I’m really loving Blogger,
Did you know you can set it up so that you can send posts to an e-mail address and it’ll post these up for you?
Wow!
Bristol based digital chap who thinks about great web and mobile design as well as film, tech, world domination and cats.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Blogger
MoSCoW
I've given myself an aim of learning something new everyday. Today I'm posting about MoSCoW
MoSCoW is a method that is used in business and particularly in software development to get an understanding with the customer on the importance they place on the delivery of each functional requirement. It originated as part of the Dynamic Systems Development Method. Sometimes called a MoSCoW list or a MOSCOW Analysis. MoSCoW stands for:
M - MUST have this.
S - SHOULD have this if at all possible.
C - COULD have this if it does not affect anything else.
W - WON'T have this time but WOULD like in the future.
(Source wikipedia)
Just to confirm, a must priority is a showstopper, a project failure if not executed.
“Must
Anything labelled as “MUST” has to be included in the project delivery timebox in order for it to be a success. If even one “MUST” item is not included, the project delivery is considered a failure. “MUST” is also an acronym for the Minimum Usable SubseT” from wikipedia.
To put this in context if we take one of the items, RSS feeds, its reading if BCC cannot offer RSS feeds of community users’ blogs, you view the project will have failed.
The MoSCoW prioritisation process is to weight the requirments to assist in executing the project. It would be great if we could have a chat and go through these. Mainly need to get a bit more balance across the prioritisation.
(source - wikipedia and someone I work with)
MoSCoW is a method that is used in business and particularly in software development to get an understanding with the customer on the importance they place on the delivery of each functional requirement. It originated as part of the Dynamic Systems Development Method. Sometimes called a MoSCoW list or a MOSCOW Analysis. MoSCoW stands for:
M - MUST have this.
S - SHOULD have this if at all possible.
C - COULD have this if it does not affect anything else.
W - WON'T have this time but WOULD like in the future.
(Source wikipedia)
Just to confirm, a must priority is a showstopper, a project failure if not executed.
“Must
Anything labelled as “MUST” has to be included in the project delivery timebox in order for it to be a success. If even one “MUST” item is not included, the project delivery is considered a failure. “MUST” is also an acronym for the Minimum Usable SubseT” from wikipedia.
To put this in context if we take one of the items, RSS feeds, its reading if BCC cannot offer RSS feeds of community users’ blogs, you view the project will have failed.
The MoSCoW prioritisation process is to weight the requirments to assist in executing the project. It would be great if we could have a chat and go through these. Mainly need to get a bit more balance across the prioritisation.
(source - wikipedia and someone I work with)
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Six Career Tips To Help You Grow
This has really helped me think:
Six Career Tips To Help You Grow________________________________________
Learn something new every day
When I was a lowly intern right out of college doing grunt work IT application clean up and light UI design, I asked harassed, my dear colleagues to teach me something every single day. They thought I was bright-eyed, cute, and naive and I ended up learning a little about each of the web developers, system integrators, project managers, web managers, web architects, computer support teams. Bit by bit, I soaked in each little morsal about web in the enterprise and it fueled me to learn more. Leo Cheng, Jason Martorano, Oliver Cheng, Dave Giffen, John Perera, Kunal Malik, Jeff Cavano, Aileen Cheng, Robert Cartelli were so good to me, thanks guys.
Often, the fastest way Up is Out
Often, the fastest way up, for those who enjoy working in companies, is out. In most cases, incremental raises are often single digit changes (keeping you above the inflation waterline), and the occasional promotion will be low double digits. For those that I’ve met and move to new job positions, outside of their company they can often expect a 20%-40% increase in salary as they join a new company. It’s interesting to see that firms may value outside talent as more important than inside experience talent, in some cases, a fresh skillset or experience may be what’s needed.
