An evening in Mumbai

Jul 20, 2015 | 0 comments |
I almost fell asleep at 6.30pm on the couch.

I am back from work and today like all Monday’s I have had a morning flight to Mumbai, went to work and back at the temporary accommodation here.

So, just doing random things and thought will share it with you.

Here are the books/magazines I have been recently reading:
  • The Willpower Instinct – Kelly McGonigal
  • Scrum- The Art of doing Twice the Work in Half the Time – Jeff Sutherland
  • Holacracy- The Revolution Management System that Abolishes Hierarchy-Brian J. Robertson
  • Visual Project Management –Mark J. Woeppel
  • The EQ Edge -Emotional Intelligence and Your Success by Steven J Stein and Howard E Book
  • Vogue (magazine)
  • The Project Managers Guide to Mastering Agile- Charles G. Cobb
Sites I am browsing right now:
3 links I read today (about Agile Governance):
I also started an Instagram account recently to randomly click and keep what I am doing throughout the day. From airport clicks to the book I am reading to a peek inside my handbag. To follow me, click here .

(Pic Courtesy- Soma B Instagram)

Free Cultural Intelligence Training by Participating in Research Study

My friend Samad needs your help and participation for his project. It would be great if you have some time to partcipate, you can also send it along to your friends and colleagues. The deadline is till end of this month.
Research Overview:
  • Researcher: Samad Aidane
  • University: Middlesex University (U.K)
  • Degree: Master of Science in Neuroscience of Leadership
  • Research Topic: Investigate the effectiveness of intercultural competence training  
What is the context for this study?
This research study is the final deliverable for completing my Master of Science degree in Neuroscience of Leadership through Middlesex University (U.K).
The study will explore a practical issue that many organizations are facing today: how to help their employees be effective in intercultural collaboration. Through a training intervention, the study will investigate the effectiveness of an intercultural competence training program aimed at enhancing cultural intelligence among IT professionals.
What is the aim of this study?
Integrating insights from multidisciplinary research, the workshop will provide participants with an understanding of how culture shapes the way we make decisions, solve problems, and collaborate with others in a multicultural teams.
The findings from this study will contribute to the existing body of research on best practices for how organizations plan, design, and implement effective intercultural competence training for IT professionals.
Who will participate in the study?
The target audiences of this study are organizations who are interested in improving collaboration in the context of multicultural teams involved in IT projects. Participants are Information Technology Professionals (project managers, business analysts, software developers and testers, as well as other IT roles) or other Subject Matter experts who work over 50% of their time on IT projects and are currently working on projects or teams that include members from multiple cultures.
What commitments are expected from participants?
Participants will be expected to perform 4 main activities:
  1. Read and sign a Research Study Consent Form (5 Minutes)
  2. Complete a pre-assessment questionnaire (10 Minutes)
  3. Attend a live online training workshop (4 hours)
  4. Complete post-assessment questionnaire four weeks after the training workshop (10 minutes)
The study will require no more than 4.5 hours of participant’s time, over a period of four weeks.
When will the training workshop take place?
The training workshop will take place the week of July 6th. Other workshop dates in July may be added if needed. The exact date and time of the workshop will be coordinated with participants. The study will end four weeks after the training workshop, with participants completing the post-assessment questionnaire.
What is the benefit to your organization?
The benefit to your organization is that participants will:
  • Learn to recognize cultural barriers to making decisions, solving problems, and collaborating with others in a multicultural teams.
  • Gain a better understanding of the essential skills for leading and working in multicultural teams.
  • Gain practical tips, techniques, and strategies on how to develop a culturally intelligent communication style to effectively lead and work in multicultural projects and teams.
A whitepaper summarizing the findings and recommendation from the study will be provided to each participant and their organization.
Are there any costs involved for participants?
All training in this study will be provided to participant at no cost to your organization
What about confidentiality?
All data collected in the research will be made anonymous and held confidentially. Only summary results will be presented in the final report.
When is the deadline to sign up to participate in the study? 
The deadline to sign up to participate in the study is June 15, 2015.
How many participants from my organization can take part in the study?
As many as 50 participants can join the study.
I am interested. What’s the next step?
Send an email to samadaidane@gmail.com and the researcher will be in touch about the next step.

Inspirational Wednesday

Jun 10, 2015 | 0 comments |

(Pic Courtesy: Pinterest)
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Waterfall to Agile

Jun 9, 2015 | | 0 comments |
Working in Agile and don't know what to expect? Helping teams self organize but too much push back? 

This e-book is a great resource, read how the experts are doing it around the world one organization at a time.

You can find me on slide 19 and 20. 


From the road and in between

May 24, 2015 | , | 0 comments |
I have been trying to post and as is evident haven't been able to.

As a consultant I travel every week to another city (flight time 2 hours) and am back on the weekend. that has pretty much taken a toll on me and my time management skills. I have tried posting from airports, in between the crazy busy week  and sometimes on the weekend.

