I just posted a blog entry sharing the news about Gil Broza’s upcoming interview with Johanna Rothman. As an advocate of the Gil’s Spot On interviews I often blog about them to help spread the news. I am especially excited about this month’s special guest.

Johanna is a much sought-after speaker and consultant, working with people to improve how they manage their product development. I started following Johanna’s work in 2006 after attending the Better Software Conference in Las Vegas. At the time I had tried registering for the “Behind Closed Doors – Secrets of Great Management” tutorial with Johanna and Esther Derby and was disheartened to learn it was sold out. Dang it!

Since 2006 I have really enjoyed Johanna’s blogs Managing Product Development and Hiring Technical People. I have also read Johanna’s book Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management (co-authored with Esther Derby) and found it really useful. I wrote a blog several months back on the book that you can read here. Last year I had the pleasure of meeting Johanna in person at the AYE Conference and attending several of her excellent sessions. Johanna’s style for sharing her knowledge and experience really resonated with me and I had many fantastic takeaways.

I really encourage you to attend this upcoming interview for the chance to spend some valuable time with Johanna and Gil. Read more about the interview on my my blog post here. You can read more about Johanna including a listing of her books and articles on her website at www.jrothman.com or follow her on Twitter @johannarothman.

Gil is hosting an excellent series of “Spot On” interviews with guest experts every 2 months. I recommend you check out his “Spot On” series and his “Q & Agile” podcasts on his website at www.3pvantage.com. You can also find Gil on Twitter @gilbroza.

3P Vantage Agile Coaching, founded by Gil Broza, is bringing another industry expert to you! Every two months Gil is hosting “Spot On” interviews. This interview series is intended to open new horizons for IT professionals interested in effective software development. The selected guest experts, while not strictly promoting Agile methods, teach and consult in related areas. Their specialties overlap and align with Agile; like Gil, they promote effective, humane software development.

The interviews are 45 – 60 minutes long and are free to attend. You should attend if:

• you love learning new perspectives and ideas about your work
• your haven’t been lucky enough to meet the expert at work or at a conference
• you could use help with your professional development

Gil has been bringing pragmatic, effective Agile software development to companies for almost a decade. Relying on his vast experience in programming, management and organizational development, he helps professionals implement non-dogmatic Agility that truly works. Beyond teaching skills and methods, Gil helps people overcome limiting habits, fears of change, blind spots and unhelpful beliefs.

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“Agile Management Beyond The Single Project”
Date: January 24, 2011
Time: 2:00pm EDT / 12:00pm MDT
Register: Registration Link

January’s guest expert is Johanna Rothman. Johanna is a much sought-after speaker and consultant, working with people to improve how they manage their product development — to maximize management and technical staff productivity and to improve product quality. Johanna is the author of several books:

• Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects
• The 2008 Jolt-award winning Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management
• Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management (with Esther Derby)
• Hiring the Best Knowledge Workers, Techies & Nerds: The Secrets and Science of Hiring Technical People

Johanna writes columns on “extreme project management” for Gantthead, and writes two blogs on her website, www.jrothman.com. She is also a host of the Amplifying Your Effectiveness (AYE) conference.

The topic will be “Agile Management Beyond The Single Project” and the interview will cover:

• balancing keep-the-lights-on projects with growth projects
• who’s responsible for managing the portfolio, and the qualities they need
• politics in portfolio management
• making portfolio schedule promises when the underlying projects are Agile

The interview will take place on January 24 at 2:00pm EDT / 12:00 MDT. Register to secure your spot. As an added bonus you can submit questions for Johanna and Gil when you register. If you are unable to attend the call you can register and receive the recording afterwords.

Read more about the “Spot On” interview with Johanna Rothman here.

3P Vantage Agile Coaching, founded by Gil Broza, is bringing another industry expert to you! Every two months Gil is hosting “Spot On” interviews. This interview series is intended to open new horizons for IT professionals interested in effective software development. The selected guest experts, while not strictly promoting Agile methods, teach and consult in related areas. Their specialties overlap and align with Agile; like Gil, they promote effective, humane software development.

The interviews are 45 – 60 minutes long and are free to attend. You should attend if:

• you love learning new perspectives and ideas about your work
• your haven’t been lucky enough to meet the expert at work or at a conference
• you could use help with your professional development

Gil has been bringing pragmatic, effective Agile software development to companies for almost a decade. Relying on his vast experience in programming, management and organizational development, he helps professionals implement non-dogmatic Agility that truly works. Beyond teaching skills and methods, Gil helps people overcome limiting habits, fears of change, blind spots and unhelpful beliefs.

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“Engage Your Audience”
Date: October 21, 2010
Time: 2:00pm EDT / 12:00pm MDT
Register: Registration Link

October’s guest expert is Naomi Karten. Naomi is a much sought-after speaker: She has delivered seminars and presentations to more than 100,000 IT professionals internationally, helping them improve customer satisfaction, manage change, and strengthen communication and presentation skills. Her just published book, Presentation Skills for Technical Professionals, offers guidelines and advice for engaging your audience and taking the stress out of presenting. Her other books and ebooks include Changing How You Manage and Communicate Change, Managing Expectations, and Communication Gaps and How to Close Them, among others.

The topic will be “Engage Your Audience” and the interview will cover:

• Can everyone truly become great presenters? (And should they bother?)
• Presentation anxiety — and why you should not eliminate it entirely(!)
• The majority of technical professionals are introverts. Can they still give good presentations?
• To PowerPoint or not to PowerPoint?
• Agile teams have more challenging presentation needs than traditional ones (e.g. at the iteration demo and when rolling out Agile). How can team members build that capability?

