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January 31, 2008
"Town Meeting" - Open Conversation on State-of-the-Art Agile
I'm a storyteller by heart, which is why I so enjoy the work that I do. Not only my own stories, but exciting stories about what other people have experienced in life and work, which I've been privileged to share with them as a consultant.
My last Cutter webinar was about telling stories from 5 companies implementing Agile methods. Two in particular achieved remarkable results from their work; they are Follett Software in McHenry IL and BMC Software in Austin TX. That webinar along with another that I delivered on industry productivity patterns was among the highest attended in the Cutter series. My sense is that it's because both contained really interesting stories.
On Thursday February 14th (Valentine's Day :), I'm going to let two articulate and skilled managers from these remarkable companies tell their own stories - on the web. From the responses garnered from the last two Cutter webinars that featured them, it seems appropriate to let them speak directly to YOU. You'll learn how they did it, unedited and unrehearsed, as they say.
So we're going to hold a special "town meeting" - an open chat with our featured guests. Consider this an invitation. I get to play "Charlie Rose style PBS-talkshow host," and start the conversation with Kim Wheeler of Follett and Mike Lunt of BMC. Both of them have assembled high-performance teams that are hitting the highest quality and the fastest schedules I've measured for software development (using the QSM SLIM technologies) on Agile XP and SCRUM methods. And although I know a little bit about what they've put together, they can tell it in more detail - in person!
But aside from the technical side of their experiences, you'll hear about the people side; that is, what did it take to create a working environment that not only pleased the company by the productivity and economic results they achieve, but how it became the kind of workplace that people feel proud to be part of. The last time I was at Follett, you could see and feel the energy among the staff. They were really enjoying working together.
So if any of you who joined us last time would like to "meet" Kim and Mike directly and hear more, we've got another exciting event planned. Below you'll find the official write-up from the Cutter website and the link to register. You can sit from the comfort of your own chair, ask Kim and Mike (or me) questions directly, and listen to what they have to say. I've learned a LOT from hearing them, and I hope you do too.
[And if you missed the either webinar but would still like to sit in, you can click on a special link that's been opened to let you view the previously recorded session at your convenience.]
Cheers, Michael
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Cutter Consortium "Town Meeting"
After each of Michael Mah’s recent Cutter Consortium webinars, in which he described the remarkable productivity and quality numbers that have been achieved by several Agile development groups, we received a large number of follow-up questions. That’s why we decided to invite you to an “open mic” opportunity on February 14 at 11:30am EST, exclusively for people who participated in, or registered for and was unable to attend, one or both of those webinars. It’s your chance to direct (more) questions to Michael Mah, or to ask BMC Software’s Mike Lunt or Follett Software’s Kim Wheeler just how they were able to achieve among the fastest time-to-market and lowest defect patterns measured in recently recorded software development.
Join the conversation between Michael Mah, Kim Wheeler and Mike Lunt as they describe how they accomplished their remarkable transitions to agile software development. You’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at how each of these organizations achieved both management and team buy-in to create industry-leading, cutting-edge software development “ecosystems.”
And then, after Kim and Mike answer Michael’s brief questions, we’ll open the phone lines up to you, so that you can join the conversation and ask questions as part of this “town meeting”. Or, if you prefer, ask your questions via Chat. Come join us for this special session — unedited and unrehearsed!
To register, click here.
“An Agile Metrics Chat” is added as a continuation of Michael’s recent Cutter Webinars: “Compared to What? A Look at Application Development Benchmarks” and “The Impact of Agile on Productivity at Five Companies.” To review/re-play these webinars, just log in at www.cutter.com/project.html.
Posted by Mike at 03:03 PM | Comments (0)
January 10, 2008
Webinar: Agile Productivity Findings - January 17th, 2008
Once again, through the good graces of Anne Mullaney, Group Publisher of Cutter Consortium, we're running a special re-broadcast of a webinar entitled, "Case Study: The Impact of Agile on Productivity at Five Companies." Although normally reserved for Cutter Consortium clients, Cutter is generously making this event "open-access" to QSM clients and OptimalFriction readers.
This event was originally broadcast last Fall through the IT Metrics and Productivity Institute, and was among the highest attended sessions. I also presented some of the data at Software Quality Engineering's Agile Development Practices Conference in Orlando last December to a strong audience response.
If you're part of our QSM and/or the OptimalFriction readership community, and would like to join us at this webinar register here. Or call Michele Keegan or Sean Callaghan at 413-499-0988. See you there!
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Case Study: The Impact of Agile on Productivity at Five Companies
Presenter: Michael Mah, Senior Consultant, Cutter Benchmarking and Agile Product and Project Management practices
No discussion of current software development fails to mention Agile techniques like XP and Scrum; but do they work? How effective are Agile methodologies? How can we tell? In this webinar, Cutter Senior Consultant Michael Mah provides the answers to these questions.
Through extensive consulting work, Michael has benchmarked the metrics and the changes in productivity experience by companies using Agile methods. And now he’s sharing the results with you. Discover how five companies, all ostensibly "agile," produced a range of quantitative results and what the resultant implications were on time-to-market, staffing, and quality.
This webinar builds on Michael's recent webinar, "Compared to What: A Look at Application Development Benchmarks" in which he provided a peek into the productivity improvement these organizations enjoyed. Participate in this follow-on webinar and take a thought-provoking and interactive look at the hows and the whys of successful Agile development and glean insight from Michael's conclusions about both the benefits and challenges of Agile development.
Spend an hour with Michael and benefit from his analysis of these five organizations' productivity gains using Agile development.
Get Answers to Your Specific Questions: The last 20 minutes of this webinar are devoted to a live Question & Answer session.
Posted by Mike at 11:47 AM | Comments (0)