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Test Centers of Excellence: Then and Now
Recently, while writing a paper on why Test Centers of Excellence (TCoE) can fail, I researched where the term Center of Excellence (CoE) originated. It was a fascinating trip down a rabbit hole where I found out that CoEs (or their predecessors) were used in healthcare and the military, long before…March 23, 2023
Unleashing Creativity and Action with ChatGPT: The Surprising Benefits of Artificial Intelligence
Larry Odebrecht Head of Data & Analyticslarry.odebrecht@trissential.com Ah, the good old days. I can recall early in my career, being in a room filled with fellow consultants. They were buzzing with excitement as they agreed to do something quite radical over the winter holiday - purchase something online. It may…March 1, 2023
Trissential Names Jon Whitcomb as Chief Revenue Officer
Minneapolis, February 21, 2023 - Trissential, a leading consulting firm, has announced the promotion of Jon Whitcomb to the position of Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). In his new role, Whitcomb will be responsible for all revenue-related activities at Trissential, including sales, marketing, business development, and client engagement. He will report…February 21, 2023
Spreading the Love: Tools Our Clients Can’t Live Without
Larry OdebrechtHead of Data & Analyticslarry.odebrecht@trissential.com On this Valentine's Day, let's take a look at some of the tools that Trissential clients love when it comes to digital data transformations. Here are a few examples: DataOps DataOps is a methodology that emphasizes collaboration, communication, and automation between data professionals and…February 14, 2023
Quality Assurance vs Quality Control
It may be hard to believe, but confusion still exists regarding Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC). We hear it all the time in our conversations with our clients. As a result, QA and QC are often used synonymously. Although, we find many 'Quality Assurance' groups practicing quality control…February 9, 2023
Accelerating SAFe/Agile Transformation Journey
Trissential made a huge difference in helping accelerate our agility journey. Vice President of Solution Delivery Trissential's beverage company client has been brewing beverages for 200+ years and is one of the largest beverage companies in the world, having sold in roughly 100 countries. Challenges Our client embarked on their…January 25, 2023
Meet Laurie Forner
What makes you excited to start work each day? I really think that my current program efforts and the individual projects can provide meaningful improvements for our stakeholders by providing better access to needed data and efficient processes. I also have a great strategic team that really supports each other as…January 12, 2023
Meet Garrett Galarneau
What makes you excited to start work each day? I get excited to work each day, as every day presents its own rewarding problems to solve. Whether it be learning new software to aid in the automation of existing jobs, helping to solve production issues, or doing advanced profiling to…November 22, 2022
Trissential Hires Jackie McDougall as QA Practice Director
Trissential, an Expleo Company, announces the hire of Jackie McDougall as QA Practice Director. Jackie brings 25+ years of IT and software testing experience, having successfully implemented QA strategies and solutions for many clients across various industries. Trissentialās Head of Quality Solutions, Jeff Chartos shares, āIām very excited to have…November 14, 2022
Managing Risk Collaboratively
One of my most memorable consulting engagements was at a large hair salon company that was struggling with its first real technology deployment across 6,000 salons. Many basic systems that are taken for granted as the fabric of most organizations weren't there, and on top of that, they were being…November 9, 2022
Meet Thom Homann
What makes you excited to start work each day? People and building relationships. I am very lucky to work with a team of very wonderful people that appreciate me, support me, and make me feel valued. Up until today, whatās the most important accomplishment of your career? Developing and mentoring…October 20, 2022
What Business Agility Looks Like in the Retail Sector
Find out how business agility is transforming the retail sector. Itās fair to say the Retail sector has been going through a period of recalibration in recent years. Having been forced to navigate intermittent periods of lockdown and non-negotiable closures of factories, the past 24 months have been anything but…October 11, 2022
Trissential Names Larry Odebrecht as Director of Data & Analytics
