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  • Guide for career progression - 3Ps process

    Do you know the effective way of moving forward in your career? If no, read more .. < Back Guide for career progression - 3Ps process Do you know the effective way of moving forward in your career? If no, read more .. While the trajectory of your career is influenced by both hard work and luck, it's equally shaped by your ability to recognize the right opportunities and make strategic moves at the right moments. As you ascend into more impactful roles, the competition intensifies, making advancement more challenging. Drawing from my own experience and observations, I've distilled the journey from one career level to the next into a three-step approach. Following these steps, in conjunction with seizing opportunities and timing your actions effectively, can greatly enhance your career progression. Before delving into the steps and unveiling the secret, it's important to note that this approach may not universally apply to all scenarios and job types. It's tailored to the context of the IT sector, where hierarchical structures prevail, and individuals are driven to climb the corporate ladder. Now, let's explore the three-step process I mentioned earlier. This process typically spans 2-3 years (given the current IT landscape), demanding patience, adaptability, a willingness to invest effort, a knack for acquiring new skills, and the occasional stroke of luck. The three stages of this process are Prepare , Practice , and Progress . Henceforth, I'll refer to it as the 3Ps approach. 1. Prepare yourself well In any job role, setting your own goals is crucial. Without a clear direction for your career and objectives, you could easily end up adrift, like a piece of wood in a river's current. So, establish your goals. Make sure they're realistic, achievable, and, importantly, measurable. Your goals should be tangible enough that you can showcase your accomplishments to your managers and colleagues. It's wise to set goals that can be realized in both the short term (3-6 months) and the long term (2+ years). When setting goals, remember they should meet two essential criteria: Benefit Your Project/Organization: Your goals should contribute positively to your project or organization's success. Add Value to Your Performance Report: Your goals should reflect achievements that hold weight and contribute to your performance assessment. Once your goals are defined, the initial and most crucial step is to hit the ground running by dedicating yourself to your project with diligence and intelligence. Key actions to consider: Rapidly grasp the project's intricacies. Demonstrate teamwork and active listening skills. Assist your teammates. Deliver strong results in your project, establishing your dependability. Showcase your capability to handle the project with confidence. Typically, within 6-8 months, you should be ready to transition into the next phase of your progression. Once you've fulfilled the aforementioned criteria, you're poised to step forward and embrace even more challenges. 2. Practice Diligently – Become a Vital Player The next phase revolves around immersing yourself in project work and evolving into a pivotal contributor. To comprehend the term 'key player' is fundamental to mastering this stage. When I refer to a key player, I mean someone who is: Self-sufficient in project-related tasks Exceptionally proficient and reliable in their role Capable of delivering solutions to challenges Possesses a deep understanding of the project and its environment Achieving self-reliance requires dedicated efforts to understand the project's nuances, internalize its objectives, and align your short-term goals accordingly. As the saying goes: Working hard is crucial, but working smart is even more so! Evolving into a key player not only elevates your significance within the project but also strengthens your trustworthiness, contributing to favorable impressions from your superiors. Rather than merely clocking in hours, it's pivotal to focus on demonstrating outcomes. Although sometimes long hours are needed, tangible accomplishments carry more weight. A span of approximately 6-8 months is a reasonable timeframe to attain key player status. Yet, let me emphasize that this isn't an easy feat. You must constantly exhibit a willingness to learn, adapt to changes, and exhibit your competencies on the journey. This becomes a critical aspect during this phase and serves as a significant exit criterion. Demonstrating your project's value is crucial for your management to acknowledge and appreciate your contributions. (Apologies for unveiling this crucial tip!) Key tips to bear in mind while striving for key player status include: Showcase your value by yielding results. Take the initiative to implement technical solutions for common challenges. Boost efficiency by automating routine tasks. Remember, outcomes matter more than the time spent. Attain process efficiency and highlight gains for both management and customers. Strive to be consistently visible. If you succeed in this pursuit and evolve into a key player within the team/organization, you're better positioned for the next phase in your career journey. However, keep in mind that this isn't a straightforward path and might necessitate regular discussions and aligning short-term goals with your manager. It's imperative to keep your manager informed about your progress, your immediate objectives, and how your contributions benefit the project! 3. Progress forward Assuming you've effectively become a key player within the team and have been performing at your peak for a substantial period, it's time to prepare for the next step by 'unlearning' some of your current project knowledge and cultivating successors. When I mention 'unlearn,' consider these key steps: Identify someone who can step into your role within the project. Personally train this individual on the project's intricacies. Ensure the knowledge you've amassed is transferred, understood, and practiced by your chosen successor. Remain accessible to your manager for tasks that need completion (since, ultimately, you're aspiring for their role, right?). Initiate the process of making your own role in the project redundant. You might wonder about the last point – after all, if the second phase urged you to be a key player, why suggest making yourself redundant now? It's a valid question and a tremendously crucial one. The answer is simple: unless you pave the way for your project to function independently of you, how can you ascend to the next level? The significance lies in building a proficient team and robust resources for the project's continuity. It demonstrates your legacy as a professional, manager, and effective leader. During this phase, connect more frequently with your manager than you did in the earlier stage. Seek to comprehend their responsibilities, methodologies, and performance expectations. Secret tip: Your manager is also striving for advancement. By aiding their progress, you pave the way for your own ascent. Grant them space to rise, and you'll find yourself rising too! If luck shines your way, you might observe favorable outcomes in your subsequent performance reviews. Then, you can loop back to applying the principles of phase 1 to your new role! As I mentioned in my initial post, this cycle generally spans about 2-3 years. Patience and a strong work ethic are vital attributes during this journey. ---- Photo in the image by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash Previous Next

