Calgary APLN / Site Updates

Executing Agile in a Structured Organization: The City of Calgary

karenb — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 13:17:45 -0600

Guest Speaker	Michael McCullough, Technical Director, Quadrus Development Inc. Janette Scott, Project Manager, City of Calgary Robyn Johnson, Management Systems Analyst, The City of Calgary
Date	Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Description	Learn from our experience executing Agile into the constraints imposed by the complicated and integrated organization and culture at The City of Calgary. We are going to briefly describe the lessons learned from our journey from first deciding to look at Agile to actually executing and evaluating it. Our particular viewpoint will focus on how this played out in a government IT organization that is highly structured. Please use the Executing Agile_Presentation Slides link under the Presentation Slides Section below.
About the Speaker	Michael McCullough is a Technical Director with Quadrus Development Inc., an IT consulting and services company based out of Calgary, Alberta. As one of Quadrus’ thought leaders in Agile concepts, Michael plays a leading role in assisting Quadrus’ clients in the quick and practical adoption of agile paradigms and techniques through the application of Quadrus’ Agile Jumpstart methodology; an approach that integrates formal classroom training with on-site mentoring and ad-hoc coaching to teach, practice and apply agile techniques to real project delivery. Over the past 5 years, Michael has been helping fortune 500 companies in the United States and leading organizations here in Canada to understand, integrate and adopt Agile techniques in both project management and software development. In addition to his focus on Agile development, Michael has a background and experience in software development and project management. Robyn Johnson is a Management Systems Analyst in the The City of Calgary's IT Program Management Office. Robyn has been actively involved in project management and application development methodolgy since 2002. Her interest in Agile in Calgary started with a course on SCRUM, and ever since it has been her goal to introduce Agile to The City. Janette Scott is a Project Manager in Application Development with The City of Calgary. Janette is currently leading the Agile Evaluation project that was started in late 2007. She has an extensive background in software development and project management at The City of Calgary.
Presentation Slides	5th_Ave_Place_Conference_Room.pdf City and Quadrus Logo.GIF Executing Agile_Presentation Slides.pdf

Large Decomposing Programs and the PMI Framework Mappings

karenb — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:31:50 -0600

Guest Speaker	Mike Griffiths, Independent Consultant at Leading Answers
Date	Thursday, May 15th, 2008
Description	Back in October at the Calgary APLN planning meeting we asked attendees what they would like to hear about this year. People made suggestions and voted on the topics, the top 5 were: 1) Using Agile on distributed teams 2) Team collaboration / motivation / accountability 3) How to decompose large programs into agile projects 4) Mapping PMI Framework to Agile best practices 5) Fitting agile into the constraints imposed by the business
About the Speaker	Mike Griffiths is actively involved in the agile methods community. He serves on the board of the Agile Alliance and the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN). He presents and writes on agile project management for a variety of conferences and journals. Mike helped create DSDM in 1994 and have been using agile methods (DSDM, Scrum, FDD, XP) for the last 14 years. Mike is also active in the traditional project management world. He was a contributor to the current PMBOK v3 Guide and teaches for the PMI SeminarsWorld training program. Mike presented on agile project management at the PMI Global Congress conferences 2004, 2006, and 2007.
Presentation Slides	5th_Ave_Place_Conference_Room.pdf Agile-Recruiting.gif PMI Agile Mappings.zip Calgary APLN May 15 Slides.pdf

Using Collaboration to Build Team Commitment

mikeg — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:07:51 -0700

Guest Speaker	Gerard Meszaros, Chief Scientist ClearStream Consulting
Date	Thursday, February 7th, 2008
Description	This interactive session introduces the key concepts of collaboration as a tool for creating highly committed teams that get the job done quickly and with high quality. Highly committed, accountable teams aren't created by traditional "command & control" management techniques; they are the result of collaborative leadership and good facilitation skills. Gerard describes some of the benefits and opportunities for collaboration on software projects and introduces some key techniques for facilitating collaborative team events.
About the Speaker	Gerard Meszaros is a Calgary-based consultant specializing is agile development processes. He is a frequent speaker and tutorial presenter at major international conferences on topics ranging from "Right-sizing User Stories" and "Adding Usability Testing to Agile Projects" to "xUnit Test Patterns and Smells." He is the author of the Jolt Award finalist book "xUnit Test Patterns – Refactoring Test Code" published by Addison Wesley Professional in the Martin Fowler Signature Series.
Presentation Slides	5th_Ave_Place_Conference_Room.pdf Collaboration_GerardMeszaros.pdf Collaborative Team Assessment.xls

