Very happy to have formally completed my MBA with distinction this afternoon at the RMIT University Graduation Ceremony! 🎓❤️
Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Tuesday, 17 December 2024
IT Current State Assessment
I’ve worked with not-for-profit and community organisations for years. The pattern is relatively consistent: technology initiatives operate separately from organisational strategy, creating inefficiencies that compound over time.
Recently I worked with an NFP to deliver a comprehensive Current State Assessment for their IT function. The process revealed where things were working, where they weren’t and what needed to change.
This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on the ENVEE Digital blog.
Thursday, 21 November 2024
Why SMEs Need Better Digital Organisation
Many business owners don’t realise how much time they lose every day just trying to find things in their digital infrastructure. Files buried in inboxes, websites that are hard to update, customer data scattered across different platforms – it all adds up to frustration and wasted hours.
Small and medium businesses rely on digital tools to run smoothly. But without clear systems, structured content and organised data, everything becomes harder than it needs to be.
This article was first published on the WebSolutionZ.com.au blog.
Tuesday, 12 November 2024
Memories of Lonely Planet
One of my fondest memories from that time is the "Helpdesk Blitz Day", an event I created with the intent of tackling our backlog of support tickets, improving the understanding of service delivery processes across the business, and building team morale.
The entire IT team and many non-IT staff, including most of LP's C-suite executives, were encouraged to "donate" an hour to man the Service Desk, and they all participated enthusiastically, including our CEO. We'd ordered these caps and badges for every participant, and focused on closing as many tickets as possible while enjoying music and snacks. The event achieved every one of the stated goals, and was considered a resounding success. 🎉
Recently, a former colleague shared a photo of his badge from that day, bringing back great memories and prompting me to dig out some photos I'd forgotten I had. I can't believe it was 20 years ago! 2004 was a pre-smartphone, pre-social media and only-just-digital camera time so there aren't thousands of photos like there would be today. The fact he shared the badge photo now tells me so much about the type of place Lonely Planet was back then, and I'm pleased I'm not the only one who remembers that day. 😊
My time at Lonely Planet was filled with professional growth, a supportive culture and some lasting friendships. LinkedIn started around then, so my first 100 or so connections are all former LP-ers. I always remember it as a place where we worked hard but had a lot of fun. As I explore new opportunities, I reflect on the importance of culture, teamwork, and good leadership, all qualities I hope to embrace in my next role. ❤️
Thursday, 17 October 2024
Women Of The MCC Business Breakfast
Another excellent "Women Of The MCC" Business Breakfast at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with my friend Tracey, MC-ed by Jacqui Felgate and guest speaker Sally Capp AO 👍
Tuesday, 3 September 2024
CIO Leaders Summit Australia, Melbourne 2024
Today I attended the CIO/CISO Leaders Summit Australia, Melbourne 2024. I was offered a complimentary ticket by reps at Focus Network.
The event included both CIO and CISO streams, and we could attend sessions in either stream so I switched across a couple of times.
This photo was taken after a session titled: "Closing Keynote Panel Discussion: Breaking Barriers: Empowering Women in Cybersecurity and Tech – Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Female Talent" - where the majority of blokes decided to leave the room. Which pretty much sums up the problem with women in tech right there.
More info:
CIO Leaders: https://focusnetwork.co/cioleadersaustralia.com/melbourne/
CISO Leaders: https://focusnetwork.co/cisoleaders.com.au/melbourne/
Program:
8:00 Registration, Badge Collection & Refreshments
8:30 Welcome and Introduction & Master of Ceremonies
8:40 Opening Debate: Balancing Innovation and Security: Who Should Have the Final Say in Approving New Technologies?
9:05 Keynote Presentation – Artificial intelligence and your business
9:40 Keynote Panel Discussion: AI in the Enterprise: Balancing Innovation and Security
10:15 Keynote Presentation: Accelerating Cloud Security to enable AI: How Security teams can adopt a new operating model to enable agile AI adoption?
10:50 Networking Break
11:10 Breakout Session: How REA Group Utilises Behavioural Data Science to Safeguard Against Email Borne Threats and Streamline Security Protocols
11:10 Breakout Session: Are You Ready to Adopt a New Cloud Security Operation Model?
