How can you listen to so much darkness and not let it taint your soul and spirit?As a listening volunteer…
His job was to break into homes to find the erotic toys and other sexual paraphernalia and get rid of…
What’s the number 1 skill for any #Salesforce or #Microsoft consultant? Designing great solutions?Solving problems?Competency in product knowledge? Luke Menzfeld from Cloud Galacticos talks about listening as…
GIGO = Garbage In, Garbage Out. This is especially true when companies believe that all problems will disappear with new…
Wouldn’t it be great if you were like Dr Strange and could test out different versions of the future? That…
Empathy vs Sympathy. It’s the difference between getting into the hole to be alongside someone, and standing outside the hole…
If your customer feels that they aren’t being heard, they will vote with their feet. In today’s world, there is…
I got stabbed yesterday.By a super efficient nurse called Isla.With a vaccine to fight evil people-killing/maiming virus called Corona. Technology…
Users will always want what they want.Babies will always poop and eat and cry.Puppies will always want to play and…
OK, the drawing is tongue in cheek. When you’re presented with a requirement that… doesn’t quite make sense, you don’t…
“How long is it going to take to complete the #Salesforce project / build this function / roll out this requirement for…
As long as my new car is red and has flame throwers to kill zombies, I don’t care about the…
“Great granny, I fell and hurt my head.”“Oh dear. Did your brain fall out?” I always love to hear people’s…
Eliciting Requirements.It’s an Art.So – is your answer a faster horse, a car, or Internet access and home learning kit?…
One of the critical job of a #Salesforce or Microsoft Consultant or a #awesomeadmins is to tactfully challenge requests. So many business applications can…
How are humans and organisations like zombies?No, we don’t eat brains. We can however, get to a point where our…
How long will you take to learn how to make donuts with only your feet? 👣Uhh … whut? Estimating #Salesforce…
When is 1 * 100 <> 10 * 10?When estimating #Salesforce project costs. If 10 tasks is estimated to take…
When problem solving _IS_ a problem. 🤔 What? I hear you say. Many of us are wired to be problem…
I ❤ estimating #Salesforce projects.Perhaps it’s a nerdy thing, but I love the planning, and the thinking that goes behind…
“So talk to me about how you worked out your project estimates.” My ex-colleague, T, had just joined a company…
“You’re worried that your mum will reject you because you’re gay? Maybe it’s a phase… go on a few ‘normal’…
“So essentially, you knocked up your estimates on the back of a fag packet?” He got a bit defensive.“No, I…
“Why don’t you just quit your job?”“Let me talk to your teacher about your grades.”“You’re such a doormat. Just tell…
I almost never use “Are you OK?” on its own. Otherwise I get the standard reflex response of the English:“Yep,…
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…
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…
“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.…
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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.…
There’s no real substitute for practical real life experience. On my last consulting course – we were doing a session…
Critical thinking is a key skill for anyone. More so if you are a software consultant. The ability to: –…
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…
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…
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…
Preparation is imperative in any meeting or workshop that a consultant organises. This includes preparing and briefing participants, so that…
The two things you need to get right if you are looking to implement a CRM system. Make sure that…
There is a skill in estimating how long a Discovery will take. For mid to larger sized projects, this can…
“Here’s the list of requirements, and the team’s estimation against each item. Go and create a project plan.” There’s no…
In human relationships, there are 5 types of human responses. 1. Instructive – deciding what the other person needs, e.g.…
Circle of Influence. Manage what you _can_ control. Mitigate, accept, or avoid what you can’t. If at all possible. I…
Conflict occurs when expectations are not aligned. “What I think I am getting is not what you think you are…
The two key elements that are candidates for ‘trimming’ on a project estimate at the sales stage that’s beyond the…
How to consistently and repeatedly reduce the possibility of a project being undersold in a fast-paced sales cycle? Estimating correctly…
Someone asked me why I was following people on Twitter that I disagree with, in the areas of ethics, morality,…
When a consulting partner is engaged to implement a software solution, we assume the client knows what they are doing.…
I pay attention to the small things. – the questions my lead consultant is asking – the subtle body language…
Writing requirements is easy. Writing GOOD requirements, tight User Stories, detailed Design Documents that: – is easily understood – is…
“I almost killed myself trying to get the project live in China. So many obstacles. The Great Firewall. Language. Culture.…