  • Seven tricks to feel motivated at workplace and in life

    Have you ever felt de-motivated, dejected, disappointed or down hearted ... < Back Seven tricks to feel motivated at workplace and in life Have you ever felt de-motivated, dejected, disappointed or down hearted ... Have you ever felt de-motivated, dejected, disappointed or down hearted after a long day’s work ? I am sure you would have at some point in your life, if not every day after the work. Staying motivated and positive for long time is a real struggle. We are surrounded by and often assaulted by negative thinking and anxiety about the present situation and of course about the future ! We always have a phase where we start doubting ourselves and feel depressed. Unfortunately there is no master key or a simple solution to unlock the mystery of de-motivation. Even after we feel we are over it, sometimes, it comes back to haunt us in an even bigger way. Here, in this article, I would like to mention few of the points that would help one keep up the motivation, focus and avoid the long spells of depression and dejection, especially at work ! Love music Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach Whilst I am not a big fan of music collection, I do have a small collection of specific songs that I find dear to my heart. It is a decent mixture of all types of songs ranging from disco to classical and ghazals to bhajans. Depending on what emotional state I want to get, I choose the song and listen. This helps me often to get right state of mind before I proceed to do next task. Have a buddy at work Its important to have someone at work whom you can consider a best friend or a buddy. You need to have one such friend with whom you can share your work difficulties and vent out temporary frustration. Believe me, more often than not, you need some kind of instant emotional support with whom you can talk and share things. At more stressful jobs, you often experience bursts of negativity around due to several work related matters. So it is always helpful to have someone who you can count on to help you get out of negativity and back to normal mind state. Human is a social animal and we all have an inherent need of talking and being heard. In case you do not have anyone whom you can to and talk your heart out, it really feels like dejected and lonely at times. Spent a good time with your friend and talk on topics that interest you to get your positivity back on track. On the other hand, please extend help to your buddy when he / she is in the need of help. Have a hobby / passion In my opinion, having some passion in life is very important. For me, my passion is watching football. It keeps me going and helps me keep happy. My favorite club is Manchester United and I do everything I can to watch them playing (on TV at least). Watching them play my favorite game makes me happier and feel inspired. However, if they lose then there is an equal chance of me feeling more miserable after that. I do keep recordings of certain match clips which I tend to watch when I am feeling a little low and it certainly has helped in keeping me inspired. Passion is closely related to the emotional behavior of the human and if you see your passion fulfilled, its more of a chance that you feel inspired and motivated. Focus on positives Sometimes, if we experience too much negativity for a prolonged period of time and feel de-motivated for a longer spell of time, we go into a state of mind where all the thoughts start with negative options and creates negative vibes around us. Once you fall into the negativity trap, its not very easy to come out and have any positive feeling about anything. In past, when I had fallen into the trap of negativity, I used to feel negative for no real reason and sometimes a mere presence of few people around used to make me start feel de-motivated. However, the wiser I got, I tend to avoid feeling on this trap by concentrating more on the positives that are coming out from the situation. Look at the scenario holistically rather than what is only seen to you Thank God for not making things any worse Find out one positive thing that you can take out of the situation. As I often mention in many of my conversations, “there are always 100s of negative things that can be made out of the situation, but if you find at least one positive thing out of it, consider it a learning for life and thank GOD”. Positivity is a habit, and once you get it, you can easily overcome situations that are trying to put you back in the hole of negativity and de-motivation. Praise others Spreading good words makes one feel positive and help others feel good about themselves. This, in turn make change in people’s behavior towards you in a better way, making you feel better. Believe me, speaking positive about someone else’s work and personality is the best way to connect with the person in a right way. I remember a specific incident when I was given to work with a so-called difficult person. All the people who worked with that person earlier, warned me about the boring and micro-management behavior of the person. While I too felt a little bit strange with his work methods, the more I started to talk to him and praise him about some real good work he had done in past (in some cases without anyone’s real help), it made him really comfortable with me and I could see an immediate behavior change in him towards me allowing me freedom to work the way I want. Ultimately this led to work satisfaction for both of us and a little bit more positive at work for me ! However, one thing that you need to keep in mind is when to praise someone and how much to praise. There is fine line between real appreciative person and feet-licking bastard ! You need to ensure that you do not cross to the other side .. Open your mind I always feel that one need to share what he / she feels about the situation in a right way. Its not often very motivating to work in uneasy, unconvincing situations or scenarios where you are in a confused state or feel half-committed to the cause. Learn a bit about emotional intelligence and try to be aware of your state of mind. One very important, but often neglected, fact is to know our state of mind and understand our emotions. We go through so many emotions such as happiness, inspired, dejection, unhappy, nervousness etc., at work place during various hours of the day and due to several causes, it almost becomes a habit to suppress them and continue with the job we are doing. Can you stay in a meeting where you do not feel like being, and contribute productively ? Can you give right suggestions and solutions to a problem, when you are in a state of anger or frustration ? Definitely not ! The more you suppress your emotions, the more you feel out of control and start losing your own focus. Its important to let others know what state of mind you are and help yourself in getting back to where you should be. Believe me, the more I tried this, the more I felt in control of the situation and my responses were getting better, in turn making me feel positive and motivated. Think big and have faith When you get the questions, such as “why does it always happen with me”, “why am I being pushed to do something that I do not want to do”, “no one seems to help me here” start flowing in your mind, think of is as time to take a step back and consider the bigger picture and look at the intention behind the situation. When such situation occurs, look at the big picture and find out the intentions behind this situation. In case you are wondering how to do this, I recommend reading a story in my leadership series. You can safely bank on the thumb rule of “intentions of people at work place are never bad, sometimes behaviors are” to sail through this period. On the other hand, if you are unable to trace the intentions and get any positivity of the big picture, think of it as the lowest point and be happy that things can only improve on this point onwards. Just have faith ! #positivethinking #work #mindset #behaviour #worklife #emotions #emotionalintelligence Previous Next

