Category Archive for ‘Management’ at Life as a Knowledge Manager

Archive for the 'Management' Category

10 Quick Ways to Motivate by David Javitch

Published by Nainil Chheda on June 26, 2009 in Management. 0 Comments

10 Quick Ways to Motivate by David Javitch: Employee Management

1. Praise the employee for a job well done–or even partially well done.
2. If an employee is bored, involve that individual in a discussion about ways to create a more satisfying career path, including promotions based on concrete outcomes.
3. State your clear expectations for task accomplishment.
4. Ensure that the job description involves a variety of tasks.
5. Ensure that the employee sees that what she’s doing impacts the whole process or task that others will also be part of.
6. Make sure that the employee feels that what he/she is doing is meaningful.
7. Provide feedback along the way, pointing out both positive and negative aspects.
8. Allow for an appropriate amount of autonomy for the employee based on previous and anticipated accomplishment.
9. Increase the depth and breadth of what the employee is currently doing.
10. Provide the employee with adequate opportunity to succeed.

Retrieved from “5 Employee Motivation Myths Debunked” by David Javitch: Employee Management : http://www.entrepreneur.com/humanresources/employeemanagementcolumnistdavidjavitch/article202352.html on Saturday, June 27 2009.

Share this:

Overshare - the 2008 Word of the Year

Published by Nainil Chheda on February 7, 2009 in Life, Management and Technology. 0 Comments

Information is always overwhelming. However when information is turned into knowledge it is a gift. With my role as a Knowledge Manager, I feel it is important for people to understand when information is “Overshared”. Is this a good thing?

The 2008 word of the year is both a noun and a verb: overshare. It basically means it is when a person gives you more information than you want or need to know.

I believe in information transpancy, sharing of knowledge and accepting the fact that being accessible to others makes life simpler.

Sharing of information can be classified into:

Personal
Work Related
Social
Other

One must group his friends and collegues into various catagories. I have choosen to share my information to various groups (social networking) in the following fashion:

Personal:
1. Website: www.nainil.com
2. Blog: www.nainil.com/blog
Friends:
1. Facebook (id: nainil)
  http://www.facebook.com/people/Nainil-Chheda/630638930
2. Orkut (id: nainil@gmail.com)
Work Related:
1. LinkedIn (id: nainil)
  www.linkedin.com/in/nainil
2. Blog
  www.nainil.com/blog
Social Networking:
1. Twitter (id: nainil)

The level of discrete information that I share about myself is limited to the nature of the service and to the level of information I am willing to disclose about myself.

On my Website: I have information related to my areas of interest, my research activities, my vision, my resume and some images that I cherish.

On my Blog: I record my experiences with technology, quality control, policies, management as well as topics such as game theory and geological sediments.

On my Twitter profile: I update the various articles I read, videos I watch and document anything which helps me understand a concept/theme .

Never have I felt that I overshare my information. I tend to give data which is precise and to the point.

Information if left idle is not of any value. When we put our thoughts to process information we gather knowledge. Being a Knowledge Manager, I have learned to value the boundaries of information. Only some can be shared while other must be cherished by a limited group of members.

With an increase in the level of understanding, individuality and personification of data, “Overshare” is the term which needs to be catered to the market.

Share this:

Giving Credit to the Right People

Published by Nainil Chheda on February 5, 2009 in Life, Management and Organization. 0 Comments

I work in a company with a varied set of team members. We depend on each other to make the right choices and deliver the right services. We all try to deliver products, services and processes to our team members and the clients. Yet, I often ask myself “Is there any tangible product which comes out of my work?”.

Here’s the way I think about my work:

* I am a “Facilitator”. I help in getting people the right correct answers. It does not mean I am always the one who is giving these answers.
* I am a “Shovel Supplier”. I supply the tools and services that others need to make their lives easier.

Every day I receive emails, phone calls and have people come to my desk asking for all sort of answers. I might know a few of these answers as I might be involved in the project. However most of the times I am asked for the right direction. I am asked if I can point them to the right person who can do the job. I am asked if I can get an answer for the questions they have.

