Hello! I am
Shaun Dicker
I love the practical use of technology, where I enjoy combining my technical expertise with business, analytical, and agile delivery skills (Scrum & Kanban).
I work alongside our clients and agile practitioners to build & run modern software applications.
At home, I’m a geeky husband who enjoys project management, personal productivity, technology, the natural world, graphic novels & video games.
Armed with 25+ years of experience with Microsoft technologies, I am a results-oriented Delivery Lead with progressive experience in software development & digital transformation projects.
Specialities:
- Scrum & Kanban in Software Development and Solution Implementation
- IT Project Management
- Design Thinking
- Service Delivery
- Business Operations
- Team Leadership with strong communication & teamwork skills
- Getting Things Done™ guru
- Vast Microsoft platform experience
Want to know more? Let’s get in touch! You can read my recent articles below, or please say hello through LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.
Recent Articles
- Unlock Your Team’s Potential with an Agile Coach
As a software development team member, you know that success in this field requires hard work and dedication. You also understand that staying ahead of the game requires staying updated with the latest trends and technologies. One of the best ways to do this is by working with an agile coach. What is Agile Coaching?… Continue reading Unlock Your Team’s Potential with an Agile Coach - Set CLEAR goals with your agile team rather than SMART ones
CLEAR goals leans heavily on the agile mindset and attitudes that teams strive for in today’s environment, but it does not conflict with traditional goal setting. - What’s Your Winning Plan for 2023?
Most companies start preparing for the next year, quarter, or season as the current one winds down. When the clock strikes midnight, it’s too late to make any changes to the items or projects already in production, and even modest tweaks to those in flight are difficult to fit into the timetable. Some companies even… Continue reading What’s Your Winning Plan for 2023? - Working in a remote-first enviroment
Have you ever wondered what it’s like working in a remote-first environment? Well, here’s your chance to find out! In this video, we discuss the environment, the culture and why we enjoy working ‘remote-first’. - What is Kanban?
The concept of kanban is poorly understood by many. In most cases, the level of understanding between two experts discussing kanban will vary, even if they both gain something of value from the conversation. So, what exactly is Kanban – a card, a board, a system or a method? The short answer is – all… Continue reading What is Kanban? - Improving Government Operations with the Power Platform
Mint Delivery Lead, Shaun Dicker, is joined by Microsoft’s Business Applications Specialist, Marc Gower, to discuss how Microsoft solutions helped improve the South African government operations to improve efficiency and quality of service. - Two Powerful Tips to Quickly Make Your Meetings Productive!
By adding just two items to your meeting agenda, a (1) Desired Outcome and (2) the Topics & Activities, you can supercharge your next meeting into a productive powerhouse! Find more details with examples and three bonus tips in this article. - Do You Have the Personality to Be a Great Project Manager?
I believe almost everybody can be a project manager! In this article, I share how you can quickly assess your personality type and map it to project management competencies to find your strengths as a project manager. - Vastly improve chat responses with this one simple tip
Please don’t type “Hi” or “Hello” in chat and press Enter When we use modern chat tools, such as Microsoft Teams, we should do so in a way that saves us time and allows for an efficient, real-time exchange of information. Do not expect an answer if you type “Hi” or “Hello” and press Enter.… Continue reading Vastly improve chat responses with this one simple tip - The Ultimate Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Training Guide
This guide is a collection of learning & training links, resources, and videos for consultants who build & run Business Application solutions using the Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365. I believe that right now, in 2022, the Microsoft Power Platform is everything. This is where it’s happening, and it’s time to double down and… Continue reading The Ultimate Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Training Guide - How I reduce morning anxiety with a morning routine
The stress hormone cortisol can be at its highest when we first wake up, so it’s not unusual to feel anxious in the morning. If you are anxious in the morning, with a racing heart or upset stomach, you’re not the only one. Many people feel anxious when they wake up because their cortisol levels… Continue reading How I reduce morning anxiety with a morning routine - How “Success by Design” Can Help Your Project Implementations
“Success by Design” helps project teams benefit from Microsoft’s collective experience of implementing thousands of real-world customer projects. It does this by providing topic-specific reviews and prescriptive guidance for project teams on using the Power Platform and Dynamics 365 to their fullest potential. A successful implementation means that the project has clear goals, proven methods,… Continue reading How “Success by Design” Can Help Your Project Implementations - 5 Tips to Making Your 2022 Goals Your Best Ever
Every few months, I write in my journal about the highlights of the previous few months and my plans for the coming months. Maybe you’re in the same boat. Meetings with your boss, where you plan your professional progress for the upcoming quarter, may be one source of your goals. Maybe you’d instead make a… Continue reading 5 Tips to Making Your 2022 Goals Your Best Ever - Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey—Twelfth Edition (2021)
The Project Management Institute (PMI) has released its 2021 Project Management Salary Survey. I always find these reports fascinating to read, especially when comparing salaries with other countries. Grab your copy of the report here: Project Management Salary Survey—Twelfth Edition | Project Management Institute (pmi.org) As disruptive as COVID-19 has been, project management skills and… Continue reading Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey—Twelfth Edition (2021) - Quantifying the value of collaboration with Microsoft Teams
In today’s global work environment, organizations and their employees must effectively communicate across different locations, time zones, and languages to drive their businesses forward. Microsoft Teams puts everything organizations need—chats, meetings, calling, and Office 365 apps—to make faster, more informed decisions in a single, intelligent hub. With Teams, every type of worker—from the Firstline Worker to the C-suite—is empowered to contribute… Continue reading Quantifying the value of collaboration with Microsoft Teams - 10 of the latest Microsoft Teams integrations to help you work smarter, not harder
