TWIGA SOLUTIONS
LOOK ABOVE THE TREES. FIND THE PATH. FOLLOW IT.
PHOTO © FRANK HEITMULLER
Flawless execution is what differentiates organizations and companies that truly achieve results from those that do not. If this were easy, everyone would do it. Taking a critical perspective, laying out a strategy and action plan, and following that plan are incredibly hard to do. And even harder to do when you are buried in the day to day details and unable to see the best path.
Twiga Solutions’ purpose is to help you to see beyond what you do today, to find the best path for you and your team to achieve your goals, and to get it done. Our intent is to work with your team, providing them with the tools and support they need, to clarify and commit to a strategic plan and to relentlessly follow through. We believe that hard work can be fun and that shared success is its own motivator.
IN ORDER TO BE HEARD, YOU MUST FIRST LEARN TO LISTEN.
WHO IS BARBARA CAIN?
Barbara Cain is the founder and principal consultant of Twiga Solutions. As a successful executive in the software industry, she realised how fortunate she was to have worked with many great leaders and experts and was drawn to find a way to share her knowledge and experience with others.
Barbara held a variety of executive roles in Product Management, Product Development, Strategy, and Customer Support at Cognos and later IBM. She was known for her focus and ability to develop an effective plan and to complete it, all while encouraging and engaging others to contribute.
As a critical thinker, not afraid to be honest and direct, Barbara is effective in assessing the strengths of an organization or strategy and providing clear and pragmatic recommendations. Barbara grasps complex and technical ideas quickly, translating them into business value which drive strategy and outcomes. Her broad experience in so many of the critical roles required to develop market leading software solutions applies readily to any technology based company or organization.
Barbara believes that humility and humour are key pillars of great leadership and she employs these liberally in her work with teams and individuals. She is candid, but kind, and truly strives to help others to be effective leaders wherever they are in an organization or their career.
WHO IS BARBARA CAIN?
Barbara Cain is the founder and principal consultant of Twiga Solutions. As a successful executive in the software industry, she realised how fortunate she was to have worked with many great leaders and experts and was drawn to find a way to share her knowledge and experience with others.
Barbara held a variety of executive roles in Product Management, Product Development, Strategy, and Customer Support at Cognos and later IBM. She was known for her focus and ability to develop an effective plan and to complete it, all while encouraging and engaging others to contribute.
As a critical thinker, not afraid to be honest and direct, Barbara is effective in assessing the strengths of an organization or strategy and providing clear and pragmatic recommendations. Barbara grasps complex and technical ideas quickly, translating them into business value which drive strategy and outcomes. Her broad experience in so many of the critical roles required to develop market leading software solutions applies readily to any technology based company or organization.
Barbara believes that humility and humour are key pillars of great leadership and she employs these liberally in her work with teams and individuals. She is candid, but kind, and truly strives to help others to be effective leaders wherever they are in an organization or their career.
LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT LEADING OTHERS, NOT DOING IT ALL YOURSELF. EXCITE. ENGAGE. ENCOURAGE. ENABLE.
PHOTO © FRANK HEITMULLER
Your business is unique and the opportunities and challenges you face are equally unique. At Twiga Solutions we take the time to listen and understand you before designing a personalized service with clear objectives and desired outcomes just for you.
The services we deliver are grounded in deep experience in the technology and business domain and leverage a set of tools and practices that you can adopt for your own future use.
C-LEVEL ADVISOR
Do you need help to guide your technology product to the next level? Are you struggling to locate the right person to join your team or perhaps you need help identifying who you do need? Do you think your Product Management or Development team need guidance to be more effective?
More >
Twiga Solutions can provide you with a part time C-level Product Management and Development professional who can help you to navigate these challenges and establish a product strategy and roadmap, build the right team and lay out a plan for continued growth.
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Are you so busy working in the business that you don’t have time to develop a strategic plan to guide your future? Do you have many disparate voices that need to be heard to define your strategy but you cannot navigate through the noise and your own position? Does your entire team understand your strategy and align their actions with it?
More >
Twiga Solutions will design and facilitate a Strategic Planning Workshop which will engage all of your key stakeholders in a creative and collaborative process to define your strategic plan. Strategic planning is a process, not an event, and through this service your team will develop the skills to ensure that your strategy is not only written down but remains a living evolving entity that everyone buys into.
PRODUCT ROADMAPS
Have you released Version 1 of your product and are now faced with trying to balance customer demands with market drivers and technical innovation? Are you struggling to get Version 2 defined because you are responding to constant distractions? Can you paint a vision for your customers and the market that retains their interest?
More >
Twiga Solutions can help you to define your Product Vision and establish the practices and disciplines needed to follow a roadmap to achieve your vision. Using facilitated workshops, market research and a host of proven product management practices, Twiga Solutions will guide the process to not only define your product roadmap but also establish a communication vehicle for both internal and external audiences.
COACHING & MENTORING
Do you have individuals on your team with potential to become leaders in your organization? Do these emerging leaders need some help to identify their strengths and develop their skills? Do you want to make an investment in the development of key team members?
More >
Twiga Solutions can provide personalized 1-1 coaching or mentoring to your team members, demonstrating your commitment in investing in them personally. Coaching can focus on some specific tasks that you have identified as development areas including product management and development practices, customer management, communication, people management, and business planning. Mentoring tends to be a longer term engagement with the individual and mentor driving the areas to work on over time.
