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Author, thought-leader and marketing guru Seth Godin is offering an amazing opportunity for you come work with him for 6 months. It’s not going to be easy to get though. You’ll have to convince him that you’re worthy and willing to drop everything to take advantage of it.
Here’s what he’s planning for the six months:
- One hour a day of class/dialogue
- Four hours a day of working on his projects
- Three hours a day of working on your personal project
- Five hours a day of living, noticing, doing and connecting
Here are some key dates:
- Deadline for applications: December 14, 2008
- Open house in his office by invitation only: December 16.
- Start date: January 19, 2009
Read all about it here http://www.squidoo.com/Alternative-MBA
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Do you Twitter yet? Do you even know why you should? Do you know what Twitter is?
What is Twitter? According to the Twitter website, ” Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” . Twitter lets you send 140 character messages that are visible to anyone and the messages can be sent via the web, IM, cell phone SMS text messaging and the Twitter API. Twittering is also referred to as micro-blogging – and most Twits are easier to read and scan because of the 140 character limitation.
Twitter is definitely moving into the mainstream as evidenced by these two recent quotes:
- “Twitter is one of the fastest-growing phenomena on the Internet” – New York Times
- ‘Twitter is on its way to becoming the next killer app” – TIME Magazine
Common Craft put together this short video to explain Twitter:
Why do I care? Sure, people share some mundane things in their life, but the real value of Twitter is gathering a group of people you follow and learning from them. I use Twitter to find great blog posts and other resources that I may have otherwise missed. Many astute companies are now using Twitter from a marketing perspective to listen to what their customers are saying and to promote blog posts, news articles and press releases. For example, CIO.com is active in Twitter as well as the Editor-in-Chief, Abbie Lundberg, and editor/writer Esther Schindler. People have even ‘twittered’ about iRise and there is even a website called Tweetscan where you can search on companies, people and other phrases.
Twitter Resources Here are some other essential Twitter links to check out:
- Twitter Guide by Caroline Middlebrook
- Advanced Twittering by Jim Storer of Mzinga
- Twitter 101 presentation by Dustin Jacobsen
- Twitter Resources in the EKIVE blog
- Twitter Resource Roundup from the ext337 blog
- A Talk with the Twitter Guys – Shel Israel interviews the Twitter founders
- Twitter Pack – see who you should follow sorted by company, topic, geography, industry and profession. For example, there is a list of the key Usability/UX professionals who Twitter.
It does take some upfront investment of time to get started with Twitter and you have to find the right set of people to follow who are not going to waste your time. Here is a copy of my Twitter feed so you can visualize the value for yourself. Scroll down and see who I’m following. You can click on a user name to access a person’s profile on Twitter and start following them.
You can find me on Twitter at @tomhumbarger. I look forward to seeing you in the “twittersphere”.
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It’s Business Analyst appreciation month at CIO.com and Forrester – and it’s a great time to be a business analyst as they are definitely a HOT commodity according to a recent research report.
Thomas Wailgum of CIO.com wrote an article last week titled “Why Business Analysts Are So Important for IT and CIOs“. In the article, Thomas references a new report that came out this month from Forrester analysts Carey Schwaber and Rob Karel which is called “The New Business Analyst“.
The Forrester report provides a “better understanding of this crucial yet largely undefined role”. One business analyst interviewed for the report said “everyone agrees on the importance of the business analyst role, but few know exactly what it is that business analysts do.”
Schwaber and Karel interviewed 338 business analysts and reviewed more than 29,000 business analyst job descriptions. They conclude that there is not a standard definition and that the roles between business-oriented and IT-oriented analysts is blurring. In fact, they coined a new role called the “Business Technology Analyst” or BT Analyst.
The Forrester report also pointed out several things that smart CIOs and IT managers can do today to prepare for the future:
- Look in your own backyard for talent
- Look for BT analysts in untapped parts of your business
- Establish centers of excellence for BT analysts
Check out these links for the complete story:
- Forrester “The New Business Analyst” – $279 unless you are a Forrester client
- CIO.com Article – “Why Business Analysts Are So Important for IT and CIOs” - be sure to check out the comments and feedback at the end of the article
- Carey Schwaber spoke at the Fusion ‘07 and her video interview is available from the iRise website
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S. Sadagopan who heads consulting and eBusiness for Satyam based in Santa Clara, California (and blogs here) recently wrote an opinion essay entitled “Meet the New CIO” for Sandhill.com.
He starts out by stating the obvious that ”business demands are increasing”. In the short term, CIOs need to worry about improving current business processes, controlling enterprise costs and raising workforce performance. Longer term expectations are focused on new strategic capabilities that will use information to attract and retain customers and create new market opportunities. These longer term expectations are pushing CIOs beyond their traditional roles and are targeted at improving growth, innovation and competitive advantage.
Are CIOs up to the task? Probably not. He backs this up by referencing a recent Gartner and Forbes magazine survey that found fewer than 50% of CEOs surveyed hold the CIO responsible for the strategic exploitation of information today. And the need for innovation and change do not diminish in difficult economic times – which leads to a need for a new breed of leadership.
Ultimately it comes down to balancing supply and demand where supply is the delivery of resources and services to support business functions vs. the demand of helping businesses innovate through better use of technology. As Mr. Sadagopan says, “while every CIO plans to align IT and business strategy, the irony is that they don’t have enough time for effective strategic planning.”