While looking for an answer to a question, I tend to involve various other team members. Many a times they give me an answer which is complete. I inturn transfer the answer to the team member who requested it. So, I diligently perform my duties, find the answers and convey the same to the team member who has requested the same.

Does this mean:

* I did all the hard work to get the answer?
* I have the answer to every question?
* I am the one to be praised and thanked?

The answer is No. I believe, in an ethical business environment where all the members involved while providing a solution should be respectfully thanked. The effort is a group effort and the right person deserves the credit. I always try to remember what our old folks used to teach us “It’s always good to give than to receive”.

While on a project, I make sure that I broadcast the efforts of the other team members who helped me find the answer to the main requesting party .This leads into a “Win-Win” situation. It keeps the requestor informed and the efforts put in by the other team member are also brought to light which acts as a motivational factor.

This sure does not mean that I (the facilitator) do not deserve a part of the credit. However, considering the nature of my job I choose to do the right thing and take credit only for the things that I deserve.

Share this:

A Follower of the KISS Principle

Published by Nainil Chheda on February 2, 2009 in Life, Management, Organization and Technology. 0 Comments

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler” - Albert Einstein

During my Masters in Information Systems at the Fox School of Business @ Temple University, I was introduced to “Strategic Process Management” and “User Interactive Site Design”. The first concept taught was to Keep it Sweet and Simple (K.I.S.S).

With 12 years of Web Application Development experience, I have had the opportunity to look at both:

Processes which are complicated
User Interfaces which do not make sense

Many a times, we try to bring an “Open Forum” approach into our organization. This could lead to:

Multiple Members Contributing to a Project (too many cooks spoil the broth)
Complicating the project in the early stages of formation/development
Everyone has a request to meet their needs. This could over burden the project.

The chain of thought is to make life easier and simpler for both the developers and clients. Design simplicity should be a key goal and any unnecessary complexities should be avoided.

Product Design

Here is a great link on “What is Simple Design“. It shares information about: Agile Development, YAGNI - You Aren’t Gonna Need It; Design Patterns, Code Smells, Simple Design and Test Driven Development (TDD), Once-And-Only-Once, Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY), Communication, Single Responsibility Principle (SRP), Open Closed Principle (OCP), Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP), Interface Segregation Principle (ISP), Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP), Tell Don’t Ask, The Law of Demeter, Triangulate, Influence from Functional Programming, Tests don’t lie and Prototyping.

With everything that I try to manage, I tend to Keep it Simple. This allows me to focus on other core aspects of business which can lead to increase in productivity and sales. Being a follower of the KISS Principle makes my activities at Work and Life much enjoyable and productive.

Share this:

It’s not Personal. Its Business!

Published by Nainil Chheda on January 31, 2009 in Life, Management and Organization. 0 Comments

Michael Corleone: [to Sonny] It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business. — The Godfather (1972)

In an office environment, there are often times when :

1. It is difficult to negotiate with a client/colleague
2. Someone gets fired
3. Emotions (sometimes excitement, anger etc.) are spilled out

There is nothing personal when it comes to business. In an environment where accountability and ownership fail, people sometimes run into a brick wall. The only recourse is to find another way around it and gain insight on how impersonal business can be.

In many instances, when a mistake is pointed out :

The person gets all worked up;
The person gets defensive;
There is a cold-war situation in the environment;
Things are not taken in a positive fashion;
Negative work environment only creates a destructive pattern to erode the success. “Do I loose a friend when he/she points out my mistakes? How can I trust the person? Do I give up a friend because of a conflict of interest at work?” — We are all victims of such thinking.

An escalated matter (to the management) is sometimes required to get things done. Yet if this option is chosen all the time you will not be ale to earn the respect and get things done in the future.

To avoid such thoughts here are some tips:

Personal life situations should not affect your business decisions.
Remember that business is an impersonal entity.
Accept your mistakes and be honest.
Look at the big picture and think about the company first.
Find a recourse of action to avoid business matters affecting your personal life.

Remember: It’s not personal. It’s Business!