Trissential, an Expleo Company, announces the promotion of Larry Odebrecht to Director of Data & Analytics within the Digital Solutions space. Larry brings passion and vast data-centric experience to lead large cross-functional projects focused on Data Analysis, Data Governance, and Data Architecture. Trissential's Head of Digital Solutions, Craig Thielen, says…October 5, 2022
Trissential Hires Ramsen Neesan as QA Technology Practice Director
Trissential, an Expleo Company, announces the hire of Ramsen Neesan as QA Technology Practice Director. Ramsen brings 18+ years of Information Technology experience with an emphasis on Quality Assurance, Portfolio Delivery, and Software Development. He has led large-scale enterprise initiatives across multiple lines of business, focusing on delivering quality projects on…September 26, 2022
The Rise of DataOps Product Teams
Larry Odebrecht published this article first on LinkedIn here. I recently reviewed an article in the most recent Harvard Business Review (HBR) July / August 2022 edition that tapped into something super central to my recent career experiences doing Digital Data Transformations. For the past few years, I've observed two…September 13, 2022
Meet Mark Hunt
What makes you excited to start work each day? Knowing I am improving at least one personās work life; finding something to streamline their work, show them how to do something better, or find a way to automate or at least simplify tedious work they do. Up until today, whatās…August 10, 2022
How to Embrace a Culture of Business Agility in the Energy and Utility Sector
Discover the top five steps that can help energy and utility organizations nurture a culture of business agility from within. In our previous blog post, entitled āWhy business agility is important,' we outlined the case for business agility for companies operating in the Energy and Utilities space. With a compelling…August 2, 2022
4 Reasons to Adopt Master Data Management
On average, people should be more skeptical when they see numbers. They should be more willing to play around with the data themselves.Nate Silver āThat which canāt be measured canāt be managedā has a loose corollary: āmeasurements you donāt fully understand wonāt allow you to manage fully."Ā To leverage data to…July 25, 2022
Meet Chris Carter
What makes you excited to start work each day? Every day provides potentially new challenges (i.e. process changes, reporting equipment changes, cash/revenue forecast changes). My role is ever-changing, though I still enjoy my core responsibilities. Up until today, whatās the most important accomplishment of your career? I established internal audits…July 15, 2022
The Importance of Business Agility for Energy & Utility Organizations
As the global enterprise environment continues to be disrupted by major market uncertainty, business agility is now very much a prerequisite to longevity and operational resilience, particularly within the field of Energy and Utilities. The Oxford dictionary defines agility as the ability to move quickly and easily toward a goal…July 13, 2022
We’re Doing Journey Mapping WRONG
Larry Odebrecht published this article first on LinkedIn here. For the uninitiated, Journey Mapping can be an uncentering experience. It's often billed as the panacea of collective problem solving and analysis (which it can be) but that's not its real purpose. The real purpose is a word that makes everyone squirm and…June 20, 2022
Meet Jill Conrad
Jill is a repeat employee, coming back to Trissential because she aligns so well with our mission and values. "I have a passion for this type of work and Trissential is the only consulting firm I know of that works in this way," says Conrad. Understand what she means and…June 15, 2022
Siemens Realize LIVE 2022 Recap
After countless conversations at Realize Live 2022, our team saw a common theme among attendees. Today, companies are struggling with the pace of change required to keep up with transformational business demands while simultaneously maintaining quality and avoiding disruptions. Certainly, there is growing excitement around the Manufacturing and Engineering spaces.…June 8, 2022
Trissential Names Jeff Chartos as Head of Quality Solutions
Trissential, an Expleo Company, announces the hire of Jeff Chartos as Head of Quality Solutions. Jeff brings 25+ years of experience leading initiatives in Software Quality Assurance across several business verticals. He contributes exceptional experience and expertise in solutioning software quality assurance challenges. Trissential's CEO, Keith Korsi says, āI'm very…May 2, 2022
Meet April Weseloh
"Impressive. Supportive. Genuine. Loyal. Family." that's howĀ April WeselohĀ would describe Trissential in 5 words. As Trissential's Marketing Manager, she enjoys using her creative brain to refine our strategy and showcase Trissential as the unique trusted partner that we are.Ā What makes you excited to start work each day?Ā The strategy behind…April 11, 2022
