Post 8 - Is product management relevant in the age of digital products?

I came across this interesting article discussion in CIO, of whether product management is relevant or not in our times; the age of digital products.

I thought it would be interesting to share the this article and get your views on the issue.

Is project management relevant in an age of digital products?


There were differing perspectives on this issue.

Some suggested that ' it might not technically require it, but product management is the most strategic way to approach potential projects and priorities in a business and user-centered way. They, also, said that once digital becomes the focus for the organization you're no longer talking about projects. '

On the other hand of the argument;

Others argued that 'the move to digital products requires integrations which tend to be projects, so project management should be considered too. For this reason, they consider project management as a subset of product management'

Read the full article here

Please feel free to share your opinions on this issue.

Post 9 - A Reflection on our 'Digital Transformations' Class

It was interesting going back through last week’s lecture to look at the topic of digital transformations. 

In all honesty, it was full of eye opening information and references on how far we've come in digital transformation and I personally realised how ungrateful I may have become being born into such technological advancements.

I'd like to point you to something; I myself may not have paid much attention to.

Do these brands look familiar? 

If so, then what do you think they have in common?

Also, how many of these services do you use daily?

Well, if you agree, the commonality between these services is that they are all huge brands that play a big role in our lives daily!

It's interesting because, growing up in this era makes it hard to believe that there was a point not too long ago that most of these companies didn't exist.

Funnily, enough, during the lecture, I remember asking myself to look back at how life was outside of their existence. 

Fortunately, I happen to be just about old enough to remember the life before some of these big transformations pushed us to where we are today.  

I asked myself, whether or not. a millennial could imagine how life would be if these big services weren't around?  I concluded that they most likely wouldn’t.

In any case, the interesting part of the discussion to me was whether or not these transformations were actually beneficial to us. 

So, are these transformations good?

It was quite thrilling to see some of the pros and cons of digital transformations.

I'd like to firstly point out that, I understand and deeply appreciate the great level of ease and convenience brought about by today's services.  

I can also personally relate to the convenience of being able to watch movies at the comfort of my house through Netflix. 

On the other hand, I also remember the days where I would wait for Blockbusters to open so I can rent out a movie. It was very inconvenient, but for some reason I remember the excitement level being a lot higher. This could've been due to the anticipation, or just the fact I was younger back then.

Moreover. A service like Uber is one I have used often in my travels. Especially when I travelled to new places and was worried about being ripped off It came in very handy.

To be fair, many of us have had a lot of personal experiences with most of these services. However, some of the important issues that I was made aware of in the lesson were, 

1 - The fact that there are a number of people who aren't too fond of the changes.

2 - There are issues of privacy which to me is a very big deal.

3- JOBS! Computers taking over! 

The third issue to me is one where I feel that a big line is being crossed. The question that I ask myself is ' at what cost do we replace humans with A.I and robots’?

Me personally, I feel that these transformations are good, as long as they're bringing about convenience and benefit to the people.

But I'll leave you with a final thought; ’what benefit is convenience when you are out of work?'

Please share your thoughts below on this topic.

Post 10 - When should you switch from Project to Program Management?

I came across an interesting Capterra article discussing when you know you need to switch from project to program management.




So, when should you switch to program management? 

Here are three reasons you might need to:

1. Your projects aren’t building off one another - For example; Lessons learned aren’t shared with other teams, surplus resources aren’t strategically reallocated, and follow-up projects aren’t planned.

2. Project resources aren’t shared -  For example; Project A is short-staffed and in danger of missing deadline, while Project B is over budget and over-staffed because of poor planning and lack of communication.

3. Individual project managers aren’t collaborating or supporting one another - For example; you have strong project managers who run their individual projects successfully, but you’re not meeting organisational goals because the projects aren’t aligned and teams aren’t sharing information with each other.

So, these are some interesting scenarios of when you might need to move from project to program management.

Read the full article here

Please share your views and comments below.