What’s Next? Mr. Sadagopan says that successful CIOs and organizations will:
- Develop (or rebuild) the credibility of the IT organization quickly
- Reposition IT as a “competitive necessity” and connect information and IT capabilities with the company’s strategies and goals
- Influence the perceptions of other members of the senior management team
Mr. Sadagopan also points out that the “CIO of the future will likely spend one-third of his efforts on operational excellence, one-third on transformational efforts and one-third on innovation and business competitiveness.”
If you’re a CIO – where are you spending your time today?
He ended with this admonition, “successful CIOs – and their vendors – must understand and embrace the dramatic evolution of the technology leadership role in order to remain a productive part of enterprise management”. He also provided a list of CIO imperatives and here are just a few of my favorites:
- Drive competitive advantage through innovation
- Nurture ideas that challenge conventional wisdom
- Create separate IT organizations to focus on the supply and the demand side
- Lead business change
Read the complete essay for all of the details at Sandhill.com.
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At the World Congress for Business Analysts (WCBA), Cynthia Sniezak from Disney Parks described how Disney Park’s IT Academy “Builds BAs and PMs That Any Business Sponsor Would Fight To Have On Their Project.”
First, I want to point that I love how Disney refers to all of their employees as Cast Members. It clearly demonstrates that everyone is part of the ’show.’
Disney views talent management as a business differentiator and the mission of the IT Academy is to “make our cast wildly successful.” Disney uses an approach they refer to as HILL which is an acronym for:
- Hire the very best
- Invest strategically
- Lease rising skills
- Lease setting skills
Cynthia also shared their “Leadership Framework At a Glance” which is a generic way to view all jobs on a consistent basis. The key elements of the framework are:
- Delivery and Action (delivery, initiative, organizational stewardship)
- Personal Dynamics (flexibility and adaptability, impact and influence, interpersonal understanding, relationship building)
- Managing Others (developing others, team leadership, teamwork)
- Thinking and Solving Problem (analytical thinking, conceptual thinking, technical expertise)
In terms of training, the IT Academy makes sure that their training is consistent for both the project managers (PMs) and business analysts (BAs). Their training is vendor-delivered (ACC Learning), aligned with the PMBOK and BABOK, and aligned with Disney business objectives. The core PM training is 11 days with 6 days of electives which is completed during an employee’s first 12 to 18 months with Disney. The BA training is a subset of the PM training.
Cynthia also shared some of the tips that they use to reinforce training which includes laminated cheat sheets, note cards and resources such as their internal BA group called BALOO and the external Catalyze community.
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Cynthia Froggatt, author of “Work Naked: Eight Essential Principles for Peak Performance in the Virtual World,” was another keynote speaker on Day One at the World Congress for Business Analysts (WCBA) conference today at Disneyland.
First, Cynthia wanted to make sure that everyone understood that the title of her book was to be taken metaphorically and not literally.
In a world where more and more people are working on or with virtual teams, Cynthia’s talk was very timely and pertinent.
When talking about distributed teams, Cynthia pointed out that it is important to focus on a sequence of WANTS:
- leaders want the best people on their team (without regard for where they are located)
- people want to be on the team (even though they won’t see their teammates every day)
- teams want to be successful (even though they will have to work in different ways)
- teams want to understand why and what’s expected of them (AND how to use geographic distribution to their advantage)
While at Cisco, Cynthia managed a distributed team in the U.S., Asia and Europe. She shared some of the issues with a globally dispersed team, such as time zones, travel burnout, cultural differences, difficulty with verbal and nonverbal communications.
Some of the other hurdles that need to be overcome are:
- a predisposition to see teammates everyday
- a belief that co-located teams are more effective
- try to get as close to co-location as possible instead of exploiting geographic advantages
- that blame every problem on distance
- have a bad experience
- give low priority projects to distributed teams
How do you have to work differently with distributed teams? You have to:
- want to work time zones to your advantage
- want to use latest technology in sophisticated ways, but also know how to use basic tools when technology fails
- want to gather for face-to-face interaction in collaborative places, but don’t want to own workplaces they don’t use very often
Cynthia also shared an excellent tip from her experience. She made sure that everybody participating in group conference calls had to be on a headset, so no one is at a ‘locational’ disadvantage. This approach leveled the playing field for all participants and forced everyone to focus more on the discussion.
So, why bother with distributed teams? Cynthia’s answer is that distributed teams:
- use people’s time and talents wisely
- use financial resources effectively
- use natural resources responsibly (and can reduce your company’s carbon footprint)
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At the World Congress for Business Analysts (WCBA) today, Patrick Lencioni from The Table Group, Inc. spoke about dysfunctional teams. Patrick wrote The Five Dysfunctions of a Team in 2002 and his latest book, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job, just came out in September.
Patrick started out by saying that “life is simple and hard” and that “it’s important to do simple things well day in and day out.”
He then went on to discuss the two key requirements for success:
- Be Smart – which means a company should be good at strategy, marketing, finance, technology
- Be Healthy – which means that a company should have minimal politics and confusion, high morale, high productivity, low turnover
He expounded on the keys to creating a healthy organization:
- Build and maintain a cohesive leadership team
- Create organizational clarity
- Over-communicate clarity
- Reinforce clarity through human systems
Finally, Patrick wrapped up with the five dysfunctions of a team – presented in a triangle with “Absence of Trust” at the bottom. The role that a leader should take is noted in parentheses:
- Absence of trust (go first)
- Fear of conflict (mine for conflict)
- Lack of commitment (force clarity and closure)
- Avoidance of accountability (confront difficult issues)
- Inattention to results (focus on collective outcomes)
Teamwork is a choice – you have to sign up for the costs and sacrifices in order to gain the benefits.
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