Nearly four years ago we began the TAPUniversity Blog. It’s been based on a mix of our training and consulting delivery. The first topic was a top 10 things to do for contractors or consultants (or not do). After a round of consulting assignments, in pharmaceutical and insurance, with other consultants alongside me, I observed […]
March 22, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a venerable mainstay of management and MBA curriculum. While it’s typically applied at the organization level for strategic management, SWOT analysis can be a helpful technique for understanding the business perspective for a set of requirements or a project. It’s described in 9.32 of the BABOK™ A […]
March 1, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
The whiteboard. The dry eraser. The multi-color pens. The overbearing meeting participant. Those four things often come together when thinking of brainstorming. It’s a technique among multiple management nexus disciplines and at the heart of agile, business analysis and project management. It can produce great results from a team. The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge […]
February 14, 2011 by Adrian Reed (UKAdrianReed)
Project teams are complex and it’s essential that the team works together productively to achieve the end goal. Every so often, there will be a ‘project maverick’ that upsets the balance. Perhaps they ignore the plan, or escalate an issue straight to the CEO. Mavericks are often seen as a Project Managers worst nightmare, as […]
February 5, 2011 by Dave Kohrell
Re·quire·ment n. 1. Something that is required; a necessity. 2. Something obligatory; a prerequisite.¹ Among the twelve principles of Agile, that one that evokes a good amount of debate is changing requirements, even late in development. This contrasts from plan driven approaches to development that “freeze requirements” and lock those in through development and deployment. […]
December 20, 2008 by tapuniversity
Congratulations to TAPUniversity's eight most recent Effective Virtual Team graduates. Since August of 2005 over 175 people have graduated from this class. Look forward to the unveiling of the Effective Virtual Team Institute soon.
November 22, 2008 by tapuniversity
Rules of the road and top 10 list for contractors. I’ve found that success in growing TAPUniversity and delivering training is slightly different than success in being a “roaming Jedi, hired hand”. While there’s a lot in common there are some differences. So here’s some tips - a top "10" list if you will that may help you if you’ve found yourself joining the ranks of “contractor”. These tips are not all areas I’m perfect in — in fact I’ve stumbled on each of these at some point over the last seven years. Please feel free to add, comment and respond!
October 3, 2012 by Dave Kohrell
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