Post 11 - Interesting Digital Transformation Podcast

I came across this interesting podcast on digital transformation and thought it would be interesting to share it with you guys.

Beneficial digital transformation example:

In the podcast they mention an interesting example of a digital transformation helping to advance and change the way we deal with real life situations. This is the example of how Google glasses helped anaesthesiologists become more productive in that instead of sitting and waiting beside the doctor while he treats the patient, they are now able to go and serve other patients as they wait for information passed through Google glasses to tell them whether the doctor is finished or not.

Another example I came across in this podcast was the fact that at one point Microsoft would sell their office through the purchase of CD's and through the benefits of digital transformation, they were able to transform that system into a subscription one. This has made it easier and quicker for customers to get access to the software and in turn more profit for Microsoft.

There are also some other interesting examples of digital transformation given in this podcast.

Listen to the podcast in the link below.

https://www.pmi.org/learning/training-development/projectified-podcast/podcasts/digital-transformation-what-it-takes

Please share your thoughts below.

Post 12 - Age of disruption

I was going back on the 'Project Manager of the Future, article written by the PMI and thought I'd share some interesting information about this age of disruption we are living in.


It was interesting to learn that the high competitiveness of this time has lead to a great advancement in technology as well as digital transformation. These transformations have disrupted the way we used to do things in the past and have caused some to be left behind.

The article mentions the big need of moving and developing your skill set beyond that of the 20th century if you are to be competitive in the ever demanding sphere of work.

Do you think you have what it takes to succeed? Ask yourself that important question of what skill sets you have to offer.

It was interesting to note that not all organisations will succeed in this time.

So, who will succeed in this age of disruption?

Those that will succeed in this age of disruption are those that are able to adapt rapidly to new opportunities and challenges through building better products and creating stronger customer relationships with a speed that hasn’t been seen before.


Read the full article below:

https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/learning/thought-leadership/pulse/digital-pm-skills.pdf?sc_lang_temp=en


Please share your thoughts as usual below

Post 13 - Top Digital-Age Skills for Project Delivery

Following on from the previous blog, where I shared the valuable information of needing to improve your skill set in this age of competitiveness, I thought I'd share with you some of the six most sought after skills for project delivery.

According to the some of the HR professionals that were asked about important skills needed for project leaders these are the top six digital-age skills for project delivery they mentioned.

The interesting thing is that you would think that a customer service related skill would have been mentioned amongst these skill sets but for some reason there hasn't been. 

I am assuming that they are mentioning these skills with the presumption that the candidate has customer skills already. As you are aware that customer focus is of course an essential skill in both technical and non technical positions.

Which of these skills do you think is the most important?

 would you have provided these skills as the most important? 

Do you feel that you posses these valuable skills?

Please share your thoughts and opinions 

Post 14 - Workforce Readiness

I was reading an article today, and was surprised at some interesting information provided by the 'Institute for he Future and Dell Technologies'. They mentioned that about 85% of the jobs that will be available in 2030 have not been invented yet.

This kind of took me aback even though I being a tech enthusiast myself, and having been in the field of computing for the past 10 years.

The interesting question that came to my mind was, what kind of jobs are we not aware of? Could it possibly get any more different than what we have today?

But then again when I think back to the fact that I would never have imagined self-checkout machines replacing  human jobs at supermarkets.

Another interesting point mentioned in the article was the big gap between the skills required and being able to find talent for those jobs.

According to research by the Digital Talent Gap study by LinkedIn and Capgemini, 55% of organisations say the gap between the digital talent they need and the talent they can find today has widened in the last few years, reports. Similarly, 54% of organisations say this gap is hindering their digital transformation programs.

What I see from this is the great focus needed today in improving your skills sets to meet this ever growing demand of digital transformation.

The question we need to ask yourselves is what can we do to improve our skills in order to be competitive and ready for this ever demanding transformation.

I say.... 

If you don't want to be left out in today's ever competitive world, then you need to improve your skills daily.

Please share your thoughts on different ways you could be competitive.