Reflection – Storytelling 

 Challenge 

 What I am invariably trying to deliver is IT Projects and Services to a variety of clients where the   outcomes range from improvements to products and services . Because the pace of technological change   is so fast , it is not easy for non - IT functions or managers to always grasp what they are investing in and   why . Furthermore , non IT managers , especially in business , are becoming increasingly important to   decision - making and instrumental in determining a long range view or product road - map , along with   having control over budgets . 

 Selection 

 Not being an IT professional , it is important for me to capture complex concepts in as many dimensions   possible and in the future , making recommendations that executives approve of and trust me . I spend a   significant amount of time with various stakeholders to understand what they experience and what they   expect from IT programs following which I go back to my team of technology subject matter experts for   problem solving and solution development . Story - telling lends itself rather well to being among the   better approaches in putting together propositions or recommendations , likely to meet with more   success with decision makers . 

 Application 

 In order to meet the technology needs of a few of my clients within an organization I was required to   form a partnership for the technology vendor with the ‘ digital partnership ’ team who in turn wanted to   see many more users of the technology for it to make sense for them to invest in . I had not explored the   full potential of an ‘ API marketplace platform ’ I was proposing and we were far down the budgeting   timeline so I did not have the luxury of exploration . Furthermore , the ‘ digital partnership ’ team did not   have an interest in understanding the technology but were rather more interested in revenue or   monetization models . Our first workshop we were required to conduct was for the business folks of the   ‘ global data - team ’ who wanted to explore data - monetization . They had no understanding of technology   and were looking to get an estimate of how much it would cost them to develop the relevant technology   solution . Using the story - telling model , I suggested to my subject matter expert to unbundle the ‘ API   marketplace ’ by full functionalities and be ready to dive deep into specific features which met these   functionalities . While the underlying technology was very superior we decided to focus on the ability of   users to ‘ mash - up ’ with fin - techs and how light assets like APIs were being monetized by other players .   Both these features were related to one another in a sliver . But while amplifying the features of the   sliver we were able to build a story whereby data could be packaged as APIs which met the needs of the   ‘ global data team ’ and we could use the monetization models for APIs to develop the revenue model to   satisfy the needs of the ‘ digital partnership team ’ . And my subject matter experts worked these two   features backwards into an estimate of the technology investments required and returns thereof . 

 The success in my mind however was that my team of technology subject matter experts went back to   their drawing board to return with a unique domain led set of solutions which made it possible to use   common financial processes as a service which would cross organization lines . 

 Insight & Approach 

 While I have mostly used story - telling to paint the big picture and secure buy - in , it became clearer to me   that it is also very effective in addressing point - problems , gaps in solutions , and making workshops more   inclusive to gather better feedback and have better outcomes . 

 I also realized story - telling helps convey passion and commitment . Many new technology programs are   challenging and create change which can be disruptive at times . If one can not convey that one knows   how various parts of the organization are addressing change , and how the program being   recommending is aligned with it , it lessens the chances of getting executive buy - in .   The same goes for   factors like risk which can have different meanings to different people in different parts of the   organization . One may not be able to capture all the risks of the organization and their mitigants but it   does highlight that the recommendations consider them . 

 This is very relevant today , and one of my client organizations is using the phrase ‘ consider everything ’   as quintessential to decision making going forward . 


EMAIL: 
ID_NUM: 
NAME_STUDENT: 
PHONE_NUM: 
STREET_ADDRESS: 
URL_PERSONAL: 
USERNAME: 

### Task: You are a PII (Personal Identity Information) Detection. Given a essays written by students, you have to identify ONLY the following:
NAME_STUDENT - The full or partial name of a student that is not necessarily the author of the essay. This excludes instructors, authors, and other person names.
EMAIL - A student’s email address.
USERNAME - A student's username on any platform.
ID_NUM - A number or sequence of characters that could be used to identify a student, such as a student ID or a social security number.
PHONE_NUM - A phone number associated with a student.
URL_PERSONAL - A URL that might be used to identify a student.
STREET_ADDRESS - A full or partial street address that is associated with the student, such as their home address.
### Input: Reflection – Storytelling 

 Challenge 

 What I am invariably trying to deliver is IT Projects and Services to a variety of clients where the   outcomes range from improvements to products and services . Because the pace of technological change   is so fast , it is not easy for non - IT functions or managers to always grasp what they are investing in and   why . Furthermore , non IT managers , especially in business , are becoming increasingly important to   decision - making and instrumental in determining a long range view or product road - map , along with   having control over budgets . 

 Selection 

 Not being an IT professional , it is important for me to capture complex concepts in as many dimensions   possible and in the future , making recommendations that executives approve of and trust me . I spend a   significant amount of time with various stakeholders to understand what they experience and what they   expect from IT programs following which I go back to my team of technology subject matter experts for   problem solving and solution development . Story - telling lends itself rather well to being among the   better approaches in putting together propositions or recommendations , likely to meet with more   success with decision makers . 

 Application 

 In order to meet the technology needs of a few of my clients within an organization I was required to   form a partnership for the technology vendor with the ‘ digital partnership ’ team who in turn wanted to   see many more users of the technology for it to make sense for them to invest in . I had not explored the   full potential of an ‘ API marketplace platform ’ I was proposing and we were far down the budgeting   timeline so I did not have the luxury of exploration . Furthermore , the ‘ digital partnership ’ team did not   have an interest in understanding the technology but were rather more interested in revenue or   monetization models . Our first workshop we were required to conduct was for the business folks of the   ‘ global data - team ’ who wanted to explore data - monetization . They had no understanding of technology   and were looking to get an estimate of how much it would cost them to develop the relevant technology   solution . Using the story - telling model , I suggested to my subject matter expert to unbundle the ‘ API   marketplace ’ by full functionalities and be ready to dive deep into specific features which met these   functionalities . While the underlying technology was very superior we decided to focus on the ability of   users to ‘ mash - up ’ with fin - techs and how light assets like APIs were being monetized by other players .   Both these features were related to one another in a sliver . But while amplifying the features of the   sliver we were able to build a story whereby data could be packaged as APIs which met the needs of the   ‘ global data team ’ and we could use the monetization models for APIs to develop the revenue model to   satisfy the needs of the ‘ digital partnership team ’ . And my subject matter experts worked these two   features backwards into an estimate of the technology investments required and returns thereof . 

 The success in my mind however was that my team of technology subject matter experts went back to   their drawing board to return with a unique domain led set of solutions which made it possible to use   common financial processes as a service which would cross organization lines . 

 Insight & Approach 

 While I have mostly used story - telling to paint the big picture and secure buy - in , it became clearer to me   that it is also very effective in addressing point - problems , gaps in solutions , and making workshops more   inclusive to gather better feedback and have better outcomes . 

 I also realized story - telling helps convey passion and commitment . Many new technology programs are   challenging and create change which can be disruptive at times . If one can not convey that one knows   how various parts of the organization are addressing change , and how the program being   recommending is aligned with it , it lessens the chances of getting executive buy - in .   The same goes for   factors like risk which can have different meanings to different people in different parts of the   organization . One may not be able to capture all the risks of the organization and their mitigants but it   does highlight that the recommendations consider them . 

 This is very relevant today , and one of my client organizations is using the phrase ‘ consider everything ’   as quintessential to decision making going forward .
### Output: 