Reverse engineer the job you want
Another useful tip is to reverse engineer the position that you desire to be in. Earlier in my career, I aspired to be a web manager, so I took job descriptions of web strategists and looked at all the skills and experiences needed. I printed out the job description (circled the salary) and taped it to my bathroom mirror, I saw it every morning and night, a double dose of self-reflection. Over time, you start to piece together the projects, programs, and apply new skills to learn how to do this. With time and perseverance, your resume will catch up to where you want to go.
Education matters, but not as much as you thought
For very specialized jobs, where in school training is essential (law, medicine, sometimes programming) this bullet doesn’t apply to you. More and more executives I meet have degrees in something they didn’t study in school for. For most jobs, they hire you because of what you can do for them, not what school you went to. There’s a reason why education falls to the bottom of the resume, and the ‘value statement’ is at the top, quickly followed by real world experience. Don’t get me wrong, education is very important, a bachelor degree is really expected in today’s workplace, but I often lean on the broad, theoretical knowledge I gained as a primer (or glossary) for me to dive in deeper in the business world.
You are a company of one
The other observation I share with my friend (and now you) is that you are a company of one. Even though your paycheck is being delivered through your employer, you are solely responsible for your direction, what you learn, how you perform, and how much you’re paid. I firmly believe that you are paid what you’re worth, so when I hear people complaining “they are underpaid”, in my mind, I translate that as you’ve “undersold yourself”, get skilled, spend time on weekends or early mornings to learn more, and apply new projects, programs and skills –or leave. Therefore, you are your own CEO, CMO, CFO, COO, CTO, you’re in control of your destiny. As you can tell, I don’t believe in fate, you are driving your ship of one.
Develop your plan, and put it in writing
If you’re with me so far, develop your own plan, both short term and long term plans, and set goals on how to reach them. Often, these goals don’t have titles or companies in them, but they describe the environment, or the end outcomes of which you want to reach. Over time these goals will change, and that’s ok, but at least you’re looking forward. I learned this from my buddy’s dad when I was growing up, he had several businesses, and one of his dreams was to have a Ferrari –he achieved it.
Source: unknown
Six Career Tips To Help You Grow________________________________________
Learn something new every day
When I was a lowly intern right out of college doing grunt work IT application clean up and light UI design, I asked harassed, my dear colleagues to teach me something every single day. They thought I was bright-eyed, cute, and naive and I ended up learning a little about each of the web developers, system integrators, project managers, web managers, web architects, computer support teams. Bit by bit, I soaked in each little morsal about web in the enterprise and it fueled me to learn more. Leo Cheng, Jason Martorano, Oliver Cheng, Dave Giffen, John Perera, Kunal Malik, Jeff Cavano, Aileen Cheng, Robert Cartelli were so good to me, thanks guys.
Often, the fastest way Up is Out
Often, the fastest way up, for those who enjoy working in companies, is out. In most cases, incremental raises are often single digit changes (keeping you above the inflation waterline), and the occasional promotion will be low double digits. For those that I’ve met and move to new job positions, outside of their company they can often expect a 20%-40% increase in salary as they join a new company. It’s interesting to see that firms may value outside talent as more important than inside experience talent, in some cases, a fresh skillset or experience may be what’s needed.
Reverse engineer the job you want
Another useful tip is to reverse engineer the position that you desire to be in. Earlier in my career, I aspired to be a web manager, so I took job descriptions of web strategists and looked at all the skills and experiences needed. I printed out the job description (circled the salary) and taped it to my bathroom mirror, I saw it every morning and night, a double dose of self-reflection. Over time, you start to piece together the projects, programs, and apply new skills to learn how to do this. With time and perseverance, your resume will catch up to where you want to go.
Education matters, but not as much as you thought
For very specialized jobs, where in school training is essential (law, medicine, sometimes programming) this bullet doesn’t apply to you. More and more executives I meet have degrees in something they didn’t study in school for. For most jobs, they hire you because of what you can do for them, not what school you went to. There’s a reason why education falls to the bottom of the resume, and the ‘value statement’ is at the top, quickly followed by real world experience. Don’t get me wrong, education is very important, a bachelor degree is really expected in today’s workplace, but I often lean on the broad, theoretical knowledge I gained as a primer (or glossary) for me to dive in deeper in the business world.
