I did it. My Master of Business Administration degree is in the bag after two very long years. It ranks as one of the toughest things I’ve done in my life, if only for the sheer stamina it takes to see the degree through. I gave it everything I had and in the end, it was worth it. In thinking about what the degree really gave to me, I came up with 6 things . . . it gave me,

1. the confidence to face challenging business situations based on the intense practice I've had over the last two years.
   
   
2. the ability to better understand areas of business that were not as familiar to me - accounting, economics, strategic management.
   
   
3. the understanding that it's almost all about value. The more efficiently you provide loads of value the better you are, the more desired you are and the ore you make.
   
   
4. exposure to a huge pool of really smart and experienced professors. A huge thanks to a few professors that really added to my MBA experience,
   • Donald Samelson (Accounting/Finance)
   • Paul Hudnut (Strategic Management): Blog | LinkedIn
   • Hunt Lambert (Management) - LinkedIn
   • George Zsidisin (Supply Chain Mgt)
   
   
5. the understanding that my wife and kids will do just about anything to help me succeed. I really couldn’t have done it without them. I owe most of my success to them.
   
   
6. a book shelf full of very expensive business and management books.

My aim was to round out my skills as a professional and give me a good base to work from to head into more senior roles. It did the job. If you're looking to get your MBA, do it, so I can sell you my books.

Permalink | 1:28 AM

Sometimes you walk out of work thinking you're on top of the world. Everything seems to go your way. Meetings run like they should and you're satisfied with with outcome of everything you touch. Other days are less satisfying. Your ideas are trumped, your efforts are thwarted and you feel like every avenue is a dead end. If you dig a bit you'll find these less productive days are peppered with learnings. If you can get over the feeling of defeat and try to pull yourself up on those heavy days those are the days that will benefit you the most.

Permalink | 10:40 PM

Once again, I'm picking my blog back up. I just added a new sub-domain for a work related blog, http://work.ramroth.com and will update that with how I progress my project management career. My memory is just not as good as I would like it to be and I want to be able to look back on things . . .

Permalink | 9:41 AM

Well, why not . . . www.ramroth.eu.

Permalink | TrackBacks (0) | 12:14 PM

Many conversations, especially those at work, have subtexts of swagger. People try to establish dominance relationships, prove their superior intelligence or reinforce formal social hierarchies. But in these conversations, pretensions are temporarily put on hold.

An excerpt from a good article talking about Learning With Peers, from Computerworld.

Permalink | TrackBacks (0) | 9:29 PM

Computerworld: "Can you do anything to grow new leaders? Can leadership be taught? Can it be learned? If so, how?". Excellent thought provoker. Acquiring the skills takes time and confirms my thoughts that IT leadership track is the right way to go.

Permalink | TrackBacks (0) | 8:50 PM

Just spent the last two days at a software vendor sponsored conference for work. First one I've been to in awhile. They're painful. It's suppose to be an opportunity to get in touch with the vendor and see what's happening with them and their products. They push out their vision of the industry and magically how their products fit into that vision. The thing that bothers me the most is the illusion that it's anything more than a huge sales event. "Thanks for coming . . . Let's have a great time and have some fun over the next few days.". No thanks. Don't get me wrong I like to have fun, but not when a software vendor tells me to, especially when they're trying to sell me something. I really dug the interaction between all the participants. It was great to informally share notes on how people are using the products. Not sure how quick I'll be heading back to one of these types of conferences.

Permalink | TrackBacks (0) | 8:52 PM

I'm contracting for a company that is in the process of outsourcing a good chunk of its information technology (IT) backbone to Asia. It's core business is not IT so it makes perfect sense. I find the dynamic of day to day work rather complex. Everyone has multiple agendas that creep into every issue of business. It's an unnerving experience as you're always evaluating situations for its outsource potential and how that will effect the funding for a project, the future of the service you provide or, in the end, your job. Who's safe in an environment of outsourcing? What are the skills or the areas that will offer refuge from this constant state of outsource? How can I dodge the outsource bullet and build my career in this environment of uncertainty? What skills should I build and concentrate on to make sure I can advance my career as opposed to simply dancing around to avoiding being outsourced?

Permalink | TrackBacks (0) | 6:37 PM

People spend lots of time building their hard skills in management and business but fail to give enough attention to the softer skills. The soft skills really are the foundation you need to build on to let your hard skills shine. Everyone knows no matter what kind of building you bring up on an unstable foundation - it ain't gonna stand for long. I'm a strong believer in responsiveness at work. When I scan the channels for the most effective people I work with the best ones have responsiveness as one of their top 5 professional qualities.

Continue reading "Responsiveness" »

Permalink | TrackBacks (0) | 6:59 PM

I have a huge dilemma in the maintenance of my GTD lists, gluing my work and personal lists together. I maintain my work lists on my company provided PC at work. I have no problem maintaining them because I stare at them all day long. I maintain my personal lists on my Powerbook, which I only keep in touch with after work and on the weekends. I always have personal stuff I need to take care of at work, phone calls and the occasional email, but it always falls through the cracks. Using my Mac as my main computer at work is not an option. I think the way to solve this problem is a PDA that will sync with my work PC and my Powerbook. I can't be alone in facing this dilemma.