Share this:

Self Motivation

Published by Nainil Chheda on January 23, 2009 in Management and Organization. 0 Comments

I am a big fan of Peter Drucker (Management Guru). At age 13, his teacher once asked him “What do you want to be remembered for?”. He did not have an answer then. His teacher said, “I didn’t expect you to be able to answer it. But if you still can’t answer it by the time you’re fifty, you will have wasted your life.”

Since my high school I have believed that “The person with the most responsibility for an individual’s development is the person himself”. While in high-school my I had an attention span of a moth. I would seldom concentrate on what the teacher was teaching.

I believe everything which I have learned (till date) is a result of three things:

Observation
Self Motivation
An Analytical Mind

What motivates me?

Being Busy: I like it when I am busy;
Empowerment: I like it when I am given the authority and the empowerment to do my job;
Work Environment: I like it when there is an honest work environment;
Variation: If I am given the same task/activity I feel bored. I need variation. After coming to eClinicalWorks I have already switched 5 main roles from being a “Trainer to Installer to Developer to Network Manager to being a Product Manager (Research)”;
Recognition: I am motivated if I am recognized for my hard-work;
Communication: I like it when there is a constant and consistent communication with and from the management;

All the above points induce me to renew myself, because it makes me see myself as a different person - the person I can become. Self-motivation can go only so far and it needs to be constantly reinforced by rewards from your colleagues and management.

Share this:

It’s OK to say NO

Published by Nainil Chheda on January 22, 2009 in Management and Organization. 0 Comments

In my professional experience:

I did not always have a Team to work with;
I did not always have a Team Lead to report to.

Most of the time, I used to work on Individual Projects assigned to me by the Management. Currently I belong to two teams (Product Management and the Network Team) and I still spend most of my time working on various Individual Projects.

In an environment where I have two team leads and multiple management members to report to, it is often difficult to make everyone realize the current items you are working on.

This results into:

Difficulty in prioritizing
Uncontrolled assignment of work (Work load increases)
Wrong judgment in terms of assigning the correct work to the correct people.

With my 16 years of experience, one of the most important skills I have developed is to judge when it is right to say “No” to an assigned task. It is not always the correct accept all the projects which have been assigned to you. While your team lead does make the best judgment in assigning the task, it is also your responsibility to evaluate your skill set and your current list of priorities to accept the task.

Based on my experience I use a starter kit of questions to evaluate when it’s OK to say NO to an assigned project:

Do I have the bandwidth to take another project?
Do I have the right skill set?
Based on my experience, will this project succeed? Does this project need more planning?

There have been instances when I have personally met the management team and/or the team lead, explained them my skill set and I have provided them with a valid reason as to why I would not be able to take the assigned project. It should be noted that saying “No” to a senior management is not the easiest of the tasks. You need the courage and the motivation to go to the team lead and explain them the same.

By this exercise, the management/team lead is well informed in advance about my thoughts. They then have the time to make the right decision and assign the project/task to another team member. I can now concentrate on my existing projects and complete them on time without any other distractions which might affect my quality of work. The team leads are confident in you as you have given them your honest opinion and prevented any last minute confrontation of backing out of the project.

By learning to say ‘no’ to projects that don’t fit your targeted strategy, you’ll often end up with more time and energy to say ‘yes’ when it really counts.

Share this:

Obama Inauguration - The Change We Need - Who Moved My Cheese?

Published by Nainil Chheda on January 20, 2009 in Life, Management, Organization and Politics. 0 Comments

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek - President Barack Obama (Change.gov)

Today, Hundreds of thousands of people have gathered on Washington’s national mall for the inauguration of Barack Obama as America’s 44th president. Today is a day in History, where change will be the focus of the new presidency era.

At my previous experience as a “Customer Service Representative” at DirectI, my lead (Bhavin Turakhia) had a unique way of motivating his team. Even with his busy schedule, he used to always boast about his ability to complete any given book in 2 weeks.

Every year he used to:

Organize education seminars for employees
Share his knowledge
Encourage employees to read books
Give us a Gift (during mid-year review)

This was no ordinary gift. Even though in monetary terms the gift was only worth Rs. 145 (US $4.5) it was more valuable than any other incentives I have ever received. It was a book called “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Dr. Spencer Johnson (Indian Edition).

