Juggling act continues

26 October 2011

The juggling of two projects continues as we head to the end of the year. The work for the BDO team under Robert Skeffington marches on and I am making contributions as best as i can, helping the team.

The other project for Online has taken an interesting turn where i have been challenged to come up with a new solution (the previous solution wasn't acceptable to the CEO) to solve the problem without throwing any more money at it. I have thought of a few ways and will be interesting to work that through.

I am also going on leave at the end of November so i am looking forward to having that time off.

The rugby world cup just finished here in NZ and we are the proud champions. I was fortunate to share this tournament with my dad and we ended up going to all the All Black games, then watched them beat the Argentinians in the Quarter finals, the Aussies in the Semi and then the French in the final.
An amazing opportunity to be a part of history!!

Well done All Blacks!! So proud!

Been a while

5 October 2011

It has been a while since i last penned er typed my thoughts on here.
Two main reasons for that really: Workload and laziness.

I have been working on two projects for the last few months. Spending my time between the Business Development Office in Sydney (reporting into Robert Skeffington) and the other half, working in APN Online (reporting into Spencer Bailey)

These two projects are quite different from each other and i am not at liberty to discuss in detail about either of them so no more info on that front.
Safe to say that they are both very challenging in their own rights and deadline driven which is proving to be a handful.

On the social front, New Zealand is going crazy with the Rugby World Cup and it really is very festive here. The crunch time is upon us with the quarterfiinals slated for this weekend.

Dan Carter is now out of the tournament with a groin injury and the whole nation has suddenly been brought back down to earth to consider the unthinkable, "what if we DONT win the cup?"

I must banish these thoughts as quickly as i have had them!

Best of luck to all the other nations still in the running, may the best team win! *coughAllBlackscough*

What is this Corporate Strategy all about?

24 August 2011

So I have now started work with Robert Skeffington and it has been quite challenging. I feel that i'm being asked to look at facts and issues in a whole new light.
Robert has a favourite "SO WHAT?" rule which is a really good gauge of whether a fact or an issue is relevant or not. This one rule alone has really made me reconsider a lot of facts and its usefulness for our business.

As part of this corporate strategy piece, also in the team are Brooke Krumbeck and Tash Meinertzhagen who are both Sydney based. I am learning how to work efficiently in a virtual team environment with me being the only one based in Auckland and so it is not without its challenges. We start the day with a quick email outlining what we are working on for the day. Then I log into skype and keep in touch with Brooke through IM and depending on what's going on, Robert usually checks in with a Video call.

The issues I am dealing with are both macro and micro (to a certain extent) and my understanding of the business so far does hold me in good stead as there are a lot of insights that can be gained when one has working knowledge of the department or good relationships with key people in those areas.

On a seperate topic, the new fast track group has also started after their week long induction with Danielle and Gabe posted to NZ Magazines and NZ Herald respectively. Sid too has just started his new project with NZ Media and is also in the building. We're taking over this place...!!

ps. the Rugby World Cup is now just a little over a fortnight away and i can't wait. Go the ALL BLACKS!