Microsoft built Microsoft Teams as a platform to bring together all of your workplace tools, apps, and services—whether or not Microsoft built them—to allow you to deliver better workday flow for you and your employees. A lot of you recognize the power of Teams, and you’ve been asking how to use Teams to its full… Continue reading 10 of the latest Microsoft Teams integrations to help you work smarter, not harder - New tools to enable teamwork and enhance security in the workplace
This month, Microsoft released new features in Microsoft 365 to help you boost teamwork, save time, and streamline your IT management. Here’s a look at what’s new in March 2019. Collaborate more easily New features and services give you more ways to collaborate with colleagues and LinkedIn connections across platforms. Boost meeting productivity and meet… Continue reading New tools to enable teamwork and enhance security in the workplace - Beyond email: Microsoft time management exec and Satya Nadella mentee on the future of Outlook
Outlook is one of Microsoft’s oldest products — at nearly 22 years old, it is the same age as some of the fresh-faced interns that arrive on the company’s Redmond campus every summer. But it just keeps humming along, outlasting many programs and initiatives that have been conceived, released and discarded during its lifetime. Microsoft… Continue reading Beyond email: Microsoft time management exec and Satya Nadella mentee on the future of Outlook - Microsoft Teams, the hub for teamwork in Office 365
Today’s workplace runs on teamwork. With the right tools, teams are more productive, more profitable, and more engaged. - The power of Office 365 – a key part of a business’ digital transformation journey
Office 365 energises the traditional office suite with AI and Modern Workstream Collaboration New, powerful applications are available to users, elevating the nature of work A more dynamic, fluid, and virtual workplace becomes a reality The shift from on-device installations of Microsoft software – the likes of Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and other familiar tools… Continue reading The power of Office 365 – a key part of a business’ digital transformation journey - Did the app kill email?
Although email is not as productive as some other tools available, it does seem it may be here to stay, in conjunction with new solutions such as Microsoft Teams. - Smart Process Apps improve customer engagement
Smart Process Apps (SPAs) are becoming essential for businesses to meet growing customer expectations. This is according to Shaun Dicker, who notes competitive pressure is driving organisations to look at process improvements. Forrester Research coined the term Smart Process Applications, calling them a “new category of application software designed to support business activities that are… Continue reading Smart Process Apps improve customer engagement - Smart Process Apps – the key to unlocking operational efficiencies and enhancing the customer experience
In an increasingly competitive and globalised marketplace, attracting new customers and retaining existing ones has become one of businesses’ biggest challenges. Since the majority of products have become highly commoditised, the only real point of differentiation available for organisations to leverage is the service and customer experience they deliver. Delivering excellent customer service and an… Continue reading Smart Process Apps – the key to unlocking operational efficiencies and enhancing the customer experience - Elevating the Finance Function with Automated Accounts Payable solutions
With automated Accounts Payable solutions, organisations can expect to see a return on their investment within the first six to twelve months. From that point onwards, the solution starts generating increasing returns for the business. In fact, there are many benefits when automating the processes of receiving invoices, automated reconciliation of invoices against associated statements,… Continue reading Elevating the Finance Function with Automated Accounts Payable solutions - Don’t Hold Back Your Emojis – It’s a text world
We lose so much emotion in our text messages and emails—the tone of voice, gestures, facial expressions, body language, that quiver of excitement. This poem called Indirect by BABYRUTHBEER caught my attention today: To sigh after a long story,or to gasp when you hear something silly;Two of the wonders you can’t doif online chat is… Continue reading Don’t Hold Back Your Emojis – It’s a text world - Cheeky Microsoft Windows & Surface vs iPad Adverts
It’s great to see Microsoft being bold with their Windows and Surface adverts/commercials! Check out the cheeky comparison below, this is long overdue! - One Experience. On every device. For everything in your life.
There are considerable benefits in investing in one platform for all your devices – the same mobile phone platform, the same platform for your tablet, your work notebook, and your gaming console. I have chosen Microsoft as my platform, and I will tell you why. In a previous life, I had an Android smartphone, an… Continue reading One Experience. On every device. For everything in your life. - Facebook Unfriend
I have been looking at the word “Friend” for so long that the spelling is starting to look strange. F.R.I.E.N.D. Weird. I have been doing a clean-up of friends on Facebook – unfriending people that I actually don’t know… and even a few that I don’t want to know anymore too! It’s not to be… Continue reading Facebook Unfriend - How to create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
A well-crafted Work Breakdown Structure can be invaluable on a project. Follow this short step-by-step guide on how to create a basic Work Breakdown Structure for your next project. I create a WBS as soon as possible, preferably while the sales team is still busy proposing the solution to a client. Using the approach I… Continue reading How to create a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - What is the difference between duration, work, effort, hours, and man-days?
I come from the Microsoft Project world, where schedules are built using duration and work. However, team members often refer to effort, hours, or my pet peeve “man-days”. What are all of these, and how do they compare? My nonprofessional definitions are summarized as follows, with examples below: Duration – the amount of time it… Continue reading What is the difference between duration, work, effort, hours, and man-days? - Develop a change management methodology
A South African software developer and solution provider that focuses on the delivery of intranet, portal and business process automation solutions for the enterprise market, has developed a change management methodology for customers undertaking intranet and portal implementations. “In the past, intranets were touted as the next best thing for enhancing organisational efficiencies and driving… Continue reading Develop a change management methodology - Automated Software Quality simplifies dev & test process
A South African software development company, has seen a significant improvement in its development, testing and time to market since implementing Compuware`s solutions for Automated Software Quality (ASQ). The tight integration between Compuware`s DevPartner Studio and QACenter, which provide industry-leading automated software quality capabilities, made it possible for us to start product testing earlier in… Continue reading Automated Software Quality simplifies dev & test process