3 Ways to Leverage Business Intelligence & Address Data Quality Needs
Larry Odebrecht published this article first on LinkedIn here. First, let me acknowledge that this is a perennial problem for most businesses.Ā Upstream data quality issues have taken on the tone of a term a colleague of mine coined:Ā learned helplessness.Ā Time and time again Iāve seen wide-eyed, bright, and bushy youngsters head…March 30, 2022
Visit Trissential / Expleo at Siemens Realize Live
Attending Siemens Realize Live May 9-12 in Las Vegas? Stop by booth #302 to discuss all things Product Lifecycle Management and Quality with our team of experts. Along with our exhibitor booth, Trissential/Expleo will be co-presenting Performance Testing Solution: Teamcenter and NX with our manufacturing client, Wabtec. During our interactive…March 14, 2022
Meet Richa Sahai
Richa's story is about motivation, inspiration, and opportunities. She also likes to experiment in the kitchen, so she may have a fun recipe for your upcoming get-together. Meet Richa Sahai. What makes you excited to start work each day? I am able to provide value to clients - Seeing them…March 8, 2022
Trissential Names Diane Prentis as Head of Business Solutions
Trissential, an Expleo Company, announces the hire of Diane Prentis as Head of Business Solutions. Diane brings a 25+ year career leading initiatives with varying degrees of maturity in a variety of industries. Working within business strategy and transformation her entire career, she brings first-hand experience navigating unique organizational challenges.…March 3, 2022
Meet Bob Harbeck
Systems, technology and processes - Oh my! With a career spanning over 30 years, Bob Harbeck is a BA professional through and through. Technology is not the only way to Bob's heart, tickets to a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert will get you there - Meet Bob Harbeck. What makes you excited…February 22, 2022
Five ways human error is holding back software development
Andrew Brown, a Principal Consultant at Trissential's parent company, Expleo, discusses the top five ways that human factors hold back software development. Information technology and software development have delivered enormous benefits to humankind. They have improved living standards for most of us and made many of our lives more enjoyable…February 16, 2022
Meet Larry Odebrecht
From underwater basket weaving to teaching Operations Management and Supply Chain at Mankato State, Larry Odebrecht brings so much talent to Trissential... along with a fantastic sense of humor - Meet Larry Odenbrecht. What makes you excited to start work each day? Since the pandemic started, I started spending a…January 25, 2022
2022: The year of sustainability for retailers
Extreme conditions can provide fertile ground for game-changing innovation, perspective shifts and process reformulation. This was underlined by the unprecedented display of business resilience amid the protracted global pandemic. But now is not the time for strategic complacency. Yes, the economic landscape is returning to form, but there is a…January 24, 2022
Meet Paulie Skaja
Paulie Skaja works as an Agile Coach for Trissential and we are excited to spotlight her in our newest team member profile. Paulie shares how a Star Tribune ad kickstarted her career, how she spends her time outside of work and how "Cliff-isms" continue to inspire her - Meet Paulie…December 30, 2021
Meet Pam DeGrote
Initially, Pam thought she would take a 9-month break from "climbing the corporate ladder" by taking a short contract with Trissential. Twelve years later and still with Trissential, this Senior Business Consulting Manager has never been happier! Meet Pam DeGrote. What makes you excited to start work each day? A…December 16, 2021
Trissential Partners with Be the Match
Trissential helped contribute toĀ a record-breaking $1,110,998 raised for patient assistance by sponsoring the Be the Match Gala 2021 on Friday, October 21st. As partners with Be the Match, we helped 6,649 patients receive a second chance at life this past fiscal year. To clarify, thatās 6,649 unique, beautiful individuals given…December 11, 2021
Looking Forward to 2022
As we near the close of 2021, Trissentialās busy planning for the coming year. Obviously, the pandemic has tremendously impacted our industry, the overall business climate, and our personal lives. As we look forward to 2022, itās important to reflect on some of the changes weāve experienced. Particularly, those that…December 1, 2021
4 Ways to Build Support for Women in Technology
Overall, improving the diversity of our tech workforce is an important goal. Although, itās also far-reaching to focus on ways to promote and support specific ethnic and gender groups specificallyā¦ and understanding why itās important to do so is just as significant. Therefore, weāre kicking off a new series entitled…November 22, 2021
