About Me
Keith Privette Working It!
Early within my work career I started to see technology making the non-value added work being managed by technology to allow us humans to add experience, emotion, creativity and real results to solutions and innovations. I started to analyze how people saw how they brought value to their jobs. One of my first observations I found it interesting and why I started my career as a Business Analyst, the mortgage back securities traders saw more value in working formulas on a spreadsheet then their experiences of watching markets, developing partnerships, and making some gut decisions based on the market information.
Seeing this made me want to become a Business Analyst that can truly understand what can be automated or tracked to provide people with information to make good decisions, develop creative solutions, or produce innovative products and services. I have dedicated my career to developing strategies for companies I have worked for or clients that have hired me to provide thinking around overlapping the business with technology to support connecting, facilitate transactions, or produce and track information for good decision making. That is only have the story!
The other half is having the ability to execute and implement these business technology solutions. I have worked on many flavors of technology projects some successful, some not so much, which has provided me several learning experiences to know how to guide a businesses, technology department, and or project teams from strategy, planning, analysis and design into actual implementation and operational usage of the process and technology together. For the last 12 years I have played this Business Analyst role and interestingly been exposed to many different industries, companies and technologies. I have worked on building a software as a service (SaaS) for facilitating bringing together the communities of companies buying and selling distressed assets to the individuals that needed to provide the appraisals to support the buying and selling at true market value. Implemented an industry recognized Client Relationship Management (CRM) SaaS for a Financial Services company.
I also had an opportunity to implement an interactive behavioral financial quiz for this same Financial Services company. All these very diverse projects have taught me how to think very iteratively with building and connecting the information from many different perspectives to allow for truly conceptualizing the idea. Then to fully implementing a technology solution that meets or exceeds all the stakeholders needs and wants.
The days of separating technology and process are over! Markets, people, needs, wants, economies, countries, cultures, and communities move way to fast to not have the ability to overlay process and technology together for a solution. The individuals are unique that can live both the business culture and the technology culture. I have a lot passionate around making these communities communicate to produce great things.
In the past few years, I have developed a fondness for the social interaction and technologies across the internet. Which is why in most cases I call myself a Social Business Analyst or thanks to Brian Solis for coining the phrase a Digital Sociologist (see below degree info!). Even within those three words, so much of the role is more of a way of life, not just a skill set or job description. The social dynamics of a business versus the social dynamics of a project team need to be observed, listened to and communicated to in so many different ways.
A Social Business Analyst must apply so many techniques, because of the diverse discipline interactions, languages (business speak, technical speak, actual foreign languages), perspectives, and varying levels of career experiences. With social technologies, social media, and social connecting via technologies, a Social Business Analyst will need to have a much more personal relationship with technologies, people from varying industries and varying levels of a business. This blog will explore many topics in around being a Social Business Analyst, software development lifecycles, skill sets needed for being a good Social Business Analyst. I will explore and make connections to industries or project teams that may call it something slightly different also.
The main focus areas will be; how do social dynamics overlay with technologies, such as gathering good data, observation, productivity, efficiency, tracking, connecting, collaborating, and producing. This might be sprinkled with some opinions and ideas from me be socially connected to many different industries, which is what I like to call my “cross-pollinating verticals” strategy. I also take a very “stratactical” approach to my career path, which breaks down like this Strategy which is long term approach keep eye on the target, tactical what are the tactics to get that done short term and potentially throw away, and Stratactical is the little keep a little throw away to continually grow, produce and innovate. So this will add some odd angles at times which I hope will spark discussions and different groups of people talking.
I am also a Board Member of Free Arts Minnesota. I help strategically guide the mission with a fiduciary responsibility to serve the 2,500 at-risk kids with art programming and adult mentorship within our 21 partner facilities in and around Minneapolis\St. Paul, Minnesota. With this organization I have also developed, planned, and executed their social media direction. This has included helping to shape the voice of Free Arts Minnesota through our main channels of twitter and facebook. This has provided huge learning opportunities for me as well as the organization to experiment on the social dynamics of using these channels as well as our email, newsletters, website and blogging the experiences of our volunteers within our 32 week mentorship programming.
I hold a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology & a Minor in History from University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.
Oh to add yet another social dynamic to the picture I am a Husband (wife Tara), Father (8yr old & 5yr old), and dog owner (Daisy & Baci). Which you might on occasion see some things about that social dynamic also. Which leads me back to this Social Business Analyst life style. There are continuous learning’s from being a father and husband to being responsible for unit acceptance testing that create this role. So come along on the journey and please add your thoughts and points along the way!!
Oh and if you occasionally see a tweeting RV show up named Pulling Tin he is ok just a little rough around the tin! He is harmless and also has his own blog
With that said, a quick legal disclosure, everything on this site is my opinion and my opinion only and is not intended to promote or discourage the use of any product or service or are representative of the opinions of my employer, co-workers or staff.
