Category Archives: Emotional Intelligence

Solutions Architect -vs- Senior Principal Consultant

There are well known discrepancies in the software industry as to the definition of a Solutions Architect and a Senior Principal Consultant. Depending on what type of organization you speak to, you might get completely different answers to this question. … Continue reading

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Are most Information Technology Architects more Managers or Technologists? Is the 50/50 balance really possible?

IT Architecture is the evolution of a career, in that it takes years of experience designing, building, and rolling out systems that match a set of criteria.   The hardest part as I have detailed in previous posts is not the … Continue reading

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Turning a Frustrated Customer into a Reference

Have you ever walked into a new customer and realized immediately that they don’t like you?  Not you personally, but your company in general . If you’re an consultant for a software company this is an all to common occurrence.    You … Continue reading

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Getting To Know Your Customers – The Interview Process

A few weeks ago I spent 3 days at a customer site getting to “know” them.   It was a positive experience,  so I thought it might be a good idea to go through what I was trying to accomplish, … Continue reading

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How do you know you have the right team?

One of my favorite things to do these days is pose wide open questions on Linkedin and review the responses.  Most times folks on that site give well thought out answers to those questions and I learn a great deal … Continue reading

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What Characteristics Do You Need To Be A Good Architect?

My IASA meetings are giving me a lot of material to blog about, and to tell you the truth this weeks meeting was no exception.   Today I want to talk to you about what characteristics you need to exhibit if … Continue reading

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How do you know you’re developing what your customers want?

I spent an hour last week talking to a couple of developers who are the main people behind a particular product.  I won’t name the product or the company, but let’s just say I have been personally working with this … Continue reading

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Emotional Intelligence in Software Development

In software development today, the folks developing most software programs are not the same people interacting with the users of the end product.   This often times leads to software that misses the mark when it comes to expected functionality or … Continue reading

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Software Development Is Not Like Building a Car – Part III

When implementing a project whose team is made up of customer employees, and vendor consultants, there are to be honest many competing agendas in forming that team.  The customer wishes to keep costs down, and utilize the consultants for as … Continue reading

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Software Development Is Not Like Building a Car – Part II

The most common questions asked by my peers and managers regarding Agile software development is this.  What is it, how can it benefit me, and how can it cut my costs down? So what is Agile Software Development? Agile software … Continue reading

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