Why Werent These Warnings In My Induction Pack

Why Werent These Warnings In My Induction Pack Starting a new job is a pretty exciting time. No matter how cool, calm and collected you try to be about the whole thing, the reality is, your whole world is about to be tipped upside down hopefully for the best! A huge chunk of your waking hours is spent working and whether you like it or not, work will often assume spotlight at the centre of your universe. Generally speaking, actually securing a new role is no mean feat from application through interviews to offer and beyond, youve beaten the odds.  Signing the dotted line and  resigning isnt a decision you wouldve taken lightly. By now youve probably thought of every possible reason to both decline and  accept your new job offer, before finally coming  to  a conclusion that meets your best interests. The reality is, though, that you are only working on promises, gut feeling and a bunch of unknowns how grateful wed be to have just a little bit more information. A  crystal ball would be handy, too! Its inevitable that therell  always be exciting (read: shocking / surprising) things for you to learn on the job;  pieces of information that didnt quite make it into your induction pack, or warrant being brought up mid interview. Some of these warnings wouldnt have turned you away necessarily, but gosh, wouldnt it have been nice if you were at least given a heads up? Here are the 10 warnings / disclaimers that are totally going to be  left out of your induction pack, but mark my words, youll learn sooner or later: People wont get back to you when they say they will This goes for stakeholders, clients, colleagues your manager. The office is bound to be full of over-promising and under-delivering, despite the exact opposite being written into the companys official values  on your intranet page. Competitive behaviour  exists internally The people here are great! No Im serious, they really are, but dearie me, when push comes to shove and promotion season comes around watch out. Work with one eye open, thats all. Preferably both. Your work  friends will leave you cold and alone Youll make really, really great friends with a couple of your colleagues, which is great! And then sooner or later, theyll move on to  pastures new, just as youve done, and leave you. Your colleagues are a total mixed bag As I said, your colleagues are a really great bunch of people well, most of them. Come to think of it, there are actually a few people who will probably drive you absolutely up the wall, sorry. Those who work the longest, not the hardest, often get the glory Youll constantly be told to foster work/life balance and allow yourself time to switch off. But then youll also start to notice that the people in earliest, leaving latest are idolised by management, regardless of the fact their long hours are due to their constant YouTubing. Youll be made to feel guilty for taking proper lunch breaks Again, your personal time is valued and you deserve to have ample break time. Just a word of warning though, when you do take a proper break from your desk, youll be made to feel like you just siphoned money from the company credit card and bought yourself a new house. The workplace isnt  a fair playing field You can try all you like to fight for whats fair, however things will regularly fall into the are you kidding me? category. Mistakes make you human annoying Youll always be encouraged to try new things and push the boundaries, be daring, be bold! However when you slip up, youll absolutely know about it! Still be daring and bold, just dont make a mistake. Expectations can get super unrealistic Youll get to the end of the month, or deadline time, and youll almost certainly be gifted with completely unrealistic expectations. At times youll wonder if someone is having you on to see if they can break you, but they arent; theyre seriously expecting those ludicrous outcomes. Now if you could just sign here; welcome on board!

