All Entries Tagged With: "Professionalism"

Four Key Knowledge Areas for Business Analysts

Four key knowledge/capability domains that are especially important to the business analyst.

Your Name is Safe in My House

A friend of mine once told me of an uncle whose “byline” – for lack of a better term – was, “your name is safe in my house.” What he meant is that you wouldn’t have to worry about him or others in his company speaking ill of you. People took the uncle at his word, too, because he was never heard speaking poorly of others.

Wise Counsel from the Algebra Teacher and the Martial Arts

The more we learn, the more we realize we don’t know.

Looking the Part

Ever heard the expression that you should dress for the job you want, and not the one you have? Clearly, talent and hard (smart) work are the most important determinants of professional success, but there are smaller, less subtle details that can weigh in your favor when all else is equal; among them being dress and personal appearance.

Does Humor on the Job Work for You?

As I’ve mentioned on this blog, I like to keep things as light and humorous as possible. That’s true in my personal life, and not markedly different in a professional environment. To me, keeping it light helps keep it in perspective. Obviously, there is a time for seriousness, and it is important to maintain a [...]

Meeting Agenda as Catalyst?

What are leading reasons for unproductive review sessions of project deliverables? One comes quickly to mind for me – how about when 90% of your invitees show up without having even glanced at the materials in advance. For one thing, holding a meeting in this environment is not only incredibly inefficient, but it is also [...]

Planning a Successful Review Meeting, Part I

Holding requirement specification reviews is an activity that is critical to ensuring the quality of your deliverables. Review meetings aren’t typically “fun”, but they can be run smoothly and efficiently. They can also be excruciating if the the organizer and/or the attendees are not sufficiently prepared ahead of time. I plan to post a few [...]

Timeless Management Principles

I found an excellent post on Leader Notes on some selected key management principles while actually doing some research to try to pen a similar post on my own blog. I liked Malcom Munro’s post so well that I thought I’d just do some commentary on some of the principles listed in hist post instead of trying to reinvent the wheel.

The 6 “Be’s” of Meeting Etiquette

A meeting can be very productive. A meeting can be a veritable nightmare. A lot depends on the professionalism of the participants.

I’ve devised a list that I think provides a broad but helpful guide that, if followed by meeting attendees, will result in a quality meeting where objectives can be met, and the tearing out of hair by its roots by participants can be greatly reduced, if not eliminated.