Interview with a Project Manager & his Tea Business

Tony Gebely works in IT- thats how I met him. He also has been working with small tea farmers in China, Japan, India, Nepal, and New Zealand to secure the best hand-crafted teas possible at fair prices for the Chicago Tea Garden.

He's great guy (yes, I know him) and love the tea (I have ordered from his company while in Chicago. Tea is awesome, so is the story that comes with it).

He has been sucessfull (click here for reviews/press coverage) , is running his business and who better to interview than someone who has been doing 2 things successfully. A project Manager in tea business!

To read more about the company and know him, see his blog.



You worked in IT and then you decided to start your business- why?
I wanted to be on a path where I could one day be my own boss and make my own hours. Also, being in the tea industry, I’d be able to travel to tea origins, so I gave it a go.

Why Tea?
I fell in love with tea while backpacking through Asia in 2005 and again in 2008, I started Chicago Tea Garden in 2010. I found that there is a huge lack of respect for tea in American culture, and I wanted to help forge an understanding of tea and it’s roots.

You are one of those very few people who still have a regular full time job and are successful in the business? How do you split and manage your time between the two?
This is very difficult, I have a full time job, I’m writing a book, and I’m running  the business. The weeks for me are very busy I usually have 12-14 hour working days from Monday – Friday, every now and then I’ll spend a weekend day working or holding a tea tasting, but for the most part I relax on the weekends.

Has your experience in IT or project management really helped you in your business? Do you plan through everything?
Yes, my experience in IT has helped tons, it’s a web-based business so I treated the entire build-out like a project and still do. I’m working on version 2 of the website right now. Early on, I realized that since I’m a one-man team, every single thing I do has to be well planned out and be 100% effective if I’m going to compete with tea companies that have entire teams of people working for them.

3 things you wished you knew when you started your business.
1.There is no such thing as free time unless your mind is also clear during your free time.
2.How long it takes to become profitable.
3.All about the mess that is business tax law. Ugh.

How is running a business different from running a project?
It isn’t really. A business is just a collection of small projects. When one is done, another starts, and there can be many going on at once. I use Asana (used to use basecamp) just to keep track of all fronts of the business.

Thanks Tony. 

(Pic Courtesy)

Interview with Scrum Coach- Dhaval Panchal

Dhaval Panchal is a certified SCRUM coach and trainer based in Seattle. With a background in software development, business analysis, lean office implementations, system architecture, and project management – he has moved on to become a successful coach. While his background in project management still helps him out, his greatest payback as a coach is the opportunity to interact with people from diverse backgrounds and learn from them.

You worked in IT and then moved to SCRUM coaching, tell us how this happened?  

Fresh out of college I was hired by one of the tech giants in the Indian IT space. Within the first four years working with them I was completely burned out and mostly disheartened with the antiquated management practices and  “chalta hai” management approach. The morale was extremely low and many passionate intelligent peers either escaped to B-Schools or found alternative employment opportunities. I was prepared to leave the IT industry but was hopeful that there is a better way. I interviewed and got hired by my present company (8 years ago). They were pursuing scrum and extreme programming (XP) as alternatives to build software.

I started scrumming and played variety of roles in the projects that were outsourced to us. In each of our outsourced projects I actively pursued and attempted to influence my client’s understanding of scrum. So in many respects I have always been coaching. 

To me coaching is a skill and not a title. With the explosive adoption of scrum in the IT industry, for the last 5 years, I have been involved in change management helping to transition organizations to an agile business and delivery model. My coaching skills are extremely useful in helping my clients cope with the pain that accompanies any organizational change.

Do you enjoy working as a coach- 3 things you wish you knew when you started coaching.

