Modern work key characteristics and their impact on people's values and feelings

For most of my professional life I've been working for a large global organization that, in my opinion, is an excellent example of today’s modern way of work. Themes like team work, collaboration, change, the upsides of taking risks, re-engineering, network-based organization, flexibility, short-term results, etc. are all very familiar to me. I in fact live surrounded by constant positive messages about them and about how important they are for all of us to succeed in our jobs.

A few weeks ago I came across a book that, like so many others in my house, has been sitting idle on a shelf for years: TheCorrosion of Character by Richard Sennet. This book was published in 1998 and when I started reading it I though “maybe after all these years whatever I find here is going to be outdated”. Well, I was wrong.

What I’ve liked most about the book is that it gives context and structure to these themes of modern work I’m so familiar with. He is however not so optimistic about them…through numerous examples or real life situations and personal interviews he explains the downside of modern work characteristics and their negative effects on people’s values, people’s sense of achievement (or, even more, failure) or people’s commitment.

Sennet’s book is not overly optimistic. I really want to think that many organizations, like the one I work for, do make a genuine effort to avoid or minimize some of the risks he points out. After reading the book, though, I can more clearly see organizations and individuals alike have a great challenge ahead to balance mutual needs and overcome the issues and the risks of today’s ever changing work’s demands.

Summer Reads

Summer vacation is a wonderful time to spend discovering new places, doing a little exercise and resting from it with some entertaining book in my hands. And this is pretty much how I spent it this year.

I began this year with a few novels written in my mother tongue, usually this means I can read more, faster and effortlessly. Not this time though. After the third book, that - ironically - I had found somewhat violent, I decided to switch gears and try something different: a crime fiction novel.

“The Bat” is the first of Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series. I picked the book on impulse, without knowing anything about it or its author. Harry Hole is a somewhat unorthodox and alcoholic police officer that, of course, resolves the crime and makes the murderer pay for it.

Jo Nesbo is an Scandinavian author. One reason I picked his book is that I made a mental association between him and another Scandinavian that became extremely popular around 2005 with his Millennium Trilogy (Stieg Larsson). Strangely enough, I enjoyed Lisbeth Salander’s stories very much (so much for non-violence!). A pity Mr. Larsson did not live to enjoy his success.

Mr. Nesbo has lived to enjoy his success though and has continued to work to extend it further. "The Bat" is an entertaining story, plenty of very troubled characters that have to live with themselves every day and do so with different degrees of success. I guess this is definitely an ingredient that helps readers to connect with the book and the characters. Yet, I’m still not sure why the Harry Hole’s series (more than ten novels, I believe) have become as popular as it seems they have: maybe I should pick up another one soon and see what other cases await for Harry to resolve.

 

Senderismo en Chamonix

En los últimos años viene siendo una costumbre que mi marido y yo dediquemos una semana de vacaciones a hacer actividades de senderismo. Este año el escenario elegido ha sido de excepción: el Valle de Chamonix, en los Alpes franceses.

Chamonix desde la parte superior de L'Aiguille du Midi (+3,800 m)

Han sido seis días de caminar, sin faltar ninguno, con lluvia y niebla o con sol, lo que tocase. El valle es profundo, a ambos lados montañas de altura considerable, especialmente las situadas al sur, en el macizo del Mont Blanc, con varios picos que superan de largo los 4,000 m de altitud. Los paseos han sido sencillos, con desniveles positivos por debajo de 1,000 m y negativos poco más exigentes. A este ritmo, de buena gana hubiera seguido unos días más (muchos).

Está claro que la explotación del valle está en la base de la economía de esta zona de la Alta Saboya; la infrastructura de accesos a la montaña es realmente impresionante, y está muy cuidada. El entorno natural es simplemente precioso: nieves perpetuas en las cimas, glaciares en retroceso pero todavía de longitud consideranble, bosques, prados, cascadas, rios...

Mi afición por el senderismo y la montaña cada año va en aumento; en escenarios como éste, y en compañía de las personas con las que he viajado, espero seguir practicando este deporte durante mucho tiempo más.