Meet Anita Higgins
In our latest team member profile, Agile Coach Anita Higgins explains how she improves quality through her agile practice, how she found her passion through technology and her lifelong love of the Atlanta Braves. (We think Anita is done celebrating the World Series win, but we're not 100% sure). Meet…November 12, 2021
Meet Steve Fastabend
Steve Fastabend works as a Business Agility consultant for Trissential on high-risk, high-impact initiatives. While he's focused on leaving each client better off after an engagement, family is the center of his life. Read more about what makes Steve tick in our newest team member spotlight - Meet Steve Fastabend.…October 28, 2021
RPA Services – The Future is Now
DOWNLOAD OUR FULL PA REPORT AND CHEAT SHEET At Trissential we see the future of work for its potential ā excitement, achievement, and success through digital transformation. We disrupt traditional, inefficient processes. We replace them with automation that frees employees to achieve greater things with less burden of repetitive, manual…October 14, 2021
Meet Ben Johnson
We'd like to thank the U.S Navy for putting Ben Johnson on a technical career path. He loves learning about new businesses to create strong solution requirements, leaving many happy clients in his wake - Meet Ben Johnson. What makes you excited to start work each day? Having a goal…October 6, 2021
Taking Driving Autonomy to the Next Level
Driverless vehicles in controlled environments will become commonplace in the next few years. For instance, we will start to see driving autonomy in dedicated taxi lanes, car parks, and airports. However, Level 5 autonomy is still at least a decade away. That is, driving autonomy with zero human activity or…September 24, 2021
Six Simple (but Powerful) Rules for Data Product Management
In a nutshell, Data Product Management teams are responsible for analyzing and implementing data product opportunities within an organization. When discussing successful data product management, many similar basic principles apply as with other technical product management initiatives. But there are some unique differences that you must understand to achieve the…September 15, 2021
Meet Abhi Nomula
Abhi Nomula enjoys a challenge, as you can see by his experience hiking Angel's Landing in Utah, one of the most dangerous hikes in America. Learn more about Abhi's love of solving problems, why is Mom is his biggest hero, and more in this week's Trissential employee spotlight - Meet…September 9, 2021
Five hazardous attitude cultures in software development and how to avoid them
Imagine you are stuck in an airport, your flight delayed. The weather is appalling, belting down rain in sheets, with gusts of wind so strong that several aircraft have had to abort their landing. No flights are taking off. Suddenly, your flight is called to the gate. Strangely, it is…August 26, 2021
The Case for EQ in the Tech Industry
Todayās tech industry is thriving, withĀ CompTIAĀ projecting there will be nearly 250,000 net new tech jobs created in 2021, in addition to the 3.9 million tech job postings opened in 2020. It reminds me of the tech market 30 years ago, when I was graduating college. Back then, most of the hiring…August 17, 2021
5 Tips for Making RPA and Engineering Work Together
Robots are being used to speed efficiencies and remove some of the administrative tasks that can slow down an engineer. However, with RPA being less common in the engineering sector, it can be met with some suspicion. Expleoās Rebecca Keenan explains the twin opportunities of RPA in engineering that make…July 28, 2021
Global Partnership Between Trissential and Siemens Evolves
In February of 2021, Expleo inked a new Global Alliance Agreement with Siemens, giving Trissential the opportunity to introduce even more Siemens clients to our PLM and Continuous Quality services. As a result, Trissential will be well-positioned to provide Quality Assurance (QA) strategy and implementation to a new market here…July 19, 2021
Press Release – Expleo Signs Global Alliance with Siemens Digital Industries Software
Minneapolis, MN ā July 13, 2021 ā Expleo, the technology partner for innovative companies, today announces it has signed a Global Alliance Agreement with Siemens Digital Industries Software. Effective immediately, the partnership will see Expleo extend the availability of Test Automation Framework (TAF) to all Siemensā TeamcenterĀ® portfolio customers worldwide…July 13, 2021
Meet Colleen Baltutis
Essentialist Colleen Baltutis doesn't believe in heroes but she does believe in trying to make the world a better place. Read on to learn about this talented consultant's life, including how variety drives her passion for work, and in her many interesting hobbies. What makes you excited to start work…July 10, 2021