Reality is, I mostly blank out in airports and at 5am in the morning I don't feel like working on the blog. I am not a morning person at all. During the week the focus is more on the training's, work, reports, meetings and endless hours streamlined to keep things functional. Weekends is mostly mommy duty- Rio is 9 months old now and like all working moms I try to be with him when I can, as much as I can.

So, yes the blog has suffered in the process. However, I have been reading some good stuff and am sure will share it over here.

I hope in the busy schedule that you have, you get the time to sit down and relax and keep an hour for yourself. I honestly suffered with it, constantly travelling and working in deadlines. So, I am trying to force myself to relax sometimes, like I napped this weekend, didn't open my laptop until now, played with Rio and was  just happy to be home.

I hope like all pro bloggers I learn to write from airports, take mental notes while on elevators and can keep the blog going and make it look very easy.

Oh and before I forget in case you would like to help a fellow PM and one of my favorite people Samad on his research project and get a free cross cultural training, click here . 

 (Pic courtesy: google images)

Mixed bag- links to read

Mar 11, 2015 | , | 0 comments |
I have been reading and accessing links from my Evernote account, so here's what's open in my tab right now: 

Pic courtesy: Google images

Life- as it is

Most days are a mix of good and bad, some make you happy and content and confident and some are just bad decisions, moments that make you doubt your confidence.

My effort to re-organize my life- personal and professional often turn out futile. I plan and re-plan and then suddenly something needs my attention and the plans out of the window.

The buzz has rekindled itself. Suddenly there has been activities mostly positive round me. I am not sure if I have anything to do with them, may be I am just trying to be me again and trying to organize better and that’s probably the way to know that I am on the right direction.

So, in trying to juggle my role of professional who is trying for the next jump, a blogger who wants to get back to the regular routine, a community member who wants the connect site to connect more people and bring help to their careers and a mom who tries to spend some quality time with her 6 month son- organization is the key.

So, here are some tips to bring them in your life no matter how complex your life has become:

  • Prioritize your list- I use Trello and I timebox it. It’s usually open in a tab in front of me while I work, so I know the goals if I want to just check on them once in a while. Oh and I have the app downloaded as well.
  • Visualize- every morning I start my work life with somnote. I simply click on it and list down to-dos for the day.  And then work around it for the rest of the day.
  • Focus- its difficult midst meetings, calls, emails and lots more happening. So sometimes I will simply use coffitivity or noisli with a headphone. I work better with a noise and rhythm in background. 
  • Efficiency- time is sparse and I try to make the most of it. When I have difficulty focusing, I will use the pomodoro app and try to get something done. It works great for me.
  • Remember and refer - I use Evernote to remember things I read and categorize them. I also try to maintain a physical diary where I will jot down points or theories or new concepts that I liked or am thinking about, so I can refer to them quickly.
  • Connect- I barely get time to have a day out with friends, so I keep in touch mostly with whatsapp, viber and skype. 
  • Relax- I panic with so much going on or loose my cool. So sometimes at night, I will unwind by listening to some good music with tea and reading a good book or carelessly browse through pinterest even if its for a few minutes.
  • I forgive- I try not to be too strict on myself when I know there’s a lot happening. I try to be grateful for what I have. Close my eyes and hear me breathe. 


That pretty much sums my life right now.

(Pic courtesy: Soma Bhattacharya)

Be Inspired

Jan 27, 2015 | | 0 comments |

Pic courtesy- Pinterest

New Resources Pt 3- Interview with Samad Aidane

Samad Aidane is a cross-cultural leadership and Project Management Consultant and Coach with over two decades of experience in information technology change initiatives. He is also a featured speaker at Project Management Institute Congresses, local PMI Chapters, and at organizations such as J.P Morgan, HP, and T-Mobile.

Please tell us about your website which is a great resource for the upcoming project managers and why understanding the co-relation between neuro-science and project management/leadership style could be the key to being successful in this profession.

Although we tend to think of project work in terms of tasks, resources, and milestones, the brain experiences projects first and foremost as social systems. The latest research on how the brain works is bringing a fresh perspective on how the brain responds during times of change, uncertainty, and ambiguity and the drivers that create an environment that fosters engagement, collaboration, and commitment.
 
Neuroscience is the interdisciplinary science of the nervous system that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics, medicine, philosophy, physics, and psychology. The field has seen significant advances in recent years which can be largely attributed to very recent scientific and technological advances, particularly functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, which allows researchers to literally watch the brain in action.

Guerrilla Project Management and Neuro Frontier reflect my interest in this field. The blogs explore core neuroscience of leadership principles that form the foundation for making decisions, solving problems, collaborating with others, and facilitating change. Understanding these core neuroscience principles and drivers of human behavior will help us understand individual capacity to cope with ambiguity, deal with conflict, and find innovative solutions to complex problems.

