2012 Professional Development Days

Monday Sessions 8:15 – 10:00 10:00 – 12:30 12:30 – 2:00 2:00 – 3:30 3:30 – 5:00

Emcee Brad Meehan

Priya Sethuraman Lee Lambert Lenet Compton Agile Panel Discussion

Stacy Allison NK Shrivastava Rick Freedman Jim Gramling

Barbara Teicher Bethany Spilde Margaret Loosemore

Phil Thatcher Anthony Washington

Nancy Whatley-Blaine

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

Brad Meehan Link to Brad’s bio

Our Master of Ceremonies

Two-time Emmy-nominated comedian and writer Brad Meehan finds humor in all corners of his life. Brad is also regular host and emcee at the world-famous Kansas City Improv comedy club. Brad was recently voted All Comedy Radio’s “Funniest Person in Kansas City” and has shared the stage with top comedians like Kevin Nealon, Harland Williams, and John Witherspoon.

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Agile Panel Discussion

Organized by Adams

Gabbert Monday 3:30PM

The Real Life Evolution of Agile in Different Organizations

Over the past ten years, increased global interconnectivity among societies, economies, businesses and individuals has given rise to a lot of complexity. The next decade belongs to those who learn to adapt and thrive through large-scale structural changes and turbulence. Continuous Delivery can help large enterprises become as lean, agile and innovative as a perpetual beta startup. It requires a culture of collaboration, learning and discovery across the entire organization. Leaders will need to re-think their management styles. Business people will need to learn a lot more about software, and software people will need to learn more about business. Individuals will need to re-invent themselves at every level in the organization. In this panel discussion, we'll look at the leadership practices, mindsets and behaviors you'll need to make it happen from three companies perspectives. How each has implemented Agile Methodology and how their organizations have handled the changes that occurred.

2012 Professional Development Days - Tuesday

Rachelle Wright

Denise Kruse Glenn Carney

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Shawn Whitcomb

Stacy Allison Monday 8:30 - keynote

Link to Stacy’s bio

Many Mountains to Climb! “Only when we accept full responsibility for our lives, will we have the confidence and courage to risk” - Stacy Allison

Stacy will take you on an exciting journey to Mt Everest and into the world of high altitude climbing. Mt. Everest is one of the most unforgiving environments on Earth. For every three people who reach the summit of Everest, one dies trying. When the challenges are this great and the stakes are this high, each team member plays a critical role, not only in the team's success, but its very survival.

Decisions don't get much starker, and that's why mountains, though seemingly a planet apart, are a rich source of insights for managers and executives. Even though you and your associates may not experience arctic temperatures, hurricane force winds, or seemingly bottomless crevasses, you do face an increasingly competitive marketplace, a more dynamic and demanding customer base, and the challenge of consistently balancing profitability and growth. Just like an expedition, you must forge an inspiring vision, build an accomplished team, overcome obstacles and stay focused, to consistently be your best and reach the top. Each team member's leadership, teamwork and motivation play critical roles in this success.

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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WHO’S DRIVING THE BUS? RESOURCE LOADING, LEVELING & MAINTENANCE

Lenet Compton Monday 2:00

See Lenet’s bio

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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Is your schedule fully resourced? Did you use the Resource Sheet or simply type resources into the tasks? Have you ever heard a project manager say she had too many resources? Doubt it. Instead, over allocation is the name of the game. Let’s talk about what it means to resource your schedule (resource loading) and smooth (level) those resources to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Agile Today and Tomorrow

Rick Freedman Monday 2:00

See Rick’s bio

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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Rick will present his observations from over ten years as an agile coach and mentor, and will focus specifically on the changing roles of PMs in the emerging agile enterprise. Agile concepts require that PMs focus less on process enforcement and predictive planning and estimation, and more on collaboration with our business sponsors and on business requirements that evolve as markets, technologies, and corporate strategies evolve. In the agile enterprise, the days of multi-year, task-by-task plans and estimates are being replaced by rolling, just-in-time scoping, planning and budgeting, and PMs must evolve with these new techniques. Agile adoption is about more than changing methodologies; it’s about influencing executives and sponsors to rethink long-standing traditional planning methods and adapt to flexible, change-friendly, lean processes. If you’re a PM wondering what your role, and the project management profession, will look like five and ten years from now, you should join us for this conversation.

