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View Points
All in a Day’s Work
Carly, 23, is a Consultant in Systems Integration and Technology, aligned to the Products group.
The system build has ended for the release I have been demonstrating and validating with the client for the past weeks. This means I now have an opportunity to tie up loose ends, and start to make some exciting plans for the next phase of the project – more of which over the next couple of weeks as things are confirmed.

This week my travels took me through the new Heathrow Terminal 5, a chance to see what we have been reading about
(and flown over) so many times recently.
For all the much-hyped publicity around the innovative architecture, I was surprised by how oddly familiar the terminal felt. Then it struck me, this is very like Terminal 4 at Madrid Barajas (the site of many of my previous delays en route to client site). It has a similar cavernous open-plan feel – all the way from the entrance to the boarding gate. The roof is also held up by giant steel trees. There are even similarly short queues at the check in (good news for this tired business traveler!). Sure enough, a quick web search later on tells me that both terminals share an architect – Richard Rogers.

So it seems Mr. Rogers was not afraid to reuse some ideas that worked well. And why not? One thing you learn in Accenture as you grow from an eager new joiner, anxious to prove your sharp thinking, is that if something works – don’t change it. My approach over the past few weeks of system demonstrations and sign-off was based on lessons learned from a previous release, and used the same process as earlier successful design sign off with the same group of people. Experience is not lost, as frequently in Accenture we take the time to reflect on what we have achieved, and how we can make sure things are even better next time. Today I put together a proposed approach for the next round of sign-offs in several months time.

Experience doesn’t even have to stay within the project to be used again. Of course, you don’t copy from one client to another, but a colleague moving to start with a new client in a different industry takes with him a host of industry leading practices from his personal experience of project life cycle, and company-wide best practices from Accenture’s own project methodology.

This blog is a semi-personal journal that offers the opinions, experiences and thoughts of the authors on their professional careers at Accenture, along with links to other relevant websites and articles. Comments posted by the writers do not necessarily reflect the position of Accenture on this subject. The content here is the personal opinion of Carly, a consultant in Systems Integration and Technology, aligned to the Products group. She graduated in Classical Civilisation from Warwick University, then took a sabbatical year before joining Accenture in November 2005.

April 2008
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