Alex Funkhouser invites you to attend the following nine I.T. Educational and Social Events. We hope you enjoy the three articles on Project Management for IT Professionals found in the lower section.
If you need to hire IT Professionals or be hired, ask for Alex at these events, and email or call Alex at
Join us on Thursday, August 13th in Miami as Terremark will hosts a Lunch & Learn training event to keep you and your team current on the latest technology so you can keep your organization running smoothly.
On Thursday, August 13 we’ll be presenting “PCI Security: Myth and Reality”. As the pressure for organizations to become PCI compliant increases, so does the number of myths and false information regarding the compliance process. During this presentation, our experts will discuss the importance and benefits of PCI compliance, share their knowledge and experience identifying and containing security threats and breaches, suggest appropriate steps to keep your organization out of trouble, and review a case study of a company that adopted the suggested changes to improve security and compliance.
*** There will be special giveaways during this event - six iPod Nanos and other prizes will be raffled at the seminar courtesy of the sponsors ***
Success with Online Travel Marketing in Seven Easy Steps
Join us on Thursday, August 13th in Hallandale as eMarketer founder and CEO Geoff Ramsey, acting as your tour guide, will walk you through the strategies, tactics and best practices for engaging with consumers and leading them through the buying cycle using an array of digital marketing tools.
Just as most consumers need help making their travel plans, marketers in this non-linear, fast-changing world of interactive marketing need a guide through the dizzying maze of Web 2.0 trends and numbers.
If you are looking to take advantage of social media, this is not an event to miss! Don't forget to register early to avoid the $10 walk-up registration fee.
Join us on Tuesday, August 18th in Miami to discover the unique challenges faced by organizations, and whether compliance with the PCI DSS is necessary or if it’s all too much and too costly. With industry executives saying this sector will be one of their fastest-growing markets in coming years, and analysts saying it could generate over $10 billion in contracts by 2013, this is sure to be an exciting discussion from a panel of experts.
Stacy Draper Shows Us What's New With SharePoint 2010
Join us on Wednesday, August 19th in Davie as Stacy Draper gather all of the publicly available information I can and make a presentation around SharePoint 2010. Some of it will be speculation, some of it is a solid fact, all of it will help you understand what's cool about the new version of SharePoint. Expect information from all aspects of SharePoint. He'll also show what he can and talk about Visual Studio 2010 as it relates to SharePoint 2010. This is an exciting time to be a SharePoint Developer and this event will show you why.
*** Pizza sponsored by Sherlock Technology Staffing ***
Join us on Thursday, August 20th in Miami Beach at the offices of Sherlock Technology for a Lap Around The .Net Framework 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010. Joe Homnick will give us the heads up on new developer technologies that are going to radically change software development practices over the next year. Joe will explore many of the features of VS2010/.Net 4.0 such as AJAX 4.0, ASP.Net 4.0, New Managed Lanuaged Features in VB and C#, WPF 4.0, Visual Studio 2010 Team System and many more! David Silverlight will explore new functionality in Silverlight 3.0 for Rich Internet Applications.
Appetizers and beverages from Oggi Cafe sponsored by Sherlock Technology Staffing.
*** Seating is already near capacity, so RSVP Today!!! ***
Join us on Tuesday, August 25th in Ft. Lauderdale as our panel discusses critical things 90% of job seekers don't Kkow but should. Hear from our panel of Social Media Experts on How People are Using LinkedIN, Twitter, Facebook, etc. to Get Hired. This month's panel will teach you KEY things you should be doing with Social Media in your job search. This discussion will NOT BE re-hashed basics about social media! We GUARANTEE you will learn something new at this meeting!
Join us on Wednesday, August 26th at the Hard Rock in Hollywood for a friendly atmosphere without product announcements, speeches, or an event fee. This event is simply to build relationships with like minded professionals; attendees are responsible for their expenses. Networked Recruiter is a group focused on professionals that are looking to build their business network; particularly HR, Recruiting, Staffing Agencies, and Service Providers to the Recruiting/HR Community. Invite a friend or one of your "virtual connections" from one of the many social networking sites.