Product Manager Description, Responsibilities, How To Become One - Algrim.co

Product Manager Description, Responsibilities, How To Become One - Algrim.co Product Manager. A word that is simple but a job that is complicated. If you search on Google, the term ‘product manager’ you will be bombarded with one line descriptions to a 600-word article. Here are some: Product Manager is a person with a long-term vision and strategy for the company's products which he/she communicates to all the relevant participants and stakeholders. Product Manager is a leader who works across teams to get product designed, built and launched. He/she is responsible for obtaining data, analytics, and expertise together and making final decisions over the product development. As you can see, all of them say different things. That’s because it is different in terms of what they do. The title of Product Manager remains the same but the role played by a person in a company will be different from others. However, despite the role played some aspects of the job of a Product Manager are alike. Every Product Manager has to deal with these elements â€" product, customer, business goals, people involved in development, i.e. company employees, executives, and stakeholders. So, back to the question. What is a product manager? What is a product manager’s job description? To keep it simple, Product Manager is someone who manages a product. To elaborate, a Product Manager manages the various aspects of a product. It usually starts with ways to innovate or improve a product. A Product Manager looks after a product so that it stays valuable for both the company and the customer. While a company sees a valuable product as something that generates revenue and profit, a customer views a product as relevant when it provides value by fulfilling their needs and demands. A Product Manager (PM) needs to retain the value of a particular product by juggling the resources. In a company, the product manager is at the nucleus of UX, Tech, and Business. It is a position that is responsible for and accountable for product development, commercial aspect, and user experience. It is quite a tricky job. So, product managers need to have these characteristics: Multidisciplinary A Product Manager needs to be good at one of the product disciplines (UX, marketing, etc.) as a minimum. This knowledge helps them understand the various aspects of the processes involved. Strategic A PM should be able to come up with plans on how to solve a problem. Planning helps avoid unnecessary resource utilization and hence, improve the effectiveness of resources. Persistent Product planning faces constant challenges. A successful PM always needs to be determined and motivated to meet those challenges. Collaborative Product creation is not a single man’s job. It is a collective effort from the various parts of the company. Hence, Product Managers should be able to work cooperatively. Every aspect of the product goes through the Product Manager. It is the kingpin that keeps all the elements related to product together in harmony. A PM needs to have a strong sense of teamwork to be able to lead people. He/she should have the ability to bring diverse people from different parts of a company with different beliefs and opinions united under their vision. Product Managers need to be problem-solving product visionaries who look after the customer needs and their expectations by managing ideas and feedback while strategizing what and how to meet business goals with doable targets. Their association with a product links them to various aspects. Executives and stakeholders, designers, salespeople and customers, all perform a specific task in the product cycle. Executive and stakeholders provide funding, designer design the product, salespeople sell the product, and the customer buys the product. Your job as a Product Manager would be to balance all these simultaneous acts. Let’s take a closer look at what are the responsibilities of a Product Manager. Responsibilities As we talked earlier, the job title of Product Manager remains the same, what differs is the role that a person in that position plays. It depends on several factors â€" the size of the company, type of company, type of product, the stage of a product, the culture of the company. A product manager has their head engaged to many things. Starting from managing concepts, product design, sample production of a product, testing and forecasting to cost of a product, its mass production, product promotion, customer support, and finally product end of life. In the corporate world, the PM task is to achieve the growth objectives for the business with elements like higher market share, more revenue and profit, and more substantial ROI on products and service channels offered by the company. So, the person needs to be good at managing and implementing marketing activities through research, strategic planning, and its application. Product and People Two things dictate the responsibilities of a Product Manager â€" product and people. Product aspects deal with factors like product vision, planning and prioritizing to build a product roadmap, leading the product execution and testing, getting feedback and iterating development. A PM needs to have a clear idea of the product’s impact upon the market; the objectives it aims to achieve and also the life cycle. Product vision helps guide what the product aims to make out of the market. It could be more substantial sales or more brand exposure. While product vision speaks about the outcome, product roadmaps help navigate through the market to achieve those goals. Roadmaps are a set of plans and strategies intended for implementation to acquire the desired goals. Succeeding product vision and roadmaps comes the phase of product execution where the Product Manager supervises over the product concepts take material form and get ready for market testing. Market testing secures feedback and suggestion which are taken into consideration for future development iteration of a product. This cycle of testing and development iteration continues until the product becomes market-worthy for production. The people aspects have influences like manage ideas and feedback, executives and stakeholders, developer team, design team, sales team, and marketing team. Since this aspect involves people, the Product Manager requires good people/social skills. It is a tough job; managing people, delivering expectations over deadline via the workforce while making critical decisions regarding a product’s future. Also, it is intended that a PM is acquainted with some other product disciplines. Experience in marketing, UX, software development or any discipline helps to realize how every job differs from one another which in turn makes the PM understanding of the process involved. Product Managers should be organized, naturally curious, be humble and good at managing people and resources while thinking about the bigger picture with practical, deliberate ideas, and be full of passion. Although Product Managers are at the head of the process, it does not mean they can throw in commands at their wish. They are accountable for every action they take from the people above and the people below. So, let’s discuss how Product Managers make vital decisions. Being transparent about priority and roadmap process It is given that as PM, a person has to make decisions. Be it resource allocation or accepting suggestions, for every step they take and perform an action, PMs need to explain the why behind it. They have to support their decisions prioritizing one thing over other with proper reasoning. A roadmap process is a long path peppered with various unknowns. PMs have to put out their reasons along with their roadmap ideas so that the people having questions understand their point of view. Being able to say no and explain why Be it a yes or no; a Product Manager has to ‘articulate’ when they say NO to something. Explaining why you favor one option over other is more natural than reasoning why you rejected a decision. Your NOs should have proper evidence and strategy backing to avoid misunderstandings and conflict. Don’t let the hierarchy of PM position fool you that one can get away without clarifying why you cannot grant a request. Being able to prioritize while balancing the needs of customer and stakeholder No matter how big a conglomerate, every company has limited resources. A Product Manager has to prioritize factors and objectives. It is a fine art of maintaining the balance between resources to achieve business goals. So, one can view PMs at one instance supporting a notion and at other instance standing against a concept. They need evidence-based decision making while having any communication. That is because decisions backed by strategy and evidence have much more value. Decisions supported by evidence will be much more effective than a mere opinion from someone. How to become a Product Manager? Before diving into the sea of product management, you need to have figured yourselves out. By that what I mean is know your skills, interests, and strengths. There’s no point looking into product jobs if your interests lie somewhere else. Sure, you could look at it just as a job, but having passion and enthusiasm for the job you are working goes a long way to ensure productivity and learning. That been said, there is a wide range of roles for Product Managers. These roles differ according to what the company wants from their PM. It could be a creative or technical role. Maybe the company wants someone to work on the innovative side of things, generate ideas or show a different perspective to things. Alternatively, a company might wish to have an individual to look after the technical aspect of a product; something like design or UX. Also, when looking for a product manager job, one needs to consider the work culture of a company. While some companies prefer testing with new ideas and invoking changes to the organization, others establishments might act foreign to such notions of deviations and stick to the usual approach. An individual should work on finding a work profile that matches their work ethics. Now, that we know something about what to look out for when searching for a product job, let us focus on getting hired. Being visible It is simple. No one is going to hire you if they don’t know you exist. But, you might ask 'how do we go about letting our existence known to the companies?' With the evolution of the Internet, there are many online communities hosting people related to product management. Participating in these communities is an excellent way to slowly surge your presence and show interest in the product scene. Leave comments on other people’s work, get involved in a discussion. All help. Alternatively, you can make use of the old trusted method of meeting people. Try attending meetups like seminars to expand your network and learn things. You will gain first-hand experience from such sessions while making new connections which will be useful in the future. One more thing, whenever you meet someone never shies away to admit that you are interested and looking for a job. Chances are they might be looking for someone to hire and even if they are not, they might know someone who might be looking to hire. Step into the market Look into job boards or connect with HRs of companies. Keep constantly eyeing for any employment opportunities. Don’t just look into managerial positions. Look for jobs that are related to the product scene. Remember, with hard work you will always progress and reach that coveted Product Manager position. So, starting a bit lower, i.e. in disciplines (UX, market, sales) is not a bad thing. Starting lower helps understand the inner workings of the product development process and will make you a better PM in the future. Being prepared Always stay connected with the industry. Read books, follow blogs and podcasts. Do things that keep you up-to-date with the latest in the industry. Following listed are some of the best books on Product Manager: Product Leadership by Martin Eriksson, Richard Banfield, and Nate Walkingshaw The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen The Art of Product Management by Rich Mironov This article was a short insight into Product Manager, what it is, what are their responsibilities and how you can step into the industry and be a Product Manager.

