Time to throw away your Talent Pyramid
25 January 12
1

Time to throw away your Talent Pyramid

Ask any HR Manager on talent profile for their organization and you will get a ‘talent pyramid’ – an odd-looking ‘pyramid’ that is supposed to reflect the talent profile of the organization. Ask them further – what is the measure of ‘talent’ in this pyramid, and chances are 9 on 10 that the answer will be ‘experience’. This experience is typically the number of years of (supposedly relevant) experience in the workforce, and pretty much determines how roles, and consequently the compensation are derived out of it. Question is – is that the right measure of talent?

Inexperience is the new Competency?
20 December 11
4

Inexperience is the new Competency?

Past experience is often considered to be a proxy for future performance. After all, when there is no single perfect way to forecast someone’s future performance, the best you can do is to look at the past track record and extrapolate it! However, experience will only tell that if the given person were to undergo similar experience once again, would they achieve similar results? But, how do you know that experience is not really getting in the way of future success?

Notes from 4th International PMO Symposium
30 November 11
2

Notes from 4th International PMO Symposium

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend recently concluded 4th International PMO Symposium at the beautiful Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando, Florida from 6th to 9th Nov 2011. I was invited there as a speaker. PMO Symposium is organized annually by the PMI PMO COP and is the largest and surely the best such event globally. This year saw over 435+ attendees – double from the last year!

Seeking submissions on New Product Development and Product Management in Agile world for #AgileIndia2012
27 August 11
1

Seeking submissions on New Product Development and Product Management in Agile world for #AgileIndia2012

We are seeking perspectives, experiences, insights and groundbreaking ideas from practitioners and thinkers on how they have applied the spirit of agility to create new products that have led to unprecedented and extraordinary market success compared to their previous conventional practices. Specifically, we are looking for proofpoints from the marketplace to demonstrate how software team’s agility was directly visible in business results.

What are the program management competencies?
24 August 11
0

What are the program management competencies?

Program managers are the glue that bring your best people and teams together to collaborate like never before. They crack the hardest problems by cutting through the red tape in your organization and aligning them to the single goal. Clearly, a lot depends on having the right program manager in place. How do you hire or groom good program managers?

Opposite of risk is not safe!
22 July 11
3

Opposite of risk is not safe!

Risk-seeking behavior has been stereotyped and templated over the years. We routinely associate rash and optimistic planning, aggressive schedules, seeking new gold, banking on unproven technology, and building for newer markets as some of the risk-taking behaviors. Unfortunately, we automatically assume that things that are non-risky are safe. But are they?

Why are dry runs are so important?
26 May 11
0

Why are dry runs are so important?

The visual of Obama’s Beast getting stuck on a speed hump recently was a hilarious sight. Here you have world’s most-secure car caught completely off-guard by a tiny speed hump! The visuals told a sad tale when the car literally came to an abrupt halt – the belly hinging on the speed hump and front and the rear wheels on either side of the hump. Is that how Murphy trumps your best-run projects?

Do you know the safety margins and wastage in your project?
20 May 11
5

Do you know the safety margins and wastage in your project?

How do you estimate and plan when your project has too many unknowns and uncertainties? A common shortcut and a wishful thinking is to ‘pad-up’ the estimates with some ‘magic number’ based on past experiences, like +30% effort, or +10% costs, etc. These numbers are then very carefully added at each activity and its sub-activity level. We thus end up inflating the final estimates completely beyond shape. However, many of such projects still end up with delays and cost overruns. Why?

Top 7 roadblocks to Innovation
10 May 11
1

Top 7 roadblocks to Innovation

Innovation is the new corporate mantra today. Everyone talks about it, every executive wants to showcase their fancy innovation processes, and pretty much every organization has some type of ‘budget’ to support innovation activities. However, most innovation programs don’t get too far because not too many executives and managers really understand why people don’t innovate as much as their corporate leaders would like them to, budgets and processes notwithstanding.

How do you measure initiative?
24 April 11
1

How do you measure initiative?

A common feedback at performance appraisal meetings is to take more initiative. We all understand the presence or absence of initiative, but how does one know if one was taking enough initiative or not?

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