Fotos: dia 1, dia 2, dia 3, dia 4, dia 5, dia 6

Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four" and a nice example of data visualization

My first - well, second, to be precise - reading of Orwell's work has been "Nineteen Eighty-Four", one of his two most famous novels. He wrote it between 1947 and 1948, towards the end of his rather short life -Orwell died of Tuberculosis in 1950; a sickness that, thankfully, very few years later became curable in many cases. Sick and all, it seems to me that Mr. Orwell possessed a brilliant brain and an enviable gift for putting complex thoughts into simple, clear words with a clear meaning. He had rather strong opinions about the subject of language: read his essay "Politics and the English Language" to see what I mean.   

Orwell imagined a terrifying future for humanity in his "Nineteen Eighty-Four" novel. In 1984 the world is divided in three big nations that are constantly, endlessly at war; where governments are totally authoritarian and untruthful, most of the population barely struggles to survive, there's no freedom even to think and, most terrible, where there is absolutely no hope for a brighter future.

I suppose Orwell, shall he had lived a longer life, would have been glad to see that his imaginary "Nineteen Eighty-Four" did actually not became a reality, at least the scale he envisioned it in his novel.

Unfortunately in today's world there's still war, poverty, ignorance, lack of freedom, hidden agendas, greed for power, brutality...and a long etc. of terrible in-human behaviours and situations that are present in Orwell's novel. In this sense Orwell's message is as actual as ever.

I do not want to finish this post without sharing a video that I happened to visualize while reading "Nineteen Eighty-Four" . Typically, I keep IT-related topics separate from my "out of work" readings, but this time I'll make an exception. The short video embedded below is a powerful and beautiful example of data visualization techniques. It gives us a glimpse into economic and health growth in the last 200 years. Look at the second part of the 20th century: thankfully, the real political and economical situation at the end of the century looked much brighter than that in Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four"! Enjoy the still one-way "telescreen"!

 

Celebrating Three Years as a Certified Project Manager

Almost three years now since I took the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam! And now here I am, happy to share that I have just renewed the certification for another three years!

Early in June 2011 I was encouraged by my employer to become a certified Project Manager. After many years leading different IT projects I was already possessing the necessary experience for the Project Management Institute (PMI) to accept my application. I then become an eager student of the PMBOK Guide and the even more famous Rita's book.

I have to admit that spending my personal time preparing for the exam was not exactly fun, and that at the beginning I was a bit sceptical that I should gain some valuable knowledge. However, as I became more familiar with the project management areas and how they are developed in the PMBOK, I certainly became aware that there was much to learn. I realized how many of the things I was doing in my day to day work were being done in the correct way, and I also understood how others could be improved.

A good thing about the PMP certification is that you have to work to keep it. The certification is only valid for three years, and if you want to renew it you have to keep on learning about this Profession - in addition to pay the fees to the PMI.

So now I've got my renewal for another three years. This means I have to start planning how to gain my next 60 PDUs so I can celebrate another renewal in due course!

Khaled Hosseini's stories about Afghanistan

Sad stories make good books? If you think so you might love Khaled Hosseini's novels, they are all sad. Afghanistan recent history is another common denominator in all his three books to date.

Hosseini published his first book, "The Kite Runner", in 2003. Later, in 2007, a movie inspired in the book became very popular and it was then that I learned about the book. I did not see the movie and I did not read the book. I had the notion that the story was about children, and that it was not exactly fun. My own kids were little at the time and I did not feel like it was the right moment for this book.

A few years later, while searching for a new read in a bookstore (that was before I got my kindle), I came across "A Thousand Splendid Suns" (first published in 2008). I bought it and then I devoured it in just a few days. I loved the story and how it was told.

After such pleasant experience, when I saw Hosseini's new book "And The Mountains Echoed" (first published in 2013), I also read it and enjoyed it.

And then, a couple of weeks ago, I decided the time for "The Kite Runner" had come. Tears have been shed, as I was fearing they would. Having read the other two novels though, I knew that despite the very sad and terrible events described in the book, I would still find in it a strong set of characters that would speak of courage, conscience, compassion and hope.

