Hanif Virani

👋 Hey product hiring managers! You may have noticed dozens of people now with a new certificate from the Alberta Product Leadership Program. If you manage or are prospectively seeking a new PM to join your team, you should know that: 1) The program is selective. You can't just sign-up. Since it's inception, the program has sought to upskill professionals that have shown their motivation for growth and desire to hone their product management craft. 2) The graduates get broader exposure to practices and industries beyond their resume. Our sessions are interactive and facilitate sharing of perspectives and ways of working across multiple organizations - from grassroots startups to FAANG giants. 3) There's more to it than training. During the course of the program, many participants gain mentorship, build a supportive peer group, and get out of their comfort zone. The program is refreshed every year by hiring managers just like you to optimize for the skills we need to hire and promote for. So if you see the APL certificate with a candidate profile, know that candidate choose to do more than your average course. #abtech #yyctech #yegtech #productmanagement

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🌟 Reflecting on an Inspiring Event: "Enabling a Data-Driven Mindset — Fostering Excellence" 🌟 I had the incredible opportunity to speak alongside industry leaders Qahir Rajwani, and Andrew Ricchetti at this fantastic event. It was truly exciting to engage with colleagues and discuss the importance of data literacy in today's organizations. 🔍 Event Highlights: ·        Assessing and evaluating current workforce skills ·        Creating buy-in to drive data fluency across the enterprise ·        Inspiring a data-driven mindset from the top down ·        The discussions were insightful, and the energy in the room was palpable. Fostering a data-driven culture is essential for overcoming data context and self-serve technology challenges. Here are some key takeaways: 1.     Assessing Workforce Skills: It's crucial to regularly evaluate the current data skills within the workforce to identify gaps and areas for improvement. This helps in tailoring training programs effectively. 2.     Driving Data Fluency: Creating buy-in across the enterprise is essential for driving data fluency. This involves clear communication of the benefits of data literacy and engaging leadership to champion these initiatives. 3.     Inspiring a Data-Driven Culture: Fostering a data-driven mindset from the top down ensures that data literacy becomes an integral part of the organizational culture. Leaders play a pivotal role in setting the tone and encouraging data-driven decision-making. 4.     Overcoming Data Context Challenges: Addressing the challenges related to data context and self-serve technology is vital. This includes providing the right tools and support to enable employees to leverage data effectively. 5.     Establishing Data Academies: Some organizations are setting up data academies to systematically build data skills across the workforce. These academies offer structured learning paths and resources to enhance data literacy. 6.     Integrating Data Literacy into Strategy: Weaving data literacy initiatives into the overall D&A strategy ensures that these efforts are aligned with the organization's goals and objectives, leading to more sustainable and impactful outcomes. The event highlighted the importance of a holistic approach to building a data-driven organization, emphasizing continuous learning, leadership support, and strategic alignment. Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to such a vibrant and thought-provoking session. Let's continue to drive excellence through data! Grateful for the incredible support from my Kainos family, especially Neil Gabriel and Kyle Thompson. Their encouragement and belief in my potential have propelled me to seize amazing opportunities like this one. Here's to pushing boundaries and reaching new heights together! 🚀💡 #TeamKainos #Gratitude #GrowthMindset #AchieveMore #DataDriven #DataLiteracy #Analytics #Leadership #DataScience #AI #EnterpriseExcellence #Kainos #Evanta #CDAO

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John G. Keogh this follows the usual Canadian trend of slow adoption of new technology. The slow adoption of new technology by Canadian businesses is a significant factor in the declining productivity in Canada compared to the US. It is also has a huge negative impact on the technology industry in Canada, especially startups. Canada has the talent and the startup ecosystem to create real benefit from AI for every sector of the economy. We need to speed up adoption in Canadian companies, and most importantly, have sourcing from Canadian companies. In the article it mentions that Canada's biggest companies, like RBC, are using AI. That's fine, but the biggest companies in the US are the ones creating the AI solutions! Hopefully we can see progress in this area in Manitoba with the new Minister of Innovation and New Technology, Mike Moroz.

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The stats for May are out - watch our latest video to get the latest market insights #RealEstate #BCRealEstate Greater Vancouver REALTORS®

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Really interesting topic: #Entrepreneurship through #Acqusition. Bringing it forward to my network. If you want to learn (and grow) in this space, Venture for Canada is one of the strongest #talent development platforms in #Canada.

