Parę miesięcy temu miałem okazję wziąć udział w ciekawym szkoleniu Business Analysis in a Project Life Cycle. O samym szkoleniu przeczytacie tutaj, a teraz mam przyjemność zadać kilka pytań prowadzącemu – moim gościem jest Darryl Booker - doskonały trener, praktyk biznesu i można śmiało powiedzieć człowiek instytucja :) Bardzo dziękuję firmie MTDC za umożliwienie zadania tych kilku pytań.
Tomek Biernat: Hi Darryl, I'm glad to have an interview with you :) How are you?
Darryl Booker: Tomek, it is great to hear from you again. First, let me say that I hope you, your family, and your followers are all doing well during these challenging times. I am doing well…all things considered.
Thank you on behalf of my family and followers. How does your work look like during epidemic time?
- My initial consulting work has taken a massive hit – with everything going into shutdown mode, and then the social distancing protocol – it equates to about 80% revenue loss (on the consulting side). The virtual training, mentoring, and coaching revenue streams have had to make up more of the balance.
But let me say this – There is always opportunities in the midst of challenges, you just have to look [harder] for them. So, for all of your followers, don’t stop looking for the opportunities – you may just have to look deeper and wider than you have before.
How did it happen that you train in Poland?
- I’ve been coming to Poland for the past thirteen (13) years! I started back in 2007 with a single course on Requirements Management for your telecommunications company; and then continued to come back and work with several major Polish and International companies with a Polish presence for these most recent years.
Do you like to come here?
- I love coming to Poland; I can’t stress that enough! I enjoy the people, the atmosphere, the architecture, the food, the weather (spring, summer, and fall – I don’t like the winters…too cold), and also the vibe and pride of Poland.
Do you know many polish words?:).
- I can say a few words – mainly around training, food and beverages – Pivo and Vino :) I try to pick up a new word or two with each visit. I ask my interpreting colleagues all the time “How do you say”, in polish?”
Usually you live in...
- In the US, I stay in Atlanta, GA – when I come to Poland, I will usually stay in one of the many hotels.
Business Analysis in a Life Project Cycle - for whom that training?
- The way I approach delivering the BAPLC course, is from a standpoint of anyone who is a part of a project, that requires some positive change to the way things are currently being done…what?
What I mean is the course is good for new BA’s, PM’s, and other project team members that want to understand the need and value of doing a project.
What we have to do to become a BA? Do we need technical education?
- Becoming a BA does not require a technical education or background, but if you want to work with IT and business professionals, it is a nice benefit to have technical education/background to be able to speak intelligently to both technical team and business professionals.
Do you recommend reading BABOK and certifying with IIBA?
- There are several options you could use to go for IIBA certification but using the BABOK is one that I would recommend.
Ok, what about project management? PMI is the correct way?
- Again, there are several options you can take to get project management training/certification: APM, PRINCE2, and PMI, just to name a few. I can’t say one is better than the other – it depends on the environment you are working in.
Now Agile is very popular, self-organizing teams and so on, where is the place for BA and typical PM?
- I love the Agile space. You can work with different Agile teams as a BA or a PM – it depends on what the team structure is and how the project is managed and/or controlled. You can have hybrid Agile projects: traditional (waterfall) and Agile mixed, you can have Agile X projects – Scrum and Kanban, ScrumBan, LeSS, SAFe, etc.
The most important experience in your career is? I remember from the course that you told about Atlanta Olympic Games project :)?
- Ha! You were paying attention to me :) Yes, the Atlanta Olympic Games (1996) was a very good experience for me – it was early in my project management career with IBM that I was asked to help “recover” the software and hardware Atlanta Olympic Venue project. We had 21 days to get the project on track for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies – we worked 14 – 18 hour days for 18 days straight; we able to get the project back on track for the opening. Because of our hard work, we given tickets to the opening ceremonies, and that is where I was able to meet one of my Heroes – The Greatest - Mr. Muhammad Ali.
For something completely different - does anything connect you with the film industry 😊?
- I dabble in the entertainment industry from time to time. It is a joy and challenge at the same time.
Can you tell us something more about it?
- I have done several TV shows, movies, and commercials during the last 6 years. I also had an agent and a couple of auditions in Warsaw – I didn’t get the parts, but it was interesting seeing the difference between Warsaw, Atlanta, New York, and Hollywood auditions. If you want to see more of my acting work, here is my IMDB link: www.imdb.me/darrylbooker
What is your way to rest in your free time?
- I used to go to the gym to work out and relieve stress, but now that we are in this new world of COVID-19, I can’t get to the gym. I have gone back to writing – I have a book that I hope to have released by the end of July 2021.
Oh great! We cross our fingers to that :) I know that at this moment it's a difficult question but when will you come to Poland?
- That is a great question – I have no idea at this point, but once it is deemed safe to travel to Poland, I will be one of the first to come back – did I mentioned I like the food :)
Thank you very much for that interview, it's very valuable to our community. All the best :)
- Tomek, it was a pleasure participating in this interview with you. I wish you and your followers much success and happiness. Be safe. Ciao.
