Conference Presentations

The Problem of Project Management

As a project manager, your daily work is an unending stream of challenges. The burden of project success often lies at your feet. Brian Lawrence contends that one reason so many software projects fail is because project managers may be trying to solve the wrong problems. Learn how to use problem definition as a way to establish a standard against which you can compare yourself to evaluate your performance.

Brian Lawrence, Coyote Valley Software
Software Estimating with Functional Metrics

One of the greatest challenges faced by software professionals is the accurate estimation of effort, schedule, and cost for software projects. Learn the technique that has proven to be the most successful in establishing accurate estimates based on quantifying customer requirements and evaluating the development environment using software measurement techniques. Discover ways to use this process to improve estimating accuracy in your software projects.

Scott Goldfarb, Q/P Management Group, Inc.
Practical Software Measurement, Performance Based Earned Value

Earned Value can be a software project manager's most effective tool for integrating cost, technical, and schedule management. Learn how to implement Performance Based Earned Value in a practical and cost-effective manner, including specific recommendations and performance metrics for better project planning, meaningful analysis, and improved management control. Real-life examples illustrate both best practices and lessons learned.

Paul Solomon, Northrop Grumman Corporation
Performance Evaluation and Measurement of Enterprise Applications

Today's large-scale enterprise applications are all Web-enabled and complex in nature. Many users experience performance problems from day one. Performance evaluation and measurement via extensive testing is the only practical way to raise and address all issues prior to a successful deployment. Learn how to tackle performance and capacity issues with the appropriate testing strategy and scalable infrastructure/architecture.

Rakesh Radhakrishnan, Sun Microsystems
Software Cost Management with COCOMO II

COCOMO II updates the 1981 Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) to address the new ways that software is being developed and managed, including non-sequential process models, applications composition, product line management, distributed development and applications, and rapid application development. Barry Boehm summarizes these trends and shows how COCOMO II and its emerging extensions are addressing them. Learn how COCOMO II can be used for a variety of management decision situations, such as linking tactical project management to strategic productivity and cycle time improvement management via a quantitative metrics-based approach.

Barry Boehm, University of Southern California
Practices of High Maturity Organizations

Over the past several years, the Software Engineering Institute has participated in several workshops and site visits with maturity level 4 and 5 software organizations. Mark Paulk discusses the lessons learned from these interactions with high maturity organizations and examines the results of a survey taken to informally test the anecdotal observations about high maturity practices. Explore specific areas of interest, including statistical process, quality control, and product lines/families. A variety of engineering and management practices, including issues outside the scope of the Capability Maturity Model for Software, will be discussed.

Mark Paulk, The Software Engineering Institute
Leveraging Software Resources

The Critical Chain approach to project management is being applied on more and more software development projects to achieve significant benefits in quality of life, lead time, and productivity. Rob Newbold provides an overview of the Critical Chain approach as it applies to software development. Where is time and energy typically wasted? How can we focus attention on those areas where improvement will do the most good? Learn the specific leverage points typically addressed through Critical Chain Project Management in order to achieve real, lasting results.

Rob Newbold, ProChain Solutions, Inc.
Third-Party Testing and Its Effects on Software Engineering

Adherence to process guidelines has been shown to be beneficial for large organizations. However, ninety-nine percent of all U.S. IT organizations and independent software vendors are small businesses with less than 500 employees. Bill Councill discusses how to use a third-party testing organization such as Underwriters Laboratories to more effectively assure software quality in companies of this size.

Bill Councill, Mannatech, Inc.
Managing Software Project Schedules with Efficiency

Software on-time delivery statistics show schedule slippage is a common phenomenon within the software industry. Ziya Ma discusses the results of an industry survey conducted during 1998 and 1999 to obtain current, valid, and useful scheduling data. Learn how to use this information--including common approaches to on-time delivery used in modern industry--to tackle project delays in a timely manner.

Ziya Ma, Motorola
Tips from the Training Tsarina

This presentation explores ways to plan and execute technical training to ensure the best possible use of resources to meet your organization's objectives. Learn how to avoid the most common problems and shortfalls, including budget woes, business relevance, and lack of commitment. Discover the most effective ways to breathe life into your organization's training program.

Anntoinette Gurvin, General Dynamics Information Systems

Pages

AgileConnection is a TechWell community.

Through conferences, training, consulting, and online resources, TechWell helps you develop and deliver great software every day.