, just having the name of the sub-topic displayed would be enough.

Other observations

During the seminar there were a few things that I found interesting. The presenter was talking, a one stage, about styles, and the correct way to cite sources. She mention that there was a particular section of the library where books that covered these topics could be found. I found this interesting because, if it was me, I would turn first to the internet for advice. It did show the difference in the “worlds’ we lived in. She works in a world of books, so her first instinct is to turn to a book. I live in a world of computers.

Another thing that I noticed was when she was talking about using Word to write material. In this case, she was expounding the virtues of the “Outline” function of MS Word. There was a screen shot showing on her slide, and she mentioned that his was the latest version of Word. It wasn’t. The screenshot was of Word 2007. However, this small error did not make one iota’s difference  to the material she was presenting, and, besides, the entire audience (apart from myself) were retired elderly people, for whom it would also not make one iota of difference.

All in all, I was really surprised by the seminar. I learnt a lot. Even some things about geneaology!

I’ve worked in a globally dispersed team with colleagues in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US. The team worked really well.

Virtual Teams do require a little bit of extra effort, however, to get all the players to “gel” well together. The team I worked in had regular communication, and an awareness that things had to happen differently than in a usual everyone-in-the-same-building situation. There was no water cooler, or hall, conversations that resulted in any other (remote) team member wondering what the heck was going on. There was no surprises, and each member respected the culture of the other, as well as the fact that, for most, English was a second language.

When the team did get together in the same place, it was always “business as usual” – it never felt like we were meeting strangers.

Because of my experience with working in a virtual team, my interest was piqued when I stumbled across MVT‘s web site. MVT stands for “Managing Virtual Teams”. It’s a relatively young company (4 years) that provides consulting and excellent resources focused on managing multicultural virtual teams.

As well as several courses, and other services, MVT has a list of free Team Activities that can be used to improve the communication, and work, in a virtual team. You need to register, but there are 32 pages of the activities and they fall under the following categories:

• Icebreakers
• Introductions
• Motivation
• Communication
• Team Work
• Synergy
• Empowerment
• Team Leading
• Work-life balance
• Ergonomics
• Vision
• Cultural exchange
• Just for fun
• Work relations

Further to that MVT offers several free virtual team Guides on such things as Project Management, Training, Human Resources and Multicultural Teams.

MVT is run by Anna Danes. and Carolina Leon Maya. Anna has a degree in Psychology and is based in Spain. Carolina has a degree in Communications, and is based in Colombia. Theses facts make me believe that they understand the kind of work environment that I described in the opening paragraph of this post.

If you want to learn about getting your teams (virtual or not) working together better, I strongly recommend that you check out MVT’s site. Now that they are on my radar I am going to explore what hey have to offer more.

• MVT site
• Free Team Activities (registration required)
• About MVT

Related articles

• Four C’s to Managing Virtual Teams (coffeeshophr.com)
• Even Virtual Startup Teams Must Work Closely (alleywatch.com)
• 5 Uncommon Tips for Managing Your Virtual Team (wamda.com)
• Finding The Right Balance Between Working Virtually and Working With a Virtual Team (versatelsolutions.com)
• Managing Virtual Teams (networkadvisingu.wordpress.com)

Everyday I am truly in awe. 

I work in an open-plan office where there are developers, designers, hardware people, project managers, business analysts and a few who I am not sure what they do.

It’s a great work environment, and one that I have found to be incredibly educational.

Because it is open-plan,and because all the  developers, designers, hardware people, project managers, and business analysts are so passionate and enthusiastic about what they do, I get to sit in on some very interesting discussions  (Hell, sometimes I’m almost able to contribute something useful to the conversations.)

A great example is the other day. In that one day I was able to listen to two designers talk with passion about design techniques, as well as some of the new technology available. Then I was involved with a group of business analysts discussing a successful project that had taken place. Later that day I was able to follow another passionate discussion related to UI design, and usability. And then I had a chance to sit in on a debate between two developers on the benefits, and downsides, of Scrum and Kanban.

I always left these discussions feeling like i had just been watching a TED talk, or had been reading through an Encyclopaedia.

This is a great post from Richard Medina from Doculabs. It digs into the structure and differences between the policies, procedures, and guidelines you need for an effective RM program. Click on the link below:

The Difference between Records Management Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines – Richard Medina Doculabs.

