Archive for July, 2011

10 Deadly Sins of Software Estimation

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Online Webinar
Presented byConstrux Software (REP 1424)
Duration: 1 Hour Credits: 1 Category C PDU Free

Although Construx is an REP this opportunity may not have a course number Contact Construx Software for further information.

The average project overruns its planned budget and schedule by 50-80 percent. In practice, little work is done that could truly be called “estimation.” Many projects are scheduled using a combination of legitimate business targets and liberal doses of wishful thinking. In this one-hour webinar, noted author and software engineer Steve McConnell presents 10 of the worst ways estimates go wrong, and presents time-tested rules of thumb for dramatically improving estimation accuracy.

Presenter: Steve McConnell

Professional Biography

Steve McConnell (LinkedIn profile) is CEO and Chief Software Engineer atConstrux Software where he writes books and articles, teaches classes, and oversees Construx’s software engineering practices.

Steve is the author ofCode Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction (1993, 2004, 2010) andRapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules (1996), both winners ofSoftware Development magazine’s Jolt award for outstanding software development books of their respective years. In 1998, he publishedSoftware Project Survival Guide (Pro — Best Practices), in 2004 he published Professional Software Development: Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers (2004), and in 2006 he publishedSoftware Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art (Best Practices (Microsoft).

PDU Category C documentation details:

Process Groups: Initiating, Planning

Knowledge Areas: 6 – Time

  • 6.3 Estimate Activity Resources
  • 6.4 Estimate Activity Duration
  • 6.5 Develop Schedule

As a Category C ‘Self Directed Learning Activity’ remember to document your learning experience and its relationship to project management for your ‘PDU Audit Trail Folder’

Click to view/download 10 Deadly Sins of Software Estimation

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Live Webinar – August 9 , 2011 3:00 -4:00 PM EDT
Presenter: Journyx Inc.
Duration: 1 Hour 1 CAT B FREE

Professionals today are increasingly asked to move faster and do more. But we are also dedicated to a balanced life and time with family and friends. This creates more communication, responsibilities, and commitments than ever before. Not to mention an endless to-do list. It creates an environment where we spend all of our time being reactive, and very little time being proactive.

The result is that although we seem to be busy all day, in truth we get very little of the important stuff done.

In this presentation, you will:

  • Learn the top three productivity tips you aren’t using
  • Be given the tools you need to regain up to two hours of your time per day
  • Discover the time-saving benefits of Empowered Productivity, putting YOU back in the driver’s seat of your life and work

Presenter: Maura Thomas (LinkedIn profile) founded RegainYourTime.com in 2003, and has worked for 17 years in the productivity training industry. During that time she developed a workflow management process for getting things done called the Empowered Productivity SystemTM. Maura has a strong social media presence, publishes a widely-read blog on productivity issues, and works both nationally and internationally.
This webinar is 1 hour long and attendees are eligible for 1 PDU.

Click to register for Empowered Productivity: Winning the War Against Information Overload

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Recorded Webcast
Presenter: Brightwork
Duration: 40 Min Webcast – Up to .5 Category C PDU

Recorded: June 15th, 2010

Healthcare organizations at every level are facing greater demands for demonstrable improvements in the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care. To meet these challenges, many healthcare organizations are striving to improve how they manage their enterprise project portfolio in a consistent way and in accordance with best practices. Maintaining success requires finding a platform that is easy to use and provides project and portfolio management capabilities.

Join presenters Chris Bryan (LinkedIn profile) of Group Health Cooperative and John Gootee of Aspect and Éamonn McGuinness (LinkedIn profile) of BrightWork, as they walk through a 4 stage project management implementation plan utilizing SharePoint, which when deployed will lead to exceptional performance for Healthcare organizations.

NOTE: The webcast recording misses the introduction (has an abrupt beginning) and the information starts right away.

PDU Category C documentation details:

Process Groups: Planning, Monitoring & Controlling

Knowledge Areas: 4 – Integration

  • 4.2 Develop Project Management Plan
  • 4.3 Direct and Manage Project Execution

As a Category C ‘Self Directed Learning Activity’ remember to document your learning experience and its relationship to project management for your ‘PDU Audit Trail Folder’

Click to download the presentation and webcast Healthcare Project and Portfolio Management on SharePoint – in 4 Easy Stages in .wmv (webcast and pdf (slides) formats

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Online Course
Presented by Enterprise Management Association-International (EMA-I)
Duration: 1 Hour – 1 Category C PDU Free

This 3 part course on Building an Optimized Project Portfolio will be featured on pduOTD.com from July 27th to July 29th 2011.

