Project Management Training in Coconut Creek, Florida

Since you asked for the three most important things that non-programmers should know about, and I’ve spent most of my career working with more non-programmers than programmers, I have a few interesting things that would help.

Number One - It Is Impossible To Accurately Estimate Software Projects

No matter what is tried. No matter what tool, agile approach, or magic fairy dust people try to apply to creating software… accurately predicting software project timelines is basically impossible.

There are many good reasons for this. Usually, requirements and feature ideas change on a daily/weekly basis. Often it is impossible to know what needs to be done without actually digging into the code itself. Debugging and QA can take an extraordinary amount of time.

And worst of all…

Project Managers are always pushing for shorter timelines. They largely have no respect for reality. So, at some point they are given estimates just to make them feel better about planning.

No matter how much planning and estimation you do, it will be wrong. At best it will be directionally correct +/- 300% of what you estimated. So, a one year project could actually take anywhere between 0 and 5 years, maybe even 10 years.

If you think I’m joking, look at how many major ERP projects that go over time and over budget by many years and many hundreds of millions of dollars. Look at the F-35 fighter jet software issues.

Or in the small, you can find many cases where a “simple bug fix” can take days when you thought it was hours.

All estimates are lies made up to make everyone feel better. I’ve never met a developer or manager who could accurately estimate software projects even as well as the local weatherman(or woman) predicts the weather.

Number Two - Productivity Is Unevenly Distributed

What if I told you that in the average eight hour work day the majority of the work will get done in a 30 minute timeframe? Sound crazy?

Well, for most programmers there is a 30–90 minute window where you are extraordinarily productive. We call this the flow state.

Being in the flow state is wonderful and amazing. It often is where the “magic” of building software happens.

Getting into flow can be difficult. It’s akin to meditation in that you have to have a period of uninterrupted focus of say 30 minutes to “get in” the flow, but a tiny interruption can pull you right out.

Now consider the modern workplace environment. Programmers work in open office environments where they are invited to distract each other constantly.

Most people need a 1–2 hour uninterrupted block to get 30–90 minutes of flow.

Take the 8 hour day and break it in half with a lunch break, and then pile in a few meetings and all of a sudden you are lucky to get one decent flow state session in place.

That is why I say that most of the work that gets done happens in a 30 minute timeframe. The other 7–8 hours are spent being distracted, answering email, going to meetings, hanging around the water cooler, going to the bathroom, and trying to remember what you were working on before all these distractions.

Ironically, writers, musicians, and other creative professionals have their own version of this problem and largely work alone and away from other people when they are creating new things.

Someday the programming world might catch on, but I doubt it.

Even if this became obvious, it doesn’t sit well with most companies to think that programmers would be paid for an 8 hour day and only be cranking out code for a few hours on a good day. Some corporate middle manager would probably get the bright idea to have mandatory flow state training where a guru came in and then there would be a corporate policy from a pointy haired boss mandating that programmers are now required to spend 8 hours a day in flow state and they must fill out forms to track their time and notify their superiors of their flow state activities, otherwise there would be more meetings about the current flow state reports not being filed correctly and that programmers were spending too much time “zoning out” instead of being in flow.

Thus, programmers would spent 7–8 hours a day pretending to be in flow state, reporting on their progress, and getting all their work done in 30 minutes of accidental flow state somewhere in the middle of all that flow state reporting.

If you think I’m joking about this, I’m not. I promise you this is what would happen to any company of more than 2 employees. (Even the ones run by programmers.)

Number Three - It Will Cost 10x What You Think

Being a programmer, I get a lot of non-programmers telling me about their brilliant app ideas. Usually they want me to build something for free and are so generous as to pay me up to 5% of the profits for doing 100% of the work.

Their ideas are just that good.

Now, I gently tell them that I’m not interested in building anything for free.

At that point they get angry, but a few ask how much it will cost. I give them a reasonable (and very incorrect) estimate of what it would cost to create the incredibly simple version of their app idea.

Let’s say it’s some number like $25,000.

They look at me like I’m a lunatic, and so I explain how much it costs to hire a contract programmer and how long it will actually take. For example’s sake let’s say it is $100/hr for 250 hours.

To be clear, these are made up numbers and bad estimates (See Number One for details…)

In actuality, to build the actual thing they want might cost $250,000, or even $2,500,000 when it’s all said and done.