ARE WE THERE YET? USING THE SCHEDULE AS A TOOL: MAINTENANCE & FORECASTING

Jim Gramling Monday 3:30

See Jim’s bio

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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How is the schedule going to help me solve my project issues?? By the time the schedule comes out, it is out-of-date! How do we logically look for logic errors? My project is only 3 months long, I don’t have time to put a schedule together! You are over budget and behind schedule, what would you do to salvage the project? This session will explore these and other issue associated with using the schedule as a project maintenance and forecasting tool. A real project example will be analyzed to discuss how you might deal with the challenges of the project as they relate to the topics covered in this session.

To PMP or Not PMP – That is the Question

Lee Lambert Monday 12:30 - keynote

See Lee’s bio

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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New Technologies and Tools from Microsoft

2012 Professional Development Days - Tuesday

Margaret Loosemore Monday 3:30

See Margaret’s bio

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People, processes and tools need to adapt for all or die of obsolescence as the democratization of project and portfolio management continues. Learn how Microsoft is addressing these challenges with new technologies and tools that will be available for project managers. This session will include a roundtable discussion on how you, as a PM can adapt and what it takes to be successful in this new space.

The Future of Project Management and Project Managers in the Agile World

Priya Sethuraman Monday 10:00

See Priya’s bio

Project managers are often called upon to maintain multiple skills sets, specialties, and knowledge bases. This has only evolved as projects have become more complex, globalization has increasingly affected projects, and project managers are asked to differentiate themselves within the industry. This presentation focuses on trends that may impact project managers in the coming years: the increasing need to specialize and use Agile approaches to project management. This presentation will ask you to see how these trends might affect your work – and what you must do to prepare for it. Underlying each of these topics will be a conversation around resources available to you as part of your PMI membership to assist you in being ready for these changes.

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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Aligning Project Portfolio to a Company’s Strategy through Balanced Scorecard

NK Shrivastava Monday 10:00

See NK’s bio

It doesn’t matter if your project or program is on budget and on time if the company doesn’t need it. In most cases, the intended strategic outcomes planned for a project are not fully achieved. And, if you face limited resources, how do you pick projects that will have most strategic impact? Project/program managers struggle with answering whether their projects are “on strategy” or not because companies struggle with executing strategy. The key is to link project results to business strategy in a tangible and visible way. The balanced scorecard, developed by Norton & Kaplan in 1992, provides this link. During this presentation, NK will introduce the balanced scorecard (BSC) and explain how it can help align a company’s project portfolio to its strategy, enabling them to deliver “on strategy”. The attendees will learn (a) What a balanced scorecard is (b) How it represents the strategy and (c) How BSC can be used to align projects to the strategy. Bring your company’s strategy map and balanced scorecard so that they can be used as real examples during the presentation.

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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Determining your Strengths and Weaknesses

Bethany Spilde Monday 2:00

See Bethany’s bio

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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LEADING WITH STRENGTHS “It’s not about being a “complete” leader, it’s about having a complete team.” Behind all successful projects is a team of individuals with a unique mix of talent, skills, and strengths. The same is true for projects that miss the mark. The difference is the level of LEADERSHIP. Leadership is the ability to unleash the highest talents and contributions of people while moving toward a clearly defined goal. All top project managers share in this specific talent to identify and then capitalize on each team member’s unique strengths. These leaders understand that combining the right mix of strengths and personalities will create the synergy needed to balance, energize and challenge each other to overcome challenges and to succeed in the goals. According to Gallup research, when a team’s leadership fails to focus on individuals' strengths, the odds of a team member being engaged are a dismal 9 percent. However, when a project manager focuses on the individual’s strengths, the odds soar to almost 73%. Leading with strengths takes teams to new levels of engagement, productivity and project success. If you’re ready to lead your team to the top, we invite you to attend this session. You will walk away empowered and will: − understand what teams need from leadership − identify and understand the strengths of your team − develop a plan to leverage your team’s strengths and talents for optimum performance

