Articles for category: Initiative

June 9, 2021

Greg Thomas

Conveying your Message from a Box

Right now, at this moment, you will have a few meetings that will be remote today. You will have to convey your ideas from a box. The more people that are added to the meeting, the smaller that box will become and the greater the work to convey your message from that box will become. You can try talking over the speaker, but those days are long gone. We’ve all had a year of that and we know it doesn’t work. The same powerpoint template that everyone has seen from everyone else? The same action items for what needs to

June 4, 2021

Greg Thomas

Have Need Want for Requirements

On a new project, it’s easy to get rolled over by the tsunami of requests and requirements coming your way. Priority is becomes a game of “what isn’t a 1”? A simple way to approach this with your team is to start with three buckets; Have, Need, Want. Any requirement discussed has to go into one of those buckets, there is no fourth bucket. Each bucket is represented as follows; Have – we can’t go out the door or show previews to our customers without these features. Need – These are very important if not there, it won’t be great.

June 2, 2021

Greg Thomas

Questions? Comments? Criticisms?

Years ago (too many) I had a professor that would end every lecture with… Questions? Comments? Criticisms? Every lecture. The class was not over until this was said. I have found myself saying it now when at a project or working with a customer. Questions – Did I skip over anything? Need anything else explained? Comments – Could I be doing something better? Criticisms – What am I messing up that I need to get better at? Simple and to the point.

May 31, 2021

Greg Thomas

The Hidden Feature

If you are doing it right, you know what the Hidden Feature is. It’s the thing that makes your client fall off their chair. When they talk about it, their voice goes up an octave and they start waving their hands around in the air. It keeps them up at night as they worry about it. It’s their baby of the project and they know, deep down they know, that if it comes to light, it will be the best thing in the project. This is the Hidden Feature and thi sis the feature that if you make happen will

May 30, 2021

Greg Thomas

The Pilot Problem

The problem with every pilot is always the date. Always has been, always will be, primarily because when we agree on a pilot we are doing it off of what we know at a certain point in time before the pilot begins. We think we know what we are going to build and be able to get done. By that date. As you approach the pilot, you realize you might not get there – either the delivery was too ambitious, the workload grew, problems arose, people and teams changed, whatever the reason – you’re not going to hit the date.

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