Using Agile on Distributed Teams

karenb — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:11:21 -0700

Guest Speaker	Jane Robarts, Senior Consultant/Project Manager ThoughtWorks
Date	Friday, November 30th, 2007
Description	Practices that must be employed when leading distributed agile projects are often counter to some agile core principles. This presentation will explore techniques and tools agile project leaders can use when initiating and running distributed projects. Discussion will also include learnings, failures, and successes based on the presenter's past experiences with both outsourced and co-sourced distributed teams.
About the Speaker	Jane is a senior consultant and project manager with ThoughtWorks. She has worked on agile projects in India, China, the UK, the US, Australia and Canada. Jane has spent a lot of the last several years working directly on distributed agile delivery projects or coaching distributed teams. Jane's current role involves her working with the ThoughtWorks project portfolio to improve collaboration between teams and consistency of project delivery.
Presentation Slides	5th_Ave_Place_Conference_Room.pdf ThoughtWorks.gif ThoughtWorksDistributedAgile.pdf

Planning Session Results

mikeg — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 22:10:06 -0600

Thank you to all those people who attended the annual Planning meeting last week. The top ranked topics were:

Using Agile on distributed teams (7)
Team commitment / motivation / accountability (6)
How to decompose large programs into agile projects (6)
Mapping PMI Framework to Agile best practices (5)
Fitting agile into the constraints imposed by the business model (funding, timelines, resources) (5)

The full list of topics and the Speedboat results can be found on www.LeadingAnswers.com

Dates for the first presentation will be posted here soon.

Calgary APLN 2007/2008 Kick-Off Meeting!

karenb — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:02:46 -0600

Guest Speaker	Janice Aston and Mike Griffiths
Date	Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
Description	The Calgary chapter of the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) invites you to the APLN 2007/2008 Season Kick-Off Meeting. Come and experience Agile planning in action at the Calgary APLN season kick-off meeting. If you are interested in how to run effective agile projects here is your opportunity to help choose the presentation topics for this season's talks and workshops. Agenda • Welcome and overview of Calgary APLN group • Report on new initiatives from the APLN • Brainstorming of topics for 2007/2008 season
About the Speaker	Janice Aston has over 16 years of project management experience with an emphasis on delivering business value. She is passionate about building high performing teams focused on continuous improvement. Janice has a proven track record delivering on project commitments with a heart for leadership and people. She has recently founded Agile Perspective Inc. specializing in creative collaboration. Mike Griffiths is an independent project manager and trainer with over 20 years of IT experience. He is active in both the agile and traditional project management communities and serves on the board of the APLN & Agile Alliance, and teaches courses for the PMI. Mike founded the Calgary chapter of the APLN in 2006 and maintains the Agile Leadership site www.LeadingAnswers.com.

Are Fixed Price and Agile Mutually Exclusive?

karenb — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:39:54 -0600

Guest Speaker	Gerard Meszaros, Chief Scientist, ClearStream Consulting
Date	Monday, May 7th, 2007
Description	Many pundits would argue that agile development has no place in a fixed price project because the “scope is fixed”. Just as “no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy” (Art of War), no fixed scope project plan survives first contact with real users. Gerard has been involved in initiating several fixed price projects including a successful fixed price RFQ. He believes that agile development is a much more appropriate way to execute a fixed price project than traditional waterfall because of the focus on delivering customer value throughout the entire project lifecycle.
About the Speaker	Gerard Meszaros, Chief Scientist, ClearStream Consulting Gerard Meszaros is Chief Scientist at ClearStream Consulting, a Calgary-based consulting company specializing is agile development processes. He is typically involved in the early parts of projects where the project scope and development process are first decided. This includes envisioning the finished product, designing the product for fitness-for-purpose and usability, deciding on an appropriate release strategy, and determining how the project will be managed and measured. His book xUnit Test Patterns – Refactoring Test Code is due in bookstores by the end of May 2007.

