Topic Summary:

The Agile mindset exists in all organizations and all aspects of work, making it relevant to college students. With Agile's penetration into all facets of a company, hiring managers now screen their new hires on the principles needed to be successful early in their careers.  Following feedback from industry advisory boards at universities and partnership with hiring organizations, project management, and agile concepts now populate course competencies and specific benchmarks across all disciplines.

Through this presentation, you will understand how Grand Canyon University's College of Science, Engineering, and Technology (CSET) has embedded Agile tools and knowledge into deliverables, lessons, and projects. You will see examples of the Agile artifacts the students create and the lesson plans used within a full project management class. As part of GCU's marketing to high school students, there are even Agile lessons designed to initiate students before they begin college. The collaborative presentation will include an opportunity to share your ideas for what else is needed and ask questions about the information presented.

Speakers:

Robert Loy, Director Non-degree Technology Programs, Grand Canyon University

Since his first role in IT in 1999 and then as an IT manager and director, Robert understood the need to be agile in planning and implementation. While working full-time for companies including Pegasus Solution Henkel, Mobile Mini, and Avnet he polished his project management skills and passed his PMP for the first time in 2018. When asked to take over as an adjunct for a CIS class at Scottsdale Community College in 2003, he jumped at the chance to give back. Now at Grand Canyon University he is helping prepare the next generation of IT and project management team members.

Glenda Dilts, Full-time CSET Faculty member, Grand Canyon University

Glenda started in project management with the explosion of the cell phone industry, managing the construction of 40+ cell phone towers for a young cellular telephone company. She has managed projects including computerizing infraction processing for a small suburban police department and networking all public-facing AV equipment in a church. She has taught project management, both structured and agile, in multiple universities, and has taught at Grand Canyon University since 2016.

This presentation was given at the July 2020 Virtual Breakfast Meeting (COVID Restrictions)

Presentation Title/Topic: Getting Started with Kanban

This presentation is an introduction of Kanban key concepts and a look at how these concepts play out in real-world applications.  Attendees should come away with an understanding of where it may fit in their organization and how to get started experimenting with implementing kanban.

Speaker: Mike Dewitt

Mike DeWitt is a seasoned IT professional skilled in synthesizing complex technologies into effective tools of business.  He has performed project, program, and portfolio management in industries such as finance, higher education, and insurance. He is an expert in several SDLCs, including Scrum and Kanban.  He has implemented project management methodologies in a number of organizations, all the while studiously avoiding the PMP exam himself.

Topic:

In this pandemic, portfolio risk management is no longer an option. In order to protect portfolio value, companies need to manage portfolio level risks as well as manage the risk tolerance in the portfolio. This presentation will cover both of these foundational aspects of portfolio risk management and leverage the recent experience of a financial services organization.

Speaker: Tim Washington, PfMP and President of Acuity PPM

Tim Washington is the founder of Acuity PPM, which provides lightweight software and services to new PMO’s. He has over 13 years of project portfolio management experience in advising and supporting organizations to prioritize and optimize their portfolios, and has set up Project Management Offices (PMO’s), governance teams and governance frameworks at several Fortune 500 companies. He is one of the original Portfolio Management professionals (PfMP) certified by Project Management Institute.

"I am a Project Manager." "I am a Business Analyst." This is how you used to answer when asked "What do you do?"  In today’s professional world, the line drawn between these two professions is increasingly blurry, and in some cases, non-existent, so answering this question has become much harder. Have you ever been asked to take on a hybrid project manager/business analyst role? Are you doing it now? Come join us as a panel of PMs and BAs discuss how these two professions are becoming increasingly more blended. If you can relate, please come and engage in the discussion and share your stories!