“Why don’t you just quit your job?”“Let me talk to your teacher about your grades.”“You’re such a doormat. Just tell…
“Hiring #Salesforce Functional Consultants – currently remote (so you can zoom with your pyjama bottoms). However, when all of us…
I almost never use “Are you OK?” on its own. Otherwise I get the standard reflex response of the English:“Yep,…
Salesforce has changed the way they are certifying their #SalesforcePartners and this is their definition of an Implementation Expert: A…
Ugh. It’s so noisy.Phones going.Office humdrum.The open plan can be so noisy.How do I focus on work? Wait.Is that Sandy…
As a Samaritan’s volunteer, I listen to people every week as they share the difficulties they are going through in…
As a Consulting Partner, asking insightful questions, and listening carefully, will help you understand requirements when it comes to building…
We watched #Soul yesterday – me and the ninjas. There’s a scene where Joe gets a lesson in active listening…
“Would anyone believe that you and me – both successful in our professional lives, have gone through abuse and sexual…
“Are there any PMs on the training who might have very strong personalities?” “Why do you ask?” I was a…
Most of the biggest challenges in struggling projects is issues around scope, requirements and change management. I think the biggest…
Do you want to know the 5 words that are the secret to really effective #communication and connection? No, you…
“The Functional Consultant role is 100% remote – how effective will I be when doing workshops?” M had gone through…
A Consulting Partner needs to really only do two things well: 1. Deeply understand requirements. 2. Execute well. Any Partner…
Who’s the most effective #CRM executive champion/sponsor? A. Finance Director B. CEO C. Marketing Director D. Sales Director E. Ops…
Do you build your CRM platform yourself or do you get someone to help you? Buying software that can be…
“I’m only being paid a fraction of what I’m billed out at. It’s not fair. I can run my own…
“We can do it all ourselves. It’s cheaper than getting a Consultant Partner to do it. How hard can it…
“Yes – you can name your variable ‘bob’ if you want to, but no – you shouldn’t.” Ninja #2 is…
It gives me goosebumps and shivers down my spine! No, it’s not my lovely Husband attempting to woo me with…
“Um… John always made sure things like that worked automagically.” They couldn’t figure out why the financial records weren’t coming…
We were asked to audit a system that had been built by another company years ago. It was a MONSTER.…
“This is sh*t! We are being treated like kids! How do they expect us to perform when they pull stunts…
Congratulations, you’ve just been appointed the Exec Sponsor for the CRM Project. But, what do you do now? The 5…
Which grabs your attention? I’m submitting a few topics to London’s Calling’s Call for Presentation/Speakers in March and What topic…
When I hear about CRM projects that are so badly designed and implemented, it makes me want to poke my…
“You must try this restaurant, it’s got the most delicious pad thai – they even made me a non-peanut version…
Funky new features is not a good reason to get Salesforce. Although I admit, there are some features that are…
A beautiful new swimming pool in a hotel is not successful if no one is using it. “It’s too cold.”…
How did out of date apps like ‘Netscape Communicator’ and ‘Mozilla Mail’ get referenced as ‘modern’ in the Brexit deal?…
Bid response, Proposals, Solution documents. These are just some of the documents that may need more than one person to…
“Here you go – these are the build estimates for the user stories. Can you come up with a pricing…
What happens when you don’t manage expectations properly? Anger and disbelief. And #Tier4. That press conference yesterday definitely provoked a…
“So I’m calling to thank you for guiding me through the Consulting Masterclass – it helped so much during the…
“You might be a rockstar Certified Technical Architect, but your arrogance and your pattern of belittling others, will be your…
How do you handle explosive situations in a workshop when emotional outbursts have derailed the conversation? It can happen. I…
A team that has chemistry, where the group dynamics just works – is magic. It’s like conducting an orchestra, where…
Solutions Architect vs Project Manager. To become super expert at a special skill, or to become really good at a…
Hot potato. Some partners treat their clients like hot potato when the organisational culture doesn’t promote cohesive behaviour. Sales will…
How do you feel when you get a contract that seriously leans AGAINST your favour? I’ve seen contracts and agreements…
“Yes he worked with me on these dates. He performed some of the duties of a Junior Project Manager, and…
What do you call a consulting partner who misrepresents their internal capability and competency to the client and signs them…
“But what if I don’t get another contract? I still have a mortgage to pay.” I was just speaking to…
Sometimes I wish I could do the Vulcan mind-meld. 🖖🏻 The ability to directly connect my mind to yours, and…
Agency. The control you have over your life, your work, your circumstance. There is a difference between what control you…
Sooner or later, short term thinking leads to pain. If you are only keen on closing that deal without spending…
2020 has been utterly crap for so many people. Job losses, financial insecurity, illness, death. There are so many LinkedIn…
In Dec, I am giving away 12 courses on The Art of being an Excellent Salesforce Consultant (all sessions from…
To close projects successfully, you need to have delivered to spec. To deliver quality specs , you must test robustly.…
Many of us walk around unconscious, without seeing, and without hearing. I asked my current batch of trainee Samaritan volunteers…
A process diagram should be so good that you can hand it to someone who has never seen one before,…