Golfing for a Cause
Keith Korsi, Trissential Founder & CEO, recently went golfing for a cause at an annual fundraising event, Golf Fore Homes, to raise money for Habitat for Humanityās Critical Home Repair and Homeownership programs. Korsi is a longtime friend of Habitatās Executive Director, Russ Wanta and jumped at the chance to…June 23, 2021
10 Innovative Ideas to Live More Sustainably
The PEP Squad (People Engagement Program) is a team dedicated to increasing the overall culture at Trissential. A few months ago, we put our team members to the test to identify ways we can live more sustainably. The goal of the challenge was to brainstorm new ways to embrace sustainable…June 18, 2021
Meet Vanneck Tiako
Even when he's not working,Ā Essentialist Vannek Tiako loves coding and learning new technology trends. Learn more about the two biggest heroes in his life, and the people that got him started in computer science in his teens. What makes you excited to start work each day?Ā The fact that…June 14, 2021
Digital Workforce: Once a luxury, now a necessity
Ā The pandemic us into a new world of working. While many businesses suffer, others are struggling to cope with the increase in demand for their services. To limit economic damage, and to manage new workloads, businesses and governments are turning to a digital workforce. Businesses that are seeing major…June 4, 2021
Business Agility: Lean Agile Approaches to Work
Lack of alignment and Lean Agility approaches in an organization causes frustration and slows execution to a crawl. When business unit teams have major dependencies on other teams, there can be even greater difficulty in alignment to an organizationās objectives and initiatives. Many structures assume that Enterprise Agility is simply…May 28, 2021
Harnessing the Power of Robotic Process Automation
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is one of our most powerful tools today to boost efficiency and lower cost. After an enthusiastic start, many organizations get bogged down in the process - or they simply don't know how to begin. The organizations that are winning at harnessing the power of Robotic…May 20, 2021
Meet Caty Dittrich
For Professional Services Manager Caty Dittrich, solving problems is one of her greatest joys. Read more about how this natural teacher combines her newfound love of the technology industry and people skills to drive excellence in her professional and personal lives every day! What makes you excited to start work…May 12, 2021
Meet Steve Burch
For Senior Principal Business Consultant Steve Burch,Ā being from Indiana means basketball is almost a religion. Learn what gets this seasoned product manager up and going every day as one of Trissential's talented problem-solvers. What makes you excited to start work each day?Ā The chance to lead and work with other…April 26, 2021
Win the Recovery
Do we really want to go back to 'Business as Usual?' Or rather win the recovery andĀ go back to 'Business as Unusual?' COVID-19 has forced organizations to become more agile in their business and operations. Companies are making faster decisions with fewer people. Remote collaboration and digital communication have increased.…April 19, 2021
Business Agility – Bounce Back in 2021
Businesses have learned first-hand that there are devastating financial impacts to not being agile, especially in a limited timeframe. In this blog, we outline three achievable ways to use business agility in a time of uncertainty. The past year has put enormous strain on businesses and brought into sharp focus…April 7, 2021
Quality Assurance in a Post-Pandemic World – An Interview with Chief Essentialist Robert Gormley
Chief Essentialist Robert Gormley helps companies transform their businesses using the latest quality assurance strategies that leverage best practices for agility, test automation and the latest IT innovations. A Certified Scrum Master with a Master's degree in education, Robertās experience in quality innovation and digital transformation provide a unique perspective…March 23, 2021
One year remote: a retrospective assessment
Paradigm shift. Game-changing. Breakthrough. In the technology space, these terms are thrown around quite freely. But every now and again something will come along that merits the fanfare. For the enterprise community worldwide there has been no greater paradigm shift worthy of the name than that precipitated by the pandemic.…March 18, 2021
Meet Julie Calboutin
Julie Calboutin is Trissential's Engagement Manager for Quality Assurance and Engineering.Ā Read more about her philosophy on work and life, and what she likes most about her job. What makes you excited to start work each day? Another chance to figure out a better way of working (and a mug…February 11, 2021