MEETING FACILITATION
Do you have a meeting with a group of people that requires a high degree of engagement, collaboration, and ultimate buy in? Do you have many disparate and strong opinions that need to be heard? Are you trying to bring together a group who have never worked together before?
More >
Twiga Solutions can help you by facilitating the meeting – providing an objective and dispassionate driver to ensure that everyone is heard and progress is made. Using some essential tools and practices, Twiga Solutions will guide participants to listen actively and generously to each other and engage in healthy and productive debate. With a goal of achieving alignment on position and views, your team can exit the meeting with a shared understanding and commitment.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Are you embarking on a project that needs strong and strategic project management? Perhaps you are looking to build something new? Or maybe, you need to try to build something old in a new way?
More >
Twiga Solutions can provide project management services for a specific project, developing new processes and procedures where needed and building on tried and proven practices for managing risk, communication and much more.
C-LEVEL ADVISOR
Do you need help to guide your technology product to the next level? Are you struggling to locate the right person to join your team or perhaps you need help identifying who you do need? Do you think your Product Management or Development team need guidance to be more effective?
Twiga Solutions can provide you with a part time C-level Product Management and Development professional who can help you to navigate these challenges and establish a product strategy and roadmap, build the right team and lay out a plan for continued growth.
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Are you so busy working in the business that you don’t have time to develop a strategic plan to guide your future? Do you have many disparate voices that need to be heard to define your strategy but you cannot navigate through the noise and your own position? Does your entire team understand your strategy and align their actions with it?
Twiga Solutions will design and facilitate a Strategic Planning Workshop which will engage all of your key stakeholders in a creative and collaborative process to define your strategic plan. Strategic planning is a process, not an event, and through this service your team will develop the skills to ensure that your strategy is not only written down but remains a living evolving entity that everyone buys into.
PRODUCT ROADMAPS
Have you released Version 1 of your product and are now faced with trying to balance customer demands with market drivers and technical innovation? Are you struggling to get Version 2 defined because you are responding to constant distractions? Can you paint a vision for your customers and the market that retains their interest?
Twiga Solutions can help you to define your Product Vision and establish the practices and disciplines needed to follow a roadmap to achieve your vision. Using facilitated workshops, market research and a host of proven product management practices, Twiga Solutions will guide the process to not only define your product roadmap but also establish a communication vehicle for both internal and external audiences.
COACHING & MENTORING
Do you have individuals on your team with potential to become leaders in your organization? Do these emerging leaders need some help to identify their strengths and develop their skills? Do you want to make an investment in the development of key team members?
Twiga Solutions can provide personalized 1-1 coaching or mentoring to your team members, demonstrating your commitment in investing in them personally. Coaching can focus on some specific tasks that you have identified as development areas including product management and development practices, customer management, communication, people management, and business planning. Mentoring tends to be a longer term engagement with the individual and mentor driving the areas to work on over time.
MEETING FACILITATION
Do you have a meeting with a group of people that requires a high degree of engagement, collaboration, and ultimate buy in? Do you have many disparate and strong opinions that need to be heard? Are you trying to bring together a group who have never worked together before?
Twiga Solutions can help you by facilitating the meeting – providing an objective and dispassionate driver to ensure that everyone is heard and progress is made. Using some essential tools and practices, Twiga Solutions will guide participants to listen actively and generously to each other and engage in healthy and productive debate. With a goal of achieving alignment on position and views, your team can exit the meeting with a shared understanding and commitment.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Are you embarking on a project that needs strong and strategic project management? Perhaps you are looking to build something new? Or maybe, you need to try to build something old in a new way?
Twiga Solutions can provide project management services for a specific project, developing new processes and procedures where needed and building on tried and proven practices for managing risk, communication and much more.
THE BEST TEAMS ARE MADE UP OF A VARIETY OF PEOPLE WITH DIVERSE OPINIONS. THE SECRET IS TO HAVE SHARED GOALS.
Barbara Cain
Twiga Solutions
LinkedIn
WHY TWIGA?
Barbara Cain, the founder of Twiga Solutions, was born in South Africa and wanted to honour her roots and her personal perspective in the name of her company. Twiga is Swahili for giraffe – a gentle, tall animal that has the unique ability to see above the trees and over the heads of all the other animals. Surely the giraffe can develop a unique perspective and point of view from way up there? And let’s face it, the fact that at just over 5 feet tall, Barbara is generally the shortest one in the boardroom appealed to her sense of irony in the choice of this majestic giant.
Twiga Solutions, like its namesake, seeks to look beyond what is immediately obvious to provide its clients with true value and solutions to their unique challenges.
WHY TWIGA?
Barbara Cain, the founder of Twiga Solutions, was born in South Africa and wanted to honour her roots and her personal perspective in the name of her company. Twiga is Swahili for giraffe – a gentle, tall animal that has the unique ability to see above the trees and over the heads of all the other animals. Surely the giraffe can develop a unique perspective and point of view from way up there? And let’s face it, the fact that at just over 5 feet tall, Barbara is generally the shortest one in the boardroom appealed to her sense of irony in the choice of this majestic giant.
Twiga Solutions, like its namesake, seeks to look beyond what is immediately obvious to provide its clients with true value and solutions to their unique challenges.