Part 1 July 27th – Why are Complex decisions so difficult and time consuming?

Part 2 July 28th – From Strategic Plan to Prioritized Objectives and Project Candidates.

Part 3 July 29th – From Prioritized Projects to Optimized Portfolio Given Constraints and Risk

With a list of prioritized projects from Session 2, we will apply organizational constraints and assessment of risk to produce an optimized portfolio subject to constraints at various funding or budget levels.

You will identify organizational constraints and apply them, ensure balance and coverage in the resulting portfolio, apply risks to anticipated benefits, examine trade-offs among different portfolio scenarios, and select the optimal portfolio for the organization subject to constraints and risk.

Some questions were asked butcould not be answered due to technical reasons. Click here to view the Questions and Answers

PDU Category C documentation details:

Process Groups: Planning, Monitoring & Controlling

Knowledge Areas: 4 – Integration

  • 4.1 Develop Project Management Charter
  • 4.2 Develop Project Management Plan

As a Category C ‘Self Directed Learning Activity’ remember to document your learning experience and its relationship to project management for your ‘PDU Audit Trail Folder’

Click to view Part 3 of 3: From Prioritized Projects to Optimized Portfolio Given Constraints and Risk

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Live Webinar August 4 2011 – 12:00 – 12:30 am EDT
Duration: 30 Min Credits: 0.5 PDU Cat A
Presented by : PM Centers USA (Rep 1016)

This webinar will describe the four basic personality styles, including strengths, weaknesses and reaction to stress. This webinar will also explain how to identify and effectively work with the styles of project stakeholders.

Attending this webinar will help improve your interactions with people associated with your projects, and will lead to better project performance.

Subject Matter Expert: Joseph A. Lukas, PMP, PE, CCE
Joe Lukas (LinkedIn profile), is Vice-President of PMCentersUSA, and leads a team of instructors and consultants in delivering solutions in project management, business analysis and business process improvement.Joe has been involved in project management for over 30 years and has worked in engineering, manufacturing, construction, project controls, estimating and contracting, and has been a Program and Project Manager supporting world-wide programs.

Click to view a previously recorded version of this session.

This presentation will be 30 minutes long with a live question and answer session following the presentation.

Click here to register for Pardon Me – Your Personality is Showing.

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Live Webinar August 2, 2011 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm EDT
Duration: 1 Hour Credits: 1 PDU Category C
Presented by: PushToTest

When an organization moves to agile software development methodology it becomes easier to forget about agile performance testing. Agile got developers and testers talking to one another. Agile performance testing gets business managers and technical team members communicating.

Business managers need inputs to their risk analysis. For example, PepsiCo uses the results of a load and performance test to assess the risks of running national advertising campaigns on IT system operations. The business manager asks “Are we ready?” and test results contain the answer.

Join Todd Bradfute of PushToTest for a discussion on the following topics:

  • Using Open Source Testing (OST) as the common language between managers, testers, developers
  • If your confidence is low in test results, use TestMaker to run the tests yourself
  • Certifying and hiring testers based on their OST certifications
  • How to apply test results to business risk analysis
  • People fungability – the ability to move from one role to another – using OST methodology and tools
  • How OST enables Test Driven Development (TDD)
  • Using OST tools and methodology as a natural solution between testing and test management

The Workshop agenda:

  • The why, what, and how of Open Source build and test tools
  • Performance Testing Methodology
  • Demonstration Of Open Source Test Tools and Functions
  • Integration of OST Tools into Agile Test Management Tools
  • Q&A, and networking session with the panel

This is a practical and hands-on Workshop for technical team members -Software developers, Testers, IT Managers, and managers -CIOs, CTOs, project managers, and business managers.

PDU Category C documentation details:

Process Groups: Planning Executing

Knowledge Areas: 4 – Integration 8 – Quality

  • 4.3 Direct and Manage Project Execution
  • 8.1 Plan Quality
  • 8.2 Perform Quality Assurance
  • 8.3 Perform Quality Control

As a Category C ‘Self Directed Learning Activity’ remember to document your learning experience and its relationship to project management for your ‘PDU Audit Trail Folder’

Click to register Agile Performance Testing With Open Source Testing (OST)