Data Analytics Consulting in Minneapolis – An Interview with Trissential Senior Principal Krish Krishnan
Krish Krishnan has been a driving force behind the evolution of data management for nearly three decades. He has worked designing organizational data strategies for one of the largest retailers in the world. Not to mention his roles as an author, educator, and thought leader on topics surrounding modern data…February 5, 2021
Trissential Adds New Talent to Leadership Team
News Release Representatives from Trissential, an Expleo Company, announced they have named Tarun Philar, Head of PLM and Digital Engineering,Ā and Steve Timmerman, Senior Client Engagement Manager. ā2021 represents an enormous growth opportunity here in the U.S. for Trissential, and adding tremendous talent like Tarun and Steve to our team…January 28, 2021
Testing Ireland’s COVID-19 Contact Tracing App
Our organization has been involved with testing solutions for some of the world's most critical issues. Not the least of these has been the threats of the current pandemic. Recently the Expleo team in Ireland was involved in the testing and delivery of Ireland's COVID Tracker Ireland (CTI) mobile app,…January 22, 2021
Trissential Provides Laptops to Students in Need
News Alert IT consulting firm donates 54 laptops to ensure technology resources for students learning remotely Minneapolis, MN - Trissential, a leading IT consulting firm, has donated 54 laptops to students in the Twin Cities community. With in-person learning disrupted in many school districts, children may be at a huge…January 14, 2021
Meet John Tinsley
Our first profile of 2021 is of John Tinsley, Principal Consultant - Business Agility. Here's how this industry veteran describes what motivates him every day: What makes you excited to start work each day? Building upon yesterday's achievements. What's your biggest motivation in life? I have been sober for 10…January 13, 2021
The 5 Forces of Digital Transformation
Our industries are being constantly redefined by profound driving forces, enabled by digital technologies, that have the power to elevate or even destroy companies as they attempt further digital transformation.Ā This is why today, more than ever before, companies cannot afford to rest on their laurels or be overconfident. The…January 4, 2021
Closing Out 2020
By Keith Korsi, Trissential CEO and Founder As we look toward the finish line of a year unlike any other, I wanted to reach out with a quick update on Trissential, an Expleo Company. Although 2020 has been challenging for all of us, I'm really proud of how our Trissential…December 11, 2020
Meet Cindy Weber
Our next brave interview subject is Senior Business Consultant Cindy Weber. Here's what drive's Cindy's pursuit of excellence: What makes you excited to start work each day? For the most part, Iāve worked for clients that are headquartered in the Mid-west, and it makes me feel good to be contributing…December 7, 2020
How to drive quality in low-code software development
Graeme Clarke, DevOps global lead for Expleo, offers five top tips for getting the best return from your low-code investment. Brands are in an existential race to launch user-focused applications faster than their competitors. However, quality software can be expensive to build, and even more expensive to test. Finding the…November 30, 2020
Are Business Agility AntiPatterns Standing in Your Way?
In the digital world we need to move forward at the speed of light, then make rapid pivots, often on a momentās notice to meet consumer demands and stay ahead of the competition. Not only do we have to make change fast ā it has to be done in a…November 19, 2020
Cyber crime and the pandemic
From a cyber criminalās perspective, the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic was a welcome surprise. The sophistication of phishing scams and ransomware was already at a high level. With the rapid switch to work from home, the attack surface and vectors multiplied almost overnight. Lockdown put companies in a precarious…November 12, 2020
Portfolio Management for Today
A Lessons learned from a high-performing team. I have been a consultant for some time, having the privilege of working with many great teams and organizations. With experience in portfolio management, more than a decade ago I was working with a high-performing and empowered team. Challenged with some work in…October 30, 2020
Meet Kelli Mack
This blog post kicks off a new series highlighting the people who make Trissential so special. Just like the famous James Lipton interviews on the show "Inside the Actors' Studio" we'll ask our folks the same set of questions for each post. Director of Resource Management Kelli Mack honors us…October 21, 2020
Post-Covid, will reliability be at the top of the “must have” list for technology?