Team Motivation: Working Inside the Egg

karenb — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 09:49:22 -0600

Guest Speaker	Ross Martin & Lynn Harrison, Black Tusk Leadership
Date	Tuesday, April 10th, 2007
Description	As leadership coaches and consultants, Black Tusk Leadership has worked extensively with all kinds of leaders, executive groups and project teams. What we consistently notice is that there is often a tremendous amount of leadership leverage that goes untapped as leaders and teams work diligently toward their objectives.
About the Speaker	Ross Martin, CPCC Black Tusk Leadership Ross Martin is the Calgary partner for Black Tusk Leadership Inc. His own leadership was built on a successful track record of 20 years experience in senior leadership positions in large multinational and small local companies. That background gives him a very personal understanding of both the challenges and pressures experienced by leaders at all levels of an organization. Ross spent the beginning of his career first achieving his professional accounting designation and then becoming the CFO of a large multi-national company. During this time he also led experiential leadership and management workshops for six years in the CMA Professional Program. He is a graduate of the Banff School of Advanced Management, an accredited graduate from the Coaches Training Institute (Certified Professional Co-Active Coach) a member of the International Coaching Federation and a Past President of the Calgary Association of Professional Coaches. Ross’ work over the last 10 years has focused in two main areas: one-on-one executive coaching and the coaching and development of leadership teams. The goal in both cases is to support the development of leadership excellence and the creation of work environments that enable and encourage excellence from everyone in the organization. Lynn Harrison, MA ABS, CPCC Black Tusk Leadership Lynn Harrison is the principal of Black Tusk Leadership Inc. in British Columbia. An executive coach with over 20 years experience in management/consulting, her background includes co-founding an international, publicly held franchise organization, leading at the senior management level and providing consulting services to a wide range of organizations in both the private and public sectors. Prior to forming her consulting business in 1992, Lynn was Vice President, Client Services for the Atheneum Learning Corporation, a division of Priority Management Systems International, which specializes in time management tools, team building, strategic planning and change management. She was winner of the BIV “40 Under 40” award for her entrepreneurship. Between 1982 and 1987, she managed the corporate training and wellness program at the Workers’ Compensation Board of B.C. Lynn has a Masters Degree in Applied Behavioral Science (Management & Consulting) from L.I.O.S. at Bastyr University and is certified as a professional coach through the International Coaching Federation. Her training includes advanced ontological coaching through the Newfield Network. Her undergraduate degree (B.A.) is from the University of British Columbia. Lynn is qualified to use various psychometric and 360 leadership instruments, including the Myers-Briggs, EQi, Firo-B and Strength Deployment Inventory. She is the former chair of Justice Institute of B.C. and is active in her local coaching community. You can learn more about Ross, Lynn and Black Tusk at www.blacktuskleadership.com.

New Website Launched!

karenb — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 11:00:07 -0700

The Calgary APLN has launched a new website, if you are not already registered as a member sign up today to receive news and information regarding upcoming events!

Inaugural Calgary APLN Chapter Meeting

johng — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:20:15 -0700

Guest Speaker	Mike Griffiths Quadrus Development Inc.
Date	Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006
Description	The goals and objectives of the group will be outlined and topics of interest for upcoming meetings will be gathered. A prioritized list of the topics generated can be viewed here. To sign up to speak on a topic listed or to sponsor an upcoming event please contact info@calgaryapln.org.

Agile in Traditional Organizations

johng — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:17:53 -0700

Guest Speaker	Simon Orrell Neteller
Date	Monday, June 19th, 2006
Description	Simon's presentation will describe issues and adoptions strategies for introducing Agile techniques in non-Agile environments. The topics covered will include: Gradients of non-Agility and their responses to Agile concepts, Methods of transitioning to Agile concepts, Integrating Agile and non-Agile project resources, Integrating Agile projects within a non-Agile business.

Agile Estimation and Planning

johng — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:16:35 -0700

Guest Speaker	Rob Morris, Principal Software Engineer CDL Software
Date	Thursday, October 12th, 2006
Description	Rob's presentation will explore Agile estimation and how it can be used in determining what can be accomplished within an iteration and how to estimate multi-iteration release plans. He will also touch on firm fixed price estimation and compare these approaches with more traditional estimation approaches.
About the Speaker	Rob is the principal software engineer at CDL Systems and has over 20 years experience developing software systems. His more recent work has involved overseeing the development of control station software used to fly unmanned aerial vehicles currently operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rob has a BSc. in Electrical Engineering and Masters degrees in Computer Science and Software Engineering. He has embraced Agile techniques and tries to shoehorn them into the more document centric military projects at every opportunity. He is also a certified ScrumMaster.
Presentation Slides	AgileEstimationandPlanning.pdf

Agile Project Suitability Filters and More

johng — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 15:13:32 -0700

Guest Speaker	Mike Griffiths, Senior Technical Director Quadrus Development Inc.
Date	Monday, January 15th, 2007
Description	Agile methods can bring many benefits, but are they appropriate for all projects? In this session Mike will outline several agile suitability filters and discuss their application and roles. Project characteristics and organizational characteristics to assess will be analyzed along with strategies for interpreting and acting upon the results.
About the Speaker	Mike Griffiths is a project manager for Quadrus Development Inc. He helped create DSDM in 1994 and has been using agile methods ever since; he is active in the agile community and has authored numerous journal articles. Mike serves on the board of the Agile Alliance and the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) and is a frequent contributor to agile conferences.
Presentation Slides	Agile Suitability Filters.pdf DSDM OSF.pdf DSDM PSF.pdf

Working with Different Personality Types

johng — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 14:32:24 -0700

Guest Speaker	Robin Robinson, Principal Consultant RCR Consulting
Date	Wednesday, February 21st, 2007
Description	This interactive session will look at four behavioural styles and how they present in the workplace. Tips on how to recognize these basic styles and how to adapt your own style to better connect with others will be provided.
About the Speaker	Robin Robinson brings more than 20 years of experience to organizational consulting including, involvement in organizations with both large and small scale systems change projects. Robin is an accredited Insights Discovery facilitator and an EQ-i (Emotional Intelligence) practitioner.