Went to Egypt last week to help around cooms IBM's delivery centers. Won't talk too much about it as there are other ways to update you ;-) First the business part:
Second the fun side of work:
Surely will go back!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Blue Brno
This week I was in Brno, Czech Republic to work around comms, meet the people and of course run some cool activities :-) If you don't know yet, in the old and beautiful city of Brno, IBM has a huuuuuge Integrated Delivery Center (IDC) with about 3000 people coming from all over the world and speaking all kinds of foreign languages. Absolutely amazing!
So meeting people from Portugal, India, Poland, Germany and even my own Romania was super fun! Recording them for a video even more fun! And as a small proof that we could rebrand the city in IBM Brno, I took this picture :-)
Even the tram has IBM on it! Love it there, will definitely come back ;-)
Til later,
@SilviaEmilia
So meeting people from Portugal, India, Poland, Germany and even my own Romania was super fun! Recording them for a video even more fun! And as a small proof that we could rebrand the city in IBM Brno, I took this picture :-)
Even the tram has IBM on it! Love it there, will definitely come back ;-)
Til later,@SilviaEmilia
Monday, October 26, 2009
Super Halloween Festival in Second Life
And the great news :-)
Starting with the 29th of October (THIS THURSDAY) and ending on the 31st we'll host the greatest, biggest, most funny & spooky Halloween Party in Second Life. Colleagues from all over the world can pick their most suitable time zone and join us. Friends of IBMers, students, partners and families are more than welcomed :-) We'll have live music and costumes contests, give candy bars and take you for a trick or treat. Graveyard, huge pumpkins, ghosts and candles are already in place, so feel free to check them!
Are you new to Second Life?
Don't worry.Just download SL, install it and create an avatar www.secondlife.com. Then we can all meet at one of IBM's islands ALMADEN (copy and paste this link in your browser) :http://slurl.com/secondlife/Almaden/70/129/26
Of course if you have problems teleporting you can always ping me - ANTHI ARIDA (<<< that's me in Morticia's dress :-)).
Looking forward to seeing you there and give you some cool masks :-)
Starting with the 29th of October (THIS THURSDAY) and ending on the 31st we'll host the greatest, biggest, most funny & spooky Halloween Party in Second Life. Colleagues from all over the world can pick their most suitable time zone and join us. Friends of IBMers, students, partners and families are more than welcomed :-) We'll have live music and costumes contests, give candy bars and take you for a trick or treat. Graveyard, huge pumpkins, ghosts and candles are already in place, so feel free to check them!Are you new to Second Life?
Don't worry.Just download SL, install it and create an avatar www.secondlife.com. Then we can all meet at one of IBM's islands ALMADEN (copy and paste this link in your browser) :http://slurl.com/secondlife/Almaden/70/129/26
Of course if you have problems teleporting you can always ping me - ANTHI ARIDA (<<< that's me in Morticia's dress :-)).
Looking forward to seeing you there and give you some cool masks :-)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
On Escalation
Recently I discovered this great blog written by Nigel Dessau -Chief Marketing Officer at AMD. The blog is called 3minutementor and has very very good tips on preparing for an interview, assignments and all the possible things you could ask a mentor. And of course all the answers come through 3minutes videos. Pretty cool!
What I really found useful for all the professionals out there was the video on escalations, how we escalate, who/ what, when and why. A brilliant video I must admit! I think it shows that all the people who see escalation as something mandatory, person related and as a great weapon are absolutely wrong (maybe we do that cause we have a Latin origin? :-)).
Escalations can be avoided and we must try avoiding it by discussing about it, trying to convince the person to do a job in a different way and most important if we proceed with it, then we be sure the person will be informed in advance. After all the purpose is not to make someone feel miserable but to get a job done. Then we don't escalate PEOPLE but PROCESSES, TASKS, etc. So before you write a bad email or make the call, think about what upset you and if there is really a need for escalating this. Ask for advice: escalations are not about punishing someone but about finding a solution. Check the video below for more tips. Really hope to see less silly&personal escalations and people focusing on facts and goals.
What I really found useful for all the professionals out there was the video on escalations, how we escalate, who/ what, when and why. A brilliant video I must admit! I think it shows that all the people who see escalation as something mandatory, person related and as a great weapon are absolutely wrong (maybe we do that cause we have a Latin origin? :-)).
Escalations can be avoided and we must try avoiding it by discussing about it, trying to convince the person to do a job in a different way and most important if we proceed with it, then we be sure the person will be informed in advance. After all the purpose is not to make someone feel miserable but to get a job done. Then we don't escalate PEOPLE but PROCESSES, TASKS, etc. So before you write a bad email or make the call, think about what upset you and if there is really a need for escalating this. Ask for advice: escalations are not about punishing someone but about finding a solution. Check the video below for more tips. Really hope to see less silly&personal escalations and people focusing on facts and goals.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Blue and the 220 orphans
When I joined IBM the center in Eastern Europe was in a set up phase: new building, new people, great plans. One of the first things we tried to make happen however was to find a social project that would be the most suitable for us and make a bigger difference. So we asked employees to let us know if they know any organization, community or project who would need our help. About 2 days after we have been told about a village named Valea Plopului. It seems it was the same place I was running into when searching in google for "social project", but under a different name.
It is a magnificent place where a priest takes care and supports about 220 orphans. A big initiative, many hopes, lots of help needed and many many kids. A few of us drove there to see how it is, what they need, where do the kids live and meet Father Tanase. And then it all started.
