Reflection – Storytelling

Challenge

My name is Alberto and I’m a middle manager (one of many directors) of a Technology practice in a large  consulting company. I play the role of a project manager (or sometimes team lead) in the  implementation of complex corporate IT-systems, such as an ERP system or a corporate Data  Warehouse / Business Intelligence system. My clients are big companies, usually leaders on local  market. They work in different industries – oil & gas, metals & mining, coal production, power  generation and distribution, agriculture and so on, – but often have typical / similar problems and  requirements, so my experience is relevant to many of them.

I’m basically a technical (IT) specialist, dedicated to ‘delivery’ – system design and implementation. Sales  and marketing are not my favorite skills. But over the past three years I have been responsible for  developing an interesting complex functionality (Commodity Trading application) for a large coal  producer, and it makes sense to bring this accumulated experience to the market (to the C-level  management in the relevant companies).

Selection

Storytelling looks like the right technique for promotion of our skills and experience in CTRM  (Commodity Trade and Risk Management). My project team, together with the client, has come a long  way, made some mistakes (not fatal), learned many lessons and finally achieved good results, so I can  tell some interesting stories based on it.

Application

I have prepared two types of presentations about our project and CTRM experience:

•  Long story with a description of our client, business objectives, project approach, technical  architecture and many details and examples. It was addressed to a rather narrow audience – for  example, the participants of the metals & mining conference.

•  A more general and shorter presentation intended for a much wider audience– just description  of base problems, typical client requirements and issues, and outline of the possible system  architectures.

Insight & Approach

Then based on these materials (combination of detail comprehensive project description and kind of  elevator pitch about CTRM) I was ready for any scenario – long story for experts, short introduction for  newcomers and so on. But even very short story, to be effective, requires tones of background  preparation – analysis of target audience, development of the logical structure of the narrative, a  selection of striking examples from real life and … endless training.


Reflection – Storytelling Challenge My name is Alberto and I ’m a middle manager ( one of many directors ) of a Technology practice in a large consulting company . I play the role of a project manager ( or sometimes team lead ) in the implementation of complex corporate IT - systems , such as an ERP system or a corporate Data Warehouse / Business Intelligence system . My clients are big companies , usually leaders on local market . They work in different industries – oil & gas , metals & mining , coal production , power generation and distribution , agriculture and so on , – but often have typical / similar problems and requirements , so my experience is relevant to many of them . I ’m basically a technical ( IT ) specialist , dedicated to ‘ delivery ’ – system design and implementation . Sales and marketing are not my favorite skills . But over the past three years I have been responsible for developing an interesting complex functionality ( Commodity Trading application ) for a large coal producer , and it makes sense to bring this accumulated experience to the market ( to the C - level management in the relevant companies ) . Selection Storytelling looks like the right technique for promotion of our skills and experience in CTRM ( Commodity Trade and Risk Management ) . My project team , together with the client , has come a long way , made some mistakes ( not fatal ) , learned many lessons and finally achieved good results , so I can tell some interesting stories based on it . Application I have prepared two types of presentations about our project and CTRM experience : • Long story with a description of our client , business objectives , project approach , technical architecture and many details and examples . It was addressed to a rather narrow audience – for example , the participants of the metals & mining conference . • A more general and shorter presentation intended for a much wider audience – just description of base problems , typical client requirements and issues , and outline of the possible system architectures . Insight & Approach Then based on these materials ( combination of detail comprehensive project description and kind of elevator pitch about CTRM ) I was ready for any scenario – long story for experts , short introduction for newcomers and so on . But even very short story , to be effective , requires tones of background preparation – analysis of target audience , development of the logical structure of the narrative , a selection of striking examples from real life and … endless training .