  • Trust does wonders to people

    A little story of a conversation between me and one of my product managers .. < Back Trust does wonders to people A little story of a conversation between me and one of my product managers .. [ Originally published on Linkedin here ] PM (A bit worried) to me – Hey Swapnil, we have a 1:1 catch up scheduled every two weeks right now, but I would like it to be a bit more frequent. Can we talk weekly or daily? I would like to validate my thinking and decisions I make before I talk to the team and stakeholders and communicate them the updates and decisions. Me – Hmm. Why do you want to validate your decisions with me? PM – I just want to ensure that I am on right track and making right decisions and have thought through from all perspectives and I think you can help me validate my thinking. Me – What if I say No? PM (Puzzled) – But, what if I make a wrong decision? And how would you know what decisions I make every day with regards to the team? Me – Well, that’s exactly why I say No. I want you to know that I trust you one hundred percent and you should feel comfortable being in-charge and make decisions. Its OK, some decisions will go wrong and we may need to revert those, but that’s the learning you will get through the process. Intent is important and even if you make some decisions wrong keeping right intent, it will not impact my trust and my backing to you. PM (A bit relieved) – Thanks. Feels better now! What if the team members, do not agree with my decisions? Me - Well, it’s not enough just to communicate decisions. You should also be able to communicate ‘why’ you made those decisions and what was the reasoning behind them. Tell them the story, constraints, context and intent behind making that decision and be open and transparent with them. I am sure they will understand each decision you make and by doing this, you are also strengthening the trust bond between you and team members. PM (Happy) – Makes lot of sense. Thanks! But I would still like to come and talk to you on things that puzzle me. Me – Anytime! Like you just did today! Trust does wonders to people! #trust #leadership #decisions Previous Next

  • How developers can become a lot more productive | Swapnil Deshpande

    < Back How developers can become a lot more productive Swapnil Deshpande & Vivek Kant speak on developer effectiveness, with Times Jobs. The phenomenal pace of digitalisation, especially following the pandemic, has led to a surge in demand for developers. But hiring and reskilling developers is turning out to be an expensive and time-consuming affair. Another way to tackle the problem is to improve the productivity and effectiveness of your existing developers. That was the subject of our discussion in the Times Techies Webinar last week. “A typical programmer spends no more than 30-40% time in actual coding,” said Vivek Kant, CTO of Finserv MARKETS. The rest of the time, she is in meetings, asking and following up on approvals (like for use of IT infra), following up with another team which has built an API she needs to use, going back to business analysts or product owners for clarifications of requirements and design. “There’s also the discoverability issue in today’s microservices and API world, where all applications are dependent on each other. There are so many of these, I wouldn’t know what all exists, what each one’s capabilities are. The developer spends a lot of time trying to find these, raising tickets, waiting for responses,” Swapnil Deshpande, chief digital officer at Thoughtworks, said. Deshpande also found different Thoughtworks offices working on exactly the same problems, without realising it. So Deshpande’s team set about developing what they call an internal developer platform and a developer experience portal, and launched the beta version in July. Called Neo (network-enabled organisation), the platform connected all developers, became a repository for all knowledge in the organisation, enabled requests and approvals (it’s increasingly even automating provisioning once an approval is given). “Getting basic IT infrastructure now takes less than a day, compared to 7-10 days earlier; the average time between ideation and first line of code has gone down from a couple of weeks to a couple of days; building APIs is down to minutes, from days. Developers can discover all assets entirely by themselves by searching on the portal,” Deshpande said. Kant said developer effectiveness at Finserv MARKETS has increased 20-30% after his team improved tooling, automated processes, and built developer self-service capabilities. “I believe we can go another 2x, 3x on developer effectiveness,” he said. Previous Next

