And the winner is… Chris Battista! Congratulations to Chris Battista from Raleigh, NC for winning our second iPad. Chris currently works in the IT division of the NC Department of Justice.
Don’t worry, there is still one more chance to win! Our last winner will be chosen on December 14th.
Sign up at www.aspeinc.com/ipad for your chance to win the last remaining iPad, an exciting way to experience the web, email, photos, video, & more.
Enter to win a FREE iPad from ASPE!
One of the most significant differences between Agile and Waterfall is the manner in which requirements are documented. As the Agile equivalent of requirements, user stories are brief requirements statements captured from an end-user’s perspective. They are not meant to capture all of the detail that is required to actually develop a feature; instead they are merely placeholders for a future conversation where the necessary details are documented right before the feature is built. And although very simple in format, it can take time and practice to write well-formed user stories that serves their intended purpose.
On Thursday, September 27th Steve Davis, Davisbase, presented the free 1-hour web seminar, Improved User Story Writing Techniques. In this web seminar, Steve provided guidance on how to write more effective user stories that can be used on your Agile project.
You can listen to a complete recording of this presentation at aspeevents.webex.com. Select “View Event Recordings” in the top right corner. You can also download the slides from this presentation by visiting our Web Seminar Archives.
Are you currently making your summer plans? Maybe a drive down the coast with Jimmy Buffet blasting is in your future? Or will you be found sipping a Corona on the beach? Whatever your summer plans, ASPE wants to be included. Take advantage of our July and August specials and train with us this summer!
All companies need training from time to time. For some, training is an ongoing business function. For others, training fills a critical juncture during important projects or initiatives. But one thing is true for all companies: it’s important to get the best value for your training dollar.
Believe it or not, the summer months offer a great opportunity to get the most out of your training dollars. Because the business world slows down during the summer, several opportunities open up for anyone who needs training. While the slowdown can present a challenge, savvy folks can actually take advantage of it. Here’s how:
You can currently save 24% on July and August sessions or 20% on other sessions if you book your upcoming training this summer. Learn more about how Training Budgets Go Further When It’s Hot!
In order to get the most learning out of your live, online, instructor-led training experience there are some very basic rules an attendee should follow:
Why? Live, online instruction is very system focused, both for lecture and lab portion. In lecture, chat is a very quick and powerful way to interact and post questions as they hit you. In a group environment chat is taken completely away. In labs you are required to work in a virtual team or accessing a virtual computer. You need to do this one-to-one with your system. In a group you will not have the opportunity to work individual on the labs, drastically decreasing learning.
ASPE Instructor Dee Thomas presented the Success vs. Folklore in Project Management web seminar this past Tuesday. Focusing on the rules of risk management in project management, she discussed myths of management, leadership style, and how to maintain a highly functioning team while managing different work styles, cultures and generations. Great highlights for managers and project managers alike include the golden rules of risk management and four stages of how teams evolve. Watch the recording of this web seminar in its entirety. Just click on View Event Recordings at the top right.
Business analysts and project managers communicate virtually all the time with co-workers, clients, stakeholders and a number of other people to deliver results. Why is learning in a similar environment still thought to be sub-par to traditional classroom training? On Tuesday, the IIBA sent out its BA Connection newsletter, which had an interesting article about the benefits of virtual training by Barbara A. Carkenord, CBAP and PMP®. In the article, Carkenord describes six benefits of virtual training, and why virtual training is a valid method and alternative to instructor-led, classroom training:
All of these are great benefits. ASPE instructor Billie Johnson, CBAP, particularly agreed with number four, “I have had folks outside the US that provide interesting and enriching perspectives.”
Teaching more than 1,000 students in more than 100 virtual training sessions in the past two years, ASPE has a unique perspective and some additional benefits of virtual training. The instructor-led, online training ASPE provides is usually a half-day and allows students to stay connected and still have part of their day for actual work. Jon Blevins, a business information analyst from Des Moines, Iowa, and a recent student of ASPE’s virtual Developing Requirements with Use Cases course commented, “This is the first time that I have taken an online course, and I plan to take more due to the ease of use, and the ability to stay connected to work.”
Physical location can be a hindrance of time and money. As Carkenord said, the virtual environment allows access to experts. You don’t need to fly across the country or wait for a specific course or instructor to come to you when you can get the training online, sitting right at your office desk or even on your couch at home. Not to mention it’s a lot easier to get training approved and paid for by your company if you don’t add the expense of travel.
ASPE President David Mantica also emphasizes that at ASPE, everything you get in classroom training is provided in virtual training: content, labs, interaction and a live instructor. Some people (and approving managers) have the misconception that when you take a virtual class you don’t pay attention. With the tool we use, Webex, our instructors can monitor student involvement. They can see when a person isn’t looking at the presentation window and are trained to know how to re-engage him or her.
So, is there a valid reason for people not to want virtual training? No. At least not from ASPE. It’s the same course, same instructor and same activities you would get in a physical classroom. It helps professionals work on the ever-growing need to practice electronic communication they use on-the-job every day. It’s cost effective. It gives you access to experts and colleagues outside of your geographical location. “Most people think virtual training is less effective or less valuable than the traditional brick-and-mortar learning environment, but it’s quite possibly better,” stated Mantica.
The business-to-business for-profit training industry has gone through major changes over the last 25 years, but the single biggest disruption has been the Internet. The Internet’s impact has been significant in many ways including asynchronous e-learning, live online training classes, and live online coaching and support to name a few. The single biggest impact of the Internet has been its creation of convenient, accessible and FREE knowledge transfer options. If you are a professional and you need to gain knowledge on a particular topic, all you need to do is bring up Google, Bing or Yahoo and in a few seconds you will find a treasure trove of information aka knowledge available for free.
The livelihood of a training company is based on providing learning; interestingly training companies have lived a long time on making revenue on knowledge transfer. The reality is that revenue is now gone. ASPE understands this and actually feels that providing FREE knowledge to our customers is a core responsibility. We believe our livelihood is based on providing skills transfer not knowledge transfer; we believe it is our job to provide tools, techniques and skills to increase worker productivity. If we do this and do it well, the increases in productivity our services provide, pays for our services. So we embrace the changes in training brought by the Internet, through our own sources for free knowledge, our web seminars and free resources. Click to continue »
Follow Us On Twitter