• Listen more talk less -We all have two ears and one mouth. It took me a while to realize that I should be using them in the same proportion. Earlier as I would engage in a conversation when hearing the other, mentally I would be calculating a response even before the other person has finished speaking. This analytical bent was a huge handicap and as I have progressed to improve on my listening skills I now tune into the person speaking and their context to appreciate their situation. Often times people talk themselves through their problem and appreciate my patient listening that helped them through.
• Coach the person not the problem- IT is a problem solving field and the industry is self selecting for people who can solve problems. This has ironically led to a common pattern. “most people in our industry can tolerate a problem but cannot live with a solution that they do not understand.” This erodes trust and is detrimental to people’s ability to own and resolve their own problems. As I engage with my clients in complex IT  and people change management issues I intentionally stay away from prescribing solutions and focus on the person and help them sharpen their problem solving skills. It is more about teaching a person to fish than catching a fish for them.
• I can always walk out- I take a lot of pride in my work and aspire to better myself. It took me a while to recognize that I do not have to be a good fit for everyone. Now I recognize situations and people better where I may not be a good fit as a consultant and choose not to engage.

Tell us any incident or moment of inspiration that has kept you in coaching.

Being a catalyst to help form high performing teams and great products is my passion and I have a lot of heart for enabling organizations and people to find fulfillment in their pursuit. Although there isn’t any specific moment or incident, it is an heart warming experience for me to hear appreciations from people who I had worked with many many months ago. To be remembered, recognized and appreciated for my work long after my work is done is my greatest reward.

Do you use your experience in project management for your coaching now?

 
Yes, my experience in project management is helpful for me to appreciate the context of PM folks who are interested in agile product delivery approach.

A lot of traditional PM style and approach is anti-agile and requires much unlearning to break away from the command-and-control mindset that fosters a belief in magic. Getting to deal with the day to day realities of product delivery and the challenges is overwhelming and the realities of innovative rapid product delivery cycles demand a high performing team of individuals as opposed to the “hero” project manager that saves the day.

Getting PM’s to abandon their heroic pursuits and collaborate as peers in a team based context is a challenge where my past background with PM comes in handy.

Where can we find more information about your coaching? 

My blog: http://dhavalpanchal.com

Thank you Dhaval!

Project Management News Update

The best of #PMOT articles here:

• Are Project Manager’s  Pompous and Manipulative? 
• The Brain of Sales Droid 
• The project Portfolio Kanban Story 
• Change Takes Ages: A Brain Based Model for making Change andLearning Stick 
• Review of PM Exam Simulator 
• Can I Earn PDU’s for Writing Project Management Article? 

Nice Girls Don't Get the Corner Office - Book Review

I was shopping for another book (review to come soon) when I spotted this one- Nice Girls Don’t Get The Corner Office- Lois P. Frankel, PhD; had a great review so decided to add it to the shopping cart as well.

And I loved reading it (twice) and it’s a keeper.

Recently I read this article on Sheryl Sandberg here  and more at NY Times, so with this book  and what women are achieving I think the definition of “Nice” is ever changing! You can also see this video of Sandberg talking about the balance of her career and family here.  

The book with 268 pages starts with defining the workplace as a game where learning to play chess can come in handy! The book formatted as 101 tips are individual chapters which make for easy read.

Throughout the chapters, the author emphasizes on building relationships at work which are great way to network and use your job as a way to grow and let others know about you. Men usually are more naturally tuned to taking breaks and networking unlike women. Women take pride in being hard workers and not good networkers.  

She mentions that women shouldn’t take up low key assignments and agree to making coffee and taking notes; building your career is a lot more about choosing the way you present yourself at work! You need to give reasons why you should be considered for the next promotion!

The book gives helpful tips and elaborates on the way women behave in similar situations and can be far away from how men do. She also suggests in most chapters, books and articles to read and refer and take away lessons in bullet point for a quick referral later.

Investing in relationships is stressed over and over in the book. I read this somewhere else (not this book) and I think wrote about it in the blog as well, that keeping a budget for meeting people is also highly recommended. And it’s a known fact that influencer’s network well! Sheryl Sandberg hosts monthly meet ups at her place and has been doing it for sometime now. Most #PMOT influencers I know are great at networking, a lesson to be learnt.

The book is witty and funny with a lot of real life examples like that of a woman stuck in a man’s world job, where she had to start smoking to stop being considered a woman and being accepted easily by her peers. Although she later said, she stopped smoking and with her credentials in place, she had nothing more to prove. But those initial days, smoking got her easily accepted among men.