  • Innovation techniques – for the brilliant ideas in you

    Innovation is almost non-negotiable for every company today. Its important aspect that ... < Back Innovation techniques – for the brilliant ideas in you Innovation is almost non-negotiable for every company today. Its important aspect that ... Innovation is almost non-negotiable for every company today. Its important aspect that every company should consider, if they want to sustain and thrive in this competitive market. And hinking of innovation, one of the most important aspect of innovation is the “Idea Generation”. Unless ideas are generated, innovation can not fly. There are quite a few idea generation techniques that would help generate large number of ideas to find new solutions and different ways of achieving the purpose. Here in this article, we are going to have a look at three common techniques of idea generation. Brainstorming / Brain writing For the brainstorming or brain writing session, we need to gather a group of participants who are familiar with the challenge statement. Create a challenge statement and the attribute list and make them visible to the team. For the purpose of brain storming, it is recommended that the group of participants is typically less than 7 people. If you have more than 7 people in the room, then you should go for Brain writing technique. Ideas should be put up spontaneously verbally during brainstorming session and written on a piece of paper during brain writing session. During the brain writing session, after each idea is written on a piece of paper, it is recommended to crumple the paper and throw in the middle and pick up someone else’s crumpled paper to write next idea. Ensure that some rules such as non-criticism of any idea, welcoming unusual ideas and encouraging other participants to build on other’s ideas should strictly adhered to. Encourage ‘quantity’ of ideas. For the purpose of idea generation, quality follows quantity. Overall ideas should be rated based on the benefits it can give and easiness of achieving them. All the ideas should be properly documented for future reference. Scamper SCAMPER is a checklist of lateral thought technique that can expand one’s creativity. SCAMPER is a acronym of the following words, Substitute – Try and see what can be substituted in the current situation in order to improve upon the scenario. Ask the questions on what can be substituted, how, when, why ? Combine – Try to enhance the synergy by combining, merging, attaching, adding and uniting separate attributes together for the issue. This might give a different solution altogether. Adapt – Try and make adjustments to certain aspects and attributes of a product or process Modify/Magnify/Minify – Try and change the size, quantity or quality of the attributes. Try to make things later or smaller, faster or slower and see what difference it can make to the situation. Put to other use – Try and change the place or purpose for which an object or a process is currently being used. Eliminate – Try and remove, omit or get rid of a quantity, part or whole object from the situation and see how it happens. Rearrange/Reduce/Reverse – Try and place attributes against each other, pit them opposite or contrary to, turn around; to change order or adjust, different plan, layout or scheme. Think like a child Whilst, I understand that changing the perspective from an adult to the child itself can be challenging but believe me it can be a fun. In order to try and generate ideas using this technique, make your mind set similar to that of a child by thinking of a children you know and you can anticipate the reaction of. Try and see the situation through their eyes and feel what they would like about the situation, what they would be proud of, what they would dislike, feel funny or useful about and note down the reactions. Consider the simple example of a muddy puddle. When we adults see it, we try and step over or step around it. We imagine muddy shoes, dirty clothes and filthy carpets at home if we step into the puddle. However, if you ask the same to kids, they would call it fun and imagine to build bridges and dams to cross it !! #generation #idea #mind #mindset #Innovation #techniques Previous Next

  • Conversations | Women leadership series - In conversation with Kavitha Thyagarajan

