Our recent webinar, Estimating Before Requirements with Function Points and Other Metrics, was a huge success! If you were unable to attend, a replay and pdf version of the slides are now available. If you have any questions regarding this material or QSM's Function Point Analysis services, please do not hesitate to contact us.

It is well known that project estimating based on parametric models has reached a sophistication where realistic estimates, schedules and predictable outcomes are indeed possible given a set of software and systems requirements. However, increasingly with the fast pace of Agile and other development methods is the requirement for estimates much earlier in the life cycle. What happens when project estimating moves back a full phase – before requirements, and acquisition managers, contractors, auditors and financial analysts are forced to develop and analyze estimates based on unknown requirements? Presented by industry expert Carol Dekkers, this presentation examines how to identify and document assumptions, create a logical and traceable project map including locations of potential “landmines” (calculated risks) that accompany this preliminary estimating. Experienced estimating professionals and contract managers will find a basis for common ground in this presentation – as the advice presented will create the basis for dialog and discussion of early estimates.

Watch the full replay here!

On Thursday, June 7 at 1:00 PM EDT, QSM will host Estimating Before Requirements with Function Points and other Metrics, presented by industry expert Carol Dekkers.

It is well known that project estimating based on parametric models has reached a sophistication where realistic estimates, schedules and predictable outcomes are indeed possible given a set of software and systems requirements.  However, increasingly with the fast pace of Agile and other development methods is the requirement for estimates much earlier in the life cycle. What happens when project estimating moves back a full phase – before requirements, and acquisition managers, contractors, auditors and financial analysts are forced to develop and analyze estimates based on unknown requirements?  Presented by industry expert Carol Dekkers, this presentation examines how to identify and document assumptions, create a logical and traceable project map including locations of potential “landmines” (calculated risks) that accompany this preliminary estimating.  Experienced estimating professionals and contract managers will find a basis for common ground in this presentation – as the advice presented will create the basis for dialog and discussion of early estimates.

If you were unable to attend our most recent webinar, Successful Estimating Processes Using the SLIM API, a replay is now available.

How do best in class development organizations achieve maximum return on investment from their estimation programs? By leveraging the SLIM API for integrations between estimation tools and detail-oriented products, development teams are able to simplify estimation processes and broaden the estimation program user base. Presented by Carl Engel of IBM Global Services, Scott Lancaster of State Street, and Larry Putnam, Jr. of QSM, this webinar explores two successful implementations of the SLIM API between third party tools and the SLIM Suite. 

Carl Engel is the Estimating Program Manager for IBM's Global Business Services responsible for the development and deployment of performance benchmarking and estimating process, methods and tools including the support for nearly 1,000 SLIM Suite users. Carl has been with IBM for 12 years as an Associate Partner and has had previous roles as the program manager for IBM's project management methodology and tools. He is an IBM certified Executive Project Manager, PMP with over 30 years of program and project management experience primarily in very large scale efforts in the nuclear industry and U.S. National Laboratories.

On April 12, 2012 at 1:00 PM EDT, QSM will host a webinar focused on two successful implementations of the SLIM API presented by IBM's Carl Engel, State Street's Scott Lancaster, and QSM's Larry Putnam, Jr. 

How do best in class development organizations achieve maximum return on investment from their estimation programs? By leveraging the SLIM API for integrations between estimation tools and detail-oriented products, development teams are able to simplify estimation processes and broaden the estimation program user base. Presented by Carl Engel of IBM Global Services, Scott Lancaster of State Street, and Larry Putnam, Jr. of QSM, this webinar explores two successful implementations of the SLIM API between third party tools and the SLIM Suite. 

Carl Engel is the Estimating Program Manager for IBM's Global Business Services responsible for the development and deployment of performance benchmarking and estimating process, methods and tools including the support for nearly 1,000 SLIM Suite users. Carl has been with IBM for 12 years as an Associate Partner and has had previous roles as the program manager for IBM's project management methodology and tools. He is an IBM certified Executive Project Manager, PMP with over 30 years of program and project management experience primarily in very large scale efforts in the nuclear industry and U.S. National Laboratories.

If you were unable to attend our webinar, Shifting to Agile Methods - The Keys for Long-Term Success, a replay is now available. 

Changes to the software development process, such as moving toward Agile methods, must demonstrate sustainable results over time versus just short-term wins.  There are two keys to reaching long-term success that should be considered up front – the new process must be repeatable and measurable. 

In this session, AccuRev’s Chris Lucca and QSM’s Larry Putnam, Jr. explore these two keys to success.  