The book handles regular work life example and states on the required changes in behaviour or body language and things to be avoided. It’s always not beneficial to keep your head down at work, sometimes it’s considered lack of interest in leadership or taking more responsibility, instead they are considered good workers who are then bogged down and delegated more work. While the networkers and who take more breaks and tell about their interest in other roles are given the chance to grow.

Your brand is important and this has been going on for some time now. You are what you bring to the table as an individual and not the list of companies you have worked before. Build your brand and let people know about it. Getting a professional coach is recommended in the book, if you can’t afford, find a mentor at least.

If you like something people do, don’t be shy to tell them that and ask for guiding you, in most cases they reply back and help out. Especially in the age of social media, it isn’t really difficult to get access. If you are looking for people whose careers you want to emulate, ask them how they did it or look at their Linkedin profiles- it will give you something to start with.

Take up volunteering opportunities, keep a watch for the next job- the day you start a new one and start talking to people.  I know one of my friend; based in Chicago who is hugely successful and is constantly meeting friends and attending parties every weekend, sometimes 3 in one day. Twice a year, she makes  a list of all the people she has met and been invited over to and clubs them into 3-4 groups of people who will get along well with each other and over the next 4 weekends, invites them over for dinner. I went for one and loved it very much. Over barbecue and dinner and a beautiful home and pre-planned list of guests, they all get along well and talk about new opening and job trends to more networking opportunities. You’ll be surprised how many job openings are discussed over and candidates pushed for those.

Personally I think, don’t sideline yourself, I have seen women in meetings who don’t sit, like to stand in the corners and never speak in meeting even when they are given opportunities to. Somehow lack of taking initiative and displaying their presence and opinions don’t allow them to get invited to the next meeting.

Dress and make up plays a vital role, you can read up on some tips here  and Peter Taylor in his book The Lazy Project Manager also talks about the advantage of putting on a well cut suit to make your presence known, if not everyday at least during meetings. 

The book is a good read, must read if you will and definitely allows you to change positively and perhaps an avenue for a promotion or two!

Happy Monday

 

Pic Courtesy

Entrepreneurship- An interview with Debarati Goswami

This month, we take a look at a new venture that has taken a leap of faith, moved countries and in spite of hardships kept their hearts in one place.

Today we meet Debarati Goswami, the co-founder of Educocity and talk about her journey that has taken her from the usual employee role to an entrepreneur.  She talks about the hardships if being an entrepreneur in India, the role that project management plays in their development process and their plans for 2012!

·         You moved back from US to India to start your own company- tell us about it.

My husband Bappaditya and I were both working with Apple Inc. as consultants for close to 3 years each, when the entrepreneurial bug bit us. After having been located in the Silicon Valley for quite some time, the ‘big’ question was whether we should start up in the US or in India. We listened to our heart and moved back to India in late 2009.

We wanted to do something in the education space because the roots of a society lie in its education system. As everyone knows by now, our conventional education systems are failing us miserably both in India as well as in first world countries like UK & USA. We thought it’s about time to do something so that students start taking interest in ‘learning’ rather than mere rutting. 

The need for a common platform where everyone associated with any educational institution, be it students, teachers or parents can come together and create an environment for learning was becoming more and more apparent. We wanted to build a city for education (Educo is the root word for education is Latin) Thus ‘Educocity’ was born.

·         How well is a collaborative platform like this one being adapted in India? Or is your target audience outside India?

GUIDE is a cloud based, collaborative, Learning Management Platform from Educocity.com. GUIDE stands for ‘Grow as YoU Identify Delight in Education’ and is all about making the process of learning fun and enjoyable, delightful yet more effective than the conventional methods.

A conscious shift in pedagogical methods is taking place across the world.  Pedagogy is changing from being prescriptive (where the teacher teaches, the students only listen) to collaborative (where teachers and students interact among themselves and absorb the knowledge) Collaboration is no more a thing of the future, rather something we do day in and day out. While various ’collaborative’ software products are available in the market today, they are mostly content based. We believe GUIDE stands apart because it is a platform that the users can use according to their needs instead of tying them up with a specific set of contents.