You are a company of one
The other observation I share with my friend (and now you) is that you are a company of one. Even though your paycheck is being delivered through your employer, you are solely responsible for your direction, what you learn, how you perform, and how much you’re paid. I firmly believe that you are paid what you’re worth, so when I hear people complaining “they are underpaid”, in my mind, I translate that as you’ve “undersold yourself”, get skilled, spend time on weekends or early mornings to learn more, and apply new projects, programs and skills –or leave. Therefore, you are your own CEO, CMO, CFO, COO, CTO, you’re in control of your destiny. As you can tell, I don’t believe in fate, you are driving your ship of one.
Develop your plan, and put it in writing
If you’re with me so far, develop your own plan, both short term and long term plans, and set goals on how to reach them. Often, these goals don’t have titles or companies in them, but they describe the environment, or the end outcomes of which you want to reach. Over time these goals will change, and that’s ok, but at least you’re looking forward. I learned this from my buddy’s dad when I was growing up, he had several businesses, and one of his dreams was to have a Ferrari –he achieved it.
Source: unknown
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Crash!
Wow,
I royally crashed my Car on Monday. I was off to meet some friends at the pub. I was driving up the motorway at 70mph, which was wet so probably too fast, my tyre blew out I think, all I know is I lost control slammed into the car next to me and then into the central reservation. It is probably the scariest thing that has ever happened to me.
I royally crashed my Car on Monday. I was off to meet some friends at the pub. I was driving up the motorway at 70mph, which was wet so probably too fast, my tyre blew out I think, all I know is I lost control slammed into the car next to me and then into the central reservation. It is probably the scariest thing that has ever happened to me.
Friday, June 29, 2007
2 Kick offs and a lot of sleep later
My continuing mission to try and keep a blog,
The past couple of days have been hectic. Great experience for me, but hectic. Two kick off's, one in Bristol and one in London. Not quite wineing and dining yet, but a client lunch and some interesting sandwiches yes. I'm really looking forward to seeing how far I can take this. The only thing I'm not looking for is the fatigue, yesterday I slept 12 hours straight!! Perhaps it's something I'll get used to. Certainly beats the evil world of recruitment which I would never recommend to anyone.
The past couple of days have been hectic. Great experience for me, but hectic. Two kick off's, one in Bristol and one in London. Not quite wineing and dining yet, but a client lunch and some interesting sandwiches yes. I'm really looking forward to seeing how far I can take this. The only thing I'm not looking for is the fatigue, yesterday I slept 12 hours straight!! Perhaps it's something I'll get used to. Certainly beats the evil world of recruitment which I would never recommend to anyone.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Thank fudge it's Friday
I'm starting get bored with this whole blog thing and I'm only on blog 4. I mean if I can't write anything intelligible that gets the fans interest then why publish at all? Yes it's good to put these things down but surely it's easier to just use facebook. If only facebook had a blog, then it would be perfect.
Facebook, we worship thee!
Lots to do at work today, have 4 new projects kicking off at the same time!
Facebook, we worship thee!
Lots to do at work today, have 4 new projects kicking off at the same time!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
28 Weeks Later
I saw 28 weeks later last night, sequel to one of my favourite films of all time 28 days later and it was surprisingly rather good! Perhaps it would have been more interesting if it had starred Robbie Coletrain as I kept thinking and not Robert Carlile... can't spell.
Would definately suggest seeing it, although it is one of those movies that leaves you thinking at the end. It's just a little too real, actually that's great, but it does mean I end up planning what I would do in case of Zombie invasion.
I'm in work early this morning, hoorah.
Would definately suggest seeing it, although it is one of those movies that leaves you thinking at the end. It's just a little too real, actually that's great, but it does mean I end up planning what I would do in case of Zombie invasion.
I'm in work early this morning, hoorah.
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