Session 3

2:00 – 3:00

Mike Frenette

Andrew Mitchell

Pierre Boudreau

Chris Todd

Title

Fighting with Aligators - rescuing projects

The Foundation for Success: Requirements Elicitation

Release Management – A look at Content Management System

Why everyone is on the security team

Abstract

Recovering a project in trouble is quite different from managing a project from the beginning. One may have to deal with a number of issues, among them a disappointed project sponsor, a disenfranchised project manager, perhaps even a demoralized team and maybe even a financial mess.

This presentation will discuss a disciplined approach to project recovery – one based upon years of experience

Project Managers who are sent in to recover projects are experienced. Learning from methods that have been used to recover projects that do get into trouble is one way to learn from the mistakes of others – the familiar and pertinent Lessons Learned mantra of PMI.

Project Managers and Project Sponsors who can recognize the signs of trouble on a project can avoid waiting for the alligators to start snapping. Noticing a rising water level (not to be confused with “Rising to the Top”) and alligators sliding off the muddy banks and into the water is half the battle.

• It is easier to stop a failure than to recover from one

• Recovering a project is not the same managing a project

• The approach to project recovery should be structured, disciplined and based upon experiences and lessons learned

• There are many ways to recover a failing project. One way is to follow the Seven Steps to Recovery outlined in this presentation

Anyone involved in managing, sponsoring or being involved as a team member in projects of any sort will benefit from this presentation.

Perhaps the most important role for the Business Analyst is the elicitation of business requirements. The Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) says that “because the requirements serve as the foundation for the solution to the business needs it is essential that the requirements be complete, clear, correct, and consistent.” So, how do we as BA’s ensure that requirements elicitation meet these criteria? The BABOK is a great place to start, and in this workshop we will review the chapter on Elicitation. We will also look at some lessons learned from recent projects and provide you with some valuable tools to use in your projects.

Release Management is an essential discipline for the successful and consistent delivery of technology projects. Those who do it well will rise to the top.

The goal of this presentation is to familiarize the audience with the discipline of Release Management with the help of a specific example. The example is the deployment and ongoing maintenance of a Content Management System (CMS). This particular example offers some specific challenges for release managers that are interesting to explore without being too complex for an audience that may not already be familiar with the discipline.

The key points of the presentation will be:

• A brief overview of Content Management Systems

• A brief overview of Release Management

• Questions to ask when planning the deployment of a Content Management System

• In a CMS, content changes evolve independently of software changes. How does this affect release plans?

• Approaches to testing software releases and content releases in content management systems

Anybody involved with software delivery will benefit from the presentation. This includes project managers, software developers, QA professionals, IT professionals, business analyst and people in other business functions who have a need for software to help run their businesses.

Cyber attacks are becoming increasingly complex and destructive. However, even the most sophisticated attacks often involve some form of social engineering – getting a user to click on a link, open an attachment, etc. Since that user could be anyone in an organization, everyone is on the security team. This presentation will provide a high level overview of some of the methods attackers use and, more importantly, how you can spot these attacks and avoid them. Security is one of those things that are often forgotten until there is a breach. So, while taking personal responsibility for security may go unnoticed, failure to do so certainly will not. No one wants to be ‘that user.’

Everyone. Having security conscience professionals enhances the overall security of any organization.

Bio

Mike Frenette works for Sierra Systems, telecommuting each day to Sierra’s corporate office in Vancouver. He works as an advisor on local projects, mainly related to PMO collaboration sites and SharePoint governance, and also on several corporate projects having to do with methodologies, cross-company virtual communities and enterprise project management. Mike’s areas of expertise include PPPM, PMOs, collaboration portals, virtual teaming and enterprise project management approaches and tools. He has technical expertise from the early days in his career in Information Technology and has volunteered with CIPS and PMI. Mike currently chairs PMI Global’s Technology Member Advisory Group. He is certified as an I.S.P./ITCP, CMC, CCP, PMP and MCITP.

Andrew Mitchell is a Senior Business Analyst with Concertia Technologies Inc. He has been helping organizations solve business problems with effective IT solutions since 1996. He has applied his expertise in Business Analysis, Project Management and Solution Development to provide business value to his customers. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Arts from Saint Mary’s University and a Diploma in Applied Information Technology from ITI. In 2006 he completed the Master Certificate in Project Management and obtained the Project Management Professional (PMP) designation from the Project Management Institute. Andrew is passionate about leadership and technology, and brings both together to deliver successful projects and lead successful project teams. Andrew has business domain experience in Group Insurance, Financial Services, Supply Chain Management, Transportation and Government.

Pierre is a build and configuration manager with a Computer Science degree from l’Université de Moncton. For the past 3 years, he has been helping T4G’s clients succeed. His 15 years of experience in organizations ranging from a small 3 person consulting shop to large public corporations gives him a good understanding of configuration management issues faced by different types of organizations.

Throughout his career, before getting into Configuration Management, Pierre has worked on many different software systems as a software developer, architect and technical lead, mostly in the mining, retail and lottery industries.

Chris Todd is a consultant with Unisys Canada Inc where he has worked in various IT roles over the past 13 years. His primary responsibilities now include network and security architecture, intrusion detection, incident handling, and vulnerability assessment for an environment that provides e-government services in Atlantic Canada. He is also a member of the security team that ensures this environment remains PCI DSS compliant. Over the past several years he has provided security consulting services to various Unisys clients in the areas of networking, systems, and PCI compliancy. He currently holds GCFW, GCIH, and GPEN along with several vendor specific certifications.