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AgileDotNet 2013 “The Ascension”- Columbus August 9th

Improving Enterprises will once again bring together the world of .NET development with the world of Agile methods for an exciting experience of discovery, learning and exchange.

More information and pricing available at http://adnc3013-eorg.eventbrite.com/#

Attendees can expect all new presentations based on real-world experience from some of the industry’s leading Developers, Project Managers, and Executives who have embraced Agile principles within .NET development environments.

Come see how the experts, the beginners and all those in between apply Agile concepts using the Microsoft .NET framework, Visual Studio, and Visual Studio Team System.

Friday, August 9th:

AgileDotNet 2013 “The Ascension” will feature:

Facing the Slope (beginner track)

On the Slope (intermediate track)

Summit Busters (advanced track)

Quarter Masters (tools track)

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Arena Tech Night

Free event, April 16th, for IT professionals who enjoy learning and sharing their knowledge with others in the IT community.

Tracks Include: Web/Windows/Mobile Dev – Best Practices, Cloud, Agile, UxD (UI/UX), More TBD

Prizes will be given away throughout the event.

For more information visit:

http://www.cardinalsolutions.com/cardinal/About/events/4-16-13ArenaTechNight.html

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The Influential Agile Leader: Make the Agile Promise Happen

Unique event for Agile managers, directors, project and program managers,team leads and ScrumMasters April 8-9 in Boston, MA.

Grow your influence and coaching skills, inspire and lead practical change, and respond more effectively to challenging situations.

http://influentialagileleader.com/

COHAA members receive $400 off with discount code: JBLIAL13

From: Gil Broza and Johanna Rothman
Toronto and Boston

Dear committed Agile leader,

Does the following describe your situation?

You consider yourself sensible and pragmatic, but you’re oh-so frustrated.

People go through the Agile motions. And, it doesn’t seem like agile to you. It sure looks like business as usual.
Your team or bosses aren’t receptive to your feedback, coaching, or suggestions for improvements.

We can help you. On April 8-9, a small group (no more than 35) committed leaders will join our intensive, two-day event in Boston. These folks will develop two critical skills: influence and coaching. They will immerse themselves in the necessary attitudes of Agile leaders. And they will lay the foundation for sustainable Agility in their organizations.

Deeper and more personal than a workshop, smaller than a conference, and tailored to the participants, this will be a unique, transformative event.

You’ll spend two packed, focused days with us and with your peers — all of whom are in similar situations. You’ll grow personally and professionally as you:

Understand how and when to influence others
Explore how and when to coach both up and down
Boost your confidence to respond effectively to challenges with your organization
Learn to manage the frustration of the change agent
Stay congruent, present, and centered as a leader in a confusing, demanding, and changing environment
Gain strategies, tools, and insights relevant to the challenges and needs of an Agile leader when not everybody is moving in the same direction
Stop being alone, and connect with others who are rowing upstream in a similar boat.

We’ll work experientially, so you learn and practice. No slides or thick shelfware. You’ll practice soft skills in a safe environment, with us. You’ll practice with your peers, and learn how to apply what we we teach, so you can use it when you return to your organization.

The event is set up so you can network with peers in similar situations: learn from them, bounce ideas around, collaborate with them, stay in touch with them for extra support. (We don’t just get anyone to attend, we attract attendees who fit a certain profile!)

See http://influentialagileleader.com/ for more information.

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Kids Code Camp

Looking for a fun way to spend President's Day! Look no further, bring your child to COHAA's Kids Code Camp. Select title to read more information including registration details. What is covered in the class? In this class students will learn basic programming skills using the Scratch programming language.


The focus will be on experiential learning of the following programming constructs:

  • Scripts
  • Loops
  • If Statements
  • Variables

What do you get?

 

Raspberry PI Picture

As part of the class fee students will receive a Raspberry Pi computer (see RaspberryPI.org for details) and case.

Who should attend?

We recommend this course for students ages 8 – 12. Additionally, they should be comfortable working in both a classroom and team setting.

What is the cost?
$80 per child
(Login to register)

The workshop is for registered COHAA members. Seating is limited to 12 students.

You must login in order to register your children. Select the number of children who will be participating. Upon checkout, you must enter the children's name and age in the Order Comments section at bottom of checkout page.