Related articles

• Advantages of Records Management (documentrecordsmanagement.wordpress.com)
• Record Management and You (agimssinc.wordpress.com)

I like what he wrote, and want to capture it here:

1) Be Proactive

 In Summary: I still remember the depth of meaning in this simple statement that I felt when Dr. Covey explained what it means to be proactive as human beings. Owning up the responsibility for our own lives and the actions we take is the essence of this habit. When you dissect the word “responsibility” it splits to mean “the ability” to choose a “response”. Being proactive means that you exercise this ability consciously without being reactive to changing stimuli and situations.

3 BA Lessons:

•  be proactive with your career – decide where you want to go this year, and for the next few years in terms of career growth. Make growth happen, don’t expect it to happen on its own.
• be proactive with your work – for any business analysis work, planning and monitoring are key aspects; and often ignored. There should be a definite meaning in the BABOK having the “Business Analysis Planning and Monitoring” as the the biggest knowledge area. Explore this area, learn more and implement it in your work.
• be proactive with everyday planning – approach your work proactively by keeping a daily to-do list. Review it first thing in the morning and last thing in the day, and proactively plan for the next day’s events.

The Flip Side: If you are not proactive, you will be reactive. A victim of the forces and circumstances surrounding you. Decide to act, and not be acted upon.

 2) Begin With The End In Mind

 In Summary: Mental visualization is extremely important. Covey says that all things are created twice: first, the mental conceptualization and visualization and a second physical, actual creation. Becoming your own creator means to plan and visualize what you’re going to do and what you’re setting out to accomplish and then go out and creating it. As a part of this habit, Covey adds: “The personal mission statement gives us a changeless core from which we can deal with external change.”

 3 BA Lessons:

•  set professional goals and milestones – if you are planning on a CBAP certification or completion of a course, set them as goals. Track your progress by marking milestones on a calendar.
• visualize success in your current project – conceive and believe that you will make your current project or endeavor successful. Visualize it.
• create a personal mission statement – consisting of values and principles that you will use as a source of energy and inspiration for your day-to-day work.

The Flip Side: Lack of goals and milestones causes lesser focus and can lead to doing less than ordinary work.

 3) Put First Things First

 In Summary: With your power of independent will, you can create the ending you want to have. Part of that comes with effective time management, starting with matters of importance. Then tasks should be completed based on urgency after you deal with all the important matters. If you deal with crises, pressing problems and deadline-driven projects first, your life will be a lot easier. The essence of time management is to organize and execute around priorities.

 3 BA Lessons:

•  resolve to have a personal management system – start thinking on the lines of having a process and system of how you will get things done at work. How will you track and complete your daily tasks.
• read and apply “getting things done” – I would highly recommend you read “getting things done” by David Allen to start understanding the core principles of productivity.
• prioritize the order of deliverables and the sequence of a deliverable – your work as a BA is most of the times is based on deliverables. Create a list and prioritize them. For a given deliverable prioritize the sequence of completion too.

The Flip Side: Not having priority causes you to do easy things first and may jeopardize the time that you would have available for more important things.

 4) Think Win/Win

 In Summary: If you believe in a better way to accomplish goals that’s mutually beneficial to all sides, that’s a win/win situation. “All parties feel good about the decision and feel committed to the action plan,” Covey wrote. “One person’s success is not achieved at the expense or exclusion of the success of others.” If you have integrity and maturity, there’s no reason win/win situations can’t happen all the time.

 3 BA Lessons:

•  always think of win/win for the business and the IT – ask yourself, how can you make a given situation a win/win for your team and the business? Even if doing a small thing can change the way business or your team feels about a decision or an outcome, you have achieved win/win.
• build effective relationships with your stakeholders – to understand win/win properly it is imperative that you know the real expectations and attitudes of various stakeholders.
• be a wall of support – by being a good listener and developing a relationship of trust with your team and the business.

The Flip Side: You will fall into a win/lose, lose/win, or a lose/lose situation which is not the best outcome.

 5) Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood

 In Summary: If you’re a good listener and you take the time to understand a concept, it will help you convey your opinions, plans and goals to others. It starts with communication and strong listening skills, followed by diagnosing the situation and then communicating your solution to others.

 3 BA Lessons:

•  practice listening skills – leave some silence when needed. Listen with an intent to paraphrase, act like a news reporter where every detail from the person you are listening to, matter.
• park your ego – try and keep your personal opinion and biases aside when you are listening.
• diagnose before your prescribe – do the ground work for any situation that you encounter. Explore the various facets of a fact or truth and then arrive at a conclusion.

