My Daily Thoughts
Artificial intelligence is rapidly growing in ability. Tasks such as writing are being done better and significantly faster with AI. What this means are the
The world is becoming more and more digital and what we as individuals produce is becoming more digital Being digital means that it can be
Creating a vision is sometimes hampered by day-to-day issues. This is true whether we are looking at personal growth or the future of an organization.
We all have our strengths and our weaknesses. Part of being true to ourselves is recognizing and accepting our strengths and weaknesses. While weaknesses may
Good decisions are created based on good data. Your life decisions are based on your life so it will be your personal book of knowledge
When implementing a new software system, the installation is just one small part of the entire roadmap. Other milestones on the roadmap include: Phases of
When you have become good at something you love, that is the time when you create something that the world needs. If you try to
A high-level design pattern for life design starts with finding out what you love doing. Finding what you love requires you to try many different
One of the most valuable assets a business has is its data. A focus for a business analyst is the data model. The data model
Understanding the business outcomes and the business goals creates the context for what needs to be in place. The business outcomes and business goals define
Happiness is not something you can directly create, it is the side effect of the things that you do. It is similar to weight, you
Metaphors are a useful tool for business analysts to use to create common understandings between different stakeholders. When you can create a metaphor that encapsulates
Knowing how far you have come is a great motivator for moving forward. Knowing how far you have to go is a great motivator. When
You have made a great set of resolutions. You had a great Christmas season. You are now back into day-to-day life. This is the time
Questions are one of the most effective tools in a business analyst toolkit. To make questions as effective as possible they need to take in
A key trait for a business analyst is curiosity. When learning a new domain or understanding business and solution requirements, curiosity is what motivates a
Now that you have made your New Year’s resolution, use your personal book of knowledge (PBOK) to assist on your journey. Your PBOK contains your
Today is the first day of 2023. For many of us, we stayed up late and are still in holiday mode. My suggestion is to
December Monthly Review What went well? I had a wonderful Christmas holiday with my family My PBOK is refined and working very well for capturing
When you make your resolutions, make them for future you in six months. Imagine you are you in six months and imagine what you have
We have all had those days that were fun while we were having them, but then regret them later. It may be that we watched
One way to create New Year’s resolutions is to focus on feelings. Choose 3 feelings for 2023. What are the top three feelings you want
The gift of life is the opportunity to create your life. Our ultimate creation is the life we have lived. How will other see it?
Ikigai offers us a path through life. When we are young we figure out what we love to do. As young adults we get good
The spirit of Christmas is giving. The gift of giving is the emptying of ourselves that then opens us up for renewal. Focus on the
It is going to become increasingly more important to keep track of AI and the associated AI tools. What is a novelty today will be
Artificial intelligence is going to make us all into orchestrators. AI will become part of all the tools we use and will result in everyone
An explorer creates a map as he goes so he knows when he is in a place he has been in before. Our journal is
When hiking, an activity that helps you from getting lost is to look back on the trail. In this way, you see where you have
One perspective to have for your planning of 2023 is focus. What are you choosing to focus on in 2023? The more things you focus
The future will be one where we take our seeds of creativity and make them a reality. Artists start with a seed of creativity and
In everything we do there is the initial seed of creativity followed by the craftsmanship of making the idea a reality. The importance of understanding
2023 is coming fast. Creating focus, motivation, and energy for a new year starts with a clean slate. Use the end of 2022 to tie
Artificial intelligence is rapidly increasing in functionality and is becoming mainstream. Once AI becomes mainstream and is used for personal use it is going to
ChatGPT is demonstrating that artificial intelligence models are beginning to become mainstream. ChatGPT is producing amazing results now. The underlying models are going to become
You can look at a domain or an issue from many perspectives. Each perspective will have slightly different models, frameworks, and other representations to understand
Doing what you love is one key to a fulfilling life. You will put more effort and focus into what you love and this will
Approaching any new project, issue, situation begins with discovery and then to understanding what is discovered. The first part of that understanding is organizing what
Everyone is different. We all have our strengths and our weaknesses. A way of doing things that works for a detailed oriented person is not
The experience of wonder opens us up to possibilities. Wonder and amazement remind us that there can always be something more. The feeling reminds us
Ultimately we live our lives to experience different emotions. It is how we feel that determines if we are living the life we want. Rather
When you are finding yourself and finding where you fit in life means that you will also find where you don’t fit. When you try
We all want to be in that effortless state where we are completely caught up in a task. In order to be in that state
Everyone should have a roadmap for their life based on the goals and aspirations. We can all dream and design the roadmap based on everything
Take the time to recognize those things in your life that are growing. Once recognized, keep track through your journal so that you can see
The spirit of Christmas is giving. Christmas is at the end of the year because the outcome of giving is renewal. Giving psychologically empties you
Our brains are comparison machines. Our brain will evaluate and prioritize whatever we focus on. We will always like one thing more than another. When
A business analyst has a wide range of techniques for understanding a domain and the requirements of a solution. A business analyst also has a
What went well? I am continuing to add knowledge to the FIT framework and learning new design patterns for organizing information. My daily blogging practice
For your knowledge in your PBOK to be valuable you need to constantly refine it. Refine by adding clarity to what is written. Refine by
The financial perspective is one perspective for looking at your life. The key is that a good financial plan is that it is one way
Clarity in project work is very important, especially early on in a project. The result of focusing on creating clarity early in a project is
Every idea may be wrong. It doesn’t matter how strongly you believe in an idea, you should always test the idea. Are there facts that
The definition of focus by dictionary.com is “to concentrate” Every time we are interrupted, it takes away from our focus. Every time we have to
Two major components that are required to design a life are: Who you want to be? Why were you born? Answering these two questions sets
Most people need to work. Without winning a lottery or inheriting a fortune, the only solution is work. We work and trade that work for
You cannot change people, they are who they are. You need to accept them for who they are, not what you expect them to be.
