Author Archives | Liza Wood

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After a dozen years leading video game development projects in a variety of roles, I decided to pursue a Master of Data Science at the University of British Columbia. Studying data science doesn’t mean I’m moving away from leading people. Growing data science teams need collaborative, pragmatic, Agile leadership to connect data to all areas of the business. I would like to share that point of view, along with my experiences, on this blog.

How To Create Customer Satisfaction

January 30, 2011

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A wonderful customer experience

A commenter on one of my posts suggested I write about how companies shift from focusing on “making widgets” to providing customer satisfaction.  What a great suggestion!  Companies known for customer satisfaction don’t just make it one department’s job.  All teams understand their customers and work to make them happy.  Here are some tips to […]

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Must… Resist… The “Brother-In-Law Network”

January 24, 2011

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All too often, the following conversation happens in businesses everywhere: “We need to find someone to help us make this widget.” – “I have a friend/relative/golf buddy who does that.  Let’s go with them!” Doing business with someone you know through personal connections is a common practice.  It has its benefits:  you think you know […]

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4 Factors Of Process Improvement Ownership

January 18, 2011

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This week’s brief post is inspired by another recent blog article: Brad Power’s Where Have the Process Owners Gone? on the Harvard Business Review website.  I recognize the importance of having a dedicated Process Owners and formal process improvement governance and I would love to work with a company that really makes it work.  Throughout […]

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How Do We Get More Women In Tech?

January 9, 2011

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This week Jen Cheng sparked an intelligent discussion on her blog by asking:  Why Are There So Few Women in Tech?.  Women and men shared their views, experiences and wisdom from a variety fields.  It’s clear that only a small percentage of young women are choosing to earn technical degrees, so there are few women […]

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What I Learned As Monty Moose

January 1, 2011

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Monty looks exactly like his profile photo: he is a small stuffed moose who is a fan of the Montreal Canadians, Tim Horton’s coffee, and loves making new friends.  Monty is also the official mascot of MEETin Montreal and as the City Lead for 2010, I had the opportunity to have some fun with Monty […]

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NPI: Start With The Product

November 7, 2010

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Inside our computer

There are three distinct phases in any product’s life cycle:  New Product Introduction (NPI), Sustaining, and End of Life (EOL). Most of the similarities between the industries I have worked in, and the applicable lessons learned, are in the first phase:  NPI. These lessons will be covered through a series of articles, each covering a […]

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