India has been under the influence of ‘prescriptive pedagogy’ for too long. However, India is gradually opening up to the idea of collaboration within an educational institution and taboos are dissolving. Some institutions are not comfortable sharing their private data with the world. Also we have a relatively young user base, most of them being school going kids. Hence, if institutions want, they configure GUIDE as a walled-garden wherein the safety and privacy of the users are not compromised.

India is at the epicentre of our focus. However, at the same time, we are also looking at other advanced markets, which are easier to penetrate without much user training.

·         What have been the few challenges in working in an entrepreneurial mode in India?

India is still in a nascent stage when it comes to entrepreneurial ecosystem. Professionally, the biggest hurdle we faced was amassing a seed-fund. No investor is ready to invest in a concept and having at least a prototype in place is a prerequisite for raising funds. Thus, boot-strapping is the only viable option most Indian entrepreneurs are left with. This makes the process longer and more difficult and we have seen a lot of people quit their entrepreneurial journey over it.

Also, in India, being an entrepreneur pushes you into a minority bracket and is still considered as an unwise choice by the middle-class society. At times it can take a toll on the family life, especially with parents and relatives. We are lucky to have a very sound support system in place. For others, it might be even tougher.

However, the current scenario is improving in leaps and bounds and we are hopeful that India will catch up with its western counterparts in a few years from now.

·         What does 2012 hold for educocity?

2012 is going to be the most crucial year that our venture has seen till date. We have big plans lined up including an international launch. We are also looking to raise some serious funds. For our venture hopefully this will mean an entire new scale to operate in.

We have also already roped in a few important customers and we will start operating at these sites as soon as these institutes open doors for new students in the 2012-2013 academic session.

·         In all these years trying to develop the product, how have you managed the process?

Having seen how a world class company like Apple looks like from within, we have been very particular about processes and quality adherence from the very beginning.

We try to keep the Product Management, Product Engineering and Service Delivery units all separate from each other since most of the time they have conflicting interests.

We also follow the Agile Scrum methodology to keep our development cycles short. This essentially means an iterative, incremental framework for project management. Scrum is perfect for a lean organization like us. It reduces our process overheads drastically and hence the team is almost always able to deliver faster. It also acts as the perfect remedy against deadline slippage due to scope creeps.

We are also finicky about following checklists. Implementation checklist, development checklist, quality adherence checklist, test plan checklist, you name it we have it. This helps us to maintain the standards without much review effort.

·         Tell me 3 things we should know about your product.

We call GUIDE from Educocity a virtual cloud campus on rent, which essentially boils down to:

No software installation is required to start using GUIDE. It can be accessed over a web-browser and low-bandwidth internet which makes it available anytime from anywhere without being tied to a particular machine. If you want to try, just hit educocity.com and go for a ‘Try GUIDE Demo’ option.

No upfront capital investment is required from the educational institution’s end. We only charge on pay-as-you-go basis based on the total number of users. Thus, GUIDE is especially suitable for small to medium institutions who do not want to maintain in-house IT department.

GUIDE is the most intuitive Learning Management system you would have seen. The user interface is simple and clutter free and you can get started from the word go. There are no steep learning curves and hours spent going through elaborate learning manuals. We believe in the beauty of simplicity.

You can also follow @educocity in Twitter or ask your questions, request a demo directly to @Debaratiz

   

Happiness

Enjoy this week and see what you need :)

Pic Courtesy

Interview with PMOT author 4- Lindsay Scott

Wow, its been days since I published- this month turned out to be pretty eventful than I had expected.

This is the last interview of the series with the #PMOT author/s and today meet Lindsay Scott, Director of Arras People as she talks about her new venture of co-authoring a book.

It’s a big milestone to be an author- why did you decide to be one?

My experience has been quite unique. I was approached by a publisher at the beginning of 2011 and asked if I wanted to co-edit a handbook related to the people aspects of project management. The book is called – The Handbook of People in Project Management – and it’s going to be published in2013. Initially when I was approached I was surprised as I’ve never written a book and certainly never edited one before. When I found out that my co-editor was Dennis Lock (the eminent project management author) I felt a little more comfortable and decided to go for it. I was looking forward to the challenge of doing something completely different yet in a field that I felt totally comfortable within.

