The recent ‘Online Presentation Skills’ webinar presented by David Beckham was so well attended that it resulted in some unanswered questions due to time constraints. Here David gives his answers. …
Speaking Publicly About Something I Know Nothing About: Horizontal vs Vertical User Story Slicing
After years of working as a Business Analyst, I have always wanted to try my hand at public speaking in order to share some insights on topics I feel passionate …
5 Questions With John Fraser
John Fraser brings an energy and commitment to all his projects that truly compliments and builds upon his years of experience in strategic business process improvement. In short, you know …
Boards Need IT-Savvy Directors
Financial and legal matters dominate the agendas of board meetings, which is often reflected in board composition. But what about IT-related matters? Aamir Jamil, IT Governance Consultant, Information Technology AuthorityAamir …
A Product Lives By Its Principles
Values are powerful. They reflect what is important to us and they define who we are, the decisions we make and, most importantly, they drive our future. Understanding our values …
Avoiding the “Solution Illusion” with Pre-Project Problem Analysis
This article was written in July 2020, in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. The past few months have acted as a catalyst for change in most, if not …
Creating Synergies Between Business Analysts And Project Managers
At first glance it may seem that project managers and business analysts have conflicting objectives with one focused on project delivery and the other on solution delivery. But by unlocking …
Story Telling For BAs
I am a big advocate of storytelling as a way of getting your message across and whilst this is a method usually associated with speeches and presentations I believe it …
Organizational Debt — A Necessary Evil
Regardless of their state of growth, all companies face a certain level of organizational debt, which can paralyze them if it’s not kept under control. Alina Ghiarasim, Lead Business Analyst, EndavaAlina …
Presenting Over The Web
It is a feature of our new reality that we are increasingly communicating through disembodied means (I’m talking web rather than Ouija board here) and this can cause problems for …
3 Simple Creative Habits That Will Change Your Career
If you work in a company, that you aren’t part of the “creative team” or don’t have a position that is suited to creativity, this is definitely for you! Most …
Winning with Culture: Using Culture To Play Offense
We’ve found that culture is often taken for granted in the day-to-day operations of an organization, particularly when times are good. Leaders tend to focus on the factors most directly …
Transforming Ideas Into Outcomes At Market-Speed – A Series of Four Articles on Investing in Change
How Ideas Turn into Outcomes The Outcomes Your Enterprise Creates Come From a Mash-Up of Many Ideas Let’s begin with how everything ends, and talk about outcomes. People create outcomes …
Every Transformation Needs A NED
In my experience life as a Non-Executive Director is a difficult balancing act. Staying close enough to the business to understand where it is and how it is working – …
The Danger Of Jumping To A “Solution” And The Importance Of Pre-Project Problem Analysis
We’ve probably all worked in situations where the word ‘problem’ is seen as a dirty word. This is understandable to some extent—after all, discussing a problem situation seems a lot …
The Power of Questions – Using Clean Language© and Metaphor to Explore the “How to” of Change Management
In change management we are often excellent at describing what we can usefully be doing as practitioners – employing frameworks, methodologies and models to ensure our interventions are focussed and …
Business Change & Transformation Conference Europe 16-18 March 2020, London
There are six weeks until our Business Change and Transformation Conference Europe 2020 taking place in London from 16-18 March. You can view some of the subjects that will be …
Ghosts Of Tom’s Past, Present And Future
The world is evolving, business is evolving, consulting is evolving. This will never stop. So those organisations that don’t constantly adapt will wither and die. Target Operating Model (TOM) design …
Have You Ever Jumped from an Airplane? Journey of Delivering a Complex Project/Program in Public Sector
Imagine – you’re on an airplane flying at 13,000 feet. From this perspective, the world below looks far away; objects on the ground are small and out of focus, clouds …
The World Doesn’t Need Another Roaring Twenties!
I was slow on the uptake, and it took me a while to realise why several people seemed to be going to parties dressed either as flappers or Al Capone …