Specifically, they cover:

• The state of software development projects yesterday versus today and the impact to the software development process
• The techniques and tools that can help a team to build a process that is repeatable and scalable, even across a distributed team
• Which metrics and measurement processes are important to measuring the results and improvements of implementing repeatable and scalable processes
• How to use metrics to estimate project schedules, resources and reliability, and monitor project progress and forecast completion
• Ways to benchmark the results at project completion for time to market, cost performance and reliability – all of which provide the business case for continued investments in technology and repeatable and scalable processes

View the webinar replay.

View all recordings of all of our past webinars.

On Thursday, February 16, 2012 1:00 PM PM EST, QSM will co-host "Shifting to Agile Methods - The Keys for Long-Term Success" together with Accurev.

Changes to the software development process, such as moving toward Agile methods, must demonstrate sustainable results over time versus just short-term wins.  There are two keys to reaching long-term success that should be considered up front – the new process must be repeatable and measurable. 

In this session, AccuRev’s Chris Lucca and QSM’s Larry Putnam, Jr. will explore these two keys to success.  

During the webinar I recently presented, "Maximizing Value Using the Relationship between Software Size, Productivity, and Reliability," I received quite a few interesting questions. Here are the highlights:

Do you see the same behaviors in Agile projects as those you presented in this webinar?

In the work for my presentation, I did not look at Agile projects separately.  I was looking at overall trends, breaking things down by application type rather than by development methodology. 

However, Don Beckett recently made a conference presentation on Agile called “Beyond the Hype”.  Don looked at duration, effort, staff, productivity for Agile projects.  There is a nice table where he compared the performance of a typical agile project to a typical IT project. 

Don’s presentation summarizes it well.  The staff is a little higher on Agile projects, the duration and effort are a little lower, but the basic relationships between the metrics and size are similar.

Does the language an application development project is written in have any impact on the data? In other words, when looked at independently, do mainframe COBOL projects look different than .Net projects? 

A replay is now available for the webinar, "Maximizing Value Using the Relationship between Software Size, Productivity, and Reliability," presented by Paul Below.

Now, more than ever, software projects need to efficiently deliver reliable software. However, many development plans unintentionally guarantee a less than optimal result. This presentation describes how to maximize value by establishing minimum acceptable reliability and how to take advantage of the apparent paradox between software size and productivity through appropriate selection of team size and schedule duration.

Paul Below has over 25 years' experience in measurement technology, statistical analysis, estimating, forecasting, Lean Six Sigma, and data mining. He serves as a consultant for QSM, providing clients with statistical analysis of operational performance for process improvement and predictability. Mr. Below is a Certified Software Quality Analyst, a past Certified Function Point Specialist, and a Six Sigma Black Belt. He has been a course developer and instructor for Estimating, Lean Six Sigma, Metrics Analysis, Function Point Analysis, as well as statistical analysis in the Masters of Software Engineering program at Seattle University. He has one US patent and two patents pending.

View the webinar replay.

On Thursday, Oct. 6 at 1:00 PM EDT, QSM will host a webinar focused on the relationship and apparent paradox between software size, productivity, and reliability.

Now, more than ever, software projects need to efficiently deliver reliable software. However, many development plans unintentionally guarantee a less than optimal result. This presentation describes how to maximize value by establishing minimum acceptable reliability and how to take advantage of the apparent paradox between software size and productivity through appropriate selection of team size and schedule duration.

Paul Below has over 25 years' experience in measurement technology, statistical analysis, estimating, forecasting, Lean Six Sigma, and data mining. He serves as a consultant for QSM, providing clients with statistical analysis of operational performance for process improvement and predictability. Mr. Below is a Certified Software Quality Analyst, a past Certified Function Point Specialist, and a Six Sigma Black Belt. He has been a course developer and instructor for Estimating, Lean Six Sigma, Metrics Analysis, Function Point Analysis, as well as statistical analysis in the Masters of Software Engineering program at Seattle University. He has one US patent and two patents pending.

View the replay of this webinar.

If you missed our webinar, Best in Class SLIM Estimation Processes for Package Implementations, a replay is now available.

To be able to estimate package implementations, we need to be able to size them and support productivity assumptions with relevant data. Presented by Keith Ciocco, this webinar demonstrates package implementation sizing processes and how to calibrate SLIM to package implementation project trends.

As Vice President of QSM, Keith has more than 23 years of experience working in sales and customer service, with 15 of those years spent at QSM. Keith’s primary responsibilities include managing business development, existing client relations, customer retention and response.

View the replay.