Week 2 Review - Not as Easy as it Looks!

And So It Begins

Never As Easy As It Looks!

Evening All,

It seems this evening my identity has been uncovered by a few members of the course, if this is the case, ALAS, this may be my last post & chorus so to speak. I have tried in vein to keep this blog a vestitute of anonymity and ability that lay therein to challenge the thoughts of the course from day to day may now be gone! If not HAPPY DAYS see ye all tomorrow night!!

My apologies for not getting a meaningful review of last weeks "action" up sooner, it was so draining I was asleep until just after 2pm today! When Brendan's Nazi style personality analysis started. It was very subtle but you just know the weak among us could be led to the Gas Chamber at any stage!!

Taking a look back at last week, I suppose its best to continue on from my last post where I looked back at Geraldine's rubber ducky and De Vito's project! That brings us swiftly on to David Staunton on Tuesday afternoon! (Would it not be better to give the "social drinker's" among us the Monday morning off, instead of Tuesday! just a thought)

David started on a rather funny note talking about 'Fuzzy Front Ends' (projects wise) now I am not the fussiest of listeners, but I tuned out for about 5 minutes after that opener! Also during this presentation I was slightly frustrated by David going back to the old teaching mantra of 'There's no such thing as a stupid question'! Sorry David, you're a smart guy', but yes there f***ing is and its compounded by the fact that the 'stupid questions' had often been answered in either the slide on the projector or the last 5 mins of the lecture! And yes it could be a Corporate Governance issue (you know who you are), but that's like Father Jack once said 'that's an ecumenical matter'!! Venting over! Of course we were reminded as possible future Project Managers of our 'Sacred Responsibility to Disappoint' when has that happened in Ireland except after the proverbial horse has bolted!

"There are no Stupid Questions, only Stupid Questioners!" - Anon

We move on to the final day of the week, Wednesday, where we have a Geraldine - Frank double header and where you must have your wits about you! It's a long day! We started with Geraldine who began by outlining the tools required for the business analysis process. The importance of interpreting your business analysis findings and also the context in which they are arrived at.

The importance of context was no more ably demonstrated than by Geraldine's comment:

"If they are straddling each other, it's Ok"

Now those of us in attendance knew she was talking about the factors in PESTEL analysis, but hey if you just walked in!!! We moved on to review Key Success factors in business and also Key Drivers for change! Overall a great lecture & plenty of food for thought!

We move on reluctantly to Frank Munnelly's appearance with his trusted sidekick in tow!

Now I am sure Frank can do a lecture on his own, but then who would carry his Ego! After Frank had finished his impression of a stripogram by emptying all but his clothes onto the desk we began by exploring Innovative Thinking and after a cautionary tale of the Tragedies of Logic we began to drift to the Men-A-Porche (male version of the menopause!!) Frank are you trying to tell us something!

Key Points;

1. Defer Judgement
2. Strive for Quality
3. Seek Wild Ideas
4. Build on Other Ideas

Our final task of the week was to solve world hunger and oh the Irony McDonalds mentioned more than once!!

Until my next bout of verbal diarhea,

Good Night & Safe Home,

The Blipping Student

Week 2 - Down to Business

Down to Business

A Day for Searching the Soul!

Afternoon All,
Firstly thanks to Brendan today for putting the details of the Blog and Twitter feed up for the class to see, this is an opportunity for the whole class to interact and comment on the days events. While I will attempt to throw my opinion on the days info, I am far from infallible and always be receptive to the critical and constructive views of my peers! Plus this is meant to put a lighter point of view across.

We started the day with Innovation Management, with Geraldine. Today's class had much more of a college feel to it and I was immediately aware of the more focused approach to the course content and the stark realization that we were in fact here to learn! But I have a bone to pluck with Geraldine, Archimedes with a Rubber Duck in the Bath, c'mon! See Below the picture relevant to Archimedes discovery of Mass,

The picture of Archimedes with the Rubber Duck shows him discovering the Law of Buoyancy, attention to detail! Despite this rather discommoding cock up the rest of the lecture went pretty well, with us discovering more Eureka moments from inventions past, Thomas Eddison and the Lightbulb (eventually) & Pringles among them.  

The afternoon saw the introduction of Brendan Martin to proceedings a man with an enigmatic charm comparing to that of Danny DeVito , our research project leader for the course. He started his presentation with his own introduction, straight forward enough, he went on to look for the class' support in his pursuit of personal  constructive criticism with regard to his presentation slides and also reminded us to be very critical indeed of all the lecturers PowerPoint slides. He was insistent that we at every opportunity ensure that his work is of the best standard, outlining that slides should be no more than 35 words long, clear concise and without too many bullet points to ensure the reader has clarity of the message being delivered.

BRENDAN,

SLIDE 1 - 63 Words +

SLIDE 2 - 65 Words +

However when we got down to business proper Brendan gave us the QUOTE OF THE WEEK,

"Get out of yer Box"

We went on to explore our personal profiles and were sent on our way today with HOMEWORK!, now that's a new one. We have the Jung/Myers psychological profile to complete which will give us a guide to how well we play with others and interact at work. For more insight into this pretty common HR tool CLICK HERE, it will give you a guide to your responses and the Personality Type you are. It is definitely a bonus to understand the results of this test and how you can apply it in teamwork, career and interviewing. 