Permalink | TrackBacks (0) | 7:16 PM

The end result is that it's essentially impossible to become successful or well off doing a job that is described and measured by someone else.

Seth Godin's Blog

Permalink | TrackBacks (0) | 8:34 PM

I've been thinking about this for awhile but I was spurred to blog it when I read a post on David Allen's site. I never really understood this so called treat of dressing casual on Fridays. It's such a ridiculous notion, especially in a professional environment. "We want you to look nice four days of the week but the last day of the week dress how you like". Silly for management to tell you how to dress and silly for people to actually do it. The clothes you wear are a reflection of your character and attitude whether it's in the workplace or not. The fact that people actually dress up four days in a suit and tie and then wear a t-shirt and jeans on Friday says even more about a person.

Permalink | 8:19 PM

The second step in my pursuit of moving my career along is improving the thing I think most people overlook, self organization. From the simple things of doing what you say you're going to do to the complex like staying on top of your email I reviewed them all. The first thing I did was to seek help from the pros. Of all the books out there I landed the one that has helped me more than I could have ever imagined and hoped,Getting Things Done by David Allen. This book alone has made me more productive, more in control and in the end in control. Getting Things Done develops a strategy of getting everything out of your head onto lists. You use these lists to conquer your day to day work. It helps you to be able to keep track of issues and understand what work needs to be done with the information you collect ie email, calls, projects, etc. It also offers a great deal of tips on getting things done. The single most important tip I've taken away is how to deal with email, which I mentioned in a past blog entry. This tip alone gives me huge amounts satisfaction in controlling my tasks. It empowers you to feel in control. I never have more than 10 emails in my inbox at a time. The only reason I have something in my inbox is because it is on my immediate action list and I want it in front of me. It is amazing how these simple tricks and tips allow you to gain control in organizing yourself. It gives you more time to be more creative and allows you to concentrate on the meat of the work to be done.

Permalink | 10:34 PM

Step one in my decision of a career change was to pinpoint where I wanted to end up. You'd never take a long trip without really thinking about where you want to end up would you ? I started off a year ago thinking about what kind of a job I wanted to be working in at when I retire. I stretched my mind as far as I could imagine and then backed things off from there. I asked myself what it would take to be in that position. What kind of skills would I need. What experiences would I need to take in. I looked around for job adverts for that type of job and noted the skills and the job requirements. I did this for about 4 or 5 iterations. At each position I established what my CV would need to look like to get that roll. I did this until I came to a position that was one step away from where I currently was. This was my target, clear as day. This was the position that would get me on the track to my longer term goals. Now I was ready to look for a job. The job ads were much easier to read and I was much smarter in asking the right questions and even more confident in interviews. I could solidly answer what direction I wanted to take my career. I focused on nailing a job that would land me in a senior technical position which had great potential for me to either acquire the skills needed to take the next hop with a different employer or a position that would allow me to grow with a company toward my goals. This exercise was perfect to get me thinking what I want to achieve. I'll continue on the path and if I reach that goal at the end, great ! If I don't, so be it. Chart the course and make adjustments along the way as needed and enjoy the ride. The best thing to come out of the exercise is that my actions everyday feel like they are an effort toward something. (This was inspired by some great conversations with my father)

Permalink | 11:03 PM

I've started a new roll at work. I've made the move from a pure Linux/UNIX engineer to a technical project manager. It is a refreshing but unnerving move. I know Linux. I know UNIX. I'm a pretty solid engineer. You always tend to stick with things you are good at and moving away from that is a bit scary. I've had the desire for years to be in more of a business function but never took the steps to make it happen. Until now. Over the last year I've concentrated on doing the things that will get me into a project management roll. More on these things later.

Permalink | 11:14 PM

I'm making great progress with my GTD (Getting Things Done) tactics. Email productivity is a hugely freeing. I have moved to only checking my email a few times a day so that I don't get so distracted. When I do check my mail I'm instantly dealing with it in some manner while/after reading it

1. delete it - the easiest.
   
2. file it - I'm currently contracting for a HUGE multinational company with tons of announcement mails. I would love to delete them but I file them just in case. I also get a lot of project related mails that are good to reference later, better to have them then not.
   
3. defer - I'm VERY selective to deferring sometimes means procrastinating, to me at least. I only defer if I have an related action associated with it. It serves as a reminder to me every time I see my inbox.
   
4. Make an action - Make an action of it in my next action list.
   
5. Answer it - As in GTD, if it takes less than 2 minutes get it the hell out of your inbox.
   

At the end of the day, I have dealt with everything. When I start in the morning it's always with a clean slate.

I've started using vi for my lists. I've got a few great shell scripts around it and it is automatic and working. I'll give it a week or so more and then write it up.

Permalink | 9:05 PM