Both Dennis and I had complete authority to decide the structure of the book and we knew that it was going to be a huge book (63 chapters, 800 pages, featuring over 58 different authors!). The book focuses on the people aspects of project management so we have parts which focus on areas like leadership, team management, conflict and behavioural skills. With my experience working and blogging about project management careers and recruitment I’m contributing to three chapters – on recruitment, pay and redundancy.

What was your schedule like while working full time and writing it?

One of the most interesting things about being part of a commission for a new (and large) book is the schedule and time involved. From the initial commission through to the book being on the shelf will be over two years. During that time I’ve been responsible for setting the topics for the book, approaching authors to write the chapters, reviewing the content and working with Dennis whilst he edits the chapters. Later on in the schedule we will look at the overall layout making sure the chapters are aligned, the index comes together and the overall design.

Fitting in this project alongside a full time job has its ups and downs. I’m lucky in one respect that I do own and manage my own business which is in the project management field. I’m working with people that I already know and reading about subjects that fit into my day to day job anyway. I tend to work via email and social networking sites so can be in touch with authors around the world very easily. The downsides are trying to write the chapters that I’m commissioned to do; there are never enough times in the day. Other authors also suffer from this as most are current practicing project managers too. We’re lucky in one respect that we have a long timeline to work to but I’ve found that project managers work best when they have tight deadlines so often the writing happens in the evening and weekends. The bottom line is, if you want to become an author – whether it is a book or just a chapter – you need to show commitment, manage your time effectively, and create a space in your schedule when you can be creative.

How different is authoring a book from blogging?

As I mentioned I’m also authoring three of the chapters (about 7000 words each) and it has been a great experience switching the style of writing that I would normally use on the blog (How to Manage a Camel). In some ways it has been like being back at University creating a thesis. There has to be a lot of research beforehand, the chapters have to be correctly structured so they ‘flow’ and I’ve been really lucky to have such a good editor in Dennis has he is a great writer with an excellent command of the English language. One of the main differences between writing for the book and writing for the blog is the use of informal language. With blogging I tend to write as I speak so there are a lot of localisms, English sayings or slang. When writing the book these are removed so you really need to be conscious of what your author “voice” sounds like and make sure the grammar is correct. I’ve learned an awful lot so far and I’m still learning a lot!

Name a book/incident/person that inspired you to become an author.

I’d never really given it much serious thought about becoming an author before this opportunity landed in my lap but I’m a dedicated reader and love to read about project management. In the future I’d like to write a full book myself – something that focuses on the career aspects of project management. Some of the best books I’ve enjoyed over the years include; I have to include Dennis Lock’s Project Management book it’s a definite guide to project management with so much detail where its necessary (especially around scheduling and plans). I love the refreshing style of Peter Taylor’s Lazy PM and he’s done a great job of creating a breath of fresh air into project management books. Finally I loved Rework from JasonFried and David Hansson simple to read, great ideas and I wish I’d come up with the layout and concept!

Lindsay Scott is a Director of Arras People, the project management recruitment specialists (www.arraspeople.co.uk) founded in 2002. The company focuses on finding the right project management talent for organizations within the UK. Prior to Arras People, Lindsay was a Project Office Manager for Hewlett Packard. She regularly blogs on How to Manage a Camel which is a blog focused on project management recruitment and careers. She is also a committee member for the APM PMOSIG – a specific interest group for PMOs (http://www.apm.org.uk/group/apm-pmo-specific-interest-group) 

You can find the interviews from this series here.

PMOT Author 3- Peter Taylor

The PMOT author series continues and this time we have Peter Taylor.

Turns out, all you have to do is get the first one published and the rest follows. Peter has another coming out in 2012- watch this space. 

It’s a big milestone to be an author- why did you decide to be one?

Having my first book The Lazy Project Manager published by Infinite Ideas changed my professional life. I had long wanted to write but never seemed to get the right idea but then I started speaking at various conferences and after a while I had ambitions to widen my audience and to get on to the international speaking circuit. It was only once I had a book to support and promote me that I began to be noticed.