11:10 Breakout Session: The Essential Eight & The Modern Threat Landscape
11:10 Breakout Session: Driving the Right Work to the Right Resource at the Right Time
11:45 Speaking Presentation: Unmasking cybercrime, the law enforcement response
12:20 Keynote Speaking Presentation: Reducing Risk with Modern Identity Management
12:55 Breakout Session: Identity Protection in an AI-Driven World
12:55 Breakout Session: The Essential Eight: Overcoming Your Challenges with PAM
12:55 Breakout Session: Balancing Innovation and Risk: Enhancing CX with AI and Quality
12:55 Breakout Session: A Practical Guide to Driving Digital/AI Innovation in Enterprises
13:30 Networking Lunch
14:15 Speaking Presentation: The Art and Science of Deception
14:50 Speaking Session: Empathy in Cybersecurity Leadership: Navigating Beyond Conventional Wisdom
15:25 Networking Break
15:45 Keynote Speaking Session: Australian Cybersecurity Trends and Initiatives Research
16:10 Closing Keynote Panel Discussion: Breaking Barriers: Empowering Women in Cybersecurity and Tech – Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Female Talent
16:40 Closing Remarks
16:45 Networking Drinks
Friday, 30 August 2024
Digital Transformation, the latest buzzword
With news last week of a decade-old incomplete $340m federal government transformation, let’s talk about Digital Transformation because it seems like every organisation is trying to do one these days. Talk about a buzzword!
According to a 2022 McKinsey & Co study, a majority of transformation projects fall short of expectations, often with profound consequences. A similar report by BCG in 2020 showed similar findings.
Putting aside my personal views around how innovations in technology automatically imply the need for an ongoing state of transformation that doesn’t require a 21st century buzzword-y title – why do so many Transformation initiatives fail?
This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on the ENVEE Digital blog.
Tuesday, 27 August 2024
Waterfall or Agile?
A couple of years ago I was asked by a client if they should “Go Agile”. I just stumbled on this graphic which perfectly sums up my response at the time. Basically, if your organisation has a fixed budget, fixed timeframe and fixed set of deliverables, that’s pretty much what Waterfall was designed for and it’s worked well for decades.
When Waterfall makes sense: Government contracts, regulatory compliance projects, infrastructure implementations where requirements are well-defined upfront and changes are expensive. You know exactly what needs to be delivered, you have a fixed budget and timeline, and scope changes require formal approval processes. Waterfall excels here.
When Agile makes sense: Product development where user needs evolve as you learn more. Software projects where requirements emerge through experimentation. Situations where delivering working functionality early and iterating based on feedback creates better outcomes than planning everything upfront.
This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on the ENVEE Digital blog.
Saturday, 6 July 2024
What Leaders Really Do
I was having this conversation recently and mentioned this article,
and lo and behold this morning it appears in my feed. (This post isn't
my usual complaint about algorithms although my issues there continue
to be the same).
This article was first written in 1977, when Harvard Business School professor Abraham Zaleznik published an HBR article with the deceptively mild title “Managers and Leaders: Are They Different?”, which caused an uproar in business schools.
Today, leadership is formally taught in a distinct way from management in MBA degrees and other courses, so it appears the answer to this 40+yo question is "yes".
This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on the ENVEE Digital blog.
Monday, 27 May 2024
Coastrek 2024 bucket list challenge completed! ✔
Six months of training + fundraising while completing a Masters degree were almost thwarted by a +Covid test less than 2 weeks before the event, but team "Are We There Yet?" made it! Thanks to everyone who has supported me/us on our journey. ❤
An awesome day of walking, chatting & fundraising for Heart Foundation supporting research for heart disease, specifically for women. Apparently most previous research has been done on men, and heart disease impacts women differently so more research is needed.
Tally Day is this Sunday 2 June so there is still time to donate!
Wednesday, 1 May 2024
Gen AI vs Human content
It's getting really easy to pick out generative-AI-created content, vs content with a human touch. I'm just setting out on a new job search post-study and some of the job ads I'm seeing are blatantly AI-generated. Some of the marketing material out there is so cookie-cutter that I have to question if these organisations are considering the unintended message they are sending, when the content they are pushing out isn't actually demonstrating that organisation's point of difference.
In the comment of this post the author has written the "ultimate email" which sums it up perfectly:
"I hope this email finds you well. Ready to delve into the realm of transformative writing?
Imagine embarking on a journey to not just navigate but also revolutionize the landscape of communication. In the world of writing, we're thrilled to harness AI and human insight, unveiling a tapestry of dynamic narratives. It's all about utilizing this blend to elevate our stories, ensuring they're not only multifaceted but also intrinsically relatable.
Dive into this game-changer, foster a curious spirit, and voilà, discover the ultimate power to supercharge your writing 🚀. Got questions? Remember, it's daunting yet exciting to unlock this secret source, akin to embarking on a journey that's insightful and conducive to revolutionizing how we connect.
Embrace this opportunity, and let's embark together on this transformative adventure."