All novels from Hosseini have some common themes: Afghanistan tragic history in the last 40 years, a certain yearn for how Afghanistan was prior to the Russian invasion in the seventies, Muslim traditions and cultural aspects, the loss of youth only too early, the Taliban.

Khaled Hosseini is himself an Afghan, although he moved away from his home country when he was still very young. The stories he writes are all hard but, at the same time, they are warm and so very human that you just keep on wanting some more.

The Secret History

"To live without thinking" is what one of the main characters of this novel says he has always wanted most. How very appealing and yet how devastating to live by these words can be!

In my regular searches for new books in Amazon I've come across this novel, The Secret History, a fair number of times. Despite its numerous very positive reviews I did not pick it up, the reason being that this is a story about a few young people in their college years and I somehow did not think I would have a mind for it. Then one day a friend of mine happened to recommend it and offered me to borrow his own hard copy version; and this just tipped the balance.

This novel by Donna Tartt is definitely not the typical light read about a bunch privileged, happy, unconcerned youths in their University years, far from that. The characters are quite unusual, each of them deeply troubled in a different way. They all have in common a fair share of "living without thinking" though, or at least without thinking straight. Their lack of morality is also stunning. I'm still wondering if the unbelievably high amount of drinking, smoking and drugs they do somehow explains their behaviour or is just a consequence of it or both.

If you are interested in the plot you can easily find it in the net, I will not touch on it here. Personally, I've very much enjoyed the first and last thirds of the book, while I could have lived without some of the middle chapters in which little action takes place. I've definitely enjoyed Tartt's elegant writing style and the way she hints at things and then fully reveals them at just her own pace.

Donna Tartt's third and latest book is now on sale and enjoying great success, "The Goldfinch". Here's a short video of the writer and her work:

Now, at the risk of exposing my dumbness only too much, can anybody explain me what the title of this book really mean?

American Gods

My night time reading in the last few weeks has been spent on "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. I must admit I have mixed feelings about this book.

Soon after the book was first published in 2001 it received several awards. I chose to read "American Gods" encouraged by its many readers' positive comments and pretty high score in Amazon's website. Before I purchased it I noticed a comment that stated this was a book readers either loved or hated, but I disregarded the warning thinking the probability of liking it was higher than not.

Well, to be honest, after reading it all the way through I can say I started to like the book only after I had covered about 80% of it. I guess it was only then that I started to understand the plot, somehow, to see its meaning, some of its purpose. "American Gods" is a book that kept me wandering "what's Shadow - the main character - doing?", "why him?", "what's the purpose of the many characters he finds through his journey?". I was on the brink of putting the book down for many a good days, but my curiosity - or my stubbornness - made me keep on reading.

Readers well versed in mythology surely appreciated Gaiman's choice of god characters, role and even their names. Surely this is part of the fun I missed.

The book is plagued with unusual characters and situations, it certainly seems to me an original story (but that is maybe because I have not read enough fantasy novels to compare with) and I think it is well written (but since English is not my first language this is not a qualified opinion). All in all, I struggle to understand what makes people call this book a "master piece", "best book ever" or "impossible to put down". Let's see what those enthusiastic fans say when the  announced TV Series sees the light

Lessons learned? Sure, but those I keep for me.

Validating Requirements

A large number of projects do not achieve their goals. Failure to properly validate requirements is one key reason why so many projects fail to succeed.

Gathering requirements is not an easy thing to do, it requires excellent interviewing skills, persistence and a fair amount of time. It also requires truly understanding the problem the project intends to solve, understanding what is needed and why is needed (in my personal opinion, the whys are too often not explored well enough).


Validating  requirements against project goals and objectives

Once we have the requirements projects need to implement a mechanism to effectively confirm that they are actually met. Validating requirements requires understanding:

• Business needs
• The problem being solved by the project
• The expected outcomes
• How the project is expected to solve the problem

In the IT area, Testing should be planned to validate this understanding, unfortunately this is not always the case. Sometimes, the testing planning team is not familiar enough with the Project Charter, with the business needs or the details of the problem being solved. Testing is typically oriented to validating requirements, but validating project goals and objectives is more than meeting requirements.