Why do you think this is a must read for new project managers?Wwhat are the 3 main takeaways from the site?

Through Guerrilla Project Management and Neuro Frontier, new project managers will be able to:

  • Understand the neuroscience of leadership, its latest research findings, and its implications for project managers
  • Gain insights into the effectiveness and benefits of brain-based leadership for Project Managers
  • Learn how to apply these insights in our projects to make effective decisions and solve complex problems, stay cool under pressure, and facilitate lasting change.


One piece of advice that you think is an absolute must for new project managers?

Project are a series of moments of dull but important work interspersed with moments of pure joy and often even euphoria. To sustain ourselves, every project must contribute a body of knowledge to our journey of mastery. This starts with not letting projects happen to us. This means we must get to the point in our career where we get to select the type of projects we work on, the way film directors choose their next film or musicians select their next album project. This power of choice is the secret to making sure every project we touch tells a story about our journey to mastery and contributes to our masterpiece.

Samad Aidane holds a Post Graduate Degree in the Neuroscience of Leadership from Middlesex University, U.K. His research connects the latest findings in brain science research to leadership development and informs the ways leaders can improve their capacity to make effective decisions, solve complex problems, and facilitate lasting change. Samad is certified by the Project Management Institute and a member of the Social & Affective Neuroscience Society.


(Pic courtesy: Samad Aidane)

 You can also read Pt 1- Interview with Jeff Furman  and Pt 2- Interview with Elizabeth Harrin.

New Resources Pt 2- Interview with Elizabeth Harrin

Happy New Year to all of you! 

We start this year with another great resource that is sure to bring a  smile. Elizabeth Harrin who also writes the award-winning blog, A Girl’s Guide to Project Management has a newly launched
e-coaching services. She talks about how it can help so many project managers and definitely something that's much easier to access than formal coaching sessions.


So, please tell us about your newly launched course which is a great resource for the upcoming project managers and where can we find it.


I realized that lots of people wanted access to a coach but in a more informal way than scheduled Skype calls or face-to-face meetings. So I thought offering bespoke coaching for particular issues over email would fill the gap. You don't have to have a massive career problem to work out over several months. It's just about tapping an expert for advice, for example when you've got questions about a difficult project and you can't discuss them with someone at work (or you want an external view).

E-coaching is an easy way for you to get access to support and career resources whenever you need it. You don’t have to be tied to a particular time for a phone call and you don’t have to wait until the next session to get some advice. It’s also affordable and manageable, so if you thought you’d never be able to engage the services of a coach, think again!

I don't actually have anything on my website about it yet. You can read about it in one of my newsletters here

Why do you think this is a must have for new project managers? what are the main takeaways from the mentoring sessions that newbies can directly have with you.

I was lucky enough to have a senior project manager assigned to me as a mentor when I started out but that isn't the case for everyone, and even with her help I still had to learn a lot of things the hard way. I wrote Project Management in the Real World because I was frustrated at having to learn everything about project management from scratch. It was the book I wished for when I became a project manager.

A coach can help you unpick problems faster. They can help you work out your own style and help you develop. My style of e-coaching is based on questions and answers over email and clients get a very detailed response, action steps and additional resources for their queries in a reflective style which they can then decide if they apply to their situation. I think this is particularly good for new project managers who don't necessarily have the experience to work out exactly what they need to do by themselves and need a helping hand to offer a few alternative directions.

If you are working in project management or would like to work in projects and need some help sorting out some of the daily problems you face, putting together a career plan for your next job, improving project communications, getting to grips with virtual teams or practically any other project-related problem, then you should consider a coach (whether that's me or someone else).

One piece of advise that you think is an absolute must for new project managers?

Being gracious and appreciative has always worked well for me. When you are a new in post, everyone else knows more than you so it's not easy to assert your authority in a traditional way. A facilitative style actually works better anyway. Take the time to thank the people on the project team for their contributions and make them feel that their work has meaning. You can be very effective while knowing very little if you keep in mind that your job is to make their jobs easier. What do they need to get their tasks done? That's what you have to provide. That and a little structure in the form of a plan and you are well on your way to completing your project successfully with a happy team.


Elizabeth Harrin, MA, FAPM, MBCS is Director of The Otobos Group, a project communications consultancy specialising in copywriting for project management firms. She has a decade of experience in projects. Elizabeth has led a variety of IT and process improvement projects including ERP and communications developments. She is also experienced in managing business change, having spent eight years working in financial services (including two based in Paris, France). Elizabeth is the author of Shortcuts to Success: Project Management in the Real World, Social Media for Project Managers and Customer-Centric Project Management.  You can find Elizabeth online at www.otobosgroup.com or on Twitter @pm4girls.

 (Pic Courtesy: Elizabeth Harrin)

 You can Read Part 1- Interview with Jeff Furman here.