Patrick Anglard, chief technology officer at Expleo reflects on the need for rapid, effective solutions, at a time of unprecedented uncertainty and how reliability has become the watchword. The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic shone a spotlight on the digital readiness of companies around the world. In just a…October 12, 2020
Trissential Gives Back – Be the Match Gala Sponsor
On September 26, 2020 we were proud to sponsor a virtual Be The Match Gala. While we wait for news on the what was undoubtedly a success for the organization, we're reminded of how grateful we are to have an opportunity to support such a worthy cause. If you're not…September 27, 2020
Expert Spotlight – Gulshan Shetty
This is the first in a series of posts highlighting the experts at Trissential.Ā With recent successful projects major healthcare and manufacturing accounts here in Minneapolis, Gulshan's experience represents the depth and breadth representative of the Trissential team.Ā Gulshan is a Digital Product Analyst with extensive experience managing entire product…September 24, 2020
9 ways to drive business agility with continuous quality
The rapid onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought home the importance of business agility, across all sectors. It is no question that the dependency on technology has surged in recent months. As a result, those companies with the ready capacity to meet the disruption head-on have competed better than…September 18, 2020
Implementing Robotic Process Automation
Ā The highly challenging global business environment has become even more competitive recently, due to COVID-19. Technological developments and digital disruptions continue to shape the landscape, against a backdrop of political and economic uncertainty. Concurrently, customer expectations are growing, as they demand high quality products and services delivered to a…August 7, 2020
Uncovering Creative Usage Scenarios
Most folks have a credit or debit card. And, while most (including myself) use their card to make purchases, sometimes Iāll use mine to scrape ice off my windshield. It's one of those metal ones, so it comes in handy for odd tasks. If the credit card company replaces it…July 27, 2020
Lessons from Leaders
What do you do when a global pandemic disrupts your organizationās priorities? When you lead the organizationās portfolio team, you tap into the deeply ingrained risk management practices and determine the strongest response to ensure the best possible outcome. You celebrate the wins, capture lessons learned, and leverage a community…May 19, 2020
One Size Fits One – The People Side of Managing in a Meltdown
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought the global economy to such a grinding halt that oil has reached an unprecedented negative selling price ā producers are paying ābuyersā to take it. Lockdown and shelter-at-home orders are in place across the world and most are extending beyond their initial timelines. Those employees…May 7, 2020
Business Innovation During COVID-19: (Re)Invention
Charles R Swindoll famously wrote āLife is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.āĀ Ā The primary focus of our global response to the pandemic has rightly been peopleās health. However, the lockdown and āeconomic pauseā means we have a changed economic and business landscape. Leaders…May 4, 2020
Change Reaction: How Your Business Can Adapt to the New Normal
Organizations have been propelled into the digital age ā not by choice, but by necessity. While some have struggled to adapt, others have excelled as they embrace remote working across teams and locations, while continuing to push their business agenda. Of course, sector and business type play a significant role:…April 27, 2020
Lessons Learned from 4th Graders That I Take to Work ā Lesson 5 of 5
Lesson 5: āGreat works are performed not by strength but by perseveranceā - Samuel Johnson Childrenās instinctive capability to shrug off problems, obstacles, and failures to achieve success is one of their most amazing characteristics - check out this great example. While on our five-day trip to Wolf Ridge, I witnessed…October 8, 2019
Lessons Learned from 4th Graders That I Take to Work ā Lesson 4 of 5
Each of these lessons I share with you, I learned while chaperoning my sonās school trip at Wolf Ridge. In this fourth installment of my blog five-part blog series āLessons Learned from 4th Graders That I Take to Workā, Iāll cover the benefits of allowing your self-formed team to make…November 19, 2018
The Requirements Challenge: Requirements Quality (Part 3 of 3)
In my previous posts, I discussed the first two of three considerations in the Requirements Challenge: knowing the unknown, and properlyĀ representing all perspectivesĀ in requirements elicitation, management and architecture. The third and last consideration in this series is perhaps the most salient, yet often ignored: requirements quality. Namely, how should product…November 6, 2018
Lessons Learned from 4th Graders That I Take to Work ā Lesson 3 of 5
In the first two installments of my blog about what Iāve learned from 4th graders, I talked about the importance of emotional intelligence and how freeing and how effective it can be for leaders to not always ābe on.ā In this installment, Iāll be discussing how participating and getting your hands dirty from time…September 26, 2018
