Please forgive me if there seems to be some overlap in the PM/BA characteristics – their leadership roles on the project overlap at times and they are both critical to the success of the project.
Previously, I discussed what I considered to be the top 5 characteristics of the best project managers. I’ve spent my 20+ years of managing projects on the technical project management side, so that is the basis of most of my experiences and perceptions. That’s where my top 5 list for PMs came from and that’s where this list will also be based – my top 5 characteristics of the best business analysts. As you read, please be thinking about what you would consider to be the best characteristics of the best business analysts you’ve worked with, seen in action or perhaps you are a BA reading this and have some of your own thoughts on this list. Please share and let’s discuss.
Please forgive me if there seems to be some overlap in the PM/BA characteristics – their leadership roles on the project overlap at times and they are both critical to the success of the project. Well, here’s something I hadn’t considered before…and probably why I should stay away from conferences like this -- the hacking of fingerprint databases. Passwords, credit cards and even identities can be fixed or changed or re-issued. But fingerprints are for a lifetime. You can’t change those. You can remove them…ouch. But you can’t get new ones. And guess what? Fingerprint authentication as a security measure is growing, it’s not just on “Get Smart” or “Mission: Impossible” anymore. It’s on your laptop and your smartphone and your tablet.
The good news is – the usage right now is small and it’s on your personal device. It’s being authenticated on your device, not across the Internet. The bad news is – usage is growing and devices can be hacked. And there are uses that are part of cybersecurity:... I'm not absolutely certain about this so I won't make any guarantees. But I can say -- without a doubt -- that nice guys do NOT finish last. The quote, “Nice guys finish last” has been attributed to Los Angeles Dodgers manager Leo Durocher for more nearly 70 years. In actuality, it may be a paraphrased version of an interview he did on July 6, 1946, but basically the phrase is his.
So what do you think…do nice guys finish last? I’ve tried to be a nice guy throughout most of my professional career and I don’t think I’ve finished last. And as I consider those I’ve worked with over the years, most of the nice guys (and women) have done pretty well. Yes, a few hardcore jerks have definitely excelled (“the squeaky wheel gets the grease”), but the nice guys have -- in the long run -- faired better, in my opinion. From a project management or even general business standpoint, here are my top 5 reasons why I think nice guys actually finish first... Hired to fire...what would you do?
On the first day of your new job you find out that you were really brought in to make tough staffing changes, which is not what you were told you were being hired for. How would you deal with it? What if you were mainly brought into an organization to clean house? And what if you didn’t know anything about this until you started the position? And what if you had moved your family across country to take this seemingly great job? How would that make you feel? A little uneasy? Maybe lied to and deceived? Would you maybe feel like the CIO and IT director that hired you were a little off? This is what brought me to Las Vegas from the Midwest. I’m not really the firing type. I believe in people. I think it’s best to try to work with them, find out their strengths and capitalize on those and find out their weaknesses and work around them but also give them small challenges that help build up those areas of weakness... |
Author:Brad Egeland
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December 2022
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