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We kick off the year with a healthy dose of theory on the value of software projects and how best to optimise its delivery from Naomi Mansvelt, who recently completed her MBA thesis. SPIN veteran Emile Botha follows with more on the crucial role of business analysis from pre-sales to delivery processes.

• If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly at first - Naomi Mansvelt
  presentation slides
• From Idea to "The Order" - Emile Botha
  presentation slides

Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 18h15
Bandwidth Barn
Cape Town

RSVP

Anyone is free to attend. Please RSVP by emailing YES or MAYBE via our contact form.

Venue

Bandwidth Barn
125 Buitengracht Street
Cape Town
Click here for a map

Agenda

18:15 Welcoming and Introduction
   Albert Visagie
18:20 If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly at first
   Naomi Mansvelt
19:00 From Idea to "The Order"
   Emile Botha
19:40 Closing and Thanks
   Albert Visagie
19:45 Networking & Discussion

Abstracts

If something is worth doing, it is worth doing badly at first

On the surface this statement flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but does it contain a grain of truth? Our ideals of perfection and efficiency and the idea that there is a single best way of doing things, can create a degree of process rigidity that is ill suited to deal with the challenges posed by rapidly changing market demands.

We can improve processes by finding ways to expend less effort or to create more value. There is a limit to how much fat can be cut out of processes in pursuit efficiency. However there is considerable room for process improvement by finding ways to create value. Hence we explore the question: "How do software development projects create value?"

This is not a trivial question. Software development projects are often associated with high levels of uncertainty with respect to requirements and technology. The pursuit of opportunities to create value is complicated by market dynamics and the technological uncertainty associated with innovation. These two forces create a fuzzy, moving target.

This presentation introduces some MBA models that can be used as tools to think about what it means the create value. These models include frameworks for making sense of project and process challenges associated with contexts characterized by high levels of uncertainty

From Idea to "The Order"

This talk will discuss the process by which a Business Customer moves from Idea to placing the order, from both the perspective of the Customer and the Supplier. We will explore opportunities for process improvement from both perspectives. The focus is on how quality can be improved throughout this initiating phase, to ensure the development / delivery project is then actually started, and on a very sure footing.

Speaker Profiles

Naomi Mansvelt

Naomi Mansvelt has worked as a technology strategist, a software engineer and the glue person between product development and operations. After taking a year sabbatical to do an MBA through UCT, Naomi is adjusting to the real world.

While doing her MBA Naomi discovered that she has a philosophical bent. This insight surprised her more that it surprised her friends and class mates. Initially this realization perturbed Naomi. However she soon convinced herself that having a philosophical bent is not necessarily a bad thing.

"How can this be?" you may ask. Naomi thinks that when we reflect deeply and act purposefully we can create the world we want. Naomi's dream is to help people to make sense of their reality and to connect with a deeper purpose so that we can act effectively.

Emile Botha

Emile graduated in Electronic Engineering from the University of Stellenbosch. He has since then been working in the IT & Telecoms industry, for the past 18 years. Through his extensive experience in establishing and improving Business Systems on a company-wide level, he gained much insight into the People, Process and Technology challenges that exist.

He has been involved in establishing a company-wide business system, migrating 200+ web sites, implementing ITIL-aligned business processes and systems, integrating various systems, building Call Centres and generally most complex systems found in business. In this time he gained extensive experience as Project Manager, Architect, Business Analyst and Change Agent.

He is now venturing out as entrepreneur, to support and bring together Contractors and other Specialists in the IT Industry.
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