Techniques to validate requirements and measure project goals are met

There are some techniques that help us validate project goals and objectives:

• Use requirements traceability matrix: it is important to ensure every requirement points to at least one project objective and also make sure requirements are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound)
• Develop methods for validating business requirements
• Include in the project budget the validation effort and the tools necessary for that
• Identify responsible individuals for measuring that project goals are met and that the problem has been solved

Validating meeting project goals and solving the business problem involves measurement beyond the project, part of the project work is building the tools and processes that ensure that validation can be successfully done. Tell me, have you ever worked in a project where you think  validating solving the business problem has been missed?

Intro to Analytics

In every industry, organizations are generating massive amounts of information. New technologies collect data better, faster and cheaper than ever before. Now, the question is how to obtain value from that information, value that help organizations become more profitable and productive

There are four types of business analytics capabilities that help us address different questions:

• Descriptive: What happened?
• Diagnostic: Why did it happen?
• Predictive: What is likely to happen?
• Prescriptive: What should I do about it?

Knowing what happened (reporting) and why it happened (diagnostic analytics) are no longer enough. Market leaders need to know what is happening now, but also what is likely to happen next and what actions they should take for optimal results.

Customers are being educated by e-commerce leaders like Amazon or user experience leaders like Apple and Google to expect a personalized experience in real time. As a result, customer expectations are rising quickly. Simply meeting these high expectations can be a major challenge for organizations that are not analytical.

Attracting and satisfying customers in a digital world requires significant investment in sophisticated big-data capabilities. It also requires connecting all your customer data and make sure that the data is high-quality; otherwise Analytics won't produce useful results. It may take time to collect enough high-quality data that can be used to create reliable predictive models.

Business analytics is about “anticipate and act”. Analytics is an "umbrella" term that encompasses data collection, statistics, data mining, predictive modeling, and decision sciences.

In the coming months I'm going to make it a priority for me to get further insight about this topic and I'll be sharing findings through this blog. Stay tuned!

Another great read: "I Know This Much Is True"

I've just finished reading the book "I Know This Much Is True". The book is big, you need to take your time to go all the way through it. I wonder how long it took its author Wally Lamb to actually write such a lengthy story!

"I Know This Much Is True'' is a moving story. Dominick Birdsay's and Dominick's family's existence has not been easy, not at all. There are plenty of hardships and frustrations plaguing Dominick's mind and robbing him his sleep: a twin brother with schizophrenia, an abusive stepfather, a dead child, a broken marriage, to name just a few. And he is a bitter man

There is a lot of emotional conflict in this book, but although the specific situations seem sometimes a bit exaggerated they are all illustrative of our human soul’s biggest questions and needs.

Throughout the book Dominick learns a few things that would be good for all of us to learn: we can be wronged in many ways, but it is ultimately our decision how to live our lives. Put the blame on the others and hold grudges is certainly an option, one that will hardly lead to happiness. Take responsibility for one’s actions and decisions and forgive those who do us harm is another. You choose.

Getting Agile with Scrum. Understanding Scrum

In traditional IT development projects it is typical to write a big spec up-front and then we resist changes and put people through a change control committee to keep them to the essential minimum. Change however is a certain thing in life. When software development projects have a significant amount of complexity, functional and technical, change is inevitable.  Agile development principles are particularly handy in these highly uncertain scenarios: project scope/functionality is not fixed; instead the timescale is. During that time requirements emerge and evolve as the product is developed. Of course for this to work, it’s imperative to have actively involved stakeholders who understand this concept and make the necessary trade-off decisions, trading existing scope for new scope.

There's a ton of materials out there about Agile development methodologies. One of the most utilized is Scrum.

If you are not yet familiar with the basic Scrum principles I highly recommend you check out Mike Cohn's  video channel in Youtube. Mike's communication style is very direct and easy to follow.

Here's one of his videos: Agile and the Seven Deadly Sins of Project Management, enjoy!

4 consejos para destacar como "project manager"

En un mundo laboral tan competitivo con el nuestro, la diferenciación y el éxito tienen mucho que ver con nuestras nuestras habilidades sociales y de comunicación.