Who Moved My Cheese? tells the story of two mice (Sniff and Scurry) and two “little people” (Hem and Haw) trapped in a maze. Cheese is a metaphor for whatever you want in your life. For the mice, it’s cheese. For the “people” it could be success, happiness, or financial security.

About this book :

It is a very short book about Change (about 100 pages).
Can be completed in less than an hour. (Large Font, Lots of White Spaces)
It is written in a very simple English (for all ages)
“Who Moved My Cheese?” has been used in hundreds of companies to demonstrate to employees what the “right” attitude should be. Go along with change. Adapt. Be flexible.
Everyone should read this!

It Teaches:

Change Happens
Anticipate Change
Monitor Change
Adapt To Change Quickly
Change
Enjoy Change !
Be Ready To Change Quickly & Enjoy It Again.

Quick Preview - PowerPoint:

Change doesn’t come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. - President Barack Obama

Are you ready to change the world? I am committed to do my part and looking forward to it!

Share this:

Being Guilty about Multi-Tasking

Published by Nainil Chheda on January 14, 2009 in Human Behaviour, Management and Organization. 0 Comments

During most of the meetings I attend, I tend to use my laptop for:

Taking minutes of the meeting or;
Taking notes or;
Taking (action) items to work on in the future;
Sharing presentations; etc.

It is not always necessary that all the topics during a meeting would be gathered towards my interest or my work habits. So, I would also use the opportunity to “Multi-Task” during the meetings. I would engage myself into other work related items including but not limited to:

Reply to emails;
Document tasks for another meeting;
Work on items other than the ones being discussed during the meeting; etc.

Recently it was discussed that “Multi-Tasking” even though is a very difficult skill to find, it does not always work in the favor of the team as a whole. And I agree with the same and am guilty of “Multi-Tasking”.

Even though I enjoy the fact that I can respond to my emails faster than most of my collegues, I am guilty of the fact that “Multi-Tasking” during meetings is not always what is expected of a co-worker.

During the meeting or any other discussion, everyone is expected to listen to the speaker/presenter, entertain a healthy discussion and contribute towards making the meeting a success.

To adopt the meeting etiquettes, I have chosen to:

Limit my craving to check emails to less than 3 times an hour (for not more than 5 minutes total)
Limit my cell phone usage unless it is a network (IT) emergency
Document meeting takeaways and learn something new from the meeting
Stick with the 5 E’s (Efficient, Effective, Educational, Entertaining and Enriching) of an “An Ideal Meeting“

I intend to follow this lifestyle for a meeting not as a short term goal but as a long term lifestyle for a corporate meeting environment. I am guilty of “Multi-Tasking” during meetings but have no regrets and no desire to return to my old informal lifestyle. I learn everyday and I am glad to share my experience as a “Life of a Knowledge Manager“.

Share this:

Taking Things to the Next Level

Published by Nainil Chheda on January 7, 2009 in Management and Organization. 0 Comments

During my interview I have been asked about my weakness. My biggest weakness so far had been that I used to take care of the most difficult task first as it interests me a lot, but when it comes to the point of completing a project, I often lost focus because I felt it was a very easy task to complete.

With time comes experience and I have gathered myself in completing the task to the fullest and giving it a 110%.

Every time someone asks me, how much of an effort are you putting in a project. I say, I am giving my 110%. They are puzzled and ask my why not a 100%?

Everyone believes in completing a given task. They consider it Success! I believe in taking the completed task to the next level. This is success for me. And hence a 110%.

Many people have a hard time following up with unplanned events. Prioritization and Time Management are very important for me.

For any of my projects I observe the following rules of success:

Always put in your 110%
Understand the requirements of the project
Plan every step of the project and consider the details
Organize your thoughts frequently to keep yourself in focus
Act as a consumer to build a better product
Work in a team as Teamwork helps to succeed
Manage your tasks by prioritizing them
Take care of the difficult part first.
Correct your mistakes by learning from your past
Always find a way to quantitatively measure your success

Sometimes your biggest weakness can become your strength. Thus with innovative thoughts, communication and proper planning one can give their 110% and take things to the Next Level.