The interview will take place on October 21 at 2:00pm EDT / 12:00 MDT. Register to secure your spot. As an added bonus you can submit questions for Naomi and Gil when you register. If you are unable to attend the call you can register and receive the recording afterwords.

Read more about the “Spot On” interview with Naomi Karten here.

The next Calgary Software Quality Discussion Group, SQDG, meeting is Tuesday, September 21st. The session will be “Critical Success Factors for Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)” by Jennitta Andrea.

The SQDG is a forum for the discussion of all aspects of software quality. The group meets once per month from September to June. The sessions are free but advance registration is required. The theme for the 2010/2011 season “Past, Present, Future”.

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“Critical Success Factors for Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)”
Date: September 21, 2010
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm; doors open at 11:30 am
Location: Inteqna Training Room
5th Flr, 715 – 5th Ave SW
Calgary, AB
Register: via LinkedIn Event
*Free Lunch* provided by Integritas Solutions

“A good analyst or tester knows what questions to ask to quickly bring clarity to a murky subject. When they first hear about Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD), a core practice on agile projects, their initial questions often are “Can examples really capture functional requirements?”, “Where do user stories come from?”, and “Will the analyst and tester roles become extinct?”

When Jennitta Andrea worked on her first agile project in 2000, she asked all of these questions and more. As a hands-on practitioner and keen observer of teams and processes on more than a dozen agile projects since then, Jennitta has discovered that success comes from knowing how ATDD fits within an ecosystem of roles, practices, and tools. Learn what Acceptance Test-Driven Development is, the critical success factors for ATDD, and the details of several key success factors.”

Read More »

For additional details on this session please see the 2010/2011 Event Details page. Check out the upcoming sessions on the Schedule page.

Read more on the Calgary Software Quality Discussion Group on their website at www.sqdg.ca.

3P Vantage Agile Coaching, founded by Gil Broza, is bringing a free podcast series to you! Each month Gil is hosting “Q & Agile” podcasts intended to help software professionals gain clarity on proper, pragmatic Agility. The podcasts are 45 minutes long and are free to attend. You should attend if:

• you have nagging questions that aren’t getting answered
• your team’s version of Agile involves gnashing of teeth, conflicts, and obvious anti-patterns
• the book or conference version of Scrum/Agile doesn’t apply to your situation
• you’ve solved some of your challenges, but are curious how Gil would solve them
• your development methods aren’t delivering the promised benefits

Gil has been bringing pragmatic, effective Agile software development to companies for a decade. Relying on his vast experience in programming, management and organizational development, he helps professionals implement non-dogmatic Agility that truly works. Beyond teaching skills and methods, Gil helps people overcome limiting habits, fears of change, blind spots and unhelpful beliefs.

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“Agile Teams”
Date: September 22, 2010
Time: 2:00pm EDT / 12:00pm MDT
Register: Registration Link

September’s topic will be “Agile Teams”. Teams are the bedrock of every Agile method. They are the core unit for delivering customer value; they self-organize; they are cross-functional. Behind these brief descriptors is a whole system (or mess?) of relationships, practices, interactions, and conflicts.

Ever wonder about your team(s), how to build them, how to lead them, how to participate in them? Ask Gil.

The podcast will take place on September 22 at 2:00pm EDT / 12:00pm MDT. Register to secure your spot. As an added bonus you can submit questions for Gil when you register. If you are unable to attend the call you can register and receive the recording afterwords.

Read more about the “Q & Agile” podcast with Gil here.

The folks at Zenergy Technologies are looking to draw traffic to their new website and blog. They are offering a draw for an iPod Touch for blog subscribers. Subscribe to their blog here by June 30 to entered in the draw. Good luck!

You can also follow Zenergy Technologies on Twitter @ZenergyTech.

Here is some information on Zenergy Technologies from their website.

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Practical QA & Testing Solutions

Zenergy Technologies understands the importance of software quality assurance and testing. But more significantly, the leadership at Zenergy Technologies understands the importance of business, that true solutions must deliver results without crippling the software development life cycle, or the operations that depend on it.

When you consult with Zenergy for your software QA and testing needs, you can rest assured your organization will receive practical advice and techniques tailored for immediate implementation while ensuring mid-term and long-term requirements are thoroughly considered and addressed.

For high-level consulting, we believe specialization allows Zenergy to be the best QA and testing solutions company in the market today. Below are the areas where Zenergy excels. Please click on the service areas to learn more:

• QA & Test Process Improvement
• QA & Test Team Integration with Agile
• Test Automation Strategy and Implementation
• QA & Testing Metrics
• Test Management and Execution

3P Vantage Agile Coaching, founded by Gil Broza, is bringing another industry expert to you! Every two months Gil is hosting “Spot On” interviews with an expert on matters that touch, overlap or extend effective agility. The interviews are 45 – 60 minutes long and are free to attend.
                         

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June’s guest expert is Christopher Avery. Christopher co-founded the Agile Project Leadership Network dedicated to connecting, developing, and supporting great project leaders. Best-known for his cutting-edge work to develop practical team leadership skills for engineers and other technical professionals, Christopher wrote the popular classic book Teamwork Is An Individual Skill for everyone at work who thinks they must put up with bad teams.

The topic will be “Applying Innate Leadership in an Agile Setting” and the interview will cover:

• Self-organization, personal leadership, and demonstrating responsibility in Agile teams.
• What leadership looks like and what the absence of leadership looks like.
• Leadership and one’s place in the hierarchy.
• Does everybody truly have innate leadership?
• Simple ways to develop leadership.

The interview will take place on June 2 at 2:00pm EDT / 12:00 MDT. Register to secure your spot. As an added bonus you can submit questions for Christopher and Gil when you register. If you are unable to attend the call you can register and receive the recording afterwords.