SFTA Teams With BioFlorida To Discuss The Future Of Bioscience & IT
Join us on Thursday, August 27th in Ft. Lauderdale as SFTA and BioFlorida show us the future is here - The Convergence of Bioscience & Information Technology. Our panel will bring together Information Technology and Life Science industry members through this joint event. Our educational panel discussion will shows how life science and IT are converging to create better solutions for healthcare and medicine in Florida and elaborate on future initiatives for IT specialties in the bioscience world. This meeting will also discuss partnership opportunities, services needed by each industry, and how entrepreneurs can utilize this convergence to grow their companies.
Hands-On Social Media Training And Workshop Comes To Plantation
Join us on Friday, August 28th in Plantation for a social networking event that will change your life. If You Are Looking To Harness Social Media For Your Business...Then You Need To Register For This Workshop Today! Everyone is talking about the power of Social Media as a marketing vehicle to drive your business. And by your business, we mean your life. Learn the strategies and tactics of the experts to use Social Media (Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter) to drive your business. Our Workshops Sell Out Fast - Don't Be Left Out. Bring your Laptop, and follow along with the techniques we will teach you during the workshop.
*** Continental Breakfast and Lunch will be served.
Please arrive on time so we can begin this workshop
As companies change and industries are transformed into survival mode, the need for project management changes. While it is essential to ensure that the proper project management planning and control elements take place, businesses and organizations are shifting their focus on project management in order to “get the job done.” However, as companies offer business solutions to their customers, it is up to IT departments to be flexible and be ready for a multitude of changes as they will inevitably occur.
In the software development environment, project teams may be focused on delivering a product that will help the company thrive in this tough economy. Thus by providing a rapid application development and continuous delivery to the customer, some environments are moving away from the traditional Project Management methodology and moving towards an “agile” approach. While the shift can be quite challenging as the terminology and some of the processes are extremely different, there is a way for project managers to be able to thrive and use his/her abilities in this ever shifting environment.
First, allow the change to happen. Change is good. To some project management fundamentalists, the letter of the law is the project scope and it is up to the project manager to manage that scope. If a business is being dictated by continuous governmental regulations, then the project manager who is actually managing and containing the scope can be very frustrated and stressed. In an agile approach, the business and the product scope change as well. By realizing this core concept and understanding that change will drive the business strategy will allow the project manager the ability to help guide the team towards delivery and not scope.
Second, do not get the customer caught up in the agile terminology. One of the hardest conversations to have with the customer is when a project manager states, “Well that task will be 5 points.” In an agile environment, the use of time and estimating is relative. Most often, a point value is given to a task, but not necessarily a meaning of how long it does it take for the task to be completed. Thus, in an agile environment it is important for the customer to understand the delivery cycle will be “x weeks” and this business solution is what will be delivered.
Third, it is important in an agile environment to keep the requirements as simple as possible. Let’s say that you are working in a 2 week development and QA cycle. This means that at the end of every two weeks, you are delivering to the customer. If you are using an agile approach, it is important to analyze and document the business functionality, without getting caught up in too much of the details. Is there a risk with managing a complex product and it’s interdependencies to other entities, yes. But then again, in an agile approach the customer can identify, use, and change scope towards a different direction if it does not meet his/her needs. Thus, it is important to keep the requirements as simple as possible so that the customer can determine its business value upon delivery.
Fourth, identify what reporting you need to report to Sr. Management up-front. Let’s face it, many managers want the basic components, a real time check with status, where are they in the timeline, any issues that need to be addressed, and when will the product be delivered. This is where the “hands on” project manager should be able to thrive in this area. At any moment, within the customer delivery cycles, the project manager should be aware of any issues that are relevant to the customer. Some of the technical issues may not be necessary to discuss, so it is up to the project manager and the team to sift through appropriately. However, by keeping with the shortened delivery cycles, the project manager should be able to work with the resources to determine where they are in the task which will provide a business solution to the customer. In essence, it is all about identifying to the customer what you will deliver within that cycle so that they are aware of the immediate deliverable, business driven goal.