You can read all about it and see some pics on the web page I created for them www.valeaplopului.com
There are contacts, maps in case you would like to visit the kids and play with them and even bank accounts if you would like to help them out with a small donation. There are also many foreigners coming by so don't be afraid to pay them a visit even if you don't speak the language, they are used to and like it.
Now that I am back in Romania will also restart visiting them and hopefully will have my first trip in November. In case you would like to participate let me know :-) Just comment here or on the FORUM or even on the Facebook page I created for them. See you around!
It is a magnificent place where a priest takes care and supports about 220 orphans. A big initiative, many hopes, lots of help needed and many many kids. A few of us drove there to see how it is, what they need, where do the kids live and meet Father Tanase. And then it all started.
You can read all about it and see some pics on the web page I created for them www.valeaplopului.com
There are contacts, maps in case you would like to visit the kids and play with them and even bank accounts if you would like to help them out with a small donation. There are also many foreigners coming by so don't be afraid to pay them a visit even if you don't speak the language, they are used to and like it.
Now that I am back in Romania will also restart visiting them and hopefully will have my first trip in November. In case you would like to participate let me know :-) Just comment here or on the FORUM or even on the Facebook page I created for them. See you around!
Monday, September 21, 2009
My Smarter Planet
This year IBM launched what I personally consider the best campaign we ever made. Maybe because it's not just a campaign but a call to change the way we live, work, build, think, travel and more. We called it the Smarter Planet and you can read all about it here. You can learn about how we can make our cities smarter, how IBM helps local agencies to create a better infrastructure, or how we help patients by tracking their responses to new medication through smart pills that alert doctors via sms. And even more you can share your thoughts on better education, food, banking, energy, retail and discover the new intelligence and how analytics can change the way we understand information.
As I told you it's just HUGE! And because it's soooo huge IBM asked for all its business partners, local governments, companies and employees to participate in it, share ideas, tell people about it, make friends and family aware and finally take action! We have many tumbles, tweets, blogs and many resources dedicated to explaining what INTERCONNECTED, INSTRUMENTED and INTELLIGENT mean (the 3 aspects of smarter planet), so I'll let you discover them :-)
Meanwhile that's my Romanian tumblr: PlanetaDesteapta (RO for Smarter Planet), a place where I share my tips on things that are really smart and could help us have a better life.
As I told you it's just HUGE! And because it's soooo huge IBM asked for all its business partners, local governments, companies and employees to participate in it, share ideas, tell people about it, make friends and family aware and finally take action! We have many tumbles, tweets, blogs and many resources dedicated to explaining what INTERCONNECTED, INSTRUMENTED and INTELLIGENT mean (the 3 aspects of smarter planet), so I'll let you discover them :-)
Meanwhile that's my Romanian tumblr: PlanetaDesteapta (RO for Smarter Planet), a place where I share my tips on things that are really smart and could help us have a better life.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
The day my IQ got blue
One of the greatest things about IBM are actually 3 :-) We encourage collaboration and networking, we promote and use social software and we allow people to do that at work also as it's a MUST for being productive, building our skills and reaching out to people as fast as we can ;-) And yes, we tell the same to our clients and help them with creating and providing them platforms like Lotus Connections.
Now while many companies still wonder if they should allow employees to use Facebook at work or if Twitter helps or not, IBM not only allows employees to experiment around social software but also encourages employees and teaches them how to make the best of it.
If you start being active in the virtual environment you will notice there are many IBMers doing the same as you: some promoting a product, a service, some evangelizing about virtual worlds, some building communities or collecting funds for women in need, some keeping us updated with cool news, some telling us about their blooming ideas and so on. There is no other feeling like contributing to something asbig as changing the way you work and your world!
And through this cool network, you'll often see a #blueiq. It's not because we are in a strange cult :-) but because we are part of a community aiming to help everyone connect, understand social software,use it and share our new skills with our teams. There is no better way of "teaching" social software as using it and showing people what it can do. We support HR, Communications, Sales, Marketing , Delivery teams, new hires or Managers with making themselves heard,building their own team of experts....and more.
And we are proud of it :-) I remember the day I met @elsua, @ragtag, @andypiper, @kafkaspice, @rawn, @laurisa and more in Berlin. Was one of my best IBM experiences so far. Meeting the knights who were fighting for the same goal: making the blue giant more social ;-)
I am sure you want to belong to a community just like mine :-) If there is one in your company then join it! If not, starting building it! And if you are in IBM, say HI!
@silviaemilia
Now while many companies still wonder if they should allow employees to use Facebook at work or if Twitter helps or not, IBM not only allows employees to experiment around social software but also encourages employees and teaches them how to make the best of it.
If you start being active in the virtual environment you will notice there are many IBMers doing the same as you: some promoting a product, a service, some evangelizing about virtual worlds, some building communities or collecting funds for women in need, some keeping us updated with cool news, some telling us about their blooming ideas and so on. There is no other feeling like contributing to something asbig as changing the way you work and your world!
And through this cool network, you'll often see a #blueiq. It's not because we are in a strange cult :-) but because we are part of a community aiming to help everyone connect, understand social software,use it and share our new skills with our teams. There is no better way of "teaching" social software as using it and showing people what it can do. We support HR, Communications, Sales, Marketing , Delivery teams, new hires or Managers with making themselves heard,building their own team of experts....and more.And we are proud of it :-) I remember the day I met @elsua, @ragtag, @andypiper, @kafkaspice, @rawn, @laurisa and more in Berlin. Was one of my best IBM experiences so far. Meeting the knights who were fighting for the same goal: making the blue giant more social ;-)
I am sure you want to belong to a community just like mine :-) If there is one in your company then join it! If not, starting building it! And if you are in IBM, say HI!
@silviaemilia
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