The practical research project represents over half the marks for the course so in reality we will be depending on the lectures and guidance of Brendan over the next couple of months to help us all get across the line with this one. I am sure I am not the only that does not know quiet what to expect from the placement phase of the course and the Team work aspect of same! I have worked in productive and destructive teams in the past and can find it very hard to conform to the politics of the workplace and the dynamics of teams, I say what I mean and mean what I say and if that upsets or offends (which it often does) then Tough Sh*t. I have a feeling the competitive nature of  teams & people and necessary confrontation that will bring about will be new to some of our class mates, but if it is taken that it will be a personal development tool we must embrace it and as Brendan highlighted we rarely get the opportunity to select our workmates and that may be similar for the tasks ahead.

With all that said it may be prudent to take the Personality Profiles a little more seriously and then evaluate ourselves and those around us to ensure where possible we create balanced teams. Ensuring all the necessary skill-sets are addressed within your team. Napoleon Hill's famous early 20th Century book 'Think and Grow Rich' highlighted the importance of 'Mastermind' groups where we ensure that we pull together people around us that will help, advise and develop us personally and professionally to ensure success. This is a task we must complete here.

We move on to Tuesday with the enlightening lecture in Project Management from David Staunton, a little bit more information on our project management lecturer HERE.

Until my next bout of Verbal Diarrhea,

A BLIPPING STUDENT 

Guerilla Attention Test

Count the White Team Passes Again

Focus - Focus - Focus - AAAAAHHHH Guerilla!

Hi Guys,

Just for those of you who may have missed the attention test posed by Mick Rock last week during our Induction Day, here it is again below! Post a comment on how many passes the White Team makes during the clip!!

The key points Mick highlighted during his Attitudes & Belief session were;

1. Change your Mindset
2. Control your Focus
3. Be Persistent
4. Mind Your Language
5. Take Action

The mindset and aptitude for changing one's mindset is a very important tool, in fact people have made millions just teaching/preaching this i.e. Anthony Robbins and the like. This culminates in what Henry Ford said;

"Whether you believe you are right or whether you believe you are wrong, you're right!"

Until Next Post,

A BLIPPING STUDENT

A Baptism of Fire - Now Thats Innovation!

Week 1 Down  - Innovation Now That's New, is it?

A 'Frank' look at how we got here!

Evening All,

After the first few days of DCU's Ryan Academy course on Innovation it is inherently apparent that even after years of work and study, my perceptions of Project Management, Innovation and after today even Evolution have been shattered. It has been revealed today by Frank Munnelly's distinct view and enlightening outlook on Innovation that in fact nothing can be considered new anymore it is but a reincarnation of that which already exists. Confused? I am! But then we should be or so we have been told.

I have a feeling already that perceptions will be destroyed and that the 'fundamentalists' will be rooted out by Frank's powerful views on Innovation and the practicalities of Innovative thinking. While our effervescent Academic Director Geraldine Lavin provided an 'Apprentice' feel to her inaugural proceedings where teams were created, managed and observed for their creative brilliance on a project more vague than that of the E-Voting machines (although I feel we may have accomplished more in less time and spending but a minute fraction of the cash), and like the E-Voting debacle in the end no one was wrong and certainly nobody was fired!

And that is where the early confusion, frustration and attempts at understanding have come unstuck by the (plus 35 - Thanks Frank) class of 2012/13 in the Business Innovation Programme, Innovation in and of itself is quite vague & up for interpretation! Despite David Staunton's excellent personally preferred definition of the concept of Innovation in Tuesday afternoons session it is inherently apparent that the brilliant minds of our day and that of the recent past have failed (somewhat) to come together on an overarching, all encompassing definition of 'What Is Innovation?', that they all can agree on! It's creativity - no it's not, sort of! It's invention, not really but kinda! It's Change - Yes & No! It's being New, but not!

It's early days and this immature student is far from getting weary of the debate, interaction and questions posed by the course. In fact I would come back Thursday to continue to digest opinion and shatter perceptions but I fear the flame doth burn too brightly and thus too quick and I must temper my enthusiasm and hunger for my innovation fix until Monday hence!

I share the above musings with you all as a way to review my first few days experience. As most of us returned to the classroom for the the first time in quite some time, it was obvious the nerves, trepidation and anxiousness throughout the class, which is of no surprise. Our BIP team however led by the beaming smile of Anne Marie Scott made sure that everyone was welcome and settled in neatly, it reminded me of my time in Junior Infants in primary school. All we have to make sure now is that we all play nice, for my part I will post intermittent musings and observations here weekly and also through my Twitter Account throughout the course or until I am silenced by the powers that be for the careless, sarcastic and sometimes caustic spin put on events over the term.

Until my next bout of verbal diarrhea, 

A BLIPPING STUDENT