Since we had so much fun last week with our Twitter Giveaway, we looked around the office for more free stuff to giveaway. This week we are giving away Project Poker Cards from our partners, @VersionOne.
All day today (7/7) you have a chance to win Project Poker Cards from ASPE. Entering to win is easy – follow @ASPE_SDLC and retweet the message below between 8am and 5pm EST today and we will randomly select one winner.
Now that you know how to enter and win – start spreading the word.
rt@ASPE_SDLC: Giving away set of Project Poker Cards today. Follow us & RT for a chance to win.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Understanding the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK®) Guide: Transition From 3rd to 4th Edition
The 4th edition of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) continues the on-going efforts of the Project Management Institute to provide practitioners with an easy to understand and implement standard for the fundamental practices of project management. As the basis for much of the Project Management Professional (PMP) examination, understanding the PMBOK® Guide is fundamental not only for practitioners but for all those planning on taking the exam. This presentation provides an overview of the major differences between the PMBOK® Guide's 3rd and 4th editions, including the areas of process changes, terminological changes, and differences in emphasis.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Congratulations to our Winner!
Thank you to all for the retweets about our CBAP v2.0 Study Guide yesterday (6/30). We randomly chose a winner this morning, and @7thpixel (also known as David) has won the $50 MasterCard gift card!
If you haven't ordered your copy of The Complete CBAP v2.0 Study Guide yet, take a few minutes to do so now. The study guide is just $99.95 and well worth it.
Follow us on Twitter and keep checking the blog regularly for more free giveaways from ASPE. Next week we will be giving away a great resource for any Agile professional so if you aren't following us on Twitter already, now is a great time to start!
If you haven't ordered your copy of The Complete CBAP v2.0 Study Guide yet, take a few minutes to do so now. The study guide is just $99.95 and well worth it.
Follow us on Twitter and keep checking the blog regularly for more free giveaways from ASPE. Next week we will be giving away a great resource for any Agile professional so if you aren't following us on Twitter already, now is a great time to start!
Live Instructor Led Virtual Training – How does it compare to the Traditional Classroom?
A virtual classroom provides the same four pillars of learning that a traditional classroom provides. First, a live expert instructor - Technology now empowers the live instructor to be heard and interacted with in real-time. Second, content – For a virtual classroom, the content is easy. Just a slight adjustment to ensure few talking points per slide for more interaction. Third, labs - Labs can be done in virtual breakout groups or with real equipment. Fourth, peer interaction - If you can talk and hear your instructor in real-time that means you can talk and hear your peers in real-time.
Between security issues, administrative rights problems, bandwidth challenges, and VoIP concerns, virtual training proved to be a hurdle to knowledge instead of a bridge. The technology was not ready for the intended use. However, now the technology is an enablement - This is the major difference in Live Instructor Led Virtual Training in 2009 as compared to previous years.
The technology works. You get the same product whether live or virtual so what is slowing down the adoption of virtual training? The answer is trust.
Taken directly from the feedback we’ve received from customers and our advisory board, management does not trust that their employee is “actively” paying attention and learning in a virtual classroom. They believe this to a point that they value a virtual training class about half as much as a traditional classroom training program. We were very surprised to hear this feedback.
First we thought that in a live classroom there is just as much chance the employee is “zoning” out as in a virtual classroom - actually there is more of a chance. Virtual instructors are taught how to push interaction as a systematic practice in their training. They work harder at forcing interaction than a physically live instructor does. As a result, we hear feedback from instructors who say they get more student participation in virtual classes compared to the physical classes.
Also, we thought maybe the concern is interruptions - if participants are at their desk, there are more opportunities for interruption. Actually we have found that in today’s world there are fewer interruptions. With today’s technology, such as mobile data devices, employees now have the ability to take all aspects of the office virtually anywhere which leaves more concentration time in the office.
So if you have some time, take a look at Live Instructor Led Virtual Training. You will be very happily surprised at what you find.
Between security issues, administrative rights problems, bandwidth challenges, and VoIP concerns, virtual training proved to be a hurdle to knowledge instead of a bridge. The technology was not ready for the intended use. However, now the technology is an enablement - This is the major difference in Live Instructor Led Virtual Training in 2009 as compared to previous years.
