There was a sparkle in that cab driver’s eyes. A slim, young and enthusiastic fellow who drove me from airport to home while returning from a business travel. His greeting was cheerful and conduct, professional. As the wheels started moving, he initiated a conversation with me about economy, the state of jobs and why he […]
If process is a vehicle, purpose is the compass. Purpose gives a definite direction to processes. People (and their expertise) are the drivers. Technology acts as an accelerator. Most system implementation or change initiatives focus enough on the P-P-T – People, process and technology and somewhere along the lines, the focus on purpose blurs. I […]
Quality is Human When leaders rely too much on processes, metrics, facts and trends to measure project/organization’s quality, they forget one thing: that quality is about being human. Quality is human. That is because people drive quality and exercise their choice of delivering good versus great work. Because work allows people to expand their capacity […]
Knowledge industry, particularly software, is full of people who possess “know-how” – knowledge of how to get something done. Give them a task, and they will be able to apply their technical skills (read ‘know-how’) to accomplish it. A lot of people possess a very sound “know-what” – knowledge of facts, figures and methods. Give […]
Three friends meet over the cup of coffee and some nicely made sandwiches. It is a typical “friends meeting” with no specific agenda. They start talking about their lives, how they navigated through their careers, struggled and found their way through. They narrated their personal stories of triumphs, tribulations and a constant inner struggle that […]
Leaders establish a lofty vision for a large scale change initiative and then strategize to align the team. Sometimes, the team gets over-excited by this grand vision and get stuck. They cannot define a strategy or a plan of action that takes them closer to that grand vision. Planning for a change is a tricky […]
Services world revolves around communication. In projects/initiatives, knowledge has to be transferred, issues have to discussed and expectations have to be managed. A lot of young professionals I meet want to improve upon their communication skills. A few of them also think that good communication is all about having a great style, good language, impressive […]
Managing effectively is not just one skill, but a mix of different skills. It is a combination of different kinds of intelligence we have as human beings, which makes it an art and a craft. Have you seen a manager who is highly skilled in technical areas but lacks empathy for others? Or the one […]
We live in a time when our career is not just a sum total of years we spent in the industry. Our career is about what projects we initiated/handled/led and what difference did the project deliver. Project is a new eco-system, a new playground where we play and thrive as professionals to deliver our best. […]