QAspire

JULY 20, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer 5 Ways To Build Trust (Lessons from a Conversation) One of my friends recently joined a new organization at a senior position. When we met over a cup of coffee a few days before his joining, he mentioned to me that his primary challenge would be to build trust. As professionals, we interact with a wide variety of people including our customers, suppliers, new team members, cross departmental folks and people at the customer’s end.

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Blog Project Directory Commitment 155

QAspire

AUGUST 5, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Engagement, Leadership and Power of Storytelling Last week, I had a short conversation with one of my colleagues in HR about the all important topic of employee engagement. In an impromptu conversation, we touched upon a very important point: People love (and remember) stories, not facts. We loved it when our grandparents wrapped important life lessons in form of stories.

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Quality Blog Storytelling Management 155

QAspire

SEPTEMBER 2, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer 5 Pointers For Effectively Dealing With Negative Feedback In my career so far, I have seen number of confrontations arising out of a negative feedback that is shared honestly. Some people disagree (or take it personally) when a negative feedback is shared in performance appraisal. Others don’t like it when client points out areas of improvement.

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Minto Construction Blog Learning-by-Doing 154

QAspire

AUGUST 10, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer In Pursuit Of “Customer Delight”: Getting The Basics Right A lot of companies have the phrase “delighting our customers” in their well-crafted mission statements and quality policies. I see “customer delight” as a cherry, with the cake being “solving their problems and meeting the expectations” – so when we say “cherry on top of the cake”, the cake has to be right.

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Quality Blog Management Mission Statement 154

QAspire

JULY 14, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Leading, Farming And The Need To ‘Cultivate’ Many years ago, I had a chance to visit a friend’s farm on a weekend. My friend owned a huge farm on the outskirts of the city where they had employed farmers. A farmer’s outcome was quality of the crop. To ensure this, the farmer worked the soil, got the best seeds from the marketplace, sowed them all and watered them with great care.

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Long-term Short-term Quality Blog 154

QAspire

OCTOBER 17, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Experience and Expertise – A Few Thoughts When a kid learns how to play music, he develops “ability” to play music. He knows the basics. He is able to play the music according to notes. He can play the songs exactly as the notes tell him to play. Then a few more years of practice and he develops ability to play new songs without notes.

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Explicit Knowledge Self-aware Directory Quality 153

QAspire

JULY 1, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Taking a “Project View&# of Improvement and Change Initiatives Yesterday, over a cup of coffee, my friend asked me about my first book and what was my approach towards writing it. I said that I took “project approach&#. This lead to an immediate realization that everything we do is a project, be it loosing your weight, writing a book, painting your home, getting a degree or managing an improvement initiative.

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Project Learning-by-Doing Constraint Planning 149

QAspire

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer In Review: The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau I have been following Chris Guillebeau ’s remarkable work via his blog since last couple of years. So when I heard about his new book “ The Art of Non-Conformity ”, I could not wait to order it. I am glad I did, because this book instantly made it to my favorite books in 2010 which also includes Seth Godin’s Linchpin.

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Review Godin Blog Directory 149

QAspire

AUGUST 24, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Managing Results by Defining “Deliverables” Early On As professionals, we all are responsible for shipping stuff to our customers (internal or external). The stuff that we ship is commonly referred to as a “deliverable”. As a manager, it helps if you can clearly define what deliverable means.

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PPM Management Directory Quality 149

QAspire

AUGUST 29, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer ‘Their Work’ Versus ‘My Work’ When you work in an organization or within a team, you can think of it as ‘doing the work for someone’. For the company. For the manager. For the client. Or you can think of it as ‘doing your work’. There is a big difference. Our work is a way to express ourselves.

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Maturity Blog Follow-up Project 149

QAspire

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer The focus is on YOU This morning when I was praying, God gently put His hand on my head and lovingly said - "My Son, Those who wait for an opportunity never get it. I have given you hands and head so that you can work hard, think, move ahead and create opportunities. Just like a farmer sprinkles seeds across on the land, I have sprinkled opportunities around you.

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Directory Open-book Blog Compliance 147

QAspire

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer 3 High-Value Tips for Leaders to Break Out of Comfort Zone Cozy environment and excellent facilities in your cabin/cubicle can make you feel super-comfortable. It is a physical comfort zone that we create around ourselves. Our desk becomes a place where discussions happen. Where papers are pushed. If you are someone who ‘does things’, sticking to your desk all the day long is still fine because you get paid to do the stuff.

