Are you a passion fruit?

Does your cover letter or LinkedIn profile state that you are passionate about [name some work-related activity here]?

Mine does not.

Quite simply because I am not passionate about business analysis. Dedicated? Yes. Keen to share my experiences? Certainly. Enthusiatic to learn more? Definitely. Passionate? Nope.

If […]

Analysts should be more like women

Male analysts should be more like women, that is.

When a woman listens to another woman’s problems, she lends a sympathetic ear and actually comes to understand the problem.

When a man listens to a woman’s problems, he is rarely actually listening. Rather he is trying to figure out […]

Learning from mistakes

Here is a very interesting TED talk by Diana Laufenberg on the importance of teaching children to learn from mistakes.

Wouldn’t it be great if people in business did the same?

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” From Worstward Ho by Samuel Beckett

[…]

It’s about the software

Many requirements analysis specialists have little or no development or testing experience and this can lead them to forget what the real deliverable is.

The purpose of requirements analysis is to provide a robust and unambiguous requirement so that architects and developers know what to build and testers know what to […]

Would you jump out of a plane with a POC?

Why do some customers put a proof of concept into production?

In part, I suspect it has to do with wanting to spend as little as possible and still end up with something that earns them revenue.

But I think it is mostly because customers fail to grasp what […]

Reality check – Part 2

Here is a fabulous animation from RSA Animate, illustrating a talk by author Barbara Ehrenreich on how positive thinking can be delusional and harmful.

She basically says what I said in “Reality check“, but with more eloquence and concrete examples. I dislike her already. Applause to the cartoonist also.

Thanks to my friend Rowan Manahan […]

Demetri Martin’s findings

Every project needs the perspective of Demetri Martin.

Jokes.com Demetri Martin – Findings comedians.comedycentral.com Futurama New Episodes Funny Demon Zombie TV Show Funny TV Comedy Blog […]

What does a leader look like?

Which of the following two profiles do you think matches what a leader should be and which matches what leaders generally are in reality?

Profile A Profile B Is likely to be male. Has a “Can do” attitude, to the extent that he never challenges the status quo. Makes promises based on aspirations and expects […]

To meet or not to meet?

Hands up anyone who has been invited to a meeting, spent an hour or more listening to someone drone on (or worse, sat through Death by Powerpoint), only to wonder why you had been invited in the first place. Oh, look! All of you.

MS Outlook allows you to indicate whether […]

No favourites – part two

A visitor to my blog commented on the post “No favourites” saying that her solution to the problem of being asked multiple security questions (none of which might apply) is to use a single word as the answer to all such questions.

So no matter whether they ask what your favourite […]