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Apr 2

Join me at the QUEST Software Quality Conference in Boston!

by Chad, Agile, Comments Off on Join me at the QUEST Software Quality Conference in Boston!

Apr 2

boston-skyline.jpg

I’m excited for next week’s Keynote Address on Thursday April 7th at the QUEST Software Quality and Testing Conference in Boston. If you don’t come see me, at least try and also make it for the talks of the excellent other keynote speakers, Anders Vinberg and Peggy Layden. I’ll be there to hear their talks for sure!

Meanwhile, here’s an overview of what I’ll be presenting:

Geography Matters: What Measurement Tells Us about Offshoring, Agile Methods, and the “Flat World”

Has the digital revolution really made it possible to do almost anything collaboratively, even with people separated by time and distance, thereby, making it feasible to construct the optimal project team from throughout the world? Or, are the decisions to split software development around the globe coming primarily from pressure by CFOs to cut costs? Countering and complimenting the multi-shoring trend is a powerful new movement that looks at the force of concentration, or the “clustering,” of human creativity and talent, claiming that powerful innovation and economic gains result when smart and talented people locate closely to one another. This is the view the Nobel Prize winning economist Robert Lucas and the message of the agile revolution. Who is right?

To answer this question, Michael looks at what measurement data says about offshore and agile projects, and about teams separated by distance or co-located. Michael will present case studies of real companies and contrast the results from the two philosophies. What you find may challenge long-held beliefs about knowledge work, commoditization, and innovation. Get to know the benefits, preconditions, and fundamental principles of test design methods. This keynote will spark new ways of looking at measurement, management, and strategy in the self-organizing and collaborative environment that will be required for software development in the next decade.

* Learn what Industry Data is revealing about software productivity and quality
* See how CFOs “get it wrong” in using offshoring to drive down costs
* Discover what data on agile is showing us about software quality and time-to-market

As managing partner at QSM Associates Inc., Michael Mah teaches, writes, and consults to technology companies on estimating and managing software projects, whether in-house, offshore, waterfall, or agile. He is the director of the Benchmarking Practice at the Cutter Consortium, a Boston-based IT think-tank, and served as past editor of the IT Metrics Strategies publication. With over 25 years of experience, Michael and his partners at QSM have derived productivity patterns for thousands of projects collected worldwide across engineering and business applications. His current work examines the time-pressure dynamic of teams, and its role in project success and failure. In addition to his background in physics and electrical engineering, Michael is a mediator specializing in dispute resolution for technology projects.

http://www.qaiquest.org/boston/keynote.html

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