When determining what deliverables are required for a project the first step is to determine what the outcome is. If the outcome is shared understanding,
The first thing that needs to be understood in any situation is to understand the why. The why is the beginning and the why ultimately
If you are looking at a physical object there are an infinite number of angles from which you can view the object. There is also
A roadmap is an excellent tool for combining a set of activities or objectives into the big picture. The roadmap shows the big goal that
A key perspective in implementing new solutions, especially information technology solutions is how you can transition out of the solution when it becomes obsolete. Sometimes
One way to define power is in terms of options. The more options we have the more power we have. The better the options we
One main focus for the end of the year is to finish up as many things on your to-do list as possible in order to
Part of finding your path in life is finding who values what you have to offer. You will not be valued by everyone. You will
Contrary to what many entrepreneurs preach, I believe you should strive to create something of value first and then find an audience that values the
We have one life to live, let us make sure we make the most of it. Every day is a gift for us to experience.
We are free today because someone made a sacrifice yesterday. With the Ukraine war still going on, this is more relevant than ever. We owe
It is essential to separate project success from product success. For a project to be successful, it needs to meet the success factors set out
Learning and communicating go hand in hand. In order to communicate an understanding we need the understanding to start with. To find a simple way
Live your life to maximize your happiness and fulfillment. Remember that your life is not just today it is from today until your death. Determine
Your personal book of knowledge (PBOK) is created for your future self. At some point in the future, you are going to consume what you
One technique for solving problems is to imagine yourself in the future where the problem has been solved. Ask your future self: What does the
The most important question to ask is why. It is also the easiest question to answer. This is where the 5-Why’s technique comes in. Once
Compound knowledge is the knowledge that is based on other knowledge. You can’t learn accounting until you learn math. You can’t learn to improvise on
Life takes work. Work allows us to create value and trade that value for money. We then trade that money for things or experiences. Both
Your life is a series of journeys that are undertaken at the same time. Each day there is the journey of getting up, starting your
November is for reflecting back on the year so far. What has worked, what hasn’t worked, and what would you like to be different? The
What went well? I am continuing to add knowledge to the FIT framework and learning new design patterns for organizing information. My daily blogging practice
Life is a series of experiences and reflections on those experiences. Both are important. Experiences without reflection lead to random chance. Reflection without experience leads
Self-reflection is a habit that will pay dividends over time. But just like the stock market, sometimes there will be a loss, and sometimes there
When you write to your future self or write notes that are to be read at a future time you are capturing a lot of
One of the most valuable parts of your personal book of knowledge is links. Links help you navigate the relationships between the things you know.
The first major plateau to get to is creating a life that makes you happy and is sustainable for the rest of your life. It
Writing your memoir as you live will reflect your real experience and thoughts. Writing your memoirs later results in bias. When looking back, who you
A clear scope statement is critical for a project to use resources efficiently. The more efficiently the resources are used the more value a project
If you are lost in the woods and you have a map that shows an area within the woods you are not going to be
You and you alone are responsible for your life. There are people along the way that help, but there is no guarantee that they will
The best skills to have are the skills that directly produce an outcome that a client wants. Many skills that people have are enabling skills,
A customer is always trying to get the best deal. Therefore, if you are creating any kind of business where you are trading value for
When we experience negative emotions, reasoning does not always remove the emotion. If we are scared of walking in the woods, reasoning that there is
Choose to be you regardless of what others think. By choosing you, there are so many possibilities that the result will be that you are
Ikigai is not a map it is a starting and an endpoint. As a starting point, Ikigai identifies what you love and what you are
When we design for personas rather than designing for generic users we create a system that can be used by real users. When we design
A business process allows a business analyst to understand who is involved and what they do in order to fulfill a business process. An ecosystem
To understand something deeply you need to be able to conceptualize into models and concepts that can be used to further the understanding. The first
In order to build muscle you need to work, you need to feel the pain in the muscles for the muscles to grow. In life,
There are parts of you that are part of who you are, and there are parts of you that you get to create. You don’t
A belief or principle I live by is that there is always a path. That path may not be clear, and it may be different
If you create an outcome for someone you are creating value in the world. If you teach 10 people how to create the outcome and
Doing service design in government adds another layer of complexity Much of what the government does is enable other parts of the government to function.