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Tips Directory Quality Blog 147

QAspire

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Thursday Thought: The “Real” Worship A quick thought. A lot of people worship religiously by following age old traditions, maintaining rituals and visiting religious places. That is the kind of worship that connects us to the Almighty. In my view, the “real worship”, the one that deeply connects us to our own selves , is to: first be ‘human’ in everything we do. know how to ‘give’ generously (and unconditionally). fully express ourselves

Directory 145

Directory Quality Blog Compliance 145

QAspire

AUGUST 2, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer A Round Up of My Writing in July 2010 July 2010 – another spectacular month came to an end, and I didn’t notice that in frenzy of things going around. In this month, we welcomed monsoon and said good bye to the sweltering heat. Monsoon continues in August as well, and I look forward to another exciting month.

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Directory Blog Project Quality 145

QAspire

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Don’t Give Up On Problems: A Lesson on Persistence Did you ever think that an “audit” exercise can be a learning experience? Well, if you really ‘want to’ learn, you can find lessons almost everywhere. You just have to keep doors of your mind open! While discussing a problem, the audit consultant, with many years of experience, said the following: If we have a family member who is disabled, we do everything we can, till the time we can to ensur

Directory 144

Directory Blog Project Compliance 144

QAspire

AUGUST 8, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Metrics: Are They Mapped With Your Business Objectives? You can measure almost anything in your business, but if those metrics don’t serve a real business objectives, they are just numbers with no real meaning. Measurement is a means to an end, not an end in itself. I have seen extreme cases where organizations either measure so much or they don’t measure anything at all.

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Business Objectives Metrics Objective Directory 142

QAspire

JULY 27, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Quality & Improvement: From “Experience” to “Advocacy” Consider the following scenario: You go to a new restaurant for the first time. You evaluate quality of food and quality of service. Your first visit was about experimenting with a new place and getting an experience. A few weeks later, you go there again.

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Quality Long-term Loyalty Compliance 141

QAspire

AUGUST 31, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Great Leadership: Beware of These Nine I’s I wrote earlier about Nine I’s and Great Leadership. The post received a very good response (on twitter, in blogosphere and in comments) and that led me to further think about Nine I’s that leaders should be careful and conscious about. These are personal traits of a leader that have a direct impact on a team/organization’s performance.

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Directory Leadership Blog Project 141

QAspire

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer In Praise of Golden Shower Tree I am always amazed when I see the “Golden Shower Tree” ( Cassia Fistula , Garmalo or Amaltas). This tree blossoms with beautiful and bright yellow flowers at the peak of summer. The bloom is so profuse that entire tree is covered with yellow flowers hanging downwards on delicate branches.

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Directory Blog Quality Compliance 139

QAspire

AUGUST 26, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Training Middle Managers On People Management Basics Here is a simple idea: Whenever you have a new manager (project manager/departmental leader) joining in your organization, put him/her through a simple training program on how to manage people. Train existing managers as well. The premise: Most project managers/team leaders get work done through team.

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Middle Management Training Management Project 139

QAspire

AUGUST 17, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer The Pursuit of Getting It “First Time Right” (FTR) Building quality involves cost. You spend efforts and energy on preventing the errors (prevention cost) and then checking your work (appraisal cost). These are positive costs, or rather investments that ensure that you get it right the first time.

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Cost Quality Project Directory 139

QAspire

JUNE 29, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Enjoy The Process We live in a hyper-competitive world. Students are anxious about their annual results. Professionals are anxious about their next appraisal. Business owners are anxious about their bottom lines and so on. You get the point. This anxiousness does not allow us to enjoy the process. Sure, goals are important and attaining them is even more important.

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Quality Blog Management Process 137

QAspire

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Thoughts on Effective Management Consulting Consulting is a trust game. The more trust you are able to build with your customers, the more you earn (money, respect and credibility). Consultants are hired because they have an expertise and deeper understanding of a particular area. Core expectation from any consultant is that they deliver results.

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Consultative Management Directory Blog 135

QAspire

JULY 25, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Book Review: Everyone Communicates, Few Connect A few weeks back, my friend Becky Robinson at Mountain State University gifted me with a copy of John C. Maxwell’s latest book “ Everyone Communicates, Few Connect ”. The book, as the title suggests, is all about establishing meaningful connections to build great relationships at work and in personal life.

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Review Books Content Directory 133

QAspire

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Quality of Planning = Quality of Execution: 7 Lessons When a project is executed, a plan is established. Work is broken down into smaller pieces and a neat schedule is created. Team members ( often referred to as “resources”, unfortunately ) are assigned, milestones are created and the schedule is circulated to all concerned.