Share this:

White Papers - Publishing and Referencing

Published by Nainil Chheda on January 6, 2009 in Literature, Management and Research. 0 Comments

Publishing White Papers has always been of interest to me. I wrote my first white paper on “Evaluation of Digital Certificates adoption in the E-business environment” while in school at Temple University’s Fox School of Business Management.

Wikipedia defines White Paper as

A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that often addresses problems and how to solve them. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions.

White Paper gives Scholarly advice on areas of interest. It brings the business and technology together and influences decision makers to leverage the thoughts into a business case.

My area of research includes but is not limited to the following:

Healthcare Information Systems, e.g. Electronic Medical Records, NHIN, RHIO
Applicability of Game Theory in Healthcare and Information Systems
Social / Human Aspects of Information Systems
Quantitative analysis for Search Engine Optimization
Diminishing Marginal Utility (Giffen Goods)
Application of “Consumer Centric” approach in Health care
Analyzing causes and effects of Internal Spamming

Recently I had been noticing that a lot of my White Papers were being referenced by corporate organizations, universities, standards organizations, clients and even students.

Here are some organizations referencing my work:

Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government : Government Intervention: A Necessary Evil to Increase HIT Adoption?
Medical Group Management Association, MGMA : The Purchasing Power of Today’s Medical Group Practice
University of Brussel (Europe) : Link
Athens University of Economics and Business (Greece) : A flexible model for the delivery of multi-facet information in patient–centric Healthcare Information Systems
OAISYS : Voice Documentation in Healthcare

With writing two whitepapers (Healthcare Today & Organization Security) as my 2009 resolution, I want to continue my belief that “Sharing Knowledge Helps“.

Share this:

Requirement Writing for Product Management

Published by Nainil Chheda on January 5, 2009 in Management, Organization and Technology. 1 Comment

I have been a part of the Product Management Team for almost a year and a half. Being a Product Manager, leads to added responsibility towards gaining insight on product development and communicating requirements from the consumer/client to the developer.

A Product Manager’s role for Requirement Writing includes:

Find problems and convey to development
Represent the customer
Own the Business Case

My experience has taught me that the product manager should:

Serve as the customer representative in planning and requirements definition
Define the requirements and the product roadmap for a market of customers
Support the ideals of agile development (we want process, but not to much process)

Recently I was exposed to White Papers on Requirement Writing from Pragmatic Marketing . My understanding on Requirement Writing has since then matured and I have documented the same in a presentation to share.

The conclusion that can be drawn from my extensive reading and past experience is “If we have been developing and prioritizing requirements for future products on an ongoing basis, we will have success’”.

Share this:

Presentations - For Communication

Published by Nainil Chheda on January 3, 2009 in Human Behaviour and Management. 0 Comments

Presentations are used during meetings or formal gatherings to explain and convey a particular topic of discussion.

Presentations can be defined as a visual representation of something (text or picture or video or demo). Recently I was introduced to SlideShare.net (a site to share powerpoint presentations)

SlideShare.net allows you to:
1. Upload your presentation
2. Share it
3. View presentations by others
4. Tag presentations
5. Mark favorites and post comment
6. Download presentations
7. Share your presentations via other Social Networking Sites like LinkedIn etc.

I remember the days when I used to request a speaker to send his/her presentation via email. Now, I request them to upload it on SlideShare. I use presentations for documenting what I have learned and for explaining our project status. Sometimes, I use powerpoint for building a project plan. The scope is unlimited. With Slideshare, I can learn ways of designing new slide templates and it helps me make my presentations interesting.

My Favorite Presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/nainil/favorites/

My SlideShare Network Link: http://www.slideshare.net/nainil/

The notion of sharing knowledge excites me. I have created more than 100+ presentations and I have uploaded many of them on my SlideShare Network.

My goal is to share knowledge by creating interesting presentations and making the audience understand what I am trying to convey. SlideShare seems to be the right tool for helping me move in that direction.

