The “Crucible Moments” podcast is a fascinating listen, especially as Roelof Botha (whose thoughts are the inspiration for this blog) isn’t the main subject. He plays the role of presenter; the main guest is Jack Dorsey (former Twitter CEO who now runs the financial services company Block). The central narrative of the podcast is the evolution of Block from its origins as Square, and how they created Cash App, a ‘third’ option, which is now responsible for half of Block’s revenue. The strategy of expanding the number of options for consideration was instrumental in helping Block identify and eliminate what wasn’t working and focus on more profitable projects.
The “Crucible Moments” podcast is a fascinating listen, especially as Roelof Botha (whose thoughts are the inspiration for this blog) isn’t the main subject. He plays the role of presenter; the main guest is Jack Dorsey (former Twitter CEO who now runs the financial services company Block). The central narrative of the podcast is the evolution of Block from its origins as Square, and how they created Cash App, a ‘third’ option, which is now responsible for half of Block’s revenue. The strategy of expanding the number of options for consideration was instrumental in helping Block identify and eliminate what wasn’t working and focus on more profitable projects.
Empowerment, autonomy, ownership – these buzzwords have rattled around for a few years now in relation to IT Project talent.
Most project managers, business analysts (etc) would agree that they have the power to schedule their own time, track their own progress and tasks and choose how they work, to some extent. It usually leads to improved performance – after all who knows how to do a job better than the person who does it day-in, day-out?!
What if you could take this improved individual performance and amplify it across your whole project or portfolio?
Interesting perspective from a Chief Experience Officer, Sandy, on how her organisation is making decisions – “we’re like a car that’s forgotten it has a steering wheel and more than one gear”.
I love this metaphor. I can see the car missing turn offs and short cuts and the noise and smoke from driving along in first gear!
What she means is that when the project team faces a challenge, or has a strategic decision to make, instead of weighing up what the problem really is and what would be best, it is culturally beholden to the in-house resources it already has at its disposal.
Sandy thinks it may be a hangover from the pandemic.
I suppose we all managed with what resources we could lay our hands on, became insular in our thinking, even adopting a scarcity mindset as we adjusted to the changing reality.
Despite the slow economy and provisional estimates which suggested lower mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity at the start of 2023, there were 365 mergers and acquisitions involving UK Companies during Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2023 according to the Office of National Statistics.
There were inward M&A (foreign companies acquiring UK companies) in Quarter 1 2023 was £12.7 billion; and the total value of outward M&A (UK companies acquiring foreign companies) in Quarter 1 2023 was £2.9 billion.
David writes blogs based on his many years in Project Management and also on ideas from the team here at Stoneseed. Light-hearted, insightful and funny, David’s blog cover all things Project Management, Leadership, Best Practice, PMO, Business Analysis and of course Project Management as a Service.
Most IT Project Management teams are masters of the technical aspects of the project – all the i’s are dotted, and the t’s are crossed, the business case is clear and delivered (on paper at least) but what about the people who you need to implement your project on a day-to-day basis?
With the UK economy stuttering, businesses are having to react and become more resilient, leaner and more efficient. We are seeing a growth in the number Business Change projects, stoking demand for Business Analysis skillset.
IT Projects are perfectly placed to shape the future of business as we emerge from this pandemic
Businesses need to be leaner and more innovative.
It’s time for IT Project teams to say, “Hold our coffee, watch us do our thing” – this is our moment.
All of us work in organisations that have resources deployed to deliver our mission - be that delivering construction projects, developing software, providing education...
