Leadership Insights Blog by Peter Alkema
IT should spend more time on the road with sales
By Peter Alkema |
I recently joined my sales colleagues on some client visits – here’s why I plan to do this a lot more. If you are building software for the external customers of your company then you shouldn’t only rely on secondary feedback from the people who visit them. IT teams supporting internal systems have easy access to their customers – they …
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Bias for thoughtful action
By Peter Alkema |
This powerful concept arose in a recent leadership meeting, but what does it mean? We are often told there are 2 kinds of people in this world; those that make things happen and those that watch things happen. I’ve always tried to be in the former category but my leadership journey is teaching me it’s …
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Make action lists work for you
By Peter Alkema |
I’ve used a simple method for most of my career; here it is. While I actively use the latest technology to make my life easier and actually do the work that is expected of me, I’m certainly not paperless when it comes to taking notes in meetings and managing my actions. Confession: In this modern …
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Your people on the move – what's your move?
By Peter Alkema |
Everyone leaves at some point. How do you lead through the change? Rule #1: Never try and hold on to good people who have simply decided to make a career change within the company. They will feel restricted, demotivated and eventually leave anyway. Get over your feelings, look them in the eye and genuinely wish …
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Never pass up an opportunity to keep your mouth shut
By Peter Alkema |
This great quote by Robert Newton Peck is a constant reminder: less is truly more. We are all guilty; while appearing to listen to the other person we are actually just thinking of our own reply. Do we truly participate in meaningful dialogue any more – verbal communication has become a ritual, a necessity to …
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Don't Send That Email
By Peter Alkema |
Either pick up the phone, apply the 24 hour rule or do something differently. When I learnt to drive I remember being told, “if you hesitate, stop” and this is true in the jam packed highway of corporate email. Millions of largely inconsequential written messages flood all of our inboxes every day but surprisingly few …
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"A journey of a thousand miles…
By Peter Alkema |
…begins with one step,” and you must lead teams so they are willing to take it. This famous Chinese proverb (Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu) is a powerful antidote to the analysis paralysis mindset that strangles many large projects. Actually doing something rather than meeting and talking about it often seems like a novel idea …
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Big scary goal ahead? Burn your boats
By Peter Alkema |
Sometimes an ambitious goal requires you to cut off your own escape routes. During the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1519, the naval commander had his men destroy their boats when they landed on the enemy beach. This war tactic has been used many times but it meant the soldiers had to conquer the land …
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Software customer: Let's go for a test drive!
By Peter Alkema |
Regularly demonstrate working software to customers; it builds engagement and increases trust. Nothing beats a good test drive before buying a new car; it’s difficult to get excited about the leather seats or the smooth gear change by reading the manual. Likewise software needs a tactile experience by the customer who is paying for it; …
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Deliverable reviews; The X-Factor of Programme Management
By Peter Alkema |
Drive design quality by having team members present their work. It’s initially a bit uncomfortable but once it becomes like a heartbeat in your programme you will wonder how you ever achieved real design quality without it. During a large scale design phase of a waterfall programme it can get very difficult to track all …
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Leading leaders; a light hand on the tiller
By Peter Alkema |
Unlock your next level’s leadership potential and they will never look back. Most IT professionals reach a point in their career where they need to transition from relying on their core technical skills to managing people. Being asked to run a team simply moves them from writing their own code to managing other people who …
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Agile is like a box of chocolates
By Peter Alkema |
You can apply most Agile principles selectively on projects. Forest Gump made the line famous and it is a useful way of referring to the toolbox approach that many people take with Agile. If you would like to improve daily collaboration then hold stand-ups and scrums, if you want better quality code try pair programming; …
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