A book lends gravitas and authority to its author (assuming it's a good book and all the evidence suggests that ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ is indeed a good book!) It can set agendas. It receives reviews in trade media that raise the author's profile.

The book has helped me internationally, too. ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ has been a bestseller on the Amazon Kindle store in the USA and I've had a huge number of enquiries for speaking gigs and consultancy as a result (I have presented in New Zealand, Brazil, USA, Germany, Poland, France, Romania, Sweden, Hungary, Netherlands and many more).

Honestly a book written by you to sell (or give) to clients is the best piece of marketing collateral you can own.

What are your published works and where can we find them?

• The Lazy Project Manager (Infinite Ideas)
• The Lazy Winner (Infinite Ideas)
• Leading Successful PMOs (Gower)
• The Art of Laziness (Infinite Ideas)- eBook only

And in 2012 there will be Project Branding (Gower) and a new ‘Lazy’ book as well.

All books are available on Amazon and through my own website 

How long did it take you to write your last published book?

Well there is the writing then there is the editing cycle and all of my books have taken a varied time but, as an example, my current book ‘Project Branding’ has taken about 9 months to put together – mainly as this is case study based and this requires time to secure case studies, support and encourage contributors, and in editing the case studies before weaving them in to a coherent book. As a comparison ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ was written much faster with the writing and editing process concluding in less than 3 months.

What was your schedule like while working full time and writing it?

Again the two books were very different. For ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ I took time off work and wrote solidly for about 9 days to write the first draft. For ‘Project Branding’ is has been a low level effort in writing for a much longer period and this will be concluded with a few days ‘tidying up’ over the holiday season to complete this one.

How different is authoring a book from blogging?

Well I have to say that when I do write I often look again at my blogs and often there are some ideas or material that can be re-used, in an expanded form of course. But really for a book I like to ‘architect’ the major themes and chapters and then look at the way this flows and connects in a logical and concise way. Once I have that then I write and, often, things change as you progress through the writing period but generally the high level structure is fairly stable. Blogs can, in comparison, be short, sharp and specific and the next blog can be (in the words of Monty Python) ‘something completely different.

Three things every #PMOT author should know?

Well three pieces of advice I would say to any aspiring author is:

·         Don’t wait until you have written the book to try and find a publisher. Do your research on suitable publishers and check out their requirements for submissions, and start applying.

·         Use your network to get advice and make connections.

·         Blog – and blog some more. It is great practice and a wonderful source of ideas.

Is it difficult finding a publisher?

It can be. I have spoken to many people about this since I released my first book and a lot have not been as lucky as I was. Actually for this very reason I have collaborated with the publishers of ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ and ‘The Lazy Winner’ and I now have a website that offers some advice (text, videos and a free eBook on ‘Getting Published) to help would-be authors around the world.

No guarantees of a deal but my publishers have offered to at least have a chat with anyone who has a reasonable idea for a book.

And, of course, there are increasing ways to self-publish these days.

Name a book/incident/person that inspired you to become an author.

There are many books that I have enjoyed, and still enjoy, that I could say were inspirations to me but if I have to pick one author it would be Brian Tracy and if I have to pick one of his books it would have to be ‘Eat that Frog’.

I like Brian’s books because they are short, easy to read and to the point, and I like ‘Eat that Frog’ because it deals with a problem that we all face.

Peter is a dynamic and commercially astute professional who has achieved notable success in Project Management. He is also an accomplished communicator and is a professional speaker as well as the author of ‘The Lazy Project Manager’ (Infinite Ideas) and ‘Leading Successful PMOs’ (Gower) and ‘The Lazy Winner’ (Infinite Ideas).

More information can be found at www.thelazyprojectmanager.com  and www.thelazywinner.com and www.leadingsuccessfulpmos.com – and through his free podcasts in iTunes.

(Pic Courtesy: Google Images)

Being a CEO- Indra Nooyi

We all have been trying to dream big and think of achieving them, this year should be the year where we take hard core actions in getting them done.

The interview below hopefully will allow you take concrete actions and plan out what it takes to be a true leader. Listen to the 5C's almost towards the end of the interview!




The #PMOT author series will continue, I just had to share this video with you!