What does leadership and project management have in common with the values of Stoicism? A lot, in fact. Wisdom The…
“You don’t have a billable project code against the pre-sales activity? Sorry, not interested.” Be careful what you wish for.…
In situations where consultants go into project as the solo team member, they typically have to handled the end-to-end engagement,…
Quality <> Perfection. Many delay shipment of releases or products/software because they aren’t ready… the software isn’t “perfect” yet. “QA…
Data Migration can be quite a complex and deserves to be treated as its own project. However, it’s generally an…
I had to leave the meeting room very quickly and walked into a vacant office. I shut the door and…
Hurt people, hurt people. Abusers were once abused. Sometimes. I don’t normally get angry, but incidents of domestic violence and…
You need to truly understand the importance of testing, or you will never be able to deliver robust software. This…
There’s a lot of discussion about whether a contractor would be suited to a permanent role in software development, especially…
Many people don’t understand that signed off requirements in a software delivery constitute a contractual agreement. It’s what you say…
There’s a common misconception about the term ‘requirements’ especially when applied to Agile projects. Many believe that User Stories are…
“Why are you doing this? You’re not making any money out of giving away free courses.” I’ve also been coaching…
My next round of Consulting Masterclasses will be running in a couple of weeks. If – you’re an #awesomeadmin –…
Those of us in the consulting industry will know that preparing proposals and working in Bid Teams is generally far…
Bidding for new projects are tough, especially if it’s for Project implementation and not Discoveries. Sometimes, clients prefer us to…
In software consulting, for medium and larger projects of work, there’s generally two parts to the delivery that require Statement…
Was listening to Tim Ferriss’ podcast with Esther Perel this morning, and was struck by her learnings from Holocaust survivors…
Estimating a consulting project is easy. “You pick an imaginary number, double it, double it, and then double it 4…
Why should consulting partners estimate requirements using time, and not story points? Because unless they are doing a pure agile…
When a document raises more questions than it answers, it is either: 1) Deliberately provocative, or 2) Very poorly written.…
“My job as a Project Manager is to schedule meetings and workshops (maybe do the minutes), and get info from…
What’s your super power, may not be mine, and vice versa. Everyone has strengths in different areas. Growing up, I…
I am running my 3rd free Consulting Masterclasses on 28th September where I provide training in Consulting skills, project methodology…
There’s no real substitute for practical real life experience. On my last consulting course – we were doing a session…
“Your new best friend.” That’s what I tell all the new consulting hires. You must appreciate your Resource Manager. It’s…
Being a Resource Manager must be one of the hardest job I can think of, in the Consulting industry. No…
Critical thinking is a key skill for anyone. More so if you are a software consultant. The ability to: –…
Resilience and toughness. You can be tough, but brittle. A lot of people think being tough is not admitting weakness.…
Survivor’s guilt. “Be grateful you still have a job.” “Are you seriously moaning about your work stress?!” “I can’t believe…
Building a rocket to escape Zombie Apocalypse within 12 months (before they get to your isolated sanctuary and eat your…
Covid has taken many casualties – people’s lives, health, jobs. The consulting world has not been spared, and employee consultations,…
Walking into a lion’s den. That’s what it feels like sometimes, if you’re a solo consultant, managing and implementing a…
As a consultant, you’ll be expected to communicate well. Such as in your verbal face-to-face/zoom interactions, presentation, documentation, emails, writing…
“Does he really hate me, or is he just having a bad day? Or was he born a jerk??” Everyone…
The last ‘unemployed’ Salesforce consultant in my free consulting training just told me she’s got a job today!! It’s more…
“Are you saying I am going to get 3 weeks of FREE training, and you’re going to get me a…
Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean that you should. Just because you can integrate two systems and sync…
No catch. I’m offering 3 weeks worth of absolutely FREE Consulting Masterclass training, covering: – Consulting Engagement & Delivery –…
I’ve been accused of being a nitpicky Project Manager. A fussy, bossy, demanding Project Manager. All this in front of…
Writing solid requirements is an artform. Whether it’s a biblical tome of a Business Requirements Document (a la Waterfall), or…
Executing the process design and requirement gathering workshops remotely is much more challenging than doing it face to face. A…
Data migration on a CRM Project is a much much bigger workstream than anyone thinks. Corrupt, inaccurate, inconsistent, irrelevant or…
What do you do when you’ve been engaged on a new consulting project, and you can see that the client’s…
Communication is _so_ important. It’s not just knowing the language. It’s the study of nuance and context. It’s the study…
“Things didn’t go as smoothly as you thought. But the team and I, we fixed it and made sure it…
Why do a process map for a CRM implementation? I am no longer surprised to hear of projects where process…
Detail or Big Picture? Ideally both. The ability to focus on the roots and the trees, and the biodiversity around…
“Why do you want to know what I do. Should I be worried about my job?” Resistance to change is…
“What should we have in the ‘Gender’ picklist field? It’s now more than 2, right?” “Business wants to collect number…