A one-day workshop
The aim of this course is to expose the commercial context within which technical work is carried out. It is to allow technical staff to understand how they fit into a larger picture, why they may be asked to undertake tasks that may not appear to be technical and the impact their interactions have within the commercial context.
The scope of the programme includes stakeholders and their various needs, the need for sales, estimating, change control and risk, and the value of intellectual property.
The course emphasises the collaborative nature of delivery and the need to offer value to customers.
- Understand why technical roles are broader than we might assume
- Appreciate the importance of, and the need to support, sales
- Value the idea of ‘Good Enough’
- Recognise what can affect profitability
- Realise the future needs protecting
Expert trainer
Steve is a highly experienced and qualified trainer and consultant. His broadly based background is in IT, technical services, bid management and project/programme management. He is therefore particularly suited to delivering commercial awareness training to technical staff.
Session outline
1. Introduction (Course sponsor)
- Why this programme has been developed
- Review of participants’ needs and objectives
- Bullet 5
2. That’s not my job!
- How we see our own role in work
- How other people see our role
- Stakeholders: who are they and why do they matter?
- The organisational backdrop
- What is my role really?
3. Sales and marketing
- Where does the money come from?
- Where do we find customers?
- The sales process
- One-off sales versus repeat business
- Customer/supplier relationships
- What something costs versus what the customer will pay
- The value chain
4. Estimating
- Purpose of estimates
- The problem with precision
- Five estimating techniques
5. Change control
- Can you just do this for me?
- When being helpful leads to bankruptcy
- How to deal with change requests
6. Risk management
- Risk in projects
- Risk in operations
- Categories of risk
7. The value of intellectual property
- Issues with sharing information
- Commercial in confidence
- Non-disclosure agreements
8. Course review and action planning (Course sponsor present)
- Identify actions to be implemented individually
- What actions should be implemented to improve working with non-technical people?
- Conclusion
