Work Perfect

The day we strive for  

Omid Akhavan

Lean deployment leader
IBM Global Business Services
Los Angeles

I currently lead the portfolio of lean projects in the communications sector of IBM Global Business Services (GBS), Application Management Services (AMS), North America (NA). My team and I help the AMS NA account teams and clients improve productivity, eliminate pain points, streamline processes, solve problems, add additional value for the clients and increase customer satisfaction, among other tasks.

GBS provides IBM clients with various consulting services, including application management. The lean NA team is made up of lean consultants who provide lean consulting services to internal AMS NA teams as well as external clients. The external clients include large corporations that outsource their application management services to IBM. My main customers are IBM directors and project executives, along with their counterparts in external clients.

I love my job because it is diverse, dynamic and challenging, which makes me constantly learn and progress. The best part is that I wear multiple hats every day: leader, project manager, lean expert, business transformation consultant and trainer/coach. I also enjoy the fact that I work on many different projects, deal with new challenges all the time and communicate with various individuals from offshore developers to U.S. vice presidents.

My perfect day is a day when I'm leading a lean workshop and there is great synergy and passion among the team members. They have been learning the lean concepts and tools and have realized how easy it is for them to make improvements. We identify improvement opportunities, successfully brainstorm on possible solutions, and collectively design the future state that will realize huge benefits. At the end of a perfect day I would love to check my emails and see that my previously implemented projects have realized great benefits, the team’s pain points are eliminated, and the client is satisfied with the results.

– Interview by David Brandt 

David Brandt is the Web managing editor for IIE.