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Reposting as I am a lover of great graphic design.

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Actionable information requires data quality and coverage. This, in turn, requires cheap access to high-quality data. And so we are launching Precept.

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About 10 years ago, Paul Bien, Anna Sheu and I reached out to Michael Katchen to ask him about disruptive innovation for a Deloitte report we were writing (URL below: The Age of Disruption). Even back in 2014, he was sounding the alarm over Canada’s productivity challenges and referenced the book he talks about at the end of the podcast below, Why Mexicans Don’t Drink Molson. In short, we as Canadians need more entrepreneurs and business leaders that strive for Gold as global leaders in our industries. More entrepreneurship means more high growth businesses means more GDP and a higher economic standard of living for all Canadians. It’s a bit of a full circle moment now for me at Purpose Unlimited where with Advisor Solutions by Purpose and Driven were actively creating more successful and growth-oriented entrepreneurs in wealth management and SMB industries. I hope Mike’s message and Deloitte’s long standing views on Canada’s lagging productivity continue to be a primary focus for Canadians. If you’re an investment advisor looking to be a part of the solution and become you’re own entrepreneur and CEO as a true independent, that’s exactly what I and the industry-leading team of entrepreneurs at Purpose can help you with. Deloitte’s The Age of Disruption report: https://lnkd.in/gx-G79Tw Why Mexicans Don’t Drink Molson by Andrea Mandel-Campbell: https://lnkd.in/gMmeG6eu

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Behind the scenes at #Elevate2024 - speaking at the biggest tech conference in Canada re: #VentureCapital investing in deep-tech. Joined by Janet Bannister (Staircase Ventures), Eva Lau (Two Small Fish Ventures), Chris Neumann (Panache Ventures), we covered: - what types of companies are exciting to VCs (hint: moonshots), - specialist vs. generalist VC funds (founders: while it’s wonderful to meet a specialist VC that knows your domain really well, that is currently the exception, not the norm - so the art of telling your story to a broader investor base is crucial) - how VCs construct their portfolio to meet LP expectations (as a founder, you need to understand what motivates the investors you’re interacting with) Glad Creative Destruction Lab assembled this epic panel on the Moonshots stage ! Elevate Sonia Sennik #FutureTech #Innovation #IOV

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Today marks the beginning of Canada #SmallBusinessMonth and a new chapter for SMBs! Now it’s easier than ever for small and medium-sized businesses to leverage the same enterprise-grade technology that more than 50% of Fortune 500 companies use to move business forward. https://bit.ly/3N3yeRd #TeamWDAY

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🚀 Day 1/10 of University of Waterloo's MDEI Design Sprint: Complete ✅ Unlocking Digital Self-Service through Gamification! Got an idea or pain point when it comes to mobile banking? Comment below and let us know what we should consider! Our focus is clear: enhance CIBC's app to boost digital self-service via gamification. Here's what we've accomplished on Day 1: ✅ Kick-Off Call: We gathered our spirits and aligned our goals with incredible industry mentors @ CIBC, Lyndon Pan & Himanshi Sharma ✅ Market Analysis: We dug deep into gamification's role in banking, zeroing in on CIBC's specific needs. ✅ User Experience Mapping: We traced the CIBC app's user journey, identifying crucial friction points* ✅ Competitive Analysis: We sized up Canada's "big six" banks to benchmark CIBC’s digital offerings. ✅ Gamification Evaluation: We dissected successful banking apps to see what sticks — from badges to leaderboards! ✅ User Insights: We listened to real voices through detailed interviews, collecting raw, actionable feedback. *Key learning for me: how crucial it is to map out customer journeys from multiple perspectives (people, process, tech) to optimize service design. 🛠 In my role as product manager, I setup the team with these "Tools of the Trade": Asana for project management, Teams for communication, Miro for ideation/flows and Canva for visualization of findings. We'll be moving to data and mock-ups next so you'll see AI and Figma in this mix soon! ⏭ Next Steps: We aim to discover who benefits most from an enhanced solution, ideate on problem-solving strategies, and craft both customer and business value. 🙌 Teamwork makes the dream work, and we're just getting started! I'm thrilled to be working with Samaia Aidroos and Megan Dufton on user research + content, Mukul T. and Andre De Jesus on competitive analysis, and Elijah Robert on product design. Stay tuned as we explore, create, and innovate. #DesignSprint #DigitalBanking #UserExperience #Gamification #ProductManagement #AssociateProductManager #DigitalSolutions #CareerGrowth

