Olympic Consulting Group is committed to raising the maturity level of IT shops’ software engineering capability through effective knowledge transfer.  We maintain a high degree of flexibility and seek to tailor our approach to each of our client’s unique needs.

Our approach to knowledge transfer typically includes the following phases:

Assessment of client needs

Proposal for approach

Planning and preparation

Training execution

Post-training mentoring

Assessment of client needs:  The software engineering capability of any given IT shop is highly dependent on the skills of the staff, the types of projects being undertaken and the way in which software development is conducted.  We assess these factors as rapidly as possible to determine the staff’s knowledge gaps, the appropriate techniques that should be employed based on the type of work conducted, and any changes to how projects are executed to best encourage an engineering approach.  Factors we look for include:

Current Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

Examples of current requirement and design models and specifications

Team make up (e.g., analysts, designers, developers, testers)

Existing skill set and skill gaps

Team division of duties and proximity (e.g., is any work outsourced?)

Business customers (level of involvement, proximity)

Type of software developed (e.g., custom vs. COTS, OLTP vs. Data Warehousing, small vs. large, new vs. enhancements)

Typical project timelines and constraints

Client issues and concerns

Client software engineering goals and objectives

Proposal for approach:  We appreciate that there is no “one size fits all” approach to training and knowledge transfer.  Depending on the client needs, we may propose a more formal multi-day classroom training that covers a full spectrum of analysis and design techniques, or we may propose just-in-time targeted training to teach only specific techniques at specific points in time.  Some clients may not need formal training at all, but prefer hands-on mentoring as the teaching approach.  The bottom line is that we are entirely flexible and dedicated to finding the most effective approach that will work for you.

Planning and preparation:  Our core curriculum covers the full range of analysis and design techniques. We are able to tailor our courses to reflect your shop’s selected notation (e.g., Martin ERD vs. UML class diagrams), and to reflect the appropriate style, based on whether your software is predominately object-oriented, relational, structured or a mix.  (A mix of each is most common.)  It is also common for us to customize the course’s examples and exercises to reflect your business subject matter (e.g., banking, wireless, manufacturing, etc…).  We believe people learn better when the topic is geared toward their own industry and projects.

Our standard training modules include:

Methodology overview

Requirements Gathering:

Project charter

Context modeling

Event & Use Case Modeling

Data Modeling or Class Modeling and state modeling

UI prototyping

Design Specification:

Functional Design Specification (external design)

Internal Design Specification (object-oriented or structured)

We also offer additional courses on project management and object-oriented design principles through our strategic partners.

Training execution: An industry expert with over 20 years of experience delivers all of OCG’s training.  Training is conducted by either David A. Ruble, OCG principal & chief methodologist, and/or Meilir Page-Jones, OCG strategic partner.  Both are skilled practitioners and internationally recognized authors as well as entertaining and engaging facilitators.  Depending on client preferences, training is typically done at the client’s site and may include lecture, open forum discussion and optionally, a case study for hands-on practice.  It is vital to ensure the training is delivered in close proximity to the time when the techniques will actually be used on real projects.

Post-training mentoring:  Our experience has shown us that it is optimal to have expert mentoring available as staff attempt new software engineering techniques for the first time.  Most people learn best by doing – therefore, classroom training serves an introduction, but the permanent adoption of the technique occurs on the job.  OCG consultants are available as project mentors in a variety of roles:

Template development:  If your shop does not have templates for specific portions of the SDLC, we can provide OCG’s standard templates, customize third-party templates provided by your CASE tool vendor, or assist in tailoring documents specifically for you.

Periodic expert review:  We can provide period on-site, in-person or off-site review of software engineering deliverables.  We assess the completeness, correctness and overall quality improvement of the documents and models.  Our review recognizes staff progress and achievement and makes suggestions for additional improvements.  We review not only the models, but also the quality and effectiveness of written communications, including organization, sentence structure, clarity and definitions.

Project coach and/or practitioner: If appropriate, OCG can provide extended on-site project mentoring to large groups of software engineers.  Quite often, learning-by-example is a highly effective tool.  By having an OCG expert writing actual specifications on real projects, your staff can more easily follow the examples and better appreciate the appropriate level of detail and rigor that should go into a specification.

OCG has conducted methodology training and mentoring a wide variety of clients including:

DHL

Citadel

Getty Images

Morgan Stanley / Barra

AT&T Wireless

T-Mobile

VoiceStream Wireless

Onvia.com

Weyerhaeuser Corporation

State of Washington

Long & Foster Real Estate

GE Capital Leasing

Port of Seattle

American Express

Technology Transfer Institute

Public Service Company of Denver

GJK & Associates

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