January 2015

January 2015

New QSM Software Estimation Workshop Series

QSM is pleased to announce the launch of a new workshop series focused on addressing the challenges organizations encounter when implementing software estimation processes. The series offers eight customizable workshops that are tailored to meet the unique needs of each individual company and its business goals.

Workshops include product training for users of QSM's SLIM Suite, as well as estimation fundamentals that are tool agnostic:

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Estimation Training

Managing Project Risk through Early Defect Detection

Managing Software Project RiskWith the most recent spurt of inclement weather, there is really no denying that winter is here.  After awaking to about 4 inches of snow accumulation, I begrudgingly bundled myself up in my warmest winter gear and proceeded to dig out my car.  Perhaps the brisk air woke me up faster than usual because as I dug a path to the car, I began to think about software testing, specifically how effective early testing can reduce the chances of schedule slippages and cost overruns.  Allow me to explain.

Being an eternal optimist, I was grateful that the snow I was shoveling and later brushing off my car was light and powdery.  Despite the frigid temperature and large quantity of snow, I realized that it was good that I had decided to complete this task first thing in the morning.  At the time the snow was relatively easy to clear, and had I waited until the afternoon, the sun would have melted enough of the snow to make this task significantly more difficult and time consuming.

Webinar - Avoiding Disaster in IT Outsourcing: A Quantitative Solution for Vendor Management

On Thursday, Jan 29th at 1:00 PM EST, QSM's Joseph Madden will present "Avoiding Disaster in IT Outsourcing: A Quantitative Solution for Vendor Management."

In the Forbes article “Now Every Company is a Software Company,” David Kirkpatrick argues “regardless of industry your company is now a software company, and pretending that it’s not spells serious peril.”

As organizations in nearly every industry sector transform into software companies, many executives, project managers, and procurement departments are being thrust into the role of managing IT vendors on software projects, yet they do not have the expertise to do so effectively. Typical pain points include:

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Webinars Consulting

Resource Demand Management - Are the Right People Working on the Right Thing?

I am excited about the resource demand management capabilities in our newest SLIM-Estimate release (8.2). Software project estimates can now provide a breakout of Full Time Equivalent (FTE) staffing requirements by role by month. The staffing profile below shows how different roles, or skills, are required at different points in the schedule, based upon a particular development methodology. You can see that 6 FTE Programmers are needed by the month of May. Producing a high-level, scope-based estimate early in the software development lifecycle with detailed resource demand data helps the PMO and portfolio managers determine the best timing for project resource allocation, and setting project start dates that maximize productivity and reduce bottlenecks.

Software Resource Demand Management

Once the estimate and resulting project skills allocation plan has been approved, resource demand management has not ended. Tracking actual staffing at the skill and task level for in-flight projects not only ensures the right people are working on the right things, meaning that product development is on track, it also allows timely resource plan adjustments to address unforeseen staffing needs.