Gray Matters (Chelle Obligacion-Gray's work blog)

Orange & Bronze's Java Bootcamp for ComSci Teachers

2008-06-12T09:42:00.006+08:00

Fifteen (15) Computer Science professors from University of the East, TIP-Manila and QC, Jose Rizal University and Mindanao State University has successfully completed and passed the Java Boot Camp lastsummer. This is part of the Industry Academe Linkage Program of PSIA where O&B is a board-member, and in partnership with PSITE and COCOPEA and funded by TESDA.

The deans and teachers will roll-out the program this school year to their respective universities and the graduates of this program will hopefully be hired by PSIA member companies. O&B will conduct mid and post-assessment to ensure that the teachers and schools are properly rolling out the program.

The teachers who passed the Java Boot Camp will be prioritized in the faculty immersion next summer in O&B where they will work for 3-6 months and will be involved in actual projects. In this way the teachers will gained real world software development experience and will impart the knowledge and experience they learned to their students.

The four organizations are looking for other organizations to fund the IAL programs so it can be implemented to other universities in the country. If your organization is interested please contact infoATorangeandbronzeDOTcom. This will be a big help in making the Philippines the center of excellence in Software Development.

"Market Research"

2007-09-22T00:13:00.000+08:00

I really love market research and mentoring =) I find it very challenging and exciting. Unfortunately, very few people do =( Marketing students tend to shy away from doing market research as their thesis paper or school project because its too tedious and boring too. Where in fact market research helps you create a business plan, launch a new product or service, fine tune existing products and services, expand into new markets etc.

Today, marks the 1st week of the newest batch of interns from DLSU who are Marketing Management Majors students. Early this week, I gave them the research guide, some readings and explained the product that we're planning to develop. This will also be their thesis paper. Am up for extra work and some excitement this quarter. Yay!

Am also very proud to share with you that this is my 4th batch to handle =) The 1st 3 batches did very well and in fact one batch has been nominated as "Best in Thesis". We have also established a very good relationship with the professors/lecturers. One OJT coordinator once said that O&B never fails to come up with a good paper. That remark stuck in my mind and really inspired me to mentor more interns and students.

Will keep you posted about the research paper =)

Effective proposals and follow-up calls

2007-09-21T23:35:00.000+08:00

In the next few months we'll be writing a lot of proposals. We will market aggressively our Java Trainings which we will offer to public next year aside from the corporate trainings that we'll do. And hopefully, we'll be able to launch two of our products by January, and offer consultancy services for our BI solutions.

Now, what is an effective proposal? Based on my experience and readings we have to begin with reiterating the benefit/solution your product, services offers. A lot of times we have to spell this out for the customer, they may not know they have a problem until we show them. Giving a scenario would help too!

After sending proposals, follow up is the key! Average response rate is about 2% but with follow-up calls or emails, it can move to 10% =) big big difference, isnt it?! Also, I noticed that it has something to do with the tone of our voice. If you're making a follow-up call and you sound excited and knows well your product/services, others will get excited too. We'll have a bigger chance of closing deals.

Servant + Leader = Servant Leader

2007-08-22T01:29:00.000+08:00

Servant + Leader = Servant Leader

So what is this all about? We all know about servants and we all know about leaders. But have you heard about a servant leader? I have read that servant leader means a leader who leads by serving and serves by leading. I remember Calen mentioned this to me before I started working for O&B last year which I considered one of the reasons why I decided to join O&B full time. Calen, Butch and Joel are very good examples of Servant Leaders which i believe is very inspiring. Whether it is answering a call, getting a new mouse, mentoring, sharing their knowledge and experiences or simply making coffee for everyone, in every aspect they see to it that they get to serve the all the employees of O&B. It would be very rare if not non existent that I would find another boss' like them.

If we are to be the servant leaders of this company, we have to begin in our department, where each person serves the other regardless of rank, race, religion, gender, etc . So the attitude that we should all try to have always is one of "How can I serve you today".

P.S. so whose making the coffee this morning? =) hehehehe

Marketing on a Shoestring Budget 2

2007-08-01T00:24:00.000+08:00

I almost forgot that we can do a low cost ad on facebook =) hehehhe i love facebook!

Marketing on a Shoestring Budget

2007-07-31T23:40:00.000+08:00

A month ago we officially celebrated the company's first year in the business. We have grown so much since then and looking back we've gotten projects and trainings through word of mouth. Which I think is the best form of marketing which always have worked and will always be. Thus we need to ensure client satisfaction in each project that we do and trainings that we give.

