A coffee with Piet Bourke, Jayva’s Implementation Consultant

16 May

Continuing our ‘coffee with’ blog series apace, the newest member of our team in New Zealand, Piet Bourke, is in the limelight as we find out what drives him in work and what occupies him outside of work. Grab your favourite cuppa and learn all-things Piet, from his LEAP Legal Software connections, to opinions about his new employer, to hot drink of choice (clue: it’s NOT American filter coffee) and more…

What’s your business/professional motto?

If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Not just in terms of getting the things you need to do your job but also with respect to gathering knowledge in order to perform your job to the best of your ability. The same concept applies also to improving processes.

One of the key things I bring to Jayva is an enquiring mind, alongside an attitude of creativity, play and problem solving. I try to ponder things from multiple directions, even questioning things I think I already understand.

How do you make contacts which are useful for business?

I apply the ‘don’t ask, don’t get’ approach. In my previous role, I was dealing with Jayva on behalf of my earlier employer and I asked what the advantages of working at Jayva would be. This conversation resulted in a subsequent discussion with Nicola Moore-Miller, Jayva’s CEO, and I kept in touch over the coming months until an opportunity to join the team arose.

Which individual has inspired you the most in your business life and in what way?

The Kiwi in me struggles to answer this question as we’re pretty strong on ‘tall poppy’ syndrome, where we cut people down rather than lift them up. I suppose I know what side my bread is buttered on when I say that my wife is my inspiration in business. She has an amazing work ethic, frequently re-evaluates the business and introduces continuous improvement for assured success. She’s never satisfied with the status quo. Instead, she looks ahead to see how things can be made better.

What do you think makes Jayva different?

I like to poke fun at Nicola as she has a great sense of humour. She recently emailed about some staffing changes with the title ‘Resources’. I pointed out that it was a managerial subject line and somewhat impersonal, considering the content was regarding people.

However, the reality at Jayva couldn’t be further from the truth. Nicola and Jayva treat their people so well. As an individual, I feel valued and treated more as a friend than an employee. I can’t wait to head to Wales in England soon for Jayva’s 10th birthday party celebration and meet everyone in person. Jayva’s a great bunch of people who are a lot of fun to work with (hopefully they say the same about me).

What’s Jayva’s greatest asset?

The level of compassion and flexibility afforded staff at Jayva causes everyone to reciprocate by performing to high level and showing equal consideration. Jayva’s great at treating people like people. In turn, we’re passionate about what we do, which results in transformative results for clients.

How does Jayva benefit from the unique skillset you bring to the business?

Not only have I had the unique experience working at a law firm undergoing a LEAP implementation, I’ve also spent a significant amount of time working on advanced precedent automation, including creating a custom automated settlement statement, so I’m knowledgeable on what can be achieved with LEAP’s precedent tools. Without wanting to blow my own trumpet too much, I’m probably one of the most capable people you’ll find in terms of LEAP’s precedent automations.

Give one tip for a successful business.

Treat your staff as people rather than simply resources. The more you give to them, the more they’ll give back to you. It’s a relationship based on mutual respect and appreciation that pays dividends for everyone concerned, be it employee, employer or client.

Do you dress up or down for business?

I don’t generally wear a tie, however, I’d say I typically dress up for business. In fact, I’m answering these questions sat in my home office wearing smart casual clothing. I’m not going to lie, there’s an ulterior motive too, in that I don’t want to run out of casual clothing at the weekend. If I can avoid doing extra laundry mid-week, I’ll do so at all costs.

If you hadn’t gone down your chosen career path, what would you be doing instead?

In my previous career, I was working as a probation officer. I left this role to pursue a career in IT, beginning with a BICT degree and continuing with a job in a law firm on a casual contract, progressing to a series of fixed-term contracts in the practice while they implemented LEAP. Subsequently I moved to Jayva. I really feel this was the career I was always meant to have. It’s my ‘instead’ role. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.