    Kavitha is Head of Design with Digital Platforms & one of the best in visual design. Women leadership series - In conversation with Kavitha Thyagarajan 5 Mar 2022 Kavitha is Head of Design with Digital Platforms & one of the best in visual design. How would you introduce yourself? I am a multidisciplinary designer, enjoying my current role as Head of Design for TechOps Digital platforms, where I am surrounded and inspired by the most talented techies everyday. In my past life, I worked as an Architect and landscape designer. I believe in Mies van der Rohe’s motto “Less is more” and my work often reflects the same. Can you tell me a bit about your career journey? When did you first get into a leadership role? I have extensive experience in designing digital applications for consumers and enterprise solutions. I manage an interdisciplinary team of designers and developers and deliver value across cross-functional, multiple stakeholder, and distributed environments working in a globally distributed team. I have helped organizations set up a User experience design team and UX practice and have led and mentored design teams. My first role as a leader was when I was managing a bunch of designers and developers working across different products and services. This was my safe and comfortable zone and I never felt that I was doing anything different. What were the top challenges you faced during your journey and how did you overcome them? When you are leading a team that caters to different business functions that have its own priorities, it’s always a constant struggle to manage these priorities and at the same time delivering value. Initially this was a bit of struggle, but setting clear expectations with the global stakeholders, keeping them informed and making decisions along with them, helped me bridge the gap. I would always have an open and honest conversation with my stakeholders and would truly be invested in solving their problems. This gained me their trust and built a long term relationship with them. A leader must also know to navigate ambiguity and give a sense of direction to the team when they look up to you. I always believed that I needed to have answers for all the questions which would stress me out. I slowly realized that it was ok to accept that you don't have an answer yet and be transparent about it. This created a special bond and mutual respect for each other with my clients and team. What motivates you? I am a dreamer and constantly get inspired by numerous people around me. I love to experiment and I thrive on creativity. Mundane and routine bores me and hence I always find something that lets my creative juice flow. Do you have a role model in your life? Can you name a few people who you look up to? There are so many amazing people around me who I admire and follow. Couple of folks I get my inspiration from are John Maeda from the Tech and design leadership angle, Dan Norman - the design guru, Irene Au - for her amazing design leadership role where she has built and led design teams for some of the top companies. What does leadership mean to you? How would you describe your leadership style? Leadership to me means leading by example and setting up a safe and fun environment for everyone to thrive. Investing in people's growth and achievement is a great asset to have as a leader. Being open, honest, transparent, approachable and having empathy for others has helped me grow as a leader. At the same time, it is important to have a clear vision and strategy, direction, staying calm and focussed during adversity. What would be your advice to young leaders? When you take up the role as a leader for the first time, don’t get overwhelmed with everything around you. Take it slowly but stay connected with the key people on the team. Empowering others to make decisions, sharing responsibilities and communicating constantly with your clients and team is crucial. Active listening is an asset that every leader should have. Things will soon fall in place when you have empathy for everyone. Another important aspect is to focus on your own personal development. Make sure that you allocate some time in a week specifically for this. This will help you grow as a leader you always aspired to be. Last but not least, make sure you have fun.

