Archive for the ‘PMI’ Category

• Speaking at PMI San Diego Conference – May 13th & 14th

  Date: 2010.03.25 | Category: Agile, Conferences, PMI, Presentations, SIMSOC, Training | Response: 0

  Just wanted to let folks know that I will be speaking at the PMI San Diego 2010 conference.  I will be running a full-day seminar on May 13th and a 60-minute tutorial on May 14th.  I am very excited about this opportunity and encourage folks to attend either day.

  • Leaping to Success with High Performing Teams – in this May 13th seminar, I will be running a SIMSOC.  This is a great opportunity to participate in this exciting and interesting simulation to earn about what factors help teams self-organize and that high-performing state.  The last time I ran this class, it got great reviews and was a lot of fun.
  • Agile Playground – on May 14th, I will be leading a tutorial which uses games to help people experience Agile principles.  I have found to really begin to understand Agile, one needs to experience the principles and values at an emotional level, rather than an intellectual level.  The exercises I will be using in the tutorial will open your mind to what Agile is all about.

  That is what I have scheduled for the month of May, I have more exciting stuff planned for June.  Stay tuned, in the meantime, please register for the PMI San Diego 2010 conference today.

• Best Links of the Week – Feb 9th 2010

  Date: 2010.02.09 | Category: Agile, Communication, Planning, PMI, Scrum, ScrumMaster, Team, Test-Driven Development, Transitions | Response: 0

  Excellent links for everyone to share.

  1. Pollyanna Pixton on Agile Leadership – a 30-minute video talking about the factors corporate leaders can influence which support Agile teams.
  2. How I Learned to Program Manage an Agile Team After 6 Years of Waterfall – Sara Ford describes in brutal candor her experience becoming an Agile PM while working on CodePlex at Microsoft.
  3. Explaining Agile – Mike Cottmeyer neatly summarizes his understanding of Agile.
  4. How to Compare Elephant Herds - Dave Nicolette finally (?) explains why comparing teams through velocity is meaningless.
  5. What Does a ScrumMaster Do? – for those of  you who are curious and wanted to know.
  6. Replacing the Iron Triangle of Project Management? – short discussion on reevaluating a well-accepted PM paradigm.
  7. Adopting Agile Development – the Role of the CIO – how senior leaders in your organization can help promote Agile adoption.
  8. Moving Beyond Scrum – a look at some reasons why one might want to take the next step.
  9. Tragic Mistakes When Adopting Test-Driven Development (TDD) - Scott Ambler discussing some pitfalls & obstacles companies encounter when they begin the process of using TDD.
  10. Comparison of Open Agile with Scrum – introduction of a domain-independent framework for delivering value while using Agile principles via a compare-and-contrast with Scrum

• Best Links of the Week – Feb 1st 2010

  Date: 2010.02.01 | Category: Agile, Communication, Extreme Programming, PMI, Product Owner, Scrum, ScrumMaster | Response: 0

  Here are two weeks worth of linkie goodness for everyone.

  1. 4th Annual State of Agile Survey - VersionOne, an Agile project management tool, has published their annual survey on the adoption of Agile; a great source of industry statistics and window into how other companies are using Agile.
  2. From Waterfall to Agile – in this 16-minute video Ian Culling, the CTO of VersionOne, talks about the Agile journey and common pitfalls he has observed.
  3. Scrum for Managers – in this 90-minute talk Mitch Lacey, CST and (former) Microsoft PMP, gives an excellent overview of Scrum and the new role for managers.
  4. Protect People - Jurgen Appelo discusses the role of managers in creating a safe interpersonal environment so self-organizing teams can form and flourish.
  5. Tips for First-Time Scrummasters – pitfalls to look out for on that first Scrum project.
  6. Top 10 Estimation Practices in Agile – excellent, excellent summary of current practice on Agile teams today.
  7. Assessing Agile Readiness – a 20-minute video from Joshua Kerievsky discussing the process of kicking off Agile at your company.
  8. Getting Better Agile Transitions - Mike Sutton describes some factors to consider when selecting a coach to help your company become more Agile.
  9. 10 Rules for Better Management – a short checklist on ways to become a better manager; I like to item on control charts.

• Best Links of the Week – Jan 19 2010

  Date: 2010.01.19 | Category: Agile, Pair Programming, Planning, PMI, Product Owner, Scrum, Transitions | Response: 0

  Continuing with links to the best of the blogs since last week.

  1. Three things I wish I knew before jumping – PMP and Certified ScrumMaster, Pat Guariglia, shares some lessons learned after his first Scrum pilot project in 2007.
  2. Mike Cottmeyer on the Agile PMP – InfoQ has a 78-minute video from Mike Cottmeyer’s Agile 2009 talk on how Agile’s approach to managing cost and time reduces project risk rather than the traditional approach of managing scope.
  3. Determining how Agile you are comparatively – discussion on the Comparative Agility assessment for teams looking to understand how Agile they are doing in seven areas: teamwork, requirements, planning, technical practices, quality, culture and knowledge creation.
  4. Demystifying the Product Owner role – Roman Pichler provides some truth about the Product Owner role and clears away some myths.
  5. Self-discipline & self-organization – Cutter Consortium Fellow, Jim Highsmith, emphasizes the need for discipline and excellence on Agile teams.
  6. Eight reasons why the estimates are low – some common reasons why software estimates are often too small.
  7. How pair programming really works – the IEEE publishes an article sharing four mechanisms that can improve pair programming.

• Best Links of the Week – Dec 11th 2009

  Date: 2009.12.11 | Category: Agile, Daily Scrum, Extreme Programming, Links of the Week, PMI, Scrum, Team | Response: 0

  Here are links to the best of the blogs for the week of Dec 11th 2009.

  1. Agile Project Management (Part 1 of 2) – short article from Agile Journal looking to bridge common Agile vocabulary with PMI practices and concepts.
  2. “Ideal” Team Size and Ratios - Johanna Rothman explains the the optimum size for Agile teams.
  3. The Benefits of Feature Teams – more on teams, this time from Mike Cohn, and why traditional component teams are risky.
  4. The Daily 15 Minutes of Fun – description on how some Scrum teams have extended their Daily Scrum beyond 15 minutes.
  5. Where has XP Gone…and can We Have it Back? – Open Space report from XP Days London asking what happened to one of the more popular Agile processes from early 2000′s.
  6. The People’s Scrum – Tobias Mayer looks at how Scrum is really a framework for change, not a process or methodology.
  7. Why Hasn’t Vista Sold – not directly related to Agile, but discusses how poor software quality has trained our consumers not to purchase upgrades.

  Hope there is some good reading here.  Cya next week!

• Sponsoring San Diego PMI Chapter Meeting on Oct 28th

  Date: 2009.10.21 | Category: Agile, Agile SD, PMI, Presentations | Response: 0

  This year, the Agile Alliance and PMI formed an Agile Community of Practice.  The community was formed because both sides recognized their is a lot of misunderstanding about each other, yet we often talk about improving the same types of things.  In the sprit of that enterprise, Look Forward Consulting decided to sponsor the October meeting of the PMI Chapter in San Diego and act as an ambassador to the project management community in San Diego.  For those of you unfamiliar with PMI San Diego, their mission (from their website) is:

  “…to serve the professional interests of chapter members by enhancing expertise through project management education, training, and PMI certification preparation; as well as, promoting association and networking within the project management community.”

  In practice, this means helping project managers make connections with other project managers, educate each other on the latest techniques and promote their ideas in their profession.  It sounds an awful lot like what we do at XP San Diego.  This should be an interesting collaboration and I am looking forward to meeting some new people.