The Requirements Challenge: Representing all Sides (Part 2 of 3)
Ā In theĀ previous blog post, I discussed a critical consideration in the Requirements Challenge: Knowing the Unknown, as well as a powerful technique to model customer satisfaction and expectations called the Kano Model.Ā In this blog, we will consider the following question: Are all perspectives of the requirements captured in order…August 28, 2018
The Requirements Challenge: Knowing the Unknown (Part 1 of 3)
To remain competitive and innovative, organizations today must respond faster than ever to increasingly complex marketplace and customer pressures. Business AgilityĀ coupled with Lean practices likeĀ DevOpsĀ certainly aid in navigating todayās challenges through alignment of an organizationās strategy, people, processes and technologies. However, age-old questions remain irrespective of the chosen development methodology:…August 6, 2018
Modern Business Agility: A sector for change
Modern city at night, Hong Kong, China. There can be no doubt that the way of doing business has changed dramatically over the last 30 years. This is due in no small part to technology and the impact that it has had on almost every profession. Ā All industries, not just…August 1, 2018
Lessons Learned from 4th Graders That I Take to Work ā Lesson 2 of 5
In my previous blog, I shared my first lesson learned while chaperoning 4th graders on a week-long school field trip - the importance of using emotional intelligence to connect with your product team in order to norm and perform. In this blog, Iāll address the second lesson I learned: you…July 30, 2018
DevOps: What Is It and Why Do You Care
The term DevOps is a combination of two terms: development (Dev) and operations (Ops). This term was created as way of combining software engineering, operations culture, and practices to unify software development and software operations. The primary goal of DevOps is to strongly integrate automation and monitoring at all steps…July 18, 2018
Lessons Learned from 4th Graders That I Take to Work ā Lesson 1 of 5
Itās been 16 years since I left the front of the classroom for a seat in a cube farm in IT, so I was excited when my sonās school asked me to chaperone a week-long trip to an environmental learning center. As I prepared for the trip, I deliberated about…June 25, 2018
Auditors and Lean/Agile Teams ā Canāt We All Get Along?
Itās not unusual for a development team in a āhighly regulated environmentā to be steered away from agile methodologies and practices because of the perception that they are not a good fit. Preparing to work with auditors in these regulated environments (SOX, CFR, ISO, CMMI, etc.) usually means that an…February 13, 2018
Implement the Mindset, Not Another Framework: The Age of Knowledge Workers
Taylorism was a popular management approach of the early 20th century applied to industrial and manufacturing organizations. Taylorism strived to break down work into small and repeatable tasks that could be taught to people even with limited education. Many companies still apply this approach today. Taylorism is focused on individual…February 12, 2018
Being Acquired ā Why the Negativity
Lately, the question I am asked the most (and it is not even close) by clients, co-workers, friends, family, etc. is āHow is it going with the new owners?ā I understand why, because two years ago when we were considering selling our lifeās work to SQS, most people thought it…October 20, 2017
What can Business Learn From Googleās AlphaGo?
AlphaGo is Googleās Artificial Intelligence (AI) engine aimed at tackling the worldās most demanding strategy game, Go. Google announced it is stepping down from competitive matches after defeating the worldās best talent. The latest to succumb was Goās top-ranked player, Ke Jie, who lost 3-0 in a series hosted in China. The AI, developed by London-based…June 27, 2017
Predicting the Future – Correctly
Companies hire on resumes and fire on behavior. What if you could hire on predicted behavior? In the mid-19th century, the field of psychometrics was born, and we now have different survey tools to let us get-to-know our fellow man and ourselves better. I have tested many of these tools,…May 3, 2017
$70M in Sales and I Never Sold a Thing
When I was a senior in college, my thoughts about salespeople altered radically. At that time, my definition of a person in sales was probably similar to many of yours: Salesperson (n) homemade defn: a person who tries to convince others to purchase goods or services that have little to…April 14, 2017
Cargo Cults & Agility
A quick internet search of āCargo Cultā will yield some interesting images, such as the image pictured right, which showed up near the top of my search. According to Wikipedia, āA cargo cult is a millenarian movement first described in Melanesia which encompasses a range of practices and occurs in…March 8, 2017
Top 4 Reasons Business Transformation is Dead
Business Transformation has been all the rage the last 5 years or so as large organizations attempt to cure a myriad of ills in one fell swoop with a large initiative. These programs typically involve a significant change or clarity in strategy. This in turn drives business model change, re-structuring,…February 27, 2017