Wednesday, 13 March 2024
Gen-AI for job ads
The most blatantly-AI-generated job ad I've seen to date. Got the giggles, but strangely little desire to apply. 🤣🤣
(Looks like it has now been removed, probably for the best)
This was first published on LinkedIn.
Tuesday, 12 March 2024
"The Magic of McDonald's"
I've just finished reading "The Magic of McDonald's" by former CEO and Chairman of McDonald's Australia, Pete Ritchie. I was lucky enough to work in the Melbourne office from 1990-1996, and even for a young female who hadn't come through the store system, training and performance management was a very high priority across the organisation - Macca's basically trained me into an IT professional.
It turned out the 90s was a truly great time to work there, and I'll always be grateful for the friends I made, the opportunities I had and the lessons I learned. Reading about the performance appraisal system made me giggle - how could I forget?! Growing up with a Dutch Oma, my interpersonal approach was somewhat "lock and load" just like hers, at a time when young women weren't quite so forthright. My first 3 appraisals went along the lines of "you're doing this, this and this well, but we need to talk about your tact and diplomacy skills". At the 4th year appraisal, I asked "are we doing tact and diplomacy again?" and the response was "we weren't going to this year but you've just spoiled it!" 😂
I like to think I've improved in the tact and diplomacy department since then. And reading the book made me realise some of the other skills I learned from my time at McDonald's which I perhaps hadn't consciously credited them for. As a leader, I've always focused on people, training and personal development because I reckon that's how you get the best results, and I learned a lot about business, operations, marketing, retail and a bunch of other things just by working there. And I learned the value of having fun at work. Without going into detail - Friday drinks, Christmas party, Store manager events, trips to the Sydney office and weekends with friends, paintball, horse-riding, Chevron Island, starting work at 7am and leaving at 2 to go to the MCG Members for day/night cricket, Donovans, canoeing up the Goulburn River from Mitchelton to Tahbilk, dressing up as Grimace, dressing up as the Village People (don't ask), and let's not forget donning an apron for "Back to Store Day" - I can rock a drive-thru headset with the best of them!
So many good memories. Thanks McDonald's. One of the best times of my corporate life. ❤️
Friday, 23 February 2024
Governing Through a Cyber Crisis
This morning I attended the AICD’s “Governing Through a Cyber Crisis” because I was interested to see what strategies for building a cyber-resilient organisation would be covered at a board level. As a 30-year tech professional, I reckon there’s a difference between governing through a crisis and building a cyber-resilient organisation – but it depends how you look at it.
As outlined, the talk focused on how a board would manage a situation where the horse has already bolted. It covered ensuring the right people are in place to manage the situation, reporting to authorities in the event of a breach, communications and media management – all very important, and we’ve seen the fallout when these things aren’t done right. In this context, “cyber-resilience” is about making sure your organisation is set up to manage the inevitable cyber situation.
What really stood out for me was that we only touched on preventative measures – auditing, including third party vendors, and penetration testing – after 51 minutes, and AI at 55 minutes. Doing all this and more to try to prevent the situation from occurring in the first place, AND having the strategies in place to manage if it fails, is how I define true “cyber-resilience”.
This article was first published on LinkedIn and is also on the ENVEE Digital blog.
Wednesday, 7 February 2024
Generative AI for Content Generation
Recently I've been testing GenerativeAI tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot for content generation.
Like any technology, it's rarely perfect. In general, AI tools are useful for providing solid outlines and suggested content, but it's then really important to tweak to suit your tone and target it properly to our audience. Once we're generally happy with the messaging, we run it back through AI to get the SEO right, and run it through accessibility tools to make sure it's all readable, before posting.
A few things have become really obvious after working through this process:
1. There are a LOT of so-called AI "experts" spouting their knowledge of AI on LinkedIn, who are (a) not experts and (b) are using direct copy/pastes from their Generative AI tool-of-choice. And you can tell. Unless people actually personalise the output, they all end up sounding exactly like everybody else doing that same thing! 😂
2. Copilot (which uses ChatGPT4) produces better content than ChatGPT3.5 via OpenAI (which is to be expected).
3. Long story short - AI makes content generation much easier, but IMHO it's still better and more effective with a human touch as well.
Read our guide on the ENVEE Digital blog: Embracing Digital Transformation
Saturday, 6 January 2024
New Year, new MBA subjects
I'm currently enrolled in "Business Consulting" and "Management of Technology and Innovation". Am I mad? Possibly. Am I excited? Yes. Am I nervous at juggling 2 subjects at once? Definitely. I've worked in both areas previously but the academic version of things is often a bit different to real life... Wish me luck! 🙌👩🎓
#MasterofBusinessAdministration #studygoals
