Next Chapter Meeting

Meeting Sponsor

Program

4:00  Registration table opens
4:30  Educational presentation
5:30  Networking
5:35  New member welcome meeting
6:00  Dinner & announcements
7:00  Keynote presentation

Location

Doubletree Lloyd Center, 1000 NE Multnomah, Portland, Oregon

Pick up your parking voucher at the registration table–Parking is FREE!

February Menu

Change Saturation: Keeping Your Organization Resilient and Effective Amidst the Chaos

Organizations are implementing more technology, restructuring in response to changes in the external environment and embracing more complex solutions. Leaders are managing multiple initiatives on top of maintaining quality and effectiveness of the day-to-day operations. Front-line employees are navigating all of the change, often encountering competing messages which can feel chaotic. This phenomenon is prevalent, cuts across industries, and often leads to an ailment referred to as "change saturation". One study found that over 70% of organizations are past or near the point of saturation.

There are organization and project level impacts which can be managed with effective prioritization and portfolio management. But what, if anything, can be done to mitigate the human capital risks of a workforce who is over-loaded with change? This interactive session will provide some insights around keeping employees engaged and building change resiliency in organizations.

About the Speaker

Margaret Harriff is a Senior Manager of Change Leadership at ACME Business Consulting. She has more than 15 years experience in consulting and industry roles in private, public and not-for profit sectors. Prior to joining ACME in 2013, Margaret served as Interim Director of Organization Development & Change Consulting for PeaceHealth HQ in Vancouver, WA.

As an organization effectiveness leader, her strengths and expertise include leading complex, transformational change projects, executive leadership development, and organization performance improvement. She has experience leading change associated with mergers and acquisitions, system implementations, new facilities, re-organizations and business transformation.

Margaret holds a bachelor’s from University of Oregon and a Master’s in Human & Organization Studies from The George Washington University.

Seven Deadly Habits of Highly Ineffective Software Managers

As if releasing a quality software project on time were not difficult enough, poor management of planning, people, and process issues can be deadly to a project. Presenting a series of anti-pattern case studies, Ken Whitaker describes the most common deadly habits along with ways to avoid them. These seven killer habits include mishandling employee incentives; making key decisions by consensus; ignoring proven processes; delegating absolute control to a project manager; taking too long to negotiate a project scope; releasing an "almost tested" product to market; and hiring someone who is not quite qualified but liked by everyone. Whether you are an experienced manager struggling with some of these issues or a new software manager, take away invaluable tips and techniques for correcting these habits or better yet, for avoiding them altogether. As a bonus, every attendee will receive a copy of Ken's full color 7 Deadly Habits comic.

About the Speaker

Leading Software Maniacs™ Ken Whitaker　has more than twenty-five years of software development executive leadership and training experience in a variety of technology roles and industries, leading many commercial software development teams. He is an active PMI® member, Project Management Professional certified, and a Certified ScrumMaster. Ken’s presentations come from case studies, personal leadership experience, the PMI Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), and his leadership books—Managing Software Maniacs; Principles of Software Development Leadership; and I’m Not God, I’m Just a Project Manager. Last year Ken introduced eLearning classes on pmuniversity.com and free, project management tutorials on pmchalkboard.com. Learn more at leadingswmaniacs.com.