  • Insights | Swapnil Deshpande

    Insights on Innovation, Business transformation, Digital transformation, IT strategy and Leadership. Insights. Strategy Thoughts and insights on strategy, business and world. Read more .. Innovation Thoughts on innovation, ideas and how to be drive innovation. Read more .. Leadership Thoughts on leadership, team work, career and growth. Read more .. Conversations My conversations with other emminent leaders from the industry. Read more ..

  • 404 Error Page | Swapnil Deshpande

    Page Not Found. You can return to the homepage and try again. Go to Homepage

  • Media | Swapnil Deshpande

    Podcasts & video blogs on things that matter in the world of technology, business, innovation, strategy & leadership. Media. Podcasts Audio podcasts on various topics related to strategy, innovation & leadership Read more .. Videos Video blogs & interviews related to topics of strategy, innovation & leadership Read more ..

  • Credits | Swapnil Deshpande

    Credits. The images used in this website are under license from the Wix platform subscription. Wherever possible, I have tried to credit the original photograph creator with their names and I would like thank them for their brilliant skills. If you know the creators of the photographs tagged as unknown, please pass the message via Twitter DM and I would ensure that the credit is given. The images within the articles and blogs are also provided by the Wix platform wither via Wix images, or via Unsplash. I will try to give credit wherever possible to the original creator within each article link. This website is not used for any commercial purpose. This is a knowledge and insights website, aimed at spreading the knowledge within community. Image by Nix Fewings (via Wix images) Image by Ricccardo Annandale (via Wix images) Image by Unknown (via Wix images) Image by Priscilla Du Preez (via Wix images) Image by Rohan Makhecha (via Wix images) Image by Sam McGhee (via Wix images) Image by Unknown (via Wix images) Image by Unknown (via Wix images)

