70% of all projects in organisations fail. Shocking isn't it? But it's the reality. And most often than not, projects fail because of competing priorities. 

We move too fast and work on too many things at the same time. Many leaders want everything done now. Program and project get assigned to multiple projects at the same time alongside other stakeholders from the companies. And because there's so much to do and little prioritization to everything that needs to be done, project teams have to choose shortcuts and many times jump right into doing without planning. But by skipping planning, project teams are bound to see surprises later for their initiative.   

That's why I see the job of the project or program manager to push back to leadership and ask for prioritisation, to really look at where do we get the most impact among all the projects and to work with leadership to identify what to 'kill'. Organisations have the habit of just adding things but we never look back at what's actually not working and just stop it so we reuse the resources and talent for the initiatives that will bring an impact. 

In fact, the ROI from quitting the wrong thing is far greater than the ROI from doing the right thing.

With the New Year having just arrived, I have a confession to make. 

I'm a total speedoholic and a rushaholic.

And I've become an even bigger speedoholic and rushaholic since having a baby and returning to full-time work. 

Reflecting on 2021, I realise that I have managed to achieve a lot - got back to work from maternity, managed to juggle having my daughter at home until she was 11 months before she started daycare, made new friends in the Netherlands, travelled 3 times during these COVID days (probably would've been 13 had it not been for COVID) and generally, kept everything going smoothly, taking care of my family daily while having a newborn and now a toddler. 

I'll be honest, having a child is a lot of work, especially when neither my husband nor I have any family living here in the Netherlands. I did not expect it to be that much and I'm guilty of trying to do many things on my own (even though I have a terrific, supportive husband) and putting pressure on myself to get so many things done in a single day, feeling like a failure when not getting something done or not getting it done on time as per my original plan. The time I've had for myself to recharge or disconnect has been minimal, mainly because I had prioritised other to-dos. 

The work-life balance or work-life integration I had before having my beautiful daughter was figured out and sorted; it was working perfectly. But in 2021, I've been trying to adjust to my new normal. In some areas, I've succeeded, in others I haven't and especially in taking care of myself.

Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting at the Digital Marketing Transformation e-Conference on the topic of Disrupt or Be Disrupted. 

It's been a while since I've done some public speaking and even though it was all online due to COVID-19, I loved it. I realised how much I miss it and how energised I feel by the audience and by the opportunity to share what I know. 

I'm a firm believer that knowledge is to be spread and not kept. That's why I am always thrilled when an opportunity to present arises and I jump on it right away. 

In the spirit of sharing, I want to make the video of my talk available to you so if you're curious to hear about digital disruption in marketing and in business in general, take a look at my presentation below. 

I cover four areas, bringing my experience from HubSpot and Cisco: 

1. technological transformation 
2. digital disruption 
3. business models 
4. specific activities you can take

I hope you enjoy the video! 

Disrupt or Be Disrupted [Video]

It's been busy the last few months. 

I've been quiet on this blog and I'm not going to lie, finding time to write between an expanded job role and a now 10-month old still at home has been tough. Juggling is challenging, as I'm sure you'll agree. 

In fact, the whole world would agree that what makes life today truly unprecedented is the pace of change.

Everything is moving fast. There's always something new. And Covid-19 has made it even more challenging. The new normal is different. Juggling is the new normal it seems. 

That's both for individuals and for companies, especially with regards to technology and IT. 

Personal and business mobility, the Internet of Things, the bring-your-own device and working from home revolution, everything in the cloud are fundamentally changing the way we live and work.

And the pace of change continues to accelerate. 

Let me show you today some IT stats to prove this. 

9 Stats About the Unprecedented Pace of IT Change Today

Lately, quite a few people from my network reached out to seek my advice on getting a job in tech, given my close to 5 years at HubSpot and now almost 2 at Cisco and the fact that I started my career in a very different area - PR. 

Tech and IT are hot industries right now especially with the whole Coronavirus situation that's pushing us to 100% work remotely. 

You don't have to be an engineer to work in tech. In fact, tech companies are hiring for different types of talent. They seek people in Customer Success, Sales, Operations, Marketing and many more. Just like any other company, tech companies have different functions that ensure the business can run daily. It's not just about the engineers who make the product. It's also about those who market it, sell it and then ensure that customers use it plus all of the behind the scenes teams such as finance, HR and so on. 

So if you want to transition into tech but are not an engineer, this post is for you. (Even if you're an engineer, this post will provide some useful tips.)

3 Tips How to Get a Job in Tech [For Non-Tech People]