Also, for me Marketing is not defined by the money a company spends but by how we communicate to our clients and potential clients. Here are some of my recommendations:

a) Blog
b) Making our emailers and letters more personal especially the introduction letter wherein specify how we can help them or their business.
c) Google Ads
d) Magazine Interviews
e) Contribute Articles in Newspapers and Magazines
d) Effective Website
e) Q&A portion in our website (wherein you'll act as consultants/experts in your field).
f) leveraging our expertise in Hibernate & Spring to differentiate with other software development companies.
g) Coming up with very nice and affordable promotional items by doing it in-house.

Any way to communicate with our clients or potential clients is a way of marketing. So technical guys will be able to help the Marketing/Business Dev Div. We have to show the human side of our business, and should continuously enhance the way we interact with our customers. The key is to understand what they need and find the service/option that best fits their needs.

Work-life balance. What does it really mean?

2007-02-16T19:08:00.000+08:00

I just want to share something I read before about work-life balance. Hmmmm...... Do we really know what it means? How do we really balance it? and can it be really balanced? Tough questions huh?! Different answers.

According to wikitionary balance means - equal amounts all around while the other dictionary (i forgot hehehhe) said that balance as a verb means to bring into or keep in a steady condition.

So it means you have to divide equal amounts of time for work and enough time for yourself or to see family and friends, or play your favorite sport/video game or simply have the time to do other things. But for some it would mean that you won't have enough time for work to enjoy all the things I mentioned.

In my opinion, the better way to do it is to enjoy your work enough to want to put it near the top of our priority list (if we have one =) and if we don't have one yet - its not yet too late to start, right?). Or is it something that we only do just to "have" to pay the bills and buy want we want?

Getting it together

2007-02-14T21:02:00.000+08:00

I did a lot of getting it together/coordination today for various projects (Trainings, interview, meetings and site visits for the new project we're closing, and a whole lot more) Yey! Am so happy! I really can't afford to miss one task for a project or training otherwise it will cost the company a lot of resources (money, time, manpower and even clients) and I don't want that to happen. (Am sure nobody wants that to happen, right?!)

For me, coordination means integrating or linking together different parts of an organization to accomplish a collective set of tasks. So it is crucial and vital to a company that their people know how to get things together so each project or training will be successful and in the end the clients are satisfied.

Have fun getting it together!

The Art of Delegating - work and responsibility

2007-02-06T02:34:00.000+08:00

It is impractical for the manager to handle all of the work of the department directly. In my case it's the Anything But Programming Division which basically covers everything from business development, training coordination to finance and admin. In an organization everyone have certain skills and qualities in which they're especially gifted. When you delegate the remainder, you'll increase your effectiveness.

We have good and reliable staff who can help me out with other "tasks and assignments" so I can focus more on finding training and software development opportunities for the company. At the same time the staff who will be the recipient of the delegated tasks will feel that she has been entrusted of a bigger role and not just additional responsibilities (meaning you help the person to reach her full potential of becoming a supervisor or manager someday)

To start off I drafted SOP for billings, hiring interns and processing their allowances so these will be the basis or guide for the work or responsibilities i'll be delegating. Hopefully, I have finalized the SOP (approved by the management) and pick the right candidate and orient her and start delegating.

Discussion Group & Reading Advantages

2007-02-05T21:01:00.000+08:00

Last week, we got reading assignments about UML & Logistics Management ( related to our "new project") I only browsed the books but I haven't had the time to really sit down and read, on Wednesday I've allocated my whole afternoon just for reading.

I missed out Clair, Jo, Owie & Calen's discussed about UML but I had an idea after I read Clair's blog. So earlier today I asked the 2 other AVP's (Clair & Jo) how far they are with their reading assignments, they said they still have a lot of materials and books to read, I suggested that we start a discussion group this Thursday. I really think that it is a good strategy to retain the information we read and learning becomes easier too.

What do you think?

BTW, I also realized that whenever we have the opportunity to better our reading skills we should take that opportunity. If we do it we have better chances of success not just in work but far more important in life.

O&B 1st Christmas Party

2006-12-22T23:27:00.000+08:00

December 21, 2006 - Thursday, Orange & Bronze Software Labs 1st Christmas Party.

Since everybody is busy, Butch our CTO & JP Team Lead & Partner and Team Building (check Martins blog a few months back to know more about "team building" hehehe) is finishing the "BIG" project, we have trainings on going and closing more trainings for January '07 alone, meetings with clients & prospective clients for possible projects. Yes! We are swamped with work - which is very good and we don't mind at all! Usually software companies doesn't have much work during these period but we are very happy that we have work........... lots of work, hooray!