Why Your Left Hand Hates Your Right Hand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Why Your Left Hand Hates Your Right Hand - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career In a typical population, left-handers make up about 15%.  Of course, not every population is typical. Among the five designers of the first Apple computer, four are left-hand dominant. Three of the last five presidents are left-handed. In a group of alcoholics, left-handers triple their typical representation. So, your left hand might have a lot of interesting stats, but odds are you’re right-handed,   so it’s likely you ignore it unless you really need… an extra hand. On the other hand…. Your right hand pretty much stars in life’s events. It shakes all the other hands that are stuck out to welcome you. It gets supported in those little desk-chair units at school. Scissors are made for it, no special request needed. It waves hello and good-bye. Actually, given all the action your right hand sees â€" your left hand might be jealous. Sounds nonsensical, doesn’t it? Your hands are simply doing what comes naturally. It’s silly to think that something underhanded (ha!) is going on. So, let’s get serious. What does your left hand have to do with your attitude about other people at work? Like your body parts, your co-workers are functioning largely as they are naturally inclined to do. Some are quiet. Some seem to dominate every meeting. Some seem to be incapable of helping when you need boxes carried or midnight oil burned. Some seem to want to jump in (lend a hand?), anytime you look stressed. Sure, some of us have better titles, more initials after our names and bigger spaces to work in. Some of us have special training and skills. Those attributes don’t change our nature. Largely we each are doing what we do, as we are naturally inclined to do it. So stop being mad at everyone who acts differently than you want them to. When you stop taking others actions so personally, you become a much happier person. A person who is more in control of yourself, and your career trajectory. The next time someone infuriates you, maybe you could take a breath and think: Wow. Just like my own left hand. It often isn’t strong enough or quick enough to do what I need. Thats the way things are. What does that take? Charity. Patience. Compassion. Three personal branding qualities that you want to keep in mind and on hand. (With my apologies to left-handers!)