The Flip Side: Missing out on the true intentions and ideas from others (by not giving them a chance to be understood first), can cause apprehension within the team.

 6) Synergize

 In Summary: Synergistic communication, according to Covey, is “opening your mind and heart to new possibilities, new alternatives, new options.” This applies to the classroom, the business world and wherever you could apply openness and communication. It’s all about building cooperation and trust.

 3 BA Lessons:

•  focus on building strong relationships with your team and stakeholders
• buy lunch or coffee for a team member or a key stakeholder – if you haven’t done that yet; do it.
• build trust, deliver what you promise – build cycles of promising and delivering to your promise.

The Flip Side: You cannot succeed as a business analyst without adequate coöperation and trust.

 7) Sharpen The Saw

 In Summary: Sometimes you’re working so hard on the other six habits that you forget about re-energizing and renewing yourself to sharpen yourself for the tasks in front of you. Some sharpening techniques include exercise and nutrition, reading, planning and writing, service and empathy and commitment, study and meditation.

 3 BA Lessons:

•  focus on YOU – remember Mens sana in corpore sano (a sound mind in a healthy body) is important to help you realize the essence of the other six habits.
• sharpen your hard skills – learn more about a technique that you already know by applying it to a different fictional scenario or problem.
• sharpen your soft skills – join a toastmasters club, read books and attend workshops that will help you become a better writer, speaker and listener. Listen to TheBACoach Podcasts to learn real tips on how to improve your hard and soft skills.

The Flip Side: If you don’t sharpen your skills and keep yourself rejuvenated you won’t be an optimal state of performance.

See also:

• The BA Coach
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective “BA” People

Related articles

• Just what is Gamification and could it work for you? (kirstymarrins.wordpress.com)
• Can gamification lead to business success? (abc.net.au)
• Good Gamification Isn’t Child’s Play (pharmexec.com)

“The door opened with a smooth electronic sigh but an inner wall blocked my way. No wait, it was a body guard with the presence of a wall.”

The above is from the first post in the blog “A Business Analysis Murder Mystery – solving a murder mystery by using business analysis...“

The author, Guy Beauchamp, takes the reader on an exciting investigation of a “a classic ‘locked room’ case“, Each post acts as a chapter in the story.

And each post covers business analysis techniques. In one post, “driver analysis” is covered, in the next “objective analysis” and so on. 

Guy started writing the blog at the beginning of February this year. I like this type of story. Entertaining, but educational at the same time.
(I wrote a similar series of posts that involved a detective solving a problem with SharePoint Search.)

I look forward to following reading more of Guy’s posts

Also see:

• ECM Noir – Killa Hertz & The Case of the Missing Documents

The second purchase I am really wrapped about is…The SharePoint Governance Manifesto, Disruptive Governance thinking for the masses by Ant Clay.

Ant is a down-to-earth kind of a guy, and he has some smart things to say. I haven’t had a chance, yet, to do more than give this book a quick glance, but it’s next on my reading list.

As with Purchase I, I’ll write more about Ant’s book, once I start it.

In the video Keegan states “the more abstract a comic is, the more the person can relate to it”.

Interestingly enough, a couple of days later I stumbled across an interesting piece that validates this. In Rough and Hand-drawn: Alive and Inviting Tom Benthin talks about how, when compared to computer created images, “more abstract drawings of people allow us not just to imagine that a drawing is real, but that we are in it”.

This translates, as well, into techniques that are used for analysis and design work.  When you either try and describe something to users, or try to draw out of them details on processes etc, a roughly drawn picture can be used.

An example of a Use Case Model

Related articles

• How Digital Comics Change The Way Comic Books Are Drawn – And Imagined (gizmodo.com.au)
• 26 Ways to Use Comics in the Classroom and 5 Free Tools for Creating Comics (freetech4teachers.com)

I concentrated on Chapter 1. It was incredibly educational. In fact, I read it twice. In this chapter, amongst other things, Michael introduced the concept of First Wave People, and Second Wave People.

The best way of summing up the difference between these two types of people is by using a quote from Michael’s book:

A first wave person is attracted to the “what” of new technology, while second wave people focus on the “why”.

That one sentence captures it exactly. Michael also points out that these two types of people have different perceptions of reward. For the First Wave people, getting to use new tools is reward enough, but second Wave people have to understand where and how the new tools will improve their current work.

I’m looking forward to Chapter 2 tomorrow…

Related articles

• Two purchases I am excited about…part I (markjowen.wordpress.com)