Michael Mah, Managing Partner of QSM Associates, is a persuasive, insightful and engaging speaker who enlightens companies and groups looking to solve their toughest management challenges. For more than 20 years, Michael’s writings, training workshops and keynote talks have inspired executives and development teams seeking to achieve their goals with practical metrics and modern management techniques.

“Wow! You did it again. What a great presentation. Everyone loved it. On behalf of myself and all of NY SPIN: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” Chairman and CEO NYSPIN×

From corporate retreats to IT seminars to sales and marketing workshops, Michael Mah is the professional that other professionals turn to. His experience working at every level of all major market segments has put him in the forefront of the art and science of software engineering. Using a unique blend of humor and practical insight, Michael helps companies learn to help themselves as they attempt to become more agile.

“People say I’m a guru in the software development industry. Well, my guru is Michael Mah!” – Tom DeMarco, Principle, Atlantic Systems Guild, co-author of the Award-winning book Peopleware.×

See upcoming events >

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Past events:

2013

• Agile Redefines Global Economics: What Recent Data Reveals, Better Software Conference West, Las Vegas, June.
• An Agile Throwdown: Munich Germany Takes On The Columbus Agile Benchmark Study: The Path to Agility Conference, COHAA May, Columbus, OH.
• How Agile Development Redefines Software Economics, OOP Conference  Munich, Germany.

2012

• Is Agile Keeping It’s Promises? Industry Case Studies on Time to Market Productivity, and Quality. Agile New England Waltham, MA
• When Agile Becomes a Quality Game Changer: What Agile Says From Recent Agile Benchmark Research; SQGNE Burlington, MA
• The Columbus Agile Productivity Benchmark Project; Initial Insights from Project Data. Central Ohio Agile Association,  The Path to Agility Conference.
• Ugly Teams; Managing Difficult Conversations in Agile and OffShoring OOP 2012 Conference, Munich, Germany, January .

2011

• Geography Matters: What Data Tells Us about Offshoring, Co-locating and the Flat World, TesTrek Toronto Canada, November, and PMI Milwaukee/Southwest WI chapter, November.
• Ugly Teams: How Agile can Solve Organizational Dysfunction The Quality Assurance Association of CT, Hartford, CT, September.
• Benchmarking and Service Levels For CIO’s, The Quality Assurance Association of CT, Hartford , CT September.
• Ugly Teams; Managing Difficult Conversations in Agile and OffShoring, AgileNYC, Pace University, September.
• Geography Matters: What Data Tells Us about Offshoring, Co-locating and the Flat World,  Keynote Address, Better Software Conference, Las Vegas, NV June.
• Ugly Teams; Managing Difficult Conversations in Agile and OffShoring, Central Ohio Agile Association, May.
• Geography Matters: What Measurement Tells Us About Outsourcing, Agile Methods, and the Flat World,  Keynote Address, QUEST Software Quality Conference, Boston MA April.
• Is Agile Keeping It’s Promises? Industry Case Studies on Time-to Market, Productivity, and Quality, January, OOP Conference Munich Germany.

2010

• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: What Agile Data is Telling us about Deadlines and Defects. (Updated!), keynote address, Agile Development Practices Conference East, Orlando, FL, November.
• Rightsizing Your Project at Internet Speed, Pacific Northwest Quality Conference,Portland OR, October.
• Agile Versus Industry, Central Ohio Agile Association, May.
• Is Agile Keeping Its Promises? 3 Industry Case Studies on Time-to-Market, Productivity, and Quality, Rally Agile Success Tour, Raleigh, NC, June.
• Geography Matters: What Measurement Tells Us About Outsourcing, Agile Methods, and the Flat World, Cutter Consortium, SET – Conference 2010, Zurich, Switzerland, May.
• The Good, the Bad and the Puzzling: The Agile Experience at 5 Companies (Updated!), Nashua Scrum Club, April, 2010; OOP 2010 Conference, Munich, Germany, January.

2009

• Rightsizing Your Projects In a Down Economy, session address, Agile Development Practices Conference, Orlando, FL, November, 2009; SQGNE, Burlington, MA, April 2010; Agile Development Practices Conference West, Las Vegas, NV, June.
• Geography Matters: What Measurement Tells Us About Outsourcing, Agile Methods, and the Flat World,  keynote address, Cutter Consortium, Latin America CIO Summit, Mexico City, October.

2008

• “What Agile Learns from Waterfall…And What Waterfall Learns from Agile” Boston SPIN Meeting, October, 2008
• “The Good, the Bad and the Rather Puzzling” Better Software Conference, Las Vegas, NV, June 2008
• “Deadline Driven Estimation” Quality Assurance Association of CT, September 2008
• “Cutter Consortium’s Town Meeting: An Agile Chat,” webinar, February 2008
• “Measuring Agile in the Enterprise: 5 Success Factors for Large-Scale Agile Adoption” Agile 2008 Toronto Conference, August 2008

2007

• “Offshore Outsource Versus Onshore Agile: Measurement Insights from Around the Globe” Business Analyst World, Chicago, IL, October, 2007
• “Is The World Really Flat? Measurement Insights from Around the World” SPI Ireland, March 2007, Galway, Ireland; NYC SPIN Meeting, October, 2007
• “Agile Productivity Metrics: XP and Productivity Measures – What the Numbers Say” speaker, QSM User Conference, McLean, VA, September 2006; NYC SPIN Meeting, February 2007

2006

• “Software Estimation & Project Conflict – Changing the Game in a Down Economy” keynote address, Better Software Conference, Las Vegas, June, 2006
• “Excess Friction – When Fast Deadlines Can Slow You Down and Ruin Your Life,” keynote address, Boston SPIN, January, 2006