  • Why IT departments must reinvent themselves - Part 2

    In my last blog, I tried to explain the factors that impact the direction .. < Back Why IT departments must reinvent themselves - Part 2 In my last blog, I tried to explain the factors that impact the direction .. In my last blog, I tried to explain the factors that impact the direction that IT departments need to take to stay relevant in the current business scenario. In this edition, I share my thoughts on the change in the culture of work within IT departments. We believe that our IT departments should deliver the same way that Thoughtworks delivers to its clients. - David Whalley, Thoughtworks CIO Traditionally, IT departments operate differently from the ‘delivery’ teams within the organization. This happens due to the nature of work, which in most cases is dominated by support and maintenance. This excuses them from being seen through the same lens as the delivery teams. However, this is no longer an accepted excuse. In the last few months, we have moved towards restructuring our teams along the lines of how businesses operate. With the current focus on ‘value first’, it is no longer okay to operate differently from any other product team. The expectation is that IT departments transform themselves into a ‘delivery focused’ team. Does this mean they are no longer a support/operations team? Yes. It may sound strange, but I advocate for IT departments to turn themselves into an innovation led and delivery oriented organization. Even though the primary focus of IT departments is on operations and ensuring that the business systems are running smooth, we need to constantly question the way we work. While it is important to keep the lights ON, IT departments need to lead the way by bringing business insights to their stakeholders, not just take orders. Here are some simple things these teams can do: Have a strong governance framework that helps prioritize your work along with your stakeholders. Make all your work visible to key stakeholders so that right prioritization can be done Let the work be driven by the value that it generates for its users. If you are doing any work that does not offer value to the stakeholders or the team, question why you are doing it Host internal planning meetings with the teams for weekly prioritization and to track the work progress. Define clear milestones and stick to them Host regular retrospective meetings for continuous improvement Establish proper communication channels for sharing your work and communicating with stakeholders. Establish a fast feedback mechanism that allows mid-way course correction and altering of priorities as needed Host regular showcases for your work and allow teams outside IT departments and immediate stakeholders to give you feedback With the focus on value creation, ask more questions on bringing efficiency, automation and self-service channels to the users And, most importantly, empathize with your stakeholders and partners, understand their needs and talk to them in the language that they understand Internal IT teams have a unique advantage within organizations because they know the internal business processes, know how the systems act and manage their infrastructure. This makes them best placed to understand the impact of changing business scenarios than anyone else in the organization. If you think of any business vertical, any technology or innovation/ideation that happens within an organization, you would find that IT teams play an important role in them. This makes me believe that with the right focus, internal IT departments can really make a difference in the way organizations operate and do businesses. Considering how important it is for T teams to work like delivery teams, there are some aspects of work and team culture that needs shaking up. From my experience of leading teams across multiple organizations, including Thoughtworks, I have found that changing the culture of the team, is not easy: However, to start the change, you can: Ask yourself if you are working on the most important task of the day Check the value of your work and the outcome you get out of it, repeatedly Share and communicate your plans to a wider group Ask if there are any alternatives to the repetitive stuff that you are doing? Is it delivering enough value to justify it? Can it be automated? Can it be done by users themselves? Can it be stopped? Think of ideas that can help you improve your own workplace and office and help you learn more skills Learn to co-create and collaborate across offices, across regions and teams The team first, always! Don’t limit your ideas to what only you can deliver. Learn to harness the power of collaboration and join people with different skills Tell yourself and your teams that it’s OK to fail as failing early and failing faster and changing course is better than failing too late into the cycle Turn your organizations into a continuous learning organization While aiming to change the culture of the team, IT teams need to be able to cover the entire spectrum of scope that includes ‘Create / Build / Configure / Implement / Roll out / Own and Support’ of their infrastructure and products. When the focus is shifted from BAU and maintenance to innovation and value creation, the work becomes more interesting and challenging. This allows IT teams to start making an even bigger difference than what they have been thus far. Previous Next

  • Videos | Swapnil Deshpande

    Podcasts on technology, business, innovation, digital transformation, strategy & leadership Videos. BizzTalk talk show - Leadership journey This was hosted by BizzTalk where I spoke about my leadership journey. Duration: 20 mins How to make Marketing and Sales Investment Impactful Using AI An interesting Panel Discussion onHow to make Marketing and Sales Investment Impactful Using AI delivered by Dr. Shivani Rai Gupta - Principal Data Scientist at Jio, Tejpal Singh Founder and Managing Director at STAD Enterprises and Swapnil Deshpande - Chief Digital Officer at Thoughtworks. Duration: 37 mins 52 seconds Empowering developers to innovate and improve effectivenss This was a webinar hosted by Times Techies where I was joined by Vivek Kant (CTO, Finserv Markets). We spoke about the developer effectiveness and platform thinking and how we can improve it. Duration: 1 hour Building a culture of sustainable innovation This was a webinar hosted by Hackerearth where I spoke about how one can build a sustainable innovation culture within the organization. Duration: 1 hour 3 minutes

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