December 29, 2011 – 1:52 pm –
That’s right, I said it. Stop doing final document review meetings. They take a lot of time and effort to plan, time to get people in the meeting, manage people’s schedules, and then facilitate the final meeting itself. When the document is one of those “200-page monsters,” it’s even tougher to keep people engaged for [...]
December 5, 2011 – 5:26 pm –
Do you know? Does your team know? Thanks to Abbot and Costello, we have one of the greatest miscommunication dialogs of all time. It was pretty simple, really:
Costello: Well then who’s on first?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: I mean the fellow’s name.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The guy on first.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The first baseman.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The guy playing…
Abbott: Who is on [...]
October 18, 2011 – 9:38 am –
Telecommuting – it’s the dream of everyone who has sat in traffic each morning. Being able to wake up in the morning, make a cup of coffee, and sit on your back deck, slipper-clad feet propped up, with your computer on your lap answering e-mail and working on your documents. And you could probably [...]
July 18, 2011 – 9:10 am –
As Business Analysts, we need to be one of the best communicators on the project team, if not the best communicator on the project team. For this reason, I feel that “FYI” should probably be stricken from a BA’s communication vocabulary. Why? It provides virtually no value to the reader.
Think about an e-mail thread that is [...]
May 18, 2011 – 3:06 pm –
In the world of sales, there’s a technique called “Feature Benefit” selling. At a high level, it is a selling technique in which the seller ties every feature with an advantage or benefit that the customer wants or thinks is desirable. We can use this to our advantage as BAs in dealing with stakeholders.
How does [...]
March 28, 2011 – 4:48 pm –
The scene: Southwest, 1990’s. Two men ride side-by side on horses through a tumbleweed-filled plain. One is decked out in full cowboy regalia, the other in a plaid shirt and Yankees baseball cap. It is apparent that the one clad in the baseball cap is looking to the other one for advice, and asks him [...]
March 14, 2011 – 8:14 pm –
The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the “extra”. The word ’extra’ is the same as saying ‘in addition to’. Since everyone would like to be viewed as extraordinary, what can we do to make the jump – what can we each do ‘in addition to’ what we are doing today in our career?
As someone [...]
March 10, 2011 – 2:23 pm –
In the world of aviation, there’s a stage that pilots pass through that it nicknamed “the death zone”. Who do you think falls into this stage? New pilots, skilled pilots, or very experienced pilots? If you guess skilled pilots, you are right. The death zone occurs when a pilot’s confidence level exceeds his capability level. [...]
February 16, 2011 – 9:36 am –
Twenty-Seven. That’s the number of movie sequels that USA Today reported that Hollywood planned to release in 2011 (Life section, 14-Feb-11). And it was 19 in 2010, 20 in 2009, and 17 in 2008. Why are the number of sequels increasing? We like our characters and the familiarity that we have with them. We are [...]