Revisting the Network Strength Pyramid for 2008 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Revisting the Network Strength Pyramid for 2008 - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Back in time One of my first blog posts ever, was on my previous blog Driven-to-succeed, which was built on October 4th, 2006. As some of you may know, I leveraged all the relevant content from my past blog for this one. The blog post introduced a working model for networking, which I called the Network Strength Pyramid. The intention with developing this simple model was to show you, not just how critical networking is, but that the strength of your relationships would increase the chances for you to get opportunities. Your family is your strongest connection, followed by friends and then acquaintances sit at the bottom. Networking in 2008 The economic trends that Ive been closely watching since January are really scaring people. Before I was born, networking was an option. You could have a single interview and claim a position, solely based on your skills. Today, more attention is paid on who you know, who they know and so forth (LinkedIn models this). Companies want to eliminate risk and receive recommendations in the form of personal endorsements. The unemployment rate has fallen to 5.4% this month from 5.5% last month (Labor Department). More bad news comes in the form of the amount of layoffs that have occurred recently. 60,000 positions will be cut from U.S. payrolls in June and 49,000 were cut in May. This is the 6th consecutive month of job loses. Why networking? Why now? As the population increases, the amount of jobs decrease and the amount of people receiving degrees increases, you can imagine how hard it is to get a job. Despite the economy, competition will always grow, not just in your professional career, but the growth in small businesses and consultants will exponentially grow. When everyone has similar skills, the only way to get a job is through another person (see my earlier post about performing a people search). When you realize that the people you know are more important than what youve learned in school, you will be more successful. Going out of their way for you The more and more I thought about this model, the more I viewed the object of networking is to be close enough of people that they would go out of their way for you. When you have built rapport and a relationship, the chances someone would drop what they are doing to help you increases significantly. Most people wont be compelled to go out of their way for you when you meet them for the first time. Acquaintances expect more out of you to gain trust. If you provide for them first, then you can start to convert them into a friend. Although you cant turn a friend into a family member (unless meet an acquaintance of the opposite sex and marry her), a friend is still high enough in the pyramid to want to help you. Tip: Reach out to 5 people each day and see how you can serve them.

The #MeToo Movement and Diversity in the Workplace - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

The #MeToo Movement and Diversity in the Workplace The #MeToo Movement and Diversity in the Workplace

Are you productive... or just doing busy work - Margaret Buj - Interview Coach

Are you productive... or just doing busy work Productivity in the workplace is as important as ever. Many people will get involved in what is known as “busy work. These are things that make you look busier than you actually are but do not add much to the bottom line. Employers want workers who get their work done accurately in a timely manner. In fact, most companies cannot afford to employ time wasters! So what are some things that you can do to show your productivity in the workplace? Here are a couple of tips: Communicate. Supervisors are not always aware of your day-to-day tasks. Communicate regularly with your boss to discuss your assignments. This is also a great chance to ask any lingering questions you may have about specific assignments or projects. Volunteer. If you find yourself having some time to spare during your workday, ask your supervisor if there’s anything else you can do to help out the department. Perhaps another employee is on vacation and you could take over one of their assignments while they’re away. Or maybe a project is overdue and the team members could use your expertise to finish it up. Block Distractions.   It’s easy to waste 15 minutes doing something pointless but if you can get into the habit of getting as much as you can possibly get done in a 15 minute period, you’ll be surprised of how much you can get done when you expand that time frame out to an hour. This means resisting the temptation to sit on the phone, check your Facebook or Twitter. Save those things for your free time at home or at lunchtime, and show your employer that you’re working hard to help the company succeed during work hours. Actively Listen. During meetings and at the office, actively listen and take notes about future assignments and new clients. It’s easy to switch off during a long meeting but stay focused, ask good questions and ensure you completely understand your assignments. This will undoubtedly keep you being productive in the future. These are just some of the tips that if incorporated will make you a better employee and you will increase productivity by many times. And if you apply just one new productivity tip into your life each and every week, you will be amazed at the results within just weeks. Id love you to leave me a comment below what are your tips for being productive, not just busy?

