December 05, 2008

“Risk, Requirements, ROI and Renaissance: the New Da Vinci Code for 21st Century IT Success!”
- © 2008 by Warren S. Reid. All rights Reserved

Abstract

On Friday, December 5, 2008 Warren S. Reid will deliver three presentations (although he reserves the right to integrate them into a single 150 minute presentation with a break). These are wholly standalone presentations – so that you will still get the most out of these presentations even if you were unable to catch Warren’s very well received November SPIN appearance.

Part A. (75 minutes)
“CPR (Cooperative Project Recovery): Reviving the Drowning Large IT Project”
© 2006-2008 Warren S. Reid All rights reserved.

Warren takes you through his 13 step CPR methodology to get a failing or runaway project back up and running. Warning: It’s simple – but not easy!

Part B. (45 minutes)

Extra time will be taken to explore Step 6 “Requirements Elicitation: Why So Difficult – Still?” [© 2006-2008 Warren S. Reid. All rights reserved.] in depth. Why? Because requirements and requirements elicitation are difficult, changing, hard to round up and oftentimes unknown. If you get them wrong at the start of the project, you are in big trouble! If you try to change them too much/too often as users learn more about current and future needs (a natural phenomenon), you may get into bigger trouble!! And if you don’t catch wrong, missing or misunderstood requirements until after the system is released, such mistakes can result in loss of life, limb or livelihood – i.e. really big trouble!!

So, one more time – but with the different emphasis that Warren oftentimes puts on things – how can we all do a better job in this frequently elusive, oftentimes frustrating, many times unforgiving, always political, usually misunderstood, and forever people-intensive area!

Part C. (30 minutes)
"Lessons Learned in the Crucible: Secrets of a High Tech Expert Witness!"

Even though you believe you followed best practices and adhered to good testing, project management, and SDLC methodologies, your delivered system was not accepted for a number of reasons – real or bogus. What should YOU expect from a jury of laypersons, 3-4 years later, at a trial or arbitration? And what can you do TODAY to emerge with the fewest scars from this frightening ordeal.

Trials and arbitrations are the ultimate reality show – as such, this part of the presentation could have been titled: “Tales from the Crypt! Real People! Real Stories! Real Trials! Real Tears!


Your Presenter: Warren S. Reid: Following a distinguished career as a management and computer technology consultant and partner at an international consulting firm, where he designed and implemented dozens of systems, and consulted on approximately 75 contracts for software development, systems implementation, software maintenance, hardware procurement, outsourcing and more. At Arthur Andersen & Co. (now Accenture), Mr. Reid wrote the 1st volume of the 1st draft of Andersen’s “Method/1” methodology, considered by many as the granddaddy of all commercially available SDLC methodologies. He asks you NOT to hold that against him! Warren S. Reid founded the WSR Consulting Group, LLC in 1988. He has been engaged in developing and implementing large-scale systems and turning around systems in crisis situations, such as helping create and launch the Federal Energy Office for President Jimmy Carter in 75 days, and overseeing the testing and acceptance of California’s Lotto Lottery games in just 100 days, and helping to resurrect the Malaysian MESDAQ Lottery which failed on opening day.

For more than 20 years, Mr. Reid has also been actively engaged in litigation matters internationally as a consultant and expert in cases involving the failure of large-scale systems and related projects including those embracing computer, internet, enterprise, point-of-sale, robotics, and Y2K systems technologies and platforms. He has testified in U.S. State and Federal Courts, and has been engaged as an expert by a “Who’s Who” in the world of international business including: the U.S. Department of Justice and President William Clinton; an Asian Stock Exchange; PepsiCo; Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of England; CompuServe; Fortune 500 retailers; and ERP software developers –just to mention a few.

Mr. Reid graduated with highest honors from Baruch College in New York City and earned his M.S. and M.B.A. degrees from the Wharton Graduate School of Finance. He is also guest lectures at USC in their Software Engineering Graduate School programs and at Southwestern Law School in their 2nd year Software Contracting course. Mr. Reid is a highly published author and has appeared on radio and CNN as an expert in systems technology.

Contact Info: Warren S. Reid, Managing Director WSR Consulting Group, LLC
Office: 818-986-8842
Fax: 818-986-7955
e-mail: wsreid@wsrcg.com
website: www.wsrcg.com
blog: blog.wsrcg.com

If you wish to receive email flyers of future meetings please send a blank email, with a subject line of "subscribe" to: spin@ccpe.csulb.edu

Logistics

Location: Northrop Grumman E2 Presentation Center (in tall building off of Entrance 2), Redondo Beach, CA (formerly TRW) - 2299 Marine Ave., Redondo Beach, CA 90278
Directions: Take the 405 Inglewood exit (southbound it's the exit after Rosecrans East, northbound it's the exit just after Hawthorne) and go north on Inglewood Avenue (southbound, turn left at the end of the ramp, northbound, turn right). Turn left at Marine. Continue West under the freeway past the railroad tracks three lights to Simon Ramo Drive. E2 is on the tall white building to the LEFT, past the shorter presentation building. (See page 733 A5 of the Thomas Brothers Guide.)
Time: 9 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Admission: Free
Reservations: No reservations are necessary, except for Foreign Nationals.

Please Note: Foreign Nationals, including Northrop Grumman foreign employees, must contact Warren Scheinin (warren.scheinin@ngc.com) at least three (3) days before the meeting so NGC can process the paperwork for visits in a NGC building in accordance with Department of Defense regulations. The usual identification (passport, green card, student visa) will be necessary on the visit day.

Note: Due to budget constraints only light refreshments will be available. A selection of food and beverages is available from the S-Cafe to the southwest of E2 down the stairs. Door opens at 6 AM.

SoCal SPIN is sponsored by:

Northrop Grumman Information Technology logo and link to home page

and co-sponsored by:

College of Continuing and Professional Education logo and link to home page