| Date: | 2 Nov 2017 |
| Where: | Coventry |
IIBA UK Chapter Midlands Branch is delighted to welcome our guest speakers Ian Huke and Dr Penny Pullan.
It’s a fantastic beast and going to solve everyone’s problems… yes, you’ve got COTS. Welcome to the menagerie that is Commercial Off the Shelf solutions. Like fantastic beasts, the way you befriend your COTS varies. A Niffler may respond to a gold coin, but with a Erumpent you're better off with a full body armour. How are you going to deal with an Occamy or a Nundu? One size doesn’t fit all. Knowing your fantastic beast helps you fulfil their potential and, like a fantastic beast, COTS have many characteristics- some which they like to parade and others which they keep concealed...until they bite you.
This interactive session will explore the characteristics of COTS that an organisation and the Business Analyst needs to understand to fulfill its potential. These characteristics are not just technical and functional, but the whole ecosystem that the COTS lives in. From the culture and working practices of the supplier, to the user’s perception of the solution and everything in between. Understanding the characteristics of a fantastic beast is great but how do you work out the particular characteristics of your beast? This is a process of befriending your beast and playing with it in different ways until it reveals all its secrets. The same is true of COTS, we’ll consider what you can do to ensure you understand what you are buying and the value it can deliver.
Finally, once you understand your fantastic beast you can tame it through handling it in the right way and keeping it in its right environment. Understanding your COTS allows you to determine how best to work with it to realise its potential and bring value to your organisation. Mishandling your fantastic beast can be costly…just look at the harm a Murtlap can do and it's tiny!
Ian Huke started his professional life as a Litigation Lawyer, before quickly moving to work in technology and change. He now provides interim management and consulting services, focused on leading and developing organisation’s change capability. He is an advocate of business analysis and its key role in leading the design of valued experiences and valuable outcomes. His focus is developing people, culture and governance that can meet the demand for fast and flexible change. His experience covers a wide variety of organisations ranging from ftse100 companies to start up software houses, predominantly in the financial services sector
Virtual Leadership: Practical strategies for getting the best out of your virtual projects and virtual teams
How can we present ourselves authentically on our virtual projects? How can we show up wholeheartedly for virtual meetings so that our stakeholders leave them with a smile (yes really)? When so many of us work far away from those stakeholders- whether colleagues, suppliers, subject matter experts or clients, how do we form strong connections and communicate deeply when we only meet on conference calls or virtual sessions? In our fast paced world of work, where multi-tasking is the norm, how do we engage people when they are likely to be distracted and pulled away by everything else that is happening around them?
While this workshop will be lots of fun, Penny is deadly serious. Without leadership and engagement, Business Analysts and other change professionals might as well go home. Tricky projects need far more than processes and analytical skills. You can expect a very interactive, facilitative session so please come with your own experience, challenges and stories to share. You can expect Penny to touch on: leadership, mind-set, identity, facilitation, risk, change, culture, and lots more. She’s likely to draw live graphics and even invite you to join in a simulation of virtual work! Her hope is that you’ll leave reinvigorated to tackle your tricky projects and engage your virtual stakeholders.
Dr. Penny Pullan’s latest book is 'Virtual Leadership: Practical strategies for getting the most out of virtual teams and virtual work'. Writing it involved immersing herself in the virtual world and listening to countless stories of success and, all too often, muddling through!
Penny works with people in multinational organizations who are grappling with tricky projects: uncertain, with ambiguous requirements, stakeholders who need to be engaged and teams dispersed around the world. When they work with Penny, clients notice that communication, collaboration, and confidence grow and change doesn't seem quite as tricky as before! Penny tweets at @pennypullan and hosts the annual BA Summit with over 1500 participants from around the world.
Networking session with refreshments
A great opportunity for informal conversation with guest speakers and other event delegates from different industries and organisations across the Midlands.
Hosted by Coventry Building Society. Our sincere thanks go to Coventry Building Society and Sanderson Recruitment who organised the event and will be providing the venue and refreshments.
Comments
To join the discussion, please sign in.