Because of the busy schedule we only get to plan the Christmas party late last week and our CEO, Calen suggested to make it a simple party instead wherein we'll just order pizza, chicken, colas and beer. Two days before the Christmas party - me, Jo our new Business Dev. Officer and Rose our Admin. Officer finalized the electronic bunutan for the exchange gift, a few games and a short presentation how the company and the people performed this year. So Wednesday, they bought some prices and props for the games while Calen, me and Owie looked for an extra table and bought softdrinks, wine and plates, cups & etc at Makro.

Finally, its Thursday some did their last minute shopping for the exchange gift and at 6:30 PM people started arriving at the office. Our CFO Joel brought chicken, Diane our intern brought liempo, Owie brought orangesof course, Charo brought a yummy cheesecake, JM brought donuts, Milo brought pork bbq and Martin of course brought the ever tasty siomai and siopao from Mamonluk. Almost everybody brought something to share so we started the party with a prayer lead by our CEO Calen. Then dinner, picture taking, kwentuhan, asaran lead by Charo and Dean - nobody can beat their hirits.

After dinner, I did a short presentation about training, consulting and project milestones for this year and then discuss the goals and plan for 2007. Looks like everybody is looking forward and excited. After, I asked the CEO to share some words so he started thanking the people who did very well and same thing with the CTO and I did get to thank the operations staff otherwise known as the Anything but Programming Div =) for their dedication, passion and valued contribution to the company. Looks like everybody is in high spirits and inspired to do well in the coming year.

Then we decided to start the games, actually when we were planning the said portion our fear (Jo, me and Rose) was that nobody will join nor participate baka maging flop or boring. Owie helped us come up with interesting ;-) titles and agreed to help us explain and sample it. Boy! Amazing! We were surprised to see everybody is game and willing to join even the bosses' (teamplayer talaga ang OBSL people). The reactions and results of each game (5 games in all) are so wacky and outrageous everybody is having the time of their life. I wish I can share some pictures but then again I value my life hehehehe

Last is the exchange gift portion and each one got their wonderful gift even though we had some sort of confusion (which gift belongs to which person hehe) So much for my electronic bunutan, next year I'll make sure we come up with a better exchange gift system. Hmmmm suggestions anyone?

It has come to an end, we still have work the next day so people said bye and went home. Some are left at the office including me who are goin to work again. After everybody has gone home the ones left at the officeare still talking about funny stuff during the parlor games and started laughing again leaving a big grin on our face.

It is the simpliest and yet the most fun Christmas Party I ever had. We get to share, inspire, give joy to one another and most of all appreciate and thank the people which is why we are celebrating this season.

I love working with the people here, love the company and what it stands for and lastly I love the challenges of my job so am looking forward to more OBSL Christmas Parties. Next time we'll have a theme =) right Jo?

Can wait for 2007 to start =) A Blessed Christmas to all!

Oh not to forget cheers to our very good bosses' Calen, Butch and their partners Joel, JP, JM & Dean! Cheers to you guys!

My 1st ever blog

2006-12-05T15:33:00.000+08:00

Finally! I was able to set-up my blog and this is my 1st blog ever, yipee! Am excited! Though am not really a good writer. Anyways

I'll be sharing and writing about non technical stuff - Anything but programming =)
Hopefully, readers will still find it helpful - topics will be more about Sales, Marketing, Branding yes even IT companies and products needs to have good of Branding strategies, Project Management, and alot more.

This morning Calen our CEO sent me a link on The Development Abstraction Layer by Joel on Software (http://joelonsoftware.com/articles/DevelopmentAbstraction.html). After reading it I actually had a better understanding of my role here in Orange & Bronze (I dont have any IT background - my previous works are in Banking, Advertising, Admin, Import/Export, Sales, Marketing & Distribution) and what I can contribute to the company which further motivated me to work harder and come up with better ideas.

Now, how do we get these ideas turn into action and get good results from it? Steps are.......... first to consult and get feedbacks about the idea or project, then plan (better if you have option or back up in case it doesnt work or not feasible), organize and set deadlines & milestones. Dont forget to make periodic reviews so you'll know where and which aspects needs to be improved and which ideas are successful.

Now am goin to start applying what i just wrote to my own projects. Training Coordination, Marketing our services and CRM. I'll post the developments in the next few days so you can see how am doin =)