Two big concepts in project management are waterfall and agile. 

Both are methodologies for executing projects with waterfall being the traditional one and agile the newer, more modern one. 

This is another post in my project management fundamental series and we'll look at the two  approaches, their differences, advantages and disadvantages.  

Let's describe briefly the two concepts first. 

Waterfall project management is about chunking the project into linear sequential phases, with each new phase beginning only when the prior phase has been completed. It's often used in construction. 

Agile, on the other hand, is an iterative approach with less initial planning focusing on continuous releases and incorporating customer feedback with every iteration. It's often used in software development.

What Waterfall and Agile Look Like

I returned from maternity leave about two weeks ago and stepped into a new role as a Program Manager in the Chief of Staff office for CX EMEAR at Cisco. 

It's an exciting move for me and so far it's been super interesting. Lots to do, lots of new people to work with, lots of opportunities to make an impact. 

Since I started my career, I've held about 10 different positions and switched four industries - I began in PR, moved into Marketing, then Customer Success, then Project and Program Management. I've worked in agencies, SaaS and IT companies. 

So it's safe to say that I've had experience switching roles and industries.

At this stage, I think I've figured out how to make it work so I want to share with you some tips on how you can approach stepping into a new role. 

Top 7 Tips for Stepping Into a New Role

Consider it a buzzword or not, ROI is still important. 

Executives care about it. They want to know that company investments are worth it. 

When it comes to building or growing a new department such as Customer Success, especially if you don't have experience in it, ROI is equally important. 

It's normal to ask if it's worth it and to wonder how to measure the success of the investment. 

I've always advised channel partners to ensure that they have a way to measure Customer Success and how their CSMs are doing from the very start. You don't want to start a new division or a new initiative and have your boss drop it a few months down the line because you forgot to measure its success. 

With Customer Success still being a relatively new and sexy job, how to measure it is not as clear cut as it is in Sales for example.

Customer Success is also a lot more about relationships than it is about numbers. but even though it can be subjective, there are still certain activities and outcomes you can track. 

I recently spotted two infographics about metrics to measure Customer Success ROI that I want to go over today. 

8 Ways to Measure Customer Success ROI

As the new year begins, not only do I reflect on what's happened for me personally and professionally, but also on how this blog has been performing. 

I'll have to be honest, 2020 was rather busy for me with a still relatively new job at a new company in a new country, getting pregnant and giving birth, moving to a new city, buying a house and furnishing it. 

I didn't neglect the blog but I didn't have as much time for it as I would have wished so I had to move down my publishing schedule from once a week to once every two weeks. 

With that in mind, I was curious to see the performance of the blog posts I wrote and published last year and of those from all time. 

Let's dive in. 

The Top 10 Posts on Iliyana's Blog Published in 2020

One more year has flown by. 

And what a year it has been for all of us with COVID-19 completely changing our personal and professional lives. 

To me, the crisis has had both positive and negative implications. I've been able to spend so much time with my now husband but we were restricted and couldn't travel and be with family and friends as much as we would normally do. 

Nevertheless, 2020 was really the best year of my life so far.

As the new year approaches, it's always good to pause and reflect, to think about all the goods things we need to be grateful for. 

Here are my top 10 things that I am grateful for this Christmas. 

10 Things I'm Grateful For This Christmas