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Quality Planning Execution Agility 132

QAspire

NOVEMBER 17, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Improvement, Change and Strength of Belief In Outcomes We all find it difficult to stick to our new year resolutions beyond a few months. A lot of people wish to focus on their health and start exercising. Many people I know want to quit smoking. We have a lot of “wishes” on improvement, but we often fail to take some real actions.

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Directory Quality Blog Bottom-up 132

QAspire

SEPTEMBER 28, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer 15 Key Lessons On Managing Change Change, they say, is the only constant. With rapid globalization and advent of technology, the rate of change in society and in organizations has just multiplied. We may not be ‘change management experts’, but having a set of thumb rules always helps when dealing with change (because at some point, we have to face/manage/lead a change).

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Management Blog Directory Open-book 131

QAspire

JULY 29, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Adding Value: A Gentle Reminder Sure, as a project manager / business leader, you: Completed the project in given time frame. Within the budget. With minimum schedule deviation. Utilized your resources optimally. Filled up all the required templates. Did retrospective. Celebrated completion. Shared statistical reports with the top management.

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Gantt Chart Project Budgeting Teamwork 130

QAspire

OCTOBER 13, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer The Quest of Better Outcomes: Hierarchy And Process In quest of better outcomes (efficiency, results, productivity, improvements etc.), a lot of companies focus on restructuring their organization structure (hierarchy). Periodically, they overhaul their structure, add new positions and assign new/diverse responsibilities to people.

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Process Deming Restructuring Efficiency 130

QAspire

OCTOBER 31, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Thoughts on Project Leadership and Choices I love project management as a subject not only because it gets so much work done, but also because project management manifests how people operate. I have written before that Projects are a great opportunity to practice leadership. They way we work on projects and the way we manage projects tell a lot of the kind of person we are.

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Project Leadership Directory Quality 126

QAspire

OCTOBER 10, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer 7 Steps For Customer Centric Process Improvement You can improve almost everything in your organization. With so much to improve, how do you identify what are your top priority improvements? Here is the simplest answer: focus on improvements that directly impacts customer satisfaction or business profitability.

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Process Directory Document Quality 126

QAspire

NOVEMBER 28, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Teaching, Improvement and Change: A Few Parallels 12 years back, I started my career as a tutor who taught Oracle and PL/SQL to students belonging to different age groups. One thing I realized very early in my career as a tutor is that everyone of us has a different rate of learning – the speed with which we grasp new things, accept changes and change our own thinking.

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Directory Quality Project Blog 124

QAspire

OCTOBER 24, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Establishing Forums to Build a Quality Oriented Culture Total Quality Management (TQM) says that quality is everybody’s job. Each individual’s approach to work, understanding of quality and personal standards of excellence are crucial for delivering quality. One of the biggest challenges for a lot of organizations today is to involve each and every team member in the quality game.

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Quality TQM Directory Belief Systems 122

QAspire

DECEMBER 21, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Great Quotes: Gems from Subroto Bagchi on Leadership I have always enjoyed reading thoughts of Subroto Bagchi , one of India’s most well known and respected leaders from the IT industry who operates as a “Gardener” and Vice Chairman at MindTree. I have read both his books, “ The High Performance Entrepreneur ” and “ Go, Kiss the World ” with great interest.

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Quality Blog Management Self-aware 120

QAspire

JANUARY 12, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Quality and Quantity – The Conversation Continues On 8th Jan, 2010, I wrote a post on Quality and Quantity – Compliance and Excellence. The post resulted in some very interesting conversations in form of comments and in-person conversations. The gist of my post was: Quality is to first ask “Why are we doing it?

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Quality Compliance Metrics Blog 117

QAspire

AUGUST 12, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer Friday High-Five: Posts I Loved Reading Last Week Friday is a great day to share links to some of the best thinking out there. I am fortunate to a part of a wonderful leadership/management community who so generously share their ideas, insights and knowledge. So, here are 5 posts that I totally enjoyed reading in the last week, and I am sure you will enjoy them too.

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Godin Directory Compliance Blog 114

QAspire

NOVEMBER 21, 2010

Home Go to QAspire.com Guest Posts Disclaimer On Delivering In software world, delivering is generally associated with painful process of testing, rework, defect fixing, perfecting, packaging and then shipping. We build our reputation as professionals by the stuff we deliver, quality of what we deliver and timeliness of our shipments. Here’s what I have realized: All deliveries have associated pain.

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Software Directory Quality Godin 111