Technical Consultants are the experts having knowledge of the code, coding standards and software implementation life cycle.

Technical Consultants need not be any domain specific like Finance, HR, Manufacturing, and Procure to Pay etc. Their main role is to do customizations, extensions, modifications, localizations or integrations to the existing product and develop reports. They have educational background and experience in software engineering and development.

Functional Knowledge is the practical, tangible and usable knowledge of a particular business function enabling the possessor capable of performing that activity. Chartered Technofunctional Institute defines Functional Knowledge as the knowledge of business processes and related concepts that explains the nature, causes and effects of individual and integrated business activities.

Choosing appropriate communication medium depends on many factors like the urgency of the message and its emotional impact. If the recipient is likely to have a strong reaction to the message then: 

It should be delivered in a more personal format.  Sometimes response time from your virtual team decides the media. It also depends on the nature and communication style of the recipient as some people rarely check e-mail, some are unreachable by phone but have pagers, and others let faxes pile up for days.  In this article we will share some practical tips for effective email communication.

Using Conference calls to hold your meetings and make critical decisions about your project, share the ongoing status and communicate your expectations has become inevitable for the modern IT leader/manager.

Conference calls generally add an extra layer of complexity to the challenge of holding effective meetings. They require you to use every trick you know about how to run a meeting like begin with an agenda, assign a moderator, limit interruptions and digressions, don't let one person dominate and a lot more. In this article we will share some practical tips for making effective conference calls.

In this article we will try to identify the common and unique characteristics of virtual teams and focus on providing you with the practical tips to encourage effective communication in your virtual work environment. Teams are focused on performing the same task whether they are traditional or virtual however the challenge in virtual environment is to ensure that the lack of a shared workspace is not a detriment to the project or the individuals.

Time Management has become critical as technology and the world’s cultures are advancing. Rather than spending 24/7 at a job, effective time management enables the scheduling of all activities – personal and professional – and can help you with work-life balance. Time in today’s workplace and life actually has financial “value” and wasting time is like wasting money. In this article we will try to identify and eliminate time wasting events.

Career coaching helps your team members discover what they really want to do with their lives and their career and help them develop a workable strategy to achieve it.

Career coaches help individuals to think through their career aspirations and decide on suitable course of action. Career counseling and career coaching are similar in nature to traditional counseling. However, the focus is generally on issues such as career exploration, career change, personal career development and other career related issues.

We all work in teams as IT Leaders, Project or Program managers and team effectiveness and collaboration is the key to any IT Project’s success. What are some of the resources to learn the team dynamics in a project and what are the factors that determine the success and failure of the team? The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (J-B Lencioni Series) by author Patrick Lencioni is helpful to anyone who serves on a team and specifically helpful for project managers as for their success they are totally dependent on their team and team members.

In this book, you will find specific steps you can take to make your team better. Through a real life fable, Pat leads you to understand the causes of a team’s dysfunction are and leads you through the steps you need to take to turnaround your project team from dysfunction to health. This book is a must read if you work in a matrix organization and responsible for creating and leading new teams for every new project or you are associated in such teams as a team member. You will find a clear model that you can implement as well as examples that are as relevant as your last meeting.

Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? Chances are you don't. All too often, our natural talents go untapped. From the cradle to the cubicle, we devote more time to fixing our shortcomings than to developing our strengths. To help people uncover their talents, Gallup introduced the first version of its online assessment, StrengthsFinder, in 2001 which ignited a global conversation and helped millions to discover their top five talents. In its latest national bestseller, StrengthsFinder 2.0, Gallup unveils the new and improved version of its popular assessment, language of 34 themes, and much more. While you can read this book in one sitting, you'll use it as a reference for decades. (Editorial Review)

If you are also facing the same problem as most of we as IT Professionals face, identifying our key strengths and behaviors as leaders rather than technology, then this is the right book for you to carry out your self-assessment and identify your key strengths to focus upon to get good results and growths. This book has a large number of practical tips for you to apply your strengths.

From an IT Leader’s perspective, Strategic thinking is nothing but analyzing opportunities and problems from a broad perspective. Strategic thinking is also about understanding the potential impact your actions might have on your organization including your stakeholders, clients, programs, other units within the organization, and resource allocation to meet program needs at all times.