for more information contact sean.callaghan@qsma.com

Measurement and Negotiation Strategies for Agile Executives
Leader: Michael Mah

This one-day workshop with Michael Mah will help you develop core measures that you can use to negotiate better outcomes for IT projects, be they outsourced or developed in-house. You'll learn how to use lighter, "just enough" metrics to get the information you need in a matter of days or weeks, rather than the months required for heavier methods.

The ability to blend metrics with negotiation is the mark of the Agile IT executive. If you're already a strong negotiator, you can improve your position when you learn that you don't have to negotiate "blind" if you lack the time for a full-blown metrics baseline. If you're already strong in metrics, you'll pick up key negotiation skills that will help you produce favorable agreements.

This workshop presents an integrated look at the negotiation process from the IT perspective. We'll explore productivity trends and lessons-learned from a metrics database of over 7,000 completed projects collected worldwide (including offshore projects). We'll also learn how to use "objective standards" from metrics data in negotiation scenarios to create more efficient and wise agreements. This workshop will emphasize the "Harvard Method" described in the NY Times bestseller, "Getting to YES, Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In", using IT metrics techniques from 2 decades of industry research.

You'll get the opportunity to do several mock negotiations using skills acquired during the workshop. We will cover topics such as:

• Alternatives to "Positional" Bargaining
• Using Metrics to Create Legitimacy, Credibility, and Power
• Creating Multiple Options and Alternative Trade-offs for Projects
• Enhancing Communication and Dealing with Difficult People and Situations

Deadline-Driven Project Estimation

General Overview:
Commercial pressures of today's economy result in imposed deadlines being the norm for technology projects. Yet the nature of software projects demands that teams deal with the constant dynamics of change. This creates extreme degrees of project risk and perpetuates the so-called "software crisis," whereby a large percentage of projects are canceled, delivered late, over budget, and/or poor quality. However, knowing the nature of these dynamics empowers managers to make decisions on promised functionality, thereby controlling the very factors that degrade software quality and reliability.

This presentation will address why software projects are different than other classes of work and how the R&D "laws" of lifecycle dynamics can be used to avert disaster. We will discuss benchmarking against "the competition" to fully understand how an organization stacks up, in multiple dimensions of speed, cost, staffing, and reliability. Plus, we will address laws of cause and effect, so managers can negotiate viable commitments, using proven and reliable techniques for software project estimation.

Workshop Goals:
As a result of participating in this workshop, you'll know:

• If "industry benchmarks" are the answer, what's the question?
• How to use productivity baselines for estimation
• Critical flaws in "traditional" planning processes
• Risk management techniques when deadlines are fixed
• What you can do about "dangerous metrics"

Intended Audience:
This talk is designed for both non-technical and technical software managers. This includes Vice Presidents of Engineering, Directors of Software Development, Quality Assurance Managers, Software Process Managers, Program Managers and Team Leaders, Audit Specialists, and Software Measurement Specialists.

Negotiation Bootcamp: Effective Techniques for Software Managers

General Overview:
Software project managers face difficult negotiations involving tight deadlines, budgets, and changing scope. Often, these factors set up project conditions with difficult odds for success. In this workshop, which is derived from the Harvard Method of Negotiation and the best-selling book Getting to YES, Michael Mah will show you how to break the cycle created by hardball positional tactics by using metrics and measurement to establish criteria for fairness on deadlines, budgets, and scope. Michael will also show you how to enhance communication when dealing with difficult people and situations. He employs hands-on exercises and examples based on actual projects.

Length of workshop: 1 day

Workshop Goals:
In this full-day workshop, you'll discover how to apply mutual gains negotiation to improve working relationships, enhance your effectiveness, make better deals, and break through project stand-offs and deadlocks. You'll learn how to:

• identify alternatives to "positional" bargaining;
• focus on underlying interests and agendas;
• use metrics to address legitimacy, credibility, and power;
• create multiple options and alternatives; and
• enhance communication when dealing with difficult people and situations