It’s Not Just What You Say, It’s HOW You Say It

Barbara Teicher Monday 10:00

See Barbara’s bio

Has it ever happened that someone takes offense at something you've said, and you have no idea why? Or maybe the opposite happens and you've taken offense at someone else’s words only to hear, “I think you took that the wrong way.” Why did you take it the “wrong” way, and they didn’t? The "way" you say something can be more important and powerful than the words you actually use. The intent behind the words we try to convey though may not be the message being perceived, They are often not in sync at all... Why? Join motivational speaker, trainer and coach, Barbara Teicher, as she shares shares the secrets of the messages you’re really sending

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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WHERE ARE WE GOING? CPM SCHEDULING CONCEPTS & PRACTICES

Phil Thatcher Monday 10:00

See Phil’s bio

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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The functions of project management are to plan, to organize, and to control. While it sounds simple, most projects are neither planned nor implemented well. This is one reason that the field is growing so rapidly and that talented project managers are in such high demand. In this Session we will explore how the tasks of our project link together to form a schedule or "network diagram." The project schedule is the basis for the project budget (time-phased cash flow), resource determination, and the basis for measuring progress once we begin actual project work.

You’ll learn how to: • Develop a Project Schedule • Construct a Project Network • Determine the “Critical Path” • How to resolve resource conflicts without delaying project completion

Surviving Process Governance and Methodologies

Anthony Washington Monday 2:00

See Anthony’s bio

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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Have you ever had these questions: What truly is required to deliver a project? Oh no, our company is rolling out yet another project / software development methodology? How can I deliver a project on time with all these extra required documents, processes, phases & gates? Have no fear, this course will show you how to understand, manage and streamline your workload through the most COMPLEX methodologies and process governance systems. Topics of this seminar will include: Why are methodologies important to the company and to you? What the Project Manager needs to know about software development methodologies Artifacts, workflow, communication & control, roles & responsibilities, quality assurance Completing the methodology requirements VS successful on time, on budget, high quality solution delivery Overview of some Software Development Methodology types

Waterfall Iterations Rapid development Phased

Choosing the right methodology: Different methodologies for different types of projects Critical Success Factors for a successful software development project – regardless of the methodology And much much more!!!

Dismantling the Elephant

Nancy Whatley-

Blaine Monday 3:30

See Nancy’s bio

Session Objectives 1. Develop communication skills and strategies for addressing sensitive issues; 2. Collaborate and influence constructively in difficult situations; 3. Gain appropriate approaches for increased interpersonal effectiveness. Session Description Every day, we see them! Those awkward, uncomfortable and emotionally charged situations we’re just not sure how to address. You know, the “Elephant in the Room”… Maybe it’s a difficult personality you have no choice but to work with – although you’d rather not. Perhaps it’s the fact that no one respects your opinion – even though you know you’re right! It could even be unfair circumstances that have left you holding the “short end of the stick”. Unclear of a course of action, we’re tempted to simply ignore them, hoping they’ll go away. Problem is, of course, that these issues do just the opposite of what you’d like. They grow, propagate and start breeding new problems. There’s good news! These “Elephants” can be overcome – successfully and permanently. What’s more, they can empower you to achieve results you’ve never thought were possible. Join Nancy Whatley-Blaine for Dismantling the Elephant. An interactive and results-driven discussion on how to identify, address, and eliminate these “taboo topics” we try so hard to ignore, avoid and sweep under the rug. The session will end with participant examples, offering tangible steps that help you deal effectively with the “Elephants” in your life.

2012 Professional Development Days - Monday

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