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Established September, 1992

SPIN Roundtable schedule

Requested roundtable topics

Boston SPIN Roundtable Volunteers Needed

The Boston SPIN would really appreciate volunteers to facilitate a Roundtable once or twice this year from 6:00 - 6:45 p.m., before the general meeting and speaker presentation. If you've never volunteered before, we have facilitator guidelines to make it easier, and we offer a mentoring program. Also, you don't have to be an expert on a topic to lead a topic.

What does the Facilitator gain from the experience?

  • Recognition by your company
  • Praise from the Steering Committee
  • Increased leadership skills (good for your company and your resume)
  • Confidence in public speaking, in a supportive environment
  • Appreciation from Roundtable participants
  • Satisfaction for making a difference because you made a Roundtable happen.
What do Roundtable participants gain?
  • Insights on software process improvement from people of many different backgrounds
  • Knowledge shared by more experienced participants
  • Pointers on techniques and methodologies
  • Practical solutions to real life problems
  • Networking with peers
  • References to helpful materials
  • Satisfaction from sharing their knowledge.

Volunteer to facilitate a topic (TBA below) by e-mail to:
We have guidelines for facilitators to make it easier.

(All are welcome to attend any scheduled Roundtable, no reservation needed. Just arrive by 6:00 pm.)

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Boston SPIN Roundtables 2007 - 2008
Month Open Topics for Roundtables
(Please volunteer - suggestions welcome)
9/18/2007 Beyond Agile Teams: What Managers Need to Know to Sustain Agile Adoption.
Exploring reasons why Agile adoption initiatives so often flounder.
          Facilitated by: Nancy Van Schooenderwoert
10/16/2007 Software Reliability:  Models, Predictions, Methods, and Definitions.
Discuss the consequences of software malfunction; how to predict defects before they happen; and methods, models, and tools.
          Facilitated by: Obaid Qadri
11/13/2007 TBD
12/18/2007

1)   Security and web based deployments.
Rick has done "quite a bit of work on web services and the attendant security" and is interested in hearing what others have thought on the subject.
          Facilitated by: Rick Wahlberg, PMP

2)   Project management challenges associated with software projects when the performing team is geographically distributed.
As a starting point, the discussion will explore development methodology, project organization, management and development tools.
          Facilitated by: Dick Healy and Spencer Jones

1/15/2008 Web Services Development and Virtual Teams
           Facilitated by: Rick Wahlberg, PMP
2/19/2008 Project Selection and Return of Investment (ROI).
Following an iterative-incremental paradigm, agile projects are ideal for early and frequent releases. This mechanism enables many organizations to gain a competitive advantage through accelerated return-of-investment. With this approach, many projects paid themselves back before they were even completed.  In addition, iterations can be used to select projects in a more dynamic fashion, helping development organizations to spend their resources on their most promising projects.
          Facilitated by: Joe Krebs
3/18/2008 Lean/Agile/Scrum/XP Software Development:
Truth and Myth and Absolute Truth.

There has been an explosion of interest in these approaches to fix our history of software development disfunction. All of us who have been in the business for some time, know the failure rate. This roundtable will be a discussion of why that's the case and what we are learning so we never repeat those mistakes. This includes includes identifying the invariants in us humans and in our problem domain. Those invariants can justify a claim of appropriate certainty - in context. Believe it or not!
          Facilitated by: Jay Conne
N/A Joint meeting with ASQ
5/20/2008 How can we realistically measure Software Quality Level?
           Facilitated by: Stephanie Beach
6/17/2008 How do you track an agile project without a detailed plan?
           Facilitated by: Daniel LeFebvre

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Requested Topics: Facilitators are needed for roundtables on the following topics requested by SPIN members. If you have experience to share on one of these or another topic please contact the roundtable chair

Developing Section 508-Compliant Applications
Experiences with SEI's PSP and TSP
SEPG Operations
Techniques for Estimating the Cost of Software
QC Tools
Test Automation
Identifying and Inserting New Technology into a Project
Identifying and managing software requirements
Your suggestion can appear here

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