Archive for September, 2010

Why I Decided To Do An MBA At Cass Business School

Monday, September 27th, 2010

I started my MBA recently at Cass Business School and already I have met some really great people and I really feel I have made the right decision choosing Cass.

This post is quick summary of why I chose to do an MBA and why I chose Cass.

Why do an MBA?

I have wanted to do an MBA for a long time, it has been on list of goals for a few years so this year I decided to go for it.

Everyone’s reasons for doing an MBA are different but here are my reasons:

  • Develop a breadth of knowledge – to plug some gaps in my knowledge such as marketing, HR, statistics etc
  • To build my network – having access to and networking with the alumni
  • The fun of learning – I love learning and challenging my brain
  • Opportunities – getting access to companies and insights from business leaders
  • Build my professional value – having a qualification such as an MBA increases your value in the job market

Why did I choose Cass?

My criteria for a business school was:

  • Must be in London (or very close to it)
  • Must have a very good brand (top 10 university)
  • Evening based learning (not day release)
  • Strong Alumni
  • Value for money

There are not that many business schools in London so at first I narrowed the search down to:

  • Imperial business school
  • London Business School
  • Cass (City University)

I discounted London Business School as the fees are much higher than the rest due to it’s premium reputation. In the end I applied to Cass and Imperial. The decider for me when choosing Cass was the quality of the research, the size and quality of the alumni and a gut feel that I got from visiting both universities. The other really important factor was that a lot of the lecturers have been in industry and are not all purely academic.

Two weeks into my induction at Cass and I am totally certain that I made the right decision, the quality of my classmates is superb and the quality of the lecturers has been first rate.

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Getting Things Done

Friday, September 24th, 2010

I have been attending a lot of classes recently and one in particular I found very useful.

Getting things done

Getting things done (GTD) is a philosophy of time/ productivity management by David Allen.

So in a nutshell this is what it is. The short term memory can only hold about seven things at one time, so if your to-do list is longer than that then your brain becomes cluttered. Then when you do have time to actually do tasks you never quite know what you need to do.

So what is the solution:

  • Get every task (large or small) out of your head and onto a to do list. I mean everything, shopping lists, work projects, DIY, travel plans, hopes and dream. Personally I use Omnifocus for this.
  • Organise your tasks into projects (group similar items)
  • Add a context to each task e.g. I can only do this task in the office, phone call, email etc
  • Every time you get a task pop into your head get it onto your to-do list as soon as possible

Then when you have time you do not waste anytime working out what you need to do, you just start doing. You can either work at a project level (e.g. DIY tasks) or at a context level (e.g. all the phone calls you have to make).

I can personally say that I have never slept so well since I have started doing this. I do not wake up in the middle of the night with a task popping into my head.

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End Of An Era

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

It has been a few weeks since I posted; that is because my house is a building site and my wife is eight months pregnant. So most of my energy has been focused on making sure the house is habitable and ready for a new baby. Thankfully this objective has now been completed!

So I can return my attention back to my professional life and it is with great regret that one of my team members is leaving for pastures new. I have worked with David for over three years now and he is one of the best developers I have ever worked with. He joined us shortly after finishing university and he has been a great asset to the team ever since.

His skill set and confidence has increased hugely over his time with us and that got me thinking that one of the most important jobs of a manager is coaching and professional development. This is perhaps something I have not had a structured approach to in the past but it is essential for the following reasons:

  • Better job satisfaction – this means people are more likely to stick around
  • More productivity – the more tools people have the quicker they can get things done
  • Better delegation – more skilled and experienced people are much easier to delegate to

With that in mind I started thinking about the best way to nurture and coach people:

1. Give feedback

The most important thing is to give feedback on specifics. I think it is important to give both encouraging and constructive feedback. Do not shy away from giving constructive feedback when things go wrong but you may decide to deliver it in private.

2. Regular professional reviews

Having a regular 30 minutes each week with each person where you can offering coaching and listen to any issues or problems they are having.

3. Career planning

Helping and supporting career development is a great way to build morale. Make sure you ask each person what direction they want to go in and then actively look for opportunities to help them achieve this.

4. MBWAL

By getting out into the office, walking around and listening you are more likely to spot aspects that need to be addressed and worked on. It is also a great opportunity to assess the morale and atmosphere in the office.

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