Rousing Review The Creative Habit

Rousing Review The Creative Habit Venturing out of your comfort zone may be dangerous, yet you do it anyway because our ability to grow is directly proportional to an ability to entertain the uncomfortable. -Twyla Tharp When I decided to read The Creative Habit right after The War of Art, I have to admit I gave myself a great big pat on the back. The War of Art was great in helping artists recognize identify where why Resistance (that pesky Vampire!) stops you from doing That Creative Thing You Do, but the phrase A Practical Guide at the bottom of the cover of The Creative Habit made me think that it would address the how. Sure, The War of Art really hit home with that beloved phrase, Just do it (Every day. No matter what), while thats simplistic powerful in so many ways, the artist life coach in me wanted more. I was hoping The Creative Habit would deliver it, and it did to a point. The Creative Habit is divided into chapters that formulate a foundation for Tharp (Spine, Memory, Accidents, etc). She delves into personal anecdotes advice, always followed by a suggestion of different exercises to further you along in your discovery personal interpretation of that idea. For example, Twyla speaks often of scratching, or the process of digging through everything to find something an idea, an image, anything thatll turn into a tangible idea thatll spark your creative endeavor. One of the most memorable exercises comes at the end of the chapter, where she encourages the reader to take a handful of coins in any number denomination toss them onto a table to see how they fall, then rearrange them into a pattern again again again, like a musical chord resolving. I can see how it helps her, a world-renowed choreographer, come up with new configurations for her dancers. I can see, also, how it helps me, a creative person looking for a new perspective, to see infinite possibilities in something that I usually wouldnt look twice at. Tharp also offers great stake-wielding stuff to slay the Vampires that hunt all of us Creatives. She lays it out on the table (i.e. Somebodys done this before!) then knocks it down (i.e. Honey, its all been done before. Get over yourself). She also speaks of the joy of planning (not overplanning!) imperfection, how to determine if youre in a rut, how to keep your groove going how to deal with failure. Her advice is comforting inspiring, all the while giving me new perspective allowing me to feel that I wasnt alone. Its no mistake that rarely do 2 pages flip by that arent marked by my highlighter. I mentioned to someone (I forget who, its bothering me!) a while ago that I was reading the book, she mentioned that its tough to get through it as someone who is more of a Renaissance Soul, is unable and/or unwilling to just throw themselves into their work. Tharp talks often about how shell rid herself of all distractions (no music! no clocks! no numbers (yes, really numbers)! no speaking!) just live, breathe, think, talk think the gym the rehearsal studio for weeks. She also encourages artists to pick a talent if they excel at more than one, as its a curse to have a 50% chance of being wrong about their true calling. The life coach Renaissance Soul in me super dislikes this sentiment, but I understand her stance if youre someone that wants to Master Excel in their field is willing able to chuck the rest of Life. That said, here are my favorite exercises from the book, just waiting for journaling!: Tharp poses 33 questions for you to answer in Your Creative Autobiography. Get out your journal answer some of my faves (seriously youll totally want to): What is the first creative moment you remember? Was anyone there to witness or appreciate it? What is the best idea youve ever had? What made it great in your mind? What is your creative ambition? What are the obstacles to this ambition? What are the vital steps to this ambition? What are your habits? What patters do you repeat? What do you your role models have in common? At what moments do you feel your reach exceed your grasp? When you work, do you love the process or the result? Pick a new name. What would you want it to say about you? What would it be? Why? Take a field trip. Give a walk into purpose by saying that you wont return home until you have something inspiring in your hand, whether its visual, intellectual or tangible. For one day, be completely contrary. Pick a fight with everything you do your wake-up routine, your rituals, your habits, your first creative impulse. Figure out Your Perfect World. What are the rules conditions? Whats essential what can be compromised on? Who is with you whats surrounding you? Bottom Line? The Creative Habit is a great book from a world-renowned artist who divulges her secrets in creating a new piece, building on it, sticking with it (both the piece as a singular unit the career as a whole), climbing the artistic ladder. But if youre looking for an interactive program of sorts, or something thats really gonna kick your ass into gear, Id take a pass. ********************************************************************************************************* 1 person. 12 session. $0. Announcing the 2nd Annual When I Grow Up Scholarship! Get Danielle LaPorte’s Nuggets of Genius in your own home, on your own time. Announcing the Digital Firestarter Sessions from my “cult leader.” Great Giveaway! Win a fantastically awesome print from Artsyville.