Share this:

An Ideal Company Meeting

Published by Nainil Chheda on June 10, 2008 in Management and Organization. 1 Comment

An Ideal Meeting (5 E’s of a Meeting)

1. Efficient (Time Bound)
2. Effective (Goal Achievement)
3. Educational
4. Entertaining (Not Dull)
5. Enriching (Feeling a part of the team)

Meeting Minutes: Minutes also known as protocols, are the instant written record of a meeting or hearing.

They should contain:

1. Where and when a meeting took place;
2. Attendees, i.e. the names of the participants;
3. Subject;
4. Minutes of the previous meeting;
5. Items on the agenda: the discussion held, the motions made, the resolutions carried (Proposer; Seconder; the results of the vote);
6. Any Other Business (AOB);
7. Date of the next meeting.

Share this:

Must-Do | Should-Do | Nice-to-Do

Published by Nainil Chheda on March 24, 2008 in Management and Organization. 1 Comment

Whenever I speak about Priorities, I describe it as a Cold War for “A Beautiful Mind”. Almost everyone I know is overwhelmed with work and most of them are unable to decide on their priorities.

I receive over 400 email messages each day (with virtually no Spam, so they are all legitimate). Currently I am a member of two departments; Product Management and the Network Team. I also work on at least 10+ projects under direct management supervision. Each day I attend at least 2 meetings (in-person/conference calls) and I have multiple walk-in corridor one-to-one conversations each time I walk to/from my desk.

In such a varied environment, one of the most difficult choices is to prioritize work and make sure you deliver your work on time without loosing focus of your other priorities.

How do I prioritize my work?

I make a list of all tasks and activities which I need to accomplish.
I divide my work into these three categories 1) Must-Do 2) Should-Do 3) Nice-to-Do
I give the highest preference/score to requests from the senior management and my direct reports.
If an email is sent on a “High Importance” notification I give it my attention.
If I am mentioned in the “To”, I give it my attention. If I am mentioned in the “cc” or “bcc” field I partially assume the person is trying to keep me in the loop.
I identify the areas in a task for which I am accountable for. This way I take ownership of the allocated task and prioritize accordingly.
If I am allocated an “Action Item” in a meeting, I choose to complete it before the next meeting. I also make it a point to browse through the agenda and revise the previous “Meeting Minutes” before I join a meeting.
I consider the real world limitations on execution of a work plan.
If my current skill set is inadequate for the task allocated to me I will discuss it upfront with the management and try to find an alternative replacement for the task.
If I am stuck in a complicated scenario I run down the “Prisoners Dilemma” model for Game Theory to identify the best available option which will allow me to prioritize my work.
I do not waste excessive time on low-priority tasks.
At the end of each day and the end of each week I try to reconcile with my daily & weekly scheduled tasks and I reorganize them according to meet the needs. Tasks may move to a higher priority as a deadline draws near.

To accomplish any task raw data needs to be filtered so that it becomes information; Information needs to be transformed so that it becomes knowledge. This complex environment of work prioritization involves structuring of data into relevant information by scanning, selecting and justifying data into useful knowledge.

With the idea that there should be a measure to control the work, I use Outlook’s “Calendar” and “Task” options to constantly remind me of meetings and incomplete tasks. I try to answer any questions/emails in a real-time fashion.

These twelve areas are a starter kit to appropriate prioritization in a complex organization. Work prioritization cannot be an afterthought; it is a project which must be resourced.

Share this:

Life as a Knowledge Manager

Archive for the 'Management' Category

10 Quick Ways to Motivate by David Javitch

Giving Credit to the Right People

A Follower of the KISS Principle

It’s not Personal. Its Business!

Self Motivation

It’s OK to say NO

Obama Inauguration - The Change We Need - Who Moved My Cheese?

Being Guilty about Multi-Tasking

Taking Things to the Next Level

White Papers - Publishing and Referencing

Requirement Writing for Product Management

Presentations - For Communication

An Ideal Company Meeting

Must-Do | Should-Do | Nice-to-Do

About Me

Subscribe to updates

What I am Reading

Meta

Disclaimer