Fifth, have patience. We all have probably heard the saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Well the same applies to an agile approach. Many groups in a traditional project management approach are not accustomed to changes. However, as the leader it is important to teach and lead the team to the value of an agile “business delivery” method. It can take some time to work and negotiate a cultural shift. But then again, in an agile method, if a project manager is “hands on” then he/she can guide the team towards these changes and be prepared for some resistance and show the value of the agile approach.
While the agile method has its challenges, it also is a way for project teams to work with customers and be extremely successful, especially in a tight ever-changing market. By understanding that change and scope is just a part of the cycle; knowing what is “business driven” necessary to communicate to your customer; keeping requirements simple; and leading change, then a project manager can successfully thrive in an agile environment. As long as the project team is flexible and working with the business to partner and help them to rapidly implement a software development solution, then it is up to the project manager to drive the team productively and effectively, in this economy to “get the job done.”
Managing the Requirements Gathering Process
By, Harry H. Schoennagel, MS Technology Management
Ideally, the requirements process begins with an analysis of the problem to be solved and ends with a completed design specification document (the first two steps in Figure 1 below). In reality however, design changes and/or corrections continue on until the product is in production. Poor change and scope management practices, coupled with poor requirements gathering procedures, cause an iterative process of change, re-design, and re-develop to begin. Making changes after the design has been finalized, or even worse, after the product has entered production, account for many of the billions of dollars in cost overruns reported in projects.
Various software development models have been created to help increase the chances of, at best, getting it right the first time, and at worst, catching errors and omissions as early in the process as possible. Unit and integration testing validates program design, system testing validates system design, and acceptance testing validates requirements analysis. Acceptance testing, which is conducted by the customer rather than the developer, validates the requirements by associating a testing step with each element of the specification; this type of testing checks to see that all requirements have been fully implemented before the system is accepted and paid for.
This article will discuss requirement gathering best practices, through the first two steps of the development process:
1.Problem analysis
2.Requirement elicitation
The iterative nature of software development will likely ensure that requirement gathering tasks are necessary during the design and development phases. However, changes will often be in the context of corrections or additions to what has already been done and therefore the requirement gathering methodology remains the same. Lastly, once a product has gone into production, especially a software product, the cycle starts anew. Rarely, if ever, is software released without plans for future updates. Therefore, as soon as the current version is released (or often prior to release), planning and requirement gathering begins for future releases.
Problem Analysis
To address a problem and propose a solution one must first truly understand what the problem is. Experience has taught us that far too often members of a project team have different ideas about what they’re trying to accomplish. Each member thinks they know what the problem (or issue) is but when asked to write a one-sentence description the facilitator will often receive as many responses as there are people. Therefore, the first step in solving a problem is to write it down and see if everyone agrees.
The problem analysis stage should also identify stakeholders and users. Perhaps the most common single mistake in development efforts is to leave an essential person out of the process. In order to accurately convert the problem statement into a requirements document the requirements analyst must solicit views from each person that will be affected by the solution. Stakeholders include management as well as end users. Management will likely not be direct users of the solution they will however often have their own requirements of the system – reporting for example. Stakeholder interviews should focus on what the current system (if there is one) does well and what it does poorly.
The following context-free questions are designed to tease out information about people whose input will be useful”. They are:
Who is the customer? Asking this will help determine the complete stakeholder pool. The customer is the one paying for the new software; the user is the person who will be using it. Sometimes they are the same person(s) but not often. The requirement analyst needs to be sure that both parties are consulted.
Who should be on the team? Are there others with knowledge of the problem? Is there someone in another group who has experience with a similar situation and may be able to provide valuable input (perhaps with a former employer)? Is there an employee who recently transferred to another department who was previously responsible for the task? Is there a sponsoring executive that has not been consulted? The idea is to brainstorm a list of all possible stakeholders – by name, group or functional category.
What problems does this product solve (that is, for whom)? Asking this of each person identified in step 2 will help ensure that all problems from all stakeholders will be addressed.
