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WS9

OT2002 Session

First-order Project Management

Semi-quantitative approaches to development practice and project management

Tuesday 9 April, 14:30--17:30

	workshop - 150 minutes
	KeithBraithwaite RachelDavies

Abstract	Software development projects are notoriously difficult to manage. Some reasons for this are the difficulty in identifying the quantities that most usefully capture the state and progress of a project, and the difficulty of predicting how the adoption of a particular development practice will affect these quantities. In other disciplines, control over complex processes is achieved through the use of systems thinking and control theory. Gerry Weinberg has adapted these tools to address the particular needs of a software project. Weinberg's "diagram of influences" provide a powerful yet simple framework for understanding project management issues in a semi-quantitative way. In this workshop this technique will be demonstrated and explored using the twelve practices of eXtreme Programming as an example. XP is well suited to this purpose as it has a small set of well-defined practices. In other disciplines, control over complex processes is achieved through the use of systems thinking and control theory. Gerry Weinberg has adapted these tools to address the particular needs of a software project.
Audience	This workshop will be suitable for anyone who is involved in the management of, or being managed within, a software development project at any level: Project managers team leaders, technical leads and developers themselves. Some familiarity with the XP practices will be an advantage.
Benefits	Participants will gain an understanding of systems thinking and its application to software development, and project management. Participants will be able to apply these techniques to understand how the development practices they use relate to each other and to the measures used to plan, track and manage their development projects.
Materials	A handout including examples of Weinberg diagrams, and reference material on the technique and its application. index cards for participants to use during the workshop. We would need OT to supply a projector suitable for connection to a laptop, and a few flip-charts to capture results.

KeithBraithwaite Zuhlke Ltd	Blogging at http://peripateticaxiom.blogspot.com/ Links to all my XpDay??, Agile, OT/Spa presentations can be found at http://www.keithbraithwaite.demon.co.uk/professional/presentations/index.html
RachelDavies Agile Experience Ltd	Rachel coaches teams in agile software development and has written a book on "Agile Coaching" [http://pragprog.com/titles/sdcoach/agile-coaching] with Liz Sedley. Rachel has helped organise XP/agile events such as XPDay [ http://www.xpday.org] and continues to serve on the Agile Alliance board of directors [http://www.agilealliance.org]. Rachel was conference chair for SPA2006 and SPA2007. This year Rachel will be presenting a tutorial on "Retrospectives Refactored: [http://www.spaconference.org/spa2010/sessions/session321.html] Past OT/SPA sessions: -SPA2009 "The Role of an Agile Coach" simulation. -SPA2007 "Understanding Cognitive Bias in Decision Making" with DuncanPierce and "Designing Collaborative Workspaces" with MikeHill. - SPA2005 workshop "Project Mapping" - OT2004 tutorial "Getting Your Story Straight" - OT2003 workshop on "Retrospectives". - OT2002 assisted Keith Braithwaite with "First-Order Project Management" workshop.

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