What is cloud storage?

If you have read technology blogs, worked for a large company, or looked for a backup solution in the past 5 years, you will be familiar with the concept of cloud storage. It is a simple way to securely store and access your files from any computer or mobile device. 

Cloud storage became popular at the end of the last decade and has now amassed over 600 million users worldwide. This continues to grow at a fast rate with more and more people turning to cloud to achieve one of four things:

1. Backup files – This will make sure you never lose your work files or family pictures
2. Access files from anywhere – Easily open, edit and save files from any computer or mobile device.
3. Send files to friends or customers – Sending files via email is now a thing of the past. Sending a link is a far easier option.
4.  Collaborate with colleagues in seconds – You can now edit and save files in one location with your colleagues and anybody can easily access the latest version of the file.

Empachal Drive stands out against the competition by offering all of the above features as well as 1,000GBs of storage for a fee of £25 per year for personal usage.

Project Leadership

My article on Project Leadership has been published and can be found here.

Social Media

Using social media for professional purposes is becoming common practice amongst the workforce in recent years.  People have been expressing their views, opinions, sharing news of their projects and career to the world to see.  Social Media has been used as a marketing tool for both individuals and companies.  For example, I use this blog to share my thoughts on Project Management and my career and different blog (Link) to share my thoughts and projects with Lotus Notes.  I am no longer a Lotus Notes "Guru", but I maintain the site to share any technical blog posts, keeping in touch with the community.

Leadership Skills : Trust

Trust is a key leadership skill.  Without trust, you will find many blockers in your projects and find that teams will not optimally perform for you within the execution phase of your project.  Gaining trust from your senior stakeholders ensures that your project has the appropriate level of support from the business and provides you with a level of authorisation to  smooth out any political issues.

Supplier Contracts

One of the many pre-project, or early tasks for a project manager is to arrange the supplier contracts.  In the last two client assignments, I have had to find and secure contracts with a multitude of vendors for various provisions.  Some vendors have been used for consulting, others have supplied software and a few have supplied hardware.  Often, a client will have a preferred supplier list that you have to work with.  Sometimes the supplier list is constrictive and cannot deliver the required service or product, so you have to take a recommendation to the project steering committee to gain permission to pursue a new supplier.  This can cause delays, as the on-boarding process can take considerable time and effort, especially in larger companies and corporations.

My PDU Plan

To maintain my PMP qualifications, I need to ensure that I continue to maintain consistent learning with regard to Project Management.  I like the idea that people cannot pass the PMI exams and then forget about keeping up to date with learning and modern practices.

Why education is important

As a consultant, I do not have an official career path, nor an HR department to provide a yearly development plan.  I have to make my own development plan and think about where my career will take me in the future.  To obtain a career path, it is down to me, what I do and how I do it. 

As a consultant, any time and money spent on education and qualifications, comes out of my time and my money, sometimes at the additional "cost" of not being able to work for a client, earning my daily rate.  The qualifications are quite expensive, often in excess of £1000.  In addition, I do not get given any paid time by my clients to study, as I would if I was employed.

My year in 2013

2013 has been a successful year.  It has been a good year in both my personal life and my working life.  I worked for two large corporate banking clients, had the biggest turnover for my consulting company, I passed the PMP-RMP exam and have seen both my children continue to grow into pleasant little creatures and are both excelling at school and extra-curricular activities.