18. October 2008 by rmaciver.

Come Join Us

The Agile Project Leadership Network Houston chapter presents a chapter meeting

Please R.S.V.P. to info@APLNHouston.org

Program – Four Lessons of Life: Applying them to Agile Projects

Tony Akins will share four lessons he has learned from life and how they apply to leading agile projects. 

• Do what works all the time - If a practice, technique, and/or approach works, do it all the time. 
• Don’t work in the dark - It’s all about feedback - the longer you work without feedback, the longer you are working in the dark. 
• Make it better - Unless you can make it (a piece of code, a project, a relationship) better, don’t bother working on it. 
• Everyone has value - Or, as my wife likes to say, everyone brings a gift to the table. 

Anthony Akins has been in the software industry for over 20 years, working in research and development, direct marketing and sales, product development (all phases from initial requirements to in the field maintenance), training and development, process improvement and technology transition.  He is currently the Director of Software at Behavioral Recognition Systems where he oversees the day-to-day operations of Research, Development, Quality Engineering and Deployment staffs.  Previously Tony was a Senior Consultant at Valtech Technologies where he provided expertise in agile project management.

Sponsorship

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7. October 2008 by rmaciver.

Come Join Us

The Agile Project Leadership Network Houston chapter presents a chapter meeting

at the HESS Club

Houston, TX 77056

Please R.S.V.P. to info@APLNHouston.org

Program – Scaling Agile

Agile techniques have consistently demonstrated their benefits for co-located, small project teams; however, many organizations want to gain similar benefits for their large scale, highly distributed projects. Join Bryan Campbell, CSM/PMP/ITIL as he draws upon more than 8 years of experience applying agile techniques to large scale projects and presents what’s involved in “Scaling Agile”.  Learn which techniques work most effectively and common mistakes to avoid, understand different organizational models that yield the greatest benefit in large scale settings and get some insight into cutting edge techniques that improve virtual collaboration. 

Bryan Campbell (www.bryancampbell.com) is an IT Leader with 20 years of IT experience and more than a decade in software development.  As the Senior Program Manager at BMC Software Inc.,

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20. August 2008 by rmaciver.

Come Join Us

The Houston Chapter of the Agile Project Leadership Network is proud to present our inaugural meeting at the HESS Club

5430 Westheimer Road

Houston, TX 77056

Please R.S.V.P. to info@APLNHouston.org

Program

The APLN was founded by Jim Highsmith in February of 2005 with the writing of the Declaration of Interdependence.  The Declaration of Interdependence was born to be a manifesto for project leaders, at all levels, in any organization.  It remains a rallying cry for leaders who are passionate about building great teams and delivering value within their organizations. This talk will explore the six principles behind the Declaration of Interdependence and how these principles apply in both traditional and agile organizations.  Mike Cottmeyer will discuss the mission of the APLN and it is being translated into action at the national and local levels.  Mike will share his experience as an active board member, his insights from starting the local Atlanta chapter, and his own thoughts on the future of APLN and Agile Leadership.

 Mike Cottmeyer is a Product Consultant and Agile Evangelist for VersionOne.  Previously Mike was a Senior Project Manager for CheckFree Corporation where he led a portfolio of projects for their online banking and bill payment business unit.  Mike has a traditional project management background and has worked primarily with agile methodologies for the past four years.  He is a certified PMP and a Certified Scrum Master.  Mike was involved with the creation of the DSDM Agile Project Leader certification and holds this certification at the Foundation, Practitioner, and Examiner levels and was recently named an honorary member of the DSDM consortium.  Mike is on the APLN board and the current Treasurer.

Sponsorship

This meeting is generously sponsored by Project Management Institute Houston Chapter, Inc.

PMPs may file for 1 PDU under Continuing Certification Requirements’ “Category 4: Other Providers.”

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30. July 2008 by rmaciver.

Agile Project Management Training with Michele Sliger September 29-30, 2008

In cooperation with the Project Management Institute Houston Chapter, APLN Houston is proud to announce this jointly sponsored training session with Michele Sliger.

Registration is Now Open!

To see the complete course information and to register for this class please click

Here

or go to

http://www.pmihouston.org/index.php?mo=cm&op=ld&fid=20&eid=225

Register Early, seating for this class is limited.

If you are not a member of the PMI Houston Chapter you will need to follow the Request Login link in the upper right corner of the page to complete registering for the class.
(You do not need to be a member of PMI to obtain a login.)

Members of APLN International should enter APLNMEM92908 as the discount code click “Update Price” to receive the member pricing.

If you would like to join APLN International please go to APLN.org to do so. 

Course Summary

This two-day workshop will guide traditionally trained software development project managers who want to make the transition to an agile project management approach.  A mapping of the PMBOK® Guide practices to agile practices will help students see how the two relate, and how they differ.  Using familiar terminology and concepts, attendees will leave with a clear understanding of the changes they need to make both personally and professionally as they cross the bridge to agility.

 Michele Sliger is the co-author of The Software Project Manager’s Bridge to Agility. She has extensive experience in agile software development, having transitioned to Scrum and XP practices in 2000 after starting her career following the traditional waterfall approach. A self-described “bridge builder,” her passion lies in helping those in traditional software development environments cross the bridge to agility.

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15. July 2008 by rmaciver.

Peter Borsella is presenting “Taking Advantage of Scrum” at next month’s PMI Houston meeting:

Wednesday August 13th - 6:30 - 8:00pm at the Hess Club

This is a dinner meeting with a fee of $25 for PMI Members or $30 for non-members.

For more details and to register visit the PMI Houston website

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4. June 2008 by rmaciver.

• What speakers have you heard recently that you would like to see at APLN Houston?
• What topics would you like to learn more about?
• Is there a topic you would like to present? 

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4. June 2008 by rmaciver.

What type of meetings would you be most interested in:

• Speaker presentations?
• Panel Discussions?
• Open Space?
• Others?

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4. June 2008 by rmaciver.

We are organizing an Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) chapter for Houston with the purpose of promoting the growth of agile practices in Houston, sharing real world experiences of using agile techniques, and providing a professional networking forum for like-minded professionals.

Currently we are currently investigating the chapter logistics, seeking potential corporate sponsors, and identifying our initial speakers and hope to be making some further announcements in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, APLN Houston needs you: 

•  Contact us with your ideas and suggestions to help make this chapter yours
• Register (at no charge) at here to join our mailing list for updated information and future announcements
• Help guide our chapter by starting and participating in discussions on this blog site
• Tell your friends and colleagues about us

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