How to be Agile in the Workplace

In an increasingly fast-paced workplace that is moving into the digital sphere, it is important to adjust work practices to fit the times, especially when it comes to project management.

Currently Director at Deloitte Consulting Australia, Nick is experienced as a management consultant and project director. A graduate of the University of Canberra with a Bachelor of Business Informatics, his experience has shown him a thing or two about the changing business and technology landscape and how to adapt to it.

Applying experience from UC

The Bachelor of Business Informatics resonated with Nick as it was a great balance of business and technology subjects. There are very few situations in his day to day life that don’t call for this skillset.

“I expect that in future the role of business practitioners who understand technology will continue to grow,” he says.

Studying at UC was a valuable experience for Nick because his degree focused on practical technology disciplines and how they impact the business landscape. The bonus of an internship period within the degree helped him develop the soft skills required to succeed as a professional.

Day-to-day Deloitte

Nick is currently a Director within the Deloitte Technology Strategy & Architecture practice. He advises clients across financial services (big 4 banks and insurers) as well as key federal government departments.

“Our role is usually to help clients reimagine how their business or tech systems will operate in the future and address current business problems,” he says.

He has worked as a key advisor on some of the most complex programs in the Australian business landscape. One of his fondest (albeit challenging) memories was helping MLC Life insurance separate from the National Australia Bank as part of their sale to Japanese insurer Nippon Life. Helping two multi-billion–dollar companies separate so they can stand alone was an incredible experience.

Nick’s Top Skills

The core skill that Nick has developed over his career is structured problem solving.

“For each client situation there will be a range of new variables that would need to be assessed to understand the key challenges and opportunities for each client,” he says.

Other skills include time management (your clients already expect so much out of you, so the least you can do is be organised and punctual) and the underrated skill of listening.

“Whether it be to your peers, clients or customers/end users, if you set up the conditions to learn and understand what drives them you will be in a much better position to make decisions in future.”

The constantly growing and changing technology landscape means that adaptability through continuous learning is also a crucial skill.

“I would say that the pace of technology will continue to increase creating more pressure on our adaptability,” Nick observes.

In the last 5 years, Nick has also learned about new methods of project management such as the increasingly popular Agile delivery method.

Agile Project Management

According to Nick, agile delivery is a concept which recognizes that we don’t have all of the answers within a project when we begin. By working in short iterations in small multi-disciplinary teams, teams working on a project can learn and adapt as they go.

In other words, agile delivery emphasises quick results through a collaborative effort between teammates and clients that values communication at every stage.

Agile delivery might look similar to how a kitchen team works together to prepare a meal. The work is divided up, put together and delivered in a short period of time. The client then offers feedback on how to improve it and the process starts over again with that feedback in mind until the final product is satisfactory.

“In delivering this way we have the best chance of delivering a product/output that the customer actually needs,” Nick says.

Because it is a way of thinking that encourages faster results that are more likely to be to a client’s liking, it is rapidly being adopted in various forms across IT industries and other project management bodies.

It’s definitely worth finding out more.

Tips?

“Look for internships (even unpaid ones) wherever you can,” Nick says.

You should try to find a job which will give you an opportunity to learn rather than just a big pay cheque.

“The early years of your career are definitely best spent figuring out what sort of work you are passionate about.”

Story by Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga