Joanie has a conversation with Manish Bhardia.  Manish is a principal at Think AI, a software development and consulting firm, author of the book Teamwork and Collaboration: How to Select and Use Right Productivity Environment for You and Your Team, and co-host of True Stories in Tech podcast. Manish specializes in AI and cloud consulting and has more than 17 years of experience leading complex technical projects.
Highlights:
Q: How did you move from being an engineer to a project manager?
Manish was told he was good at communicating with the clients and business users and that got him thinking about becoming a business analyst or project manager.  Also learning about the bad things that project managers do, such as working their teams too hard, made him want to do better with his team.
Q: How did you come to start your company, Think AI?
Because he worked well with clients, Manish decided he wanted to work with multiple clients as a cloud consultant and business owner.  He tells us how he learned how to build his sales skills too.
Q: How did you come to write your book, Teamwork and Collaboration?
A lot of Manish’s work at Think AI has been focused on teamwork.  They conducted a user-group survey to find out what their challenges were, and he wrote the book on the top ten items that centered on teamwork and collaboration.
Q: What are some of the unhealthy habits that remote workers have adopted and how can they get back to or start new healthier ones?
Manish said there are easy answers, but they are hard to implement.  He gives many tips both in his book and on the episode.  He also talks about how to add fun to a remote work environment, how to add clarity as a leader.  He also talks about how people adapting to interacting with AI.
Words of Wisdom, especially for Remote Work:
Keep your body active.
Keep calendar slots open for fun.
Create your ideal calendar and try to fit your schedule to that.
Be clear to your team on what to ignore.
Shout Out:
IAMCP, the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners.
Contact Manish Bhardia:
Website: Think AI
Book: Teamwork and Collaboration: How to Select and Use Right Productivity Environment for You and Your Team
Podcast: True Stories in Tech