2005

• “Excess Friction – When Deadlines Kill Process & Ruin Your Life,” keynote address, New Jersey SEPG, October, 2005; Allstate Insurance Co., November 2005, Chicago, IL; Fidelity Investments, November 2005, Boston, MA
• “Agile Metrics,” Workshop instructed by Michael Mah and Joshua Kerievsky, SD Best Practices, Boston, MA
• “Agile Management Methods – ‘Old Goats vs. Young Bucks’ – A Young Goat’s Observations on Metrics and Deadlines,” keynote address, Chicago SPIN, June, 2005; Boston SPIN, February, 2005; Atlanta SPIN, January, 2005; DCI PM Conference December, 2004, Orlando, FL; New Jersey SPIN, November, 2004; New York City SPIN, September, 2004 & Thoughtworks Inc. Conference, June, 2004, Chicago, IL

2004

• “Making Risk Your Ally” Keynote address, DCI PM Conference, December, 2004
• “Measurement and Negotiation Strategies for Agile Executives,” Cutter Consortium Annual Summit, May 2004, Boston, MA
• “Estimating, Scheduling and Control of High Risk, Highly Critical Projects,” Central Massachusetts PMI, April, 2004, Marlboro, MA

2003

• “Making Risk Your Ally,” Ocean State PMI, January, 2004, Providence, RI & the DCI Enterprise Project Management Conference, August 2003, New York, NY.
• “Software Estimation and Project Conflict – Changing the Game in a Down Economy,” feature presentation at ASM/SM 2003, June 2003, San Jose, CA.
• “Negotiation Bootcamp – Advanced Techniques for the Software Manager”, ASM/SM 2003, June 2003, San Jose, CA
• “Why Size Matters”, A discussion of sizing methods, NYC SPIN May 2003 meeting.

2002, etc.

• “Negotiating Ugly: What’s Fair About Service Levels in Applications Outsourcing?” Sourcing Interest Group’s October 2002 Conference, Orlando, FL.
• “Deadline Driven Project Estimation,” Chubb Symposium, October 2002, Warren, NJ.
• “Effective Negotiation for IT Project Managers”, and “Metrics, Benchmarks, and Project Estimation,” DCI Project Manager Conference, October, 2002, Boston, MA.
• “Software Estimation and Negotiation – Changing the Game in a Down Economy,” September 2002 Boston SPIN meeting.
• “Adaptive Software Management – Strategies During an Economic Downturn,” April 2002 Business-IT Strategies E-Mail Advisor, Cutter Consortium.
• “A Conversation with Watts Humphrey,” Keynote Address at SEPG 2002, Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Process Group Conference, Feb 2002. Phoenix, AZ.
• “Deadline-Driven Software Project Estimation – Negotiating Trade-offs and Risk,” Ocean State PMI, March 19, 2002; also presented at Chicago SPIN, Chicago, IL and City SPIN, New York City, NY in January, 2002.
• “Deadlines, Defects and Risk; Managing the Three Headed Dragon,” Keynote Address at QAI Canada, Toronto, September 24, 2001; also presented at ASM/SM 2002, February, 2002, Anaheim, CA.
• “Keeping Your ADM Supplier Focused,” TPI Partner Program, Short Hills, NJ, September 20-21, 2000.
• “When Fixed Deadlines Meet Changing Requirements: Keeping Sane in an Insane World,” SM/ASM 2000 Conference, San Jose, CA, March 7, 2000 and the New Jersey SPIN, June 21, 2000.
• “Software Projects in Crisis; Dealing with Dynamics of Imposed Deadlines,” Boston SPIN, October 19, 1999, Boston, MA.
• “Software Projects in Crisis; Dealing with Dynamics of Imposed Deadlines,” Practical Software Quality Techniques Conference – North, St. Paul, MN, October 5, 1999.
• “The Devils In the Details; Aligning Outsource Expectations and Managing Risks,” SIG Conference – Scottsdale, AZ, September 30, 1999; also presented at the SM/ASM 2000 Organizer Conference, San Jose, CA, March 8, 2000, the TPI Partner Program, Atlanta, GA, March 15-16, 2000 and the Summit 2000 Conference, Boston, MA, April 10-12, 2000.
• “High Definition Software Measurement, Benchmarking for Process Improvement and Quality Management” presented and published in the proceedings of the Practical Software Quality Techniques Conference – South, San Antonio, TX, June 8-9, 1999.
• “Software Projects in Crisis: Dealing with Imposed Deadlines” presented and published in the proceedings of the Project World 99 Conference, Boston, MA, May 17-21, 1999.
• “Core Software Metrics: Their Role in Politics, Process, and Risk Management” presented at the SEPG 98 Conference, Chicago, IL, March 11, 1998.
• “Software Metrics for Winning Proposals”, presented and published in the Proceedings of the TPI Outsourcing Conference, Houston, December 4, 1997.
• “Core Metrics for Software Development”, presented at the Hudson Valley SPIN, November 6, 1997, Pleasantville, NY.
• “Ranking Outsourcing Contractors: Using Software Metrics for Acquisition Management”, presented and published in the Proceedings of the DCI Outsoucing Conference, Orlando, December 12, 1996.
• “Controlling Software Development”, presented at the Chicago SPIN on July 11, 1996, at the Boston SPIN on November 19, 1996, and at the Ottawa SPIN on November 21, 1996.
• “Quantifying the Benefits of Reuse’ Benchmark Metrics and ROI Numbers That Managers Need to Know”, presented and published in the Proceedings of the Application Development Conference and Exposition, New York NY, March 6-8, 1996.
• “Quantifying Process Productivity; Building Your Own Measurement Baselines”, presented and published in the Proceedings of CASE World Boston, September 1992. Also Software World Toronto, March 1993.