Are you the right person to ask these questions? Who is? Is there someone who has been left out? Are you the right person to speak with? Asking this question may bring forward potential stakeholders who have been overlooked.
The final steps in the problem analysis phase are to define solution boundaries and constraints. Solution boundaries define how our solution interacts with the rest of the system. Rarely does a new software enhancement stand on its own. Usually it is a modification of or an addition to an existing solution and therefore the designers must ensure that all interaction points are intended and expected. Defining these touch points at an early stage minimizes implementation related risks. Factors to address include, among others:
Who will supply, use, or remove information from the system?
Who will operate the system?
Who will perform system maintenance?
Requirement Elicitation
As can be seen in the diagram, the process is an iterative one. Rarely, if ever, are error-free specifications created on the first attempt. Instead, requirements are rewritten and corrected in order to eliminate errors and ambiguities. The major goal of this, the most important phase of the requirement development process, is to produce, clear, correct, and concise documents. The requirements gathering process should be focused on what the software should do, not how it should do it. How the software will be designed falls within the system design and development phases.
There are many methods available to the requirements analyst to assist in the elicitation process. A sampling of the methods is listed below:
Interviewing
Requirement (or Business Event)
Brainstorming and idea
Use cases
Prototyping
Apprenticing
A common realization at the end of the elicitation process is that the project scope needs to be redefined as it may be too broad or too narrow. Users may express concerns that were not addressed during the problem definition stage and therefore not included within the scope. Another common problem that arises during elicitation meetings is input overkill. Too many people are invited to the meetings and you find that hours are quickly wasted discussing topics that are not entirely relevant to the task at hand. The requirement analyst must ensure that the right people are present and in the right numbers. The right people include subject-matter-experts, power-users, and casual users who understand the issues. Selecting a cross-section of “talent” will help ensure that each area is adequately represented.
The end result of the requirements elicitation process is a wish-list of everything the product “should” do. Should is emphasized as not everyone will agree that the product must have each and every quality or attribute on the list. Therefore, the project team is now required to categorize the requests to determine which features will be included in the final product, which will be addressed in a future release, and which will be disregarded.
Gaining Visibility Into Your Project
By,Brian J. Panfil, PMP
In many companies, lack of full visibility into projects is the norm rather than the exception. Information about project scope, timeline, costs, risks, and resources, in many cases, is not available for periodic milestone project reviews. Therefore, senior management is often unable to timely intervene to avoid project failures. As senior management continues to operate without the proper information about their projects, it is no surprise that 46% of projects have either cost overruns, time overruns, or do not meet user needs.
To make the situation even worse, senior management relies on their project managers to periodically bring information to them about projects. These project managers are often selective about the information they bring forward, unless a crisis is established due to project schedules constantly shifting out, excessive budgets overruns or under-runs; or when users become unhappy about the project.
As a project manager, in order to gain visibility into your project, whilst competing with the hundreds of other IT projects typically in process in a large corporation, several companies have turned to the implementation of Project Management Offices (PMOs). The PMO organizations often take one of two approaches to gain visibility into projects:
Standardize the whole organization into a set of project management tools from which reports are extracted and presented to senior management, or
1.Use valuable PMO resources to periodically extract information from disparate project management tools and present reports to senior management.
2.Both of these options typically fail to achieve the desired results. Why?
The standardization of the project management toolset typically faces three hurdles. First, it is extremely disruptive to the organization and detracts delivery teams from the projects that senior management is trying to make more successful. Second, the large costs of implementing a single project management toolset across the whole enterprise are often prohibitive. Third, business units that have already invested in project management tools are reluctant to switch to a new platform.
The deployment of PMO resources to manually extract information is typically not effective either. First, the number of resources required to generate reports can be prohibitive for organizations with hundreds of projects. Second, the use of valuable PMO resources detracts from the core PMO mission of standardizing and facilitating the gathering of project information (e.g. coaching project teams to properly log all projects issues and risks). Third, inconsistencies due to human mistakes can jeopardize the credibility of the reports and reduce senior management confidence to act.