Tras muchos años de trabajo con personas que no son españolas, especialmente americanos pero también otros europeos y asiáticos, estoy convencida de que en España deberíamos tomarnos mucho más en serio el promover un sistema educativo que potencie mucho más nuestras habilidades de comunicación y de trabajo en equipo desde nuestra infancia. Otros lo hacen, y les va mejor.

Recientemente tuve ocasión de ver unos vídeos de Erika Flora que ofrecen consejos muy prácticos sobre cómo destacar como profesional en el área de "Project Management". Me quedo con cuatro de ellos que me parecen muy útiles, y que a veces se nos pueden olvidar, sobre todo cuando el día a día se come toda nuestra energía. Vaya por delante que en realidad son de aplicación a todos los ámbitos profesionales

1. Mantén y haz crecer tu red de contactos

Por cierto, empieza hoy, no lo dejes para cuando tu proyecto esté acabando o tu empresa te comunique que ya no hay lugar en ella para tí.

Las personas con más éxito son aquellas que saben "conectar" con los demás: cuando demuestras interés por entender y ayudar a los demás consigues establecer esas conexiones con las personas que te posicionan mejor ante ellos que cualquier otro competidor.

2. Comparte tu conocimiento y amplíalo

¡Presume de lo que sabes! y, por supuesto, no dejes de seguir formándote.

Practica la comunicación escrita (empieza haciendo un blog :)) y hablada.

¿Ya has practicado? Pues practica más.

3. Contribuye, ayuda a los demás

Haz cada día algo por los demás de lo que te sientas orgulloso y anticípate: antes de que alguien solicite tu ayuda, ofrécela sin pedir nada a cambio.

4. Sé tú mismo

Recuerda siempre que eres un ser humano único e irrepetible, no imites a los demás, compórtate con naturalidad y sé tú mismo.

Como ves, son consejos sencillos, ¿o no lo son tánto?. ¿Tú que opinas?

Lecturas recientes: "The Help"

Como comenté en el primer post de este blog, me gusta leer. Hoy quisiera compartir una lectura reciente: "The Help".  Muchas de las novelas que leo son meros pasatiempos que, aunque suelo disfrutar en el momento, apenas quedan registradas en mi memoria.

Otras, sin embargo, tratan temas que dejan más huella. Es el caso de "The Help". Se trata de la primera novela escrita por Kathryn Stocket y, por la información que la propia autora comparte en su web, de alguna forma está inspirada en situaciones que ella misma vivió siendo más joven.

"The Help" se publicó por primera vez en el año 2009, y en castellano se tradujo con el título de "Criadas y Señoras". El éxito de público debió llegarle pronto, ya que en el año 2011 se estrenó una película inspirada en la novela.

No he visto la película, pero sí confieso que el recuerdo de haberla vista anunciada en cines influyó en mi decisión de adquirir el libro. Otro elemento que me decidió fue el hecho de contar con varios miles de comentarios en Amazon y tener una puntuación de 4.6 sobre 5.

Mi primer pensamiento tras leer las primeras páginas del libro fue: "me he equivocado, este libro ha debido tener éxito en Estados Unidos porque habla sobre problemas raciales en su país, pero a mí, que soy española, no me va a aportar mucho". Y lo dejé aparcado por un tiempo. Pero tras una pausa me dije a mi misma que debía darle otra oportunidad, y así lo hice. Y no me arrepiento.

La historia se desarrolla en una población de Missisipi en los años iniciales de la década de los 60. Yo nací en esa misma década y quizá por ello el tema del conflicto entre los derechos sociales de la población blanca y de color que se mencionan en la novela me llamó especialmente la atención: ¡estamos hablando de una época muy reciente, no de hace 100 o 200 años! Quiero pensar que realmente han quedado atrás situaciones de desigualdad tan horribles como las que se cuentan en "The Help".

