New PMI Course: Essential Agile Software Development

This course is a one-day instructor-led class that will make use of a blended approach of lectures and case studies to quickly illustrate the knowledge, techniques and practices of agile software development.

The topics covered will include the following:

• Values and Principles
• Frameworks and Tools
• Project Lifecycle
• Engineering Practices

This course helps the participants:

• Learn the history and the belief system of agile revolution
• Understand the strengths and weaknesses
• Grasp the reason why agile software development can benefit the business
• Know the popular agile frameworks, such as SCRUM, eXtreme Programming (XP), Lean, Kanban
• Review the engineering practices, such as refactoring, continuous integration, Test-Driven Development (TDD)

Upon completion of the course, the participants will be able to:

• Understand the principles and core values of agile
• Master the similarities and differences among various agile methods as well as traditional methodologies
• Know the agile phases and how to apply them
• Impart a comprehensive understanding of the engineering practices

Date: 1-Dec-2012

For details, please check http://www.pmi.org.hk/training_course_single.php?id=262

New PMI Course: Cloud Computing - Practical Applications and Usage

This course is a one-day instructor-led class that will make use of a blended approach of lectures and case studies to quickly illustrate the fundamentals and knowledge required to understand cloud computing.

The topics covered will include the following:

• Fundamental Terminology and Concepts
• Emerging Cloud Computing Industry Standards and Guidelines
• Popular Usage and Applications
• Practical Considerations of Cloud Computing

This course helps the participants:

• Define cloud computing
• Describe key concepts, terminology, characteristics and mechanisms?
• List the benefits and challenges
• Describe service models and deployment models
• Review the industry standards and guidelines
• Review the practical considerations and applications, and contemporary trends
• Review case studies

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Master the fundamentals of cloud computing
• Understand the industry standards and guidelines
• Know the pros and cons, practical consideration for cloud computing
• Grasp the on-going trends

Date: 20-Oct-2012

For details, please check http://www.pmi.org.hk/training_course_single.php?id=266

Big Data Analytics Platform at ZERO cost

I've uploaded a promo video clip about my long, new, cutting-edge series of how to build Big Data Analytics Platform at ZERO cost. During the course, I will show you how the platform is built from scratch, step-by-step.

My initial intent was to make a demo project for my magazine articles about Big Data Analytics in PCTech. But once I try to mix and match different free packages to make the case, I keep finding out many many surprises that makes me unstoppable.

Some highlights below:
1. Social media analysis: Lady Gaga sentiment analysis
2. Technical analysis: High probability stocks radar using MapReduce and Hadoop
3. Infographics: Professional data visualization artifacts using free tools
4. RESTful web services: Enable REST API for legacy form submit in 1 minute
5. And many more

A caveat is this project is functional but not of production grade (even though I've planned to begin business on that, kidding!); however, you can quickly grasp the distilled concepts and cutting-edge technologies when you follow through the series. Another warning is the high probability stock radar is just an imaginary application for illustrative purposes, I am not providing any investment advice.

Stay tuned and subscribe my YouTube Channel: kanoncloud.

Agile Project Management in Practice - Day 1 Practice Answers

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through my gmail account master.kan@gmail.com


Answers - Agile Frameworks and Tools

1     A A B C D

6     B C C B A

11   D A B D B

16   B A C B A

Agile Project Management in Practice - Day 2 Practice Answers

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through my gmail account master.kan@gmail.com

Answers – Initiating Projects

1 A B B A C

6 D A C A B

11 B D A B A

16 D C C B B

Answers – Planning Projects

1 C B D C A

6 B A D C B

11 A B C D A

16 B C D A B

21 B C A B D

26 A C D B B

31 A C B D D

36 A C B C A

41 B A D C B

46 C A D B B

51 C A D C B

56 A C D A B

Answers – Iterating Projects

1 B A C D C

6 A B D C C

11 B A D A B

16 D C B A B

Agile Project Management in Practice - Day 3 Practice Answers

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me through my gmail account: master.kan@gmail.com

Answers – Controlling Projects

1 B A C D A

6 B D C A B

11 A D C B A

Answers – Contracting and Accounting Control

1 B A C D A

6 B D C A C

11 B D A B C

Answers – Closing Projects

1 B A C D C

6 A D B A C

11 D B C A B

Answers – Professional and Social Responsibilities

1 D C B B B

6 C D A B A

11 D A C A D

16 C C A B A

Continuous Integration and Code Metrics

I mentioned in the lesson, continuous integration (CI) is one of out eight practices of an agile developer. It's really half of the core of the agile engineering practices, especially true for Extreme Programming. It not only verifies the integrity of the build artifacts but is also a regressive verification of the readiness of the build artifacts. We can make use of the CI server to produce a vast amount of code metrics as a barometer of the team's overall quality of work.

The link below is a very nice and concise article on code metrics, in which some plug-ins or tools are also introduced. I've been using some of them with Hudson CI and Sonar to keep track of the "hotspot" of the team (is it a pareto analysis? Or is it a reducing WIP action?). You are strongly encouraged to have a glance.

Using Code Metrics with Purpose
http://www.summa-tech.com/blog/2009/11/30/using-code-metrics-with-purpose/

Moreover, I really wanted to demonstrate my agile development environment in the lesson but in vain. Perhaps a better to do so is to make use of my YouTube channel in such a way that I'll upload a series of TDD / CI related video clips over there that can be shared with you.