What item(s) do you always have with you?

I live on an 89-acre farm lifestyle block in one of the windiest places in New Zealand. It’s rather difficult to summon me by shouting my name when I’m out in the backyard. Because I value being married, I take my mobile phone with me wherever I go, so my wife can contact me, or at least trigger a missed-call notification. However, I make sure I leave behind my bank cards and ID. Finding anything I’ve dropped on our land would be worse than looking for a needle in a haystack.

At what time of day are you most creative or inspired?

I’m most creative whenever I’m procrastinating from a task I don’t want to do, whether it’s household chores, walking the dogs or doing exercise.

There’s no set time of day when I’m most inspired. I’m competitive and never miss the opportunity to demonstrate my problem-solving skills if colleagues are struggling to resolve something. Other people aren’t usually aware they’re competing but I enjoy the challenge nonetheless.

In an office competition, I took part in a challenge of guessing how much paper our company used in an average month. Armed with just Google and some maths skills, I made an estimate. Remarkably, my guess was only off by exactly 100 pages — much closer than anyone else. Some folks even accused me of cheating, but to me, that accusation was the ultimate badge of success!

When do you take your coffee break – morning, afternoon, evening? And where do you take it?

Since I’ve started working from home, I haven’t been taking coffee breaks. I make my first coffee of the day before I start work and sit down at my desk to drink it. I have a rule of never drinking coffee beyond midday, otherwise it ruins my sleep.

I’m very passionate about the quality of my coffee. I have a home coffee-making machine which has the whole bean-grinding rigmarole. I avoid instant coffee at all costs. Don’t even get me started on American filter coffee. It’s cigarette ash, nothing more.

Espresso, americano, latte, cappuccino, macchiato, flat white, frappe – what’s your coffee of choice?

When I get to choose, it’s cappuccino, although I suspect that the amount of milk I put into my coffee probably leans more toward latte. As long as my coffee is high quality and white (with real milk from a real cow), I’m not overly fussy*, but it can’t be American filter coffee.

*Upon reflection, I’m clearly a coffee-snob. Sorry not sorry.

Who would you most like to have a coffee with?

The person who brings real coffee to America. Joking aside, I have a friend who’s born and bred in Manchester, and supports Manchester City Football Club. In contrast, I have a friend in Jayva who’s a Manchester United Football Club supporter. I’d love to have coffee with the two of them, to watch them bicker over rival football teams that no one else in the world cares about. At the end of the conversation, I’d potentially have one less friend, but the pure entertainment value would almost be worth the loss.

How do you relax outside of work?

I have teenage children and live on a lifestyle block so outside of work I drive my kids back and forth to activities, and tend to my farm animals. I believe the portion of time I spend relaxing is known as sleeping.

What’s the most inspirational book you’ve ever read?

Any time I read or re-read a book from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, I feel inspired to write similar stories myself, in particular those about the Night Watch, with my favourite character being Nobby Nobbs. I don’t often progress as far as actually writing, but I do feel inspired – that’s as good a place as any to start, I suppose.

What’s your (least) favourite film?

Following on from my previous answer, an all-time favourite book as a young boy was The Power of One by Bryce Courtenay. It’s a fantastic read, as is its sequel, Tandia. In stark contrast, when I had the misfortune of watching the film adaptation of The Power of One at college, my classmates who hadn’t previously read the book thought it was a great movie. As I had read the book, I was appalled and disgusted because it’s the worst rendition of book-into-film I’ve ever experienced in my life. It wasn’t as bad as American filter coffee, but it did come fairly close.

Peruse further ‘coffee with’ blogs

If we’ve stirred your interest in seeing responses to the same questions by other members of our team, take a look at ‘coffee with’ content from Will Penrice, Joe Sclafani, Chris Nelson, Viona Retkowska, Rosa Pelaez-Vinuela and Susan Rodgers.

Jennet Ingram