So, how should an organization go about enabling senior management to gain visibility into their on-going projects?
The solution to this problem depends on the creation of an effective communication plan between senior management and their project team subordinates, enabled by a focal point of project management information, a Project Management Dashboard.
A Project Management Dashboardbrings critical project information including costs, hours, issues, risks, scope changes, resource requests, critical system incidents and outages to senior management. With this information at their fingertips, senior management can have meaningful weekly reviews with their subordinates and become effective in preventing problems as opposed to reacting to them.
The Project Management Dashboardis a non-intrusive solution that eliminates the need of manual work by connecting to the pre-existing project management toolset, automatically extracting information from the existing repositories and presenting information to senior management for weekly reviews.
The most effective approach to create the Project Management Dashboardis one that starts relatively small by including only a cluster of projects under the responsibility of a given senior manager and his/her direct reports. First, existing repositories (often incomplete) of costs, time, issues, risks, change requests and defects are rapidly analyzed. Second, information from these repositories is extracted to populate the internal made available through the company’s intranet. Third, senior management starts to have weekly meetings with his/her direct reports using the Project Management Dashboardas the focal point of information.
The Project Management Dashboard starts a positive cycle in which senior management starts to drive and influence their organization to better and more accurately tracked time, costs, issues, risks, changes, and incidents.
The benefits of a Project Management Dashboardcan be divided in two categories;
1) Communications benefits
2) Resource allocation benefits
Through the Project Management Dashboardsenior management and direct reports can share one version of the truth, collaborate in addressing project issues, and adjust quickly to accommodate project changes. The benefits of communication are quickly noticed, project overruns are eliminated and issues and risks are addressed before they become crisis.
Given the scarce resources to be deployed across the organization, a global view of actual costs, resource workloads, and resource procurement is critical to enable a senior management to make decisions across all their projects. The Project Management Dashboard enables a holistic view fundamental to make cross domain decisions.
Did you enjoy this Sherlock News Journal on Project Management? All IT Professionals will benefit from stregthening their own project management skills. The project management graphic images are nice too. - Alex Funkhouser
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11th Prize: Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom
Straight out of Mario's Garden... to your Desk
Deep in the basement of an ancient house in Sonobe (tucked in the fields of Kyoto, Japan), an amazing discovery has been made: real 1up Mushrooms. We know this sounds unbelievable, and we laughed when we were contacted by an exporter about them two months ago. But then we were sent a sample, and that's when our lives changed forever. The instructions are pretty simple. All you do is add potting soil to the green sewer-pipe-shaped flower pot, and push the spores deep into it. Soak the soil with water using the dropper, add a squirt of the food solution, and then it's off to a dark location for a few weeks. We left ours in the darkest corner of our server room, and broke out our NES to relive some classic Mario memories. Three weeks later, we checked in on it. To our surprise, what you see in the photo above is what greeted us - a perfect 1up mushroom. Thrilled, we jumped up in the air, punched the ceiling tiles (earning 10 coins), and instantly bought the entire stock of them to offer to you, our friends.
Grow Your Own 1up Mushroom Winner: Jim Duffy6,000 Points
Fifteen percent of employers plan to increase full-time staff in the third quarter, according to the quarterly job forecast survey from CareerBuilder.com and USA today. Another 10% plan to cut staff, 68% anticipate no change and 7% are unsure.
In comparison, 18% of employers said they increased staff in the second quarter, according to the survey. Another 17% cut staff and 64% reported no change with 1% unsure.
The survey includes more than 2,600 hiring managers and human resource professionals and was conducted between May 22 and June 10.
Watch the IT Career Webinar: 'You Don't Need Talent To Succeed, But Everything Else Counts' introduced by Alex Funkhouser and presented by Hector Hernandez of CareerAndYourLife.com
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Episode 4 is truly a great episode! Expression Encoder 3, Live Writer, Mobility programming, Windows Mobile Marketplace, and Expression Blend 3 Behaviors and a star studded cast including, 4 MVPs! This show is smoking!!!! Don't forget to leave your comments and thoughts...