Date and Time:
February 18th, 2013 from 10 am to 2 pm

Location:
The Forge
580 N 4th St.
Suite 190
Columbus, OH

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Management 3.0 Training with Jurgen Appelo

What is Management 3.0?

Management 3.0 is more than a course. It’s an approach to inspire team members, team leaders, development managers, IT directors, project managers, Agile coaches, and HR managers, who face the challenge of transforming their organizations to an Agile mindset. It does this by providing guidance and practices, and by applying new thinking to the craft, art, and science of management.

Register at http://management30columbus.eventbrite.com/#

A short history

In few industries the benefits of new, agile forms of working were more visible than in software development. Strict deadlines, highly intelligent knowledge workers, and products that – if not built correctly – were very vulnerable to errors. The philosophy of Agile offered many answers and solutions to improve working methods in software development. Management, however, was hardly addressed. The book Management 3.0 was written to address this lack of visionary management.

While developing new practices for Agile managers, coaches, and other leaders, soon the realization dawned that not only the software industry needs a new view on management. Almost every organization in the world needs it.

This course is designed to help everyone that yearns for inspiring management. Managers on every level as well as knowledge workers in general.

Target Audience

The Management 3.0 course aims at leaders/managers/knowledge workers who want to become Agile, and other stakeholders involved in leadership and management. The course typically draws team leaders (15%), development managers (15%), coaches (15%), scrum masters (15%), project managers (10%), product owners (10%), developers and testers (10%), and top-level management (10%).

Topics Day 1
•Agile management is the new approach to leadership and governance of creative teams and people. You will learn about different methods, popular practices, challenges in Agile adoption around the world, and the contribution of the manager and team leader in Agile organizations;
•Complexity thinking is the cornerstone of an Agile mindset. You will learn what complexity theory is, how to think in terms of systems, about the difference between complex and complicated, about fallacies of traditional linear thinking, and suggestions for complexity thinking;
•Intrinsic motivation is the reason people get out of bed in the morning. Since people are the most important parts of an organization and managers must do all they can to keep people active, creative, and motivated. You will learn about the difference between extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation, the 10 intrinsic desires, and common techniques for understanding what is important to the people in your teams, such as one-on-one meetings, personal assessments, the 12 most important questions, and 360 degree evaluations;
•Self-organization can offer many answers when it comes to good management. Teams are able to self-organize, but this requires empowerment, authorization, and trust from management. You will learn how to make self-organization work, how to distribute authorization in an organization, the challenges of empowerment, how to grow relationships of trust, and several techniques for distributed control, such as the 7 levels of delegation, and authority boards;

Topics Day 2
•Goal setting is important, since self-organization can lead to anything. Therefore it’s necessary to protect people and shared resources, and to give people a clear purpose and defined goals. You will learn when to manage and when to lead, how to use different criteria to create useful goals, about the challenges around management by objectives, and how to protect people and shared resources from any bad effects of self-organization.
•Competence development is key when it comes to doing a good job. Teams are only able to achieve their goals if team members are capable enough, and managers must therefore contribute to the development of competence. You will learn how and when to apply the seven approaches of competence development, how to measure progress in a complex system, the effect of sub-optimization, and several tips for useful metrics;
•Organizational structures significantly impact how an organization works. Many teams operate within the context of a complex organization, and thus it is important to consider structures that enhance communication. You will learn how to grow an organizational structure as a fractal, how to balance specialization and generalization, how to choose between functional and cross-functional teams, about informal leadership and widening job titles, and about treating teams as value units in a value network;
•Change management is one of the things people in all kinds of organizations struggle with most. People, teams, and organizations need to improve continuously, in order to defer failure for as long as possible. In practice this means that managers and leaders must act as change agents, trying to change the social complex systems around them. You will learn about the 4 facets of change management, which address the system, the individuals, the interactions, and the boundary of the system.

Games and Exercises

Each of the eight topics includes at least one game or exercise. In groups of four to six people, attendees put into practice the ideas they’ve just learned. Sometimes the attendees play as different managers against each other. Sometimes they act together as one manager, sharing their thoughts while working on a problem.

Every social activity ends with a debrief and a discussion, so that people can relate what they’ve learned to their own situation, and bring up questions and experiences to be addressed by the whole group.

It’s your job too!

We believe that management is not only the managers’ responsibility. It is everyone’s job!