Personal learnings and lessons in leadership and management.
In Ontario, the August long weekend is identified as the Civic Holiday. In Edmonton, Alberta, the August long weekend is fondly known Heritage Days and is marked by a 3 day Festival. Over the course of the weekend, people celebrate their cultural heritage. People of all countries come together, in one park, to experience the food, drink, dance, music, arts, and [...]
Like many of you, I have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. My contract was terminated at the end of June, due to government money being reallocated to support the emergency relief benefits; but rather than sit idle for the past 2 months and bemoan the lemons that have come my way, I have used this opportunity to make lemonade. [...]
Recently, I started work with a new team where I was the most experienced Business Analyst in a team of six. I coached and guided the new BAs so that they could feel more comfortable in their role and duties. When I find myself in a coaching role, I notice that I learn as much (or more) from the experience as [...]
As a project manager, mitigating risk and managing issues is one of your duties. As a business analyst, you need to manage and resolve issues too. So what do you do when there are so many issues that there is no clear path forward? You categorize them, prioritize them, rank them, and assess the degree of control that you have over [...]
Have you ever been in meeting and your boss asks you to provide a date for a deliverable? Sometimes you have the answer to the question on the top of your mind, or you can perform a quick mental calculation and answer the question with a fair degree of confidence the date when the deliverable will be available. This is referred [...]
Recently I was speaking with the leader of an organization. He was concerned about his team. The team had experienced significant growth over the past 6 months (from 2 to 6 employees) and he was concerned that some of the team members were not as independent as he was hoping they would be. My first question to him was how much [...]
In the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey popularized the idea of the four quadrants of time management. Steven Covey advises us that we should stay in the quadrants that deal with important matters and that we find a balance between managing those items that are important/urgent and important/non-urgent. Unfortunately, I’ve seen many project managers slip into the belief [...]
I've been a manager of application development teams for a number of years. I've managed small teams and large teams. I've managed in start-ups as well as multi-nationals. And over the years, I've noticed a disturbing trend. When it comes to recruiting, hiring managers seem to be more concerned about what one has done in the past rather than what one [...]
A team that likes working together is more productive. This is a well known fact. But how does one build the team spirit? How does one help a team get to know and like each other? Sure there are team building event like BBQs and pizza lunches, but in order to really get to know each other, team members need to [...]