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Hello #Vancouver network! I'm thrilled to break down what AI really is for treasury, payments and risk management at Association for Financial Professionals Vancouver (AFP Vancouver) on May 8th. Come check it out and take away at least 3 ways you can use AI today! Kyriba

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Solving problems within the Canadian tech industry requires a national attitude adjustment on several key fronts: - Adopting a long-term thinking approach rather than focusing solely on short-term gains - Thinking big and competing on a global scale, not just locally - Recognizing that a few highly motivated and properly incentivized individuals can create massive value for the country It feels as though Canada needs its own version of the Iwakura mission, where someone deeply understands the traits that have made the US so successful historically and the lessons Asia has learned in modern times that have led to their rapid ascension. This person would then run a campaign based on those lessons. Until the root causes are addressed, it's difficult not to recommend that individuals align themselves with the US in their pursuit of building, as failing to do so could severely limit their potential.

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From a user experience perspective, Whisper-NER technology represents a revolutionary breakthrough in voice interaction. As a UX expert, I believe the technology's most significant highlight is its ability to protect privacy without compromising the natural interaction experience. First, Whisper-NER adopts an integrated design philosophy. Users don't need to install or configure additional privacy protection tools, as the system automatically masks sensitive information during the voice recognition process. This seamless protection mechanism greatly enhances the user experience, making it particularly suitable for elderly users. Second, the technology employs an intelligent contextual understanding mechanism. Through the collaborative work of 20 attention heads, the system can accurately understand conversation contexts, masking only information that truly needs protection while preserving necessary contextual information. For example, in medical consultation scenarios, the system masks patient personal information while retaining symptom descriptions, ensuring communication remains unaffected. Third, from an interaction design perspective, Whisper-NER offers flexible privacy protection level settings. Users can independently choose the strictness of privacy protection based on different scenario requirements. This personalized design gives users greater control over their private data. This user-centric design philosophy is not only applicable to fields with high data security requirements like healthcare and legal sectors but also holds significant value for regular business operations. It serves as an excellent example of how to balance user experience and privacy protection in the digital age. #AI/UX #UPX #User Privacy Experience

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I just came across this awesome example of how Shopify Inc's CEO Tobias Lütke ran a company-wide remote work experiment in 2017 that helped the company's anti-fragility when Covid-19 hit three years later. Background - Shopify is always trying to help employees stay curious, for example getting employees to use the mouse with their left hand for a day. In line with this, in 2017 Shopify closed the company’s offices for a month, requiring their then 800 employees to work from home. This was a strategic move to enhance the company’s adaptability. During that month, the company and its leaders encountered unexpected hurdles, such as interns struggling to find food without the office kitchens. This challenged the employees to get creative, for example - the kitchen staff bought and ran a food truck! Lütke explained their philosophy on building adaptability in an interview with The Motley Fool "One of the things that we've been trying to do is ... inoculate the insides of the company from the crazy changes that exist on the outside. All of us are on boats in very stormy waters in the industry today, because there's a million different micro trends that are all hitting us in the form of tidal waves at the same time." (1) Imagine how much this experiment readied Shopify's leaders for Covid - a time when they simultaneously needed to go remote and respond to a massive increase in the number of entrepreneurs needing their help? This builds on Lütke's views on the importance of "Antifragility," where a system responds to disruption not just with stability, but by getting stronger. This concept was introduced in Nassim Taleb's book of the same title, one Lütke loves and tells everyone to read (as he said in an interview with Andreessen Horowitz General Partner, Sriram Krishnan (2)). Antifragility is such an important idea for building adaptable companies that MIT teaches the concept to its entrepreneurs. Bill Aulet explains how and why the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship does this in an article by MindFrame Connect https://lnkd.in/e_vyxzg5 Enjoy! Sources 1: https://lnkd.in/ewmUkshD 2: https://lnkd.in/e6SkrH5N

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