Son sin embargo los aspectos más cotidianos y universales del libro los que más me gustaron y los que quiero mencionar:

1. La importancia de tratar a nuestros hijos con cariño y de ayudarles a tener una imagen positiva de sí mismos, a respetar y a respetarse y el daño que podemos causar cuando no lo hacemos
2. Para los que tenemos ayuda en casa, ¿cómo tratamos a las personas que nos la prestan? ¿seguro que nunca tenemos comportamientos poco considerados como los de algunas de las protagonistas de "The Help"?
3. El libro nos da un poderoso mensaje: está en nuestro poder cambiar las cosas que no nos gustan o que simplemente no están bien.

No puedo evitar pensar que, lamentablemente, una historia como ésta no se hubiera podido escribir con éxito en los años 60. Es desde luego una señal de avance que ahora sí se pueda. El libro está escrito con humor y en un tono positivo. ¡De verdad, muy recomendable!

Compartiendo experiencias como IT Project Manager

Muchos años trabajando con IT Project Manager merecen ser compartidos. Ésta es la primera vez que me lanzo a dejar un mensaje en mi blog. ¡Qué nervios!

Dedicaré esta entrada por tanto a presentarme y a indicar cuál será el contenido general de este blog.

Empezaré diciendo que una de mis actividades favoritas es la lectura, quizá por eso me da mucho respeto escribir algo yo misma. En los escasos ratos libres en los que me permito aparcar temporalmente mis obligaciones laborales y familiares y concederme un descanso, me dedico a devorar libros. Desde que mi marido me regaló un Kindle hace ya algún tiempo y decubrí lo fácil y rápido que resultaba adquirir libros electrónicos en Amazon,  mi Kindle y yo nos vemos todos los días y pasamos juntos ratos maravillosos.

Trabajando en IT

He desarrollado la mayor parte de mi vida profesional en el departamento de Sistemas de Información de una gran compañía dedicada a prestar servicios de Consultoría e Integración de Sistemas. A menudo hablamos sobre innovación y sobre cómo la tecnología mejora la vida de las personas. Para mí el Libro Electrónico es sin duda un ejemplo perfecto de tecnología al servicio de las personas, a mi servicio, al servicio de Olga Muñoz.

A pesar de trabajar en un departamento que implementa y desarrolla sistemas de información, confieso que no soy nada "techie". Lo que realmente me gusta y se me da bien hacer es gestionar los proyectos en todas sus dimensiones de alcance, coste, tiempo, riesgos, calidad, recursos humanos, etc., y, adicionalmente, participar activamente en la captura de requerimientos funcionales. Capturar, analizar y entender los requerimientos de negocio, y conseguir que se incorporen a las aplicaciones de forma adecuada, es para mi una actividad divertida y estimulante.

Cuando los proyectos consiguen su objetivo, y gracias a ellos el trabajo de las personas resulta más sencillo, más rápido y más eficiente, la satisfacción por el resultado obtenido compensa totalmente cualquier dificultad o mal rato por el que se haya pasado para conseguirlo.

Sin duda, las dificultades son muchas y lamentablemente son también muchos los proyectos que no consiguen sus objetivos. Este vídeo - que he tomado prestado de youtube - resume de forma divertida algunos de los principales motivos por los que los proyectos fracasan (aviso: está en inglés):

Como vemos en el vídeo, gestionar proyectos de tecnología o de cualquier otro tipo no resulta nada fácil. En mi opinión el éxito en la tarea tiene mucho de "ciencia" (técnicas y procesos que hay que conocer y aplicar) y de "arte" (¿experiencia?, ¿intuición?).

Algunas certificaciones, como la de Project Management Professional (PMP) otorgada por el Project Management Institute (PMI), sin duda ayudan con la parte de "ciencia". Yo misma estoy certificada y debo decir que recomiendo la inversión de tiempo y esfuerzo.

En este blog hablaré de temas relacionados con la gestón de proyectos de implantación de sistemas en entornos internacionales, cosas que en base a mi experiencia funcionan, cosas que me gustan y, también, cosas que no. También hablaré de mis lecturas, a veces en inglés, y a veces en castellano, según la inspiración del día

A todos mis lectores os animo a que hagáis comentarios y así compartir entre todos ideas y puntos de vista: es lo divertido de los blogs ¿no?