March was again a productive blogging month. I lost first half-a-month worth of my writing time because of a business trip to Helsinki (Finland), but I could catch up eventually. First quarter of 2010 is gone – time really flies. You can revisit my writing in January 2010 and February 2010. In case you missed […]
I am fond of meaningful quotes and read this one a few days back – “Half of our problems can be solved by bridging the gap between what we know and what we do.” My experience suggests that excellent execution of simple ideas will yield better results than great ideas executed poorly. Similarly, having good […]
For me, Saturday is a ‘sharing day’ and here are five posts from my friends that I totally enjoyed reading in the last week (and you will too!) Resting on Your Laurels? by Rajesh Setty In this short and profound post, Rajesh emphasizes that while your ‘achievements’ provide fulfillment in life, your ‘contributions’ provide meaning. […]
When you deal with customers in your organization, you can either comply to contractual terms and deliver what is expected. Or you can go a step forward to assess opportunities to add differentiated value (Remember 102%?). When I refer to customer here, it could be an external customer or an internal one (people within your […]
The game of software product development is the one of adding value to the businesses and customers. With rapid changes in business environment, typical waterfall SDLC fails to deliver value, because by the time the scope is developed, business requirements change! Adoption of Agile Development Methodology by software product managers is steadily increasing because Agile […]
Most professionals comply to given set of instructions to deliver the expected outcomes. Plain and consistent compliance to specs only takes you so far. For real progress, one has to “add value” by going beyond the specs. It is only when you see the larger picture, do things better, differently, more efficiently that you can […]
I wrote earlier about “11 Things Project Managers & Leaders Should Never Do” (Recommendation: Read the earlier post before you read further to ensure continuity of ideas) . Here are 7 more things they should NEVER do: Ignore the context. Things that worked in your past context may not necessarily work in the changed environment, […]
My last post on differentiation led to some more observations and thinking on the subject. When senior professionals join a new organization, they often try to differentiate themselves (and create a weight around them) by talking big about their past laurels. In fact, it is only because of their past laurels that they were able […]
“How are you different?” – an important question that your prospective customer will first ask. Your prospective employer too. Your boss will. So will your team members. Here are some quick thoughts on differentiation, as I thought about it during my recent visit to Helsinki, Finland (some pictures above). It is obvious enough to understand […]