Taarradhin

One Thing I’ve Learned

Over the years I’ve collected a bunch of methods to pivot data in queries and result sets, some easy, some way too complicated, none really the best method. This week I finally sat down and focused on learning how to use the Pivot function in SQL Server (It’s not as easy to use as the Sybase function). After a few hours of head banging I found this site Kodyaz and haven’t had an issue since, if you want to learn how to do this effectively this is the site to do it!

Three Things I’m Grateful For

The wealth of information and study resources for the PMI-ACP test; knowing what you need to study and where you should focus your energies makes preparing so much easier. My favorite is Agile Exams, they have short and long form tests, a little pricey but worth it in my opinion.

Office 365 – I’ve been using SkyDrive & Google Docs for years now, so when our transition was announced I’ll admit my expectations were not high.  I walked into this project assuming that I would have little or nothing to gain from it all but I have been pleasantly surprised with the differences in the Pro versions, hands off syncing and the ease at which our company is now connected.

Do Nothing For 2 Minutes – This is such a challenge and an awesome way to quickly center yourself, just open the site and sit there for two minutes, breathing deeply while soothing waves play in the background. It helps, I swear! Depending on your machine you may have to log out of things like Outlook that automatically kick off, they will reset the timer.

Five Things I Accomplished

One more book down! Agile Estimating & Planning by Mike Cohn was a surprisingly interesting and easy read.

We now have officially completed 18 iterations! 18! Amazing J

2014 project planning is done! Until they ask me to redo it of course…

I was asked during the last Agile training I facilitated to come up with a suite of trainings for each audience at basic and advanced levels, I now have six separate courses; Intro to Agile for Non-IT Managers, Agile Planning Bootcamp w/SCRUM for Agile Teams, Agile Project Management, Agile Team Management, Intro to Agile for Product Owners, and Iteration Management w/SCRUM.

In my spare time I created floor plans for our new creative space including designing a wall of creative outlets to inspire and hopefully energize, and our new lunchroom. It’s not often I get to do these things at work, I appreciate every opportunity.