Chicago Software Process Improvement Network

(C-SPIN) Meeting

http://www.geocities.com/chicago_spin/

 

Thursday, June 2, 2005 

Networking 6:00 – 7:00 PM

Presentation 7:00 – 8:30 PM

 

New Place
Directions are at the end

Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT)

East Wing Room 166 - The Auditorium
201 E. Loop Road
Wheaton, Illinois

 

 

 

Abstract

 

Michael Mah will talk about agile development, agile project management, death-march projects, and the race for productivity.

 

For an organization to function optimally, it can not espouse agile development for its programmers, whether through Extreme Programming or other processes, while having non-agile, cumbersome decision making practices at the management level, when it comes to committing stressed-out teams to ambitious projects and unrealistic deadlines.

 

This talk will address the interdependence and synergy between agile management – how to make rapid, effective decisions on high pressure projects - with agile development, which is intended to improve productivity and quality. We’ll show what agile management is, and reveal the findings from real data on a company’s actual experience using Extreme Programming compared to traditional development.

 

Lastly, we’ll discuss how to use this kind of information as a catalyst for change in an organization, and to better communicate and negotiate with senior management to make better promises and to meet our commitments.

 

About the Author

Michael Mah is a Senior Consultant with Cutter Consortium's Business Technology Trends & Impacts, Measurement and Benchmarking, Agile Software Development & Project Management, and Sourcing & Vendor Relationship Practices. He is a Managing Partner at QSM Associates Inc. based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Michael’s expertise is on the practical applications of software metrics, project estimation/control, IT productivity benchmarking, and relationship management.

He is a frequent speaker on negotiation and project estimation.  He has a degree in electrical engineering from Tufts University, with a focus on electromagnetic physics and Far Eastern history. He is trained in mediation and conflict theory from the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School.

Agenda

- 6:00 - 7:00 p.m. Networking & Registration (no cost)

- 7:00 - 7:10 p.m. Overview of C-SPIN and Introductions

- 7:10 - 8:10 p.m. Presentation

- 8:10 - 8:30 p.m. Question and Answer Session

Driving Directions

The 19-acre campus is located just northeast of the intersection of Naperville and Butterfield roads in south Wheaton's Danada development. The campus is three miles west of the Butterfield Road interchange of the North-South Tollway (I-355) and two miles north of the Naperville Road interchange of the East-West Tollway (I-88).

From the North or South:

From I-355 (North-South Tollway), exit westbound at Rt.56/Butterfield Road and proceed west 3 1/2 miles on Butterfield Road to East Loop Road. Turn right onto East Loop Road (Big Bowl Restaurant and Phillip's 66 Gas Station on the corners); the campus will be on your right about a block north of Butterfield Road. From the I-294 (Tri-State Tollway), take the I-88 (East-West Tollway) westbound and follow directions "From the East or West" below.

From the East or West:

From I-88 (East-West Tollway), take the Naperville Road exit. At the traffic light, turn left onto Naperville Road and continue north for 1½ miles to Rt. 56/Butterfield Road. Turn right onto Rt. 56/Butterfield Road and proceed 1/4 mile to the first traffic light (East Loop Road). Turn left on to East Loop Road, (Big Bowl Restaurant and Phillip's 66 Gas station on the corners); the campus will be on your right about a block north of Butterfield Road.

See http://www.rice.iit.edu/directions.html for more information.

About C-SPIN

C-SPIN is made possible through the efforts of its Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is composed of: Fred Ballard, Alan Berow, Kathy Brown, Steve Coffman, Alan Cohen, Susan Davidowski, Larry Dribin, Ross Fraser, Bob Freer, George Gatsis, Tony Kvitek, Donna Miller, Bob Pauwels, Scott Stribrny, and Lance Welter.

C-SPIN is a leadership forum for the free and open exchange of software process improvement experiences and practical ideas. We promote achieving higher levels of process maturity, software quality and mutual respect. Companies, academic institutions, government organizations and individuals are invited.

For more information regarding this meeting, C-SPIN, or the steering committee, contact George Gatsis at ggatsis@fsc.follett.com or (815) 578-7638.

To receive future announcements electronically, send your e-mail address (include name, address, company, phone) to George Gatsis at ggatsis@fsc.follett.com.