One way to determine customers for service design is to imagine a wall around the business. Everything inside the wall is the people and processes
In service design the more end-to-end the services that are being brainstormed the more chance for something innovative to result. The more a service is
Every year when it starts to get cold the Canada Geese start to practice. In the beginning, they don’t take off at the same time,
One way to determine if you understand a domain or a topic is that you can create an organizational structure for the information. If the
Now is the time to collect what you need for your year-end review. The key to an effectively yearly review and subsequent plan for the
People browsing the internet are searching for answers, information, and entertainment. When the information is presented in a readable way, it will be consumed more
A minimum mission is a perspective to help build security. A mission requires work. We are willing to do this work because we need to
Happiness is the ultimate life metric If you don’t know what makes you happy, you don’t have a way of measuring how good your life
What went well? I am continuing to add knowledge to the FIT framework and learning new design patterns for organizing information. My daily blogging practice
We work for money. We trade money for luxuries and experiences, in other words, happiness. There is always a trade-off between investing and using money,
Knowing what done means allows you to be efficient. Without knowing what done means results in work that may or may not bring value. When
Service design starts with knowing who the personas are. Service design determines the outcomes the personas are looking for. Service design helps to keep the
We all have capabilities that we excel at. We can maximize those capabilities by determining the circumstances where we really excel at those capabilities. Ask
The role of the business analyst is changing. The business analyst traditionally was the liaison between business subject matter experts and technical experts. Now the
Every evolution in technology empowers everyone. Businesses exist for clients to obtain value in the form of services or products. When the creation of services
You only live once. Find what you value and create more of it. Look at all things you value and create more overall value. Don’t
Create a life path based on creating value. The only way to accomplish this is to create something that you value. This is another way
One way of structuring your day in a way that facilitates metrics for how well you are living is to structure your day into short
Every system is either growing or dying. As part of that system, you are either contributing to the growth of the system or the dying
Understanding that we need life metrics is the first step. The second step is figuring out what to track. What to track is different for
Life metrics are a key part of executing your map for your life design. Life metrics are a way of measuring what you are creating
To improve you have to measure. Without measurement, you have no way of telling if you are improving. There are subjective measurements such as giving
When trying to determine the value of a service or product there are two different value perspectives. There is the value perspective of the consumer,
What is the difference between a service and a process? A process has an initiator, a set of activities, and an output. A service has
The content you produce falls into two buckets, value for your tribe or for promotion. Don’t mix the two. Focus on creating real value for
Every deliverable on a project has a purpose. It creates an outcome for the client or it provides an outcome required for another task within
On a project, the output of one task leads to the next task. The higher the quality of the output from the task the easier
Every business analyst has experienced topics that seem to go around in circles endlessly. This is especially frustrating at the beginning of the project when
As a business analyst, it is our role to facilitate good decisions. There will be cases where we gather the information, form the recommendation, and
One key aspect of service design is connecting the value with the stakeholder that is receiving the value. Oftentimes as a business analyst, we are
A personal brand is about clarity of who you are. Think of a character in a book or a movie. A great movie has deep
As a business analyst understanding a new domain should we look at the big picture or the details? The answer is both. Each is a
When determining the future state there is always the ideal future state and the real or pragmatic future state. The ideal future state is the
Creating a roadmap for replacing legacy applications is not always easy. There are many things to take into consideration. Dependencies on other systems Data exchange
One key component of your PBOK is having one place to go that is the portal to everything else in your life. Having one place
Everyone wants to be free, to have the option to make whatever decision they want. Everyone also wants to be connected to be part of
Take pain into account. Pain has ten times the influence as pleasure but will ebb over time, pleasure will grow. Pain stops you from doing
No matter where we are in our life journey, one of the first things we should be doing is designing our day. Not what are
What went well? I am continuing to add knowledge to the FIT framework and learning new design patterns for organizing information. My daily blogging practice
The mindset of building over simply doing allows us to take advantage of the cumulative effect. If we take on an endeavor without the idea
One perspective for refining your life design is the definition of done. For each objective of your life design spend the time to understand when
A path to wisdom is asking and reflecting on questions. Asking the same question over time can amplify the process. Pick a question and then