The technology works. You get the same product whether live or virtual so what is slowing down the adoption of virtual training? The answer is trust.
Taken directly from the feedback we’ve received from customers and our advisory board, management does not trust that their employee is “actively” paying attention and learning in a virtual classroom. They believe this to a point that they value a virtual training class about half as much as a traditional classroom training program. We were very surprised to hear this feedback.
First we thought that in a live classroom there is just as much chance the employee is “zoning” out as in a virtual classroom - actually there is more of a chance. Virtual instructors are taught how to push interaction as a systematic practice in their training. They work harder at forcing interaction than a physically live instructor does. As a result, we hear feedback from instructors who say they get more student participation in virtual classes compared to the physical classes.
Also, we thought maybe the concern is interruptions - if participants are at their desk, there are more opportunities for interruption. Actually we have found that in today’s world there are fewer interruptions. With today’s technology, such as mobile data devices, employees now have the ability to take all aspects of the office virtually anywhere which leaves more concentration time in the office.
So if you have some time, take a look at Live Instructor Led Virtual Training. You will be very happily surprised at what you find.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
ASPE $50 Twitter Giveaway
All day today (6/30) you have a chance to win a $50 MasterCard gift card from ASPE. Entering to win is easy – just retweet the message below between 8am and 5pm EST today, and we will randomly select one winner. Good luck & spread the word.
rt @aspe_sdlc: Our #CBAP 2.0 Study Guide is just $99.95 http://is.gd/1j5x7. RT for chance at $50 Check Card
rt @aspe_sdlc: Our #CBAP 2.0 Study Guide is just $99.95 http://is.gd/1j5x7. RT for chance at $50 Check Card
Monday, June 22, 2009
Agile Industry Watch: Update on Industry Trends and Impact on SDLC Management
We just uploaded our first presentation to SlideShare and it is our most recent web seminar - Agile Industry Watch: Update on Industry Trends and Impact on SDLC Management.
Follow us on SlideShare or check back regularly for more presentation postings. We hope to get a few posted each week. You can find our presentations by going to www.slideshare.net and searching for ASPE_INC. And as always we would appreciate any feedback.
Follow us on SlideShare or check back regularly for more presentation postings. We hope to get a few posted each week. You can find our presentations by going to www.slideshare.net and searching for ASPE_INC. And as always we would appreciate any feedback.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Agile Industry Watch: Agile Jobs Increasing while Titles Are Not
Recently, we held a free web seminar that took a look at the Agile Industry as a whole. Following the event, questions we received lead us to take a deeper look at job titles in the Agile space.
We have an Agile Salary Survey that we conducted in the Spring of 2009, and we will be releasing the results early Q3 2009. What we noticed was that it was much harder to get Agile professionals to participate than it was to get business analysis professionals to participate in a similar survey we were conducting for that audience over the same period of time.
That data, combined with what we are seeing from our customers, has lead us to conclude that Agile is not yet seen as a job title, but is seen as a skill. SDLC professionals seem themselves as someone in a particular position that happens to have Agile as a skill (I.E. a Consultant who knows Agile, a PM/BA with Agile experience, a Programmer who knows Agile, etc.)
Surprisingly, however, data shows that Agile jobs are on the rise. As you can seen in the trend graph below, there was a dip in SDLC jobs in late 2008, but they spiked back up a year later. Looking over the entire time period of the graph, Agile jobs have consistently been on a steeper climb, and did not see the same dip in late 2008. In fact, by late 2008 their data shows that there were actually more Agile job listings and that still holds true today.
That is pretty consistent to what we see from our customers, though we’ve seen a huge interest in Scrum over the last couple years. As you can see, Scrum has continued to slowly grow and looks though it will continue for the foreseeable future.
The good news is that as Agile jobs are growing, so are the salaries for Agile positions. There is obviously some concern, especially in today’s market, about not pigeonholing yourself and solely marketing yourself as an Agile PM/BA/Programmer/etc., but data is showing the increasing importance and benefits of having Agile knowledge, experience and certification. Though you may not see more Agile job titles anytime soon, you can bet that you will see more and more people with Agile designations and experience listed on their resumes.
If you are looking to get started in Agile, wanting to refine you knowledge, or are looking to get certified, check out our Agile training curriculum and free resources.
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