Building software can be incredibly complex and expensive. What most people can’t wrap their head around is the fact that a company like Google, Apple, or Microsoft has spent BILLIONS of dollars to create something that looks so simple to the end user.

Somehow, the assumption is that something that looks simple is cheap and fast to build.

Building something simple and easy for the end user is time consuming and expensive. Most people just can’t do it.

So, the average person with a brilliant app idea thinks it will cost a few hundred or maybe a few thousand dollars to make and it will be done in a weekend is so off the mark it’s not worth considering their ideas.

And programmers are too eager to play along with these bad ideas (by making bad estimates and under charging for their time) that this notion is perpetuated to the average non-programmer.

So, a good rule of thumb is that software will cost 10 times as much as you think and take 10 times as long to finish.

And that leads to a bonus point…

BONUS - Software Is Never Done

Programmers never complete a software project, they only stop working on it. Software is never done.

I’ve worked at many software companies and I’ve never seen a software project “completed”.

Sure, software gets released and used. But, it is always changing, being updated, bugs get fixed, and there are always new customer requests for features.

Look at your favorite software and you’ll quickly realize how true this is. Facebook, Instagram, Google Search, Google Maps, GMail, iOS, Android, Windows, and now even most video games are never done.

There are small armies of developers just trying to keep all the software you use every day stable and bug free. Add on the fact that there are always feature requests, small changes, and new platforms to deal with, it’s a treadmill.

So, the only way out of the game is to stop working on software. At that point, the software begins to decay until it is no longer secure or supported.

Think about old Windows 3.1 software or maybe old Nintendo Cartridge video games. The current computers and video game consoles don’t even attempt to run that software anymore.

You can’t put an old video game in your new Nintendo Switch and have it “just work”. That is what happens when you think software is done.

When programmers stop working on software the software starts to die. The code itself is probably fine, but all the other software keeps moving forward until your software is no longer compatible with the current technology.

So, those are the four most important things that non-programmers should know about programming. I know you asked for only three, so I hope the bonus was valuable to you as well.

Python, a Zen Poem

[Apr, 18, 2014] |
Tags:

The Zen of Python, by Tim Peters has been adopted by many as a model summary manual of python's philosophy. Though these statements should be considered more as guideline and not mandatory rules, developers worldwide find the poem to be on a solid guiding ground.

Beautiful is better than ugly.
Explicit is better than implicit.
Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated.
Flat is better than nested.
Sparse is better than dense.
Readability counts.
Special cases aren't special enough to break the rules.
Although practicality beats purity.
Errors should never pass silently.
Unless explicitly silenced.
In the face of ambiguity, refuse the temptation to guess.
There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it.
Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.
Now is better than never.
Although never is often better than *right* now.
If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea.
If the implementation is easy to explain, it may be a good idea.
Namespaces are one honking great idea -- let's do more of those!

Are 3d Printers the Next Bastion of Piracy?

[Aug, 09, 2013] |
Tags:

As someone who works in many facets of the music industry, I used to seethe with a mixture of anger and jealousy when I would hear people in more “traditional” goods-based industries argue in favor of music content-based piracy. They made all the classic talking points, like “I wouldn’t spend money on this artist normally, and maybe if I like it I’ll spend money on them when they come to town” (which never happened), or “artists are rich and I’m poor, they don’t need my money” (rarely the case), or the worst, “if it were fairly priced and worth paying for, I’d buy it” (not true). I always wondered if they’d have the same attitude if 63% of the things acquired by customers in their industries weren’t actually paid for, as was conservatively estimated as the case for the music industry in 2009 (other estimations put the figure of pirated music at 95%). Well, we may soon see the answer to curiosities like that. Though one can say with tentative confidence that music piracy is on the decline thanks to services like Spotify and Rdio, it could be looming on the horizon for the entire global, physical supply chain. Yes, I’m talking about 3d printers.

Before I get into the heart of this article, let me take a moment to make one thing clear: I think these machines are incredible. It’s damn near inspiring to think of even a few of their potentially world-changing applications: affordable, perfectly fit prosthetic limbs for wounded servicemen and women; the ability to create a piece of machinery on the spot instead of having to wait for a spare to arrive in the mail, or en route if your car or ship breaks down in a far away place; a company based out of Austin, TX even made a fully functioning firearm from a 3d printer a few months ago.

If these machines become as consumer-friendly and idiot-proof as possible (like computers), it’s possible that in a matter of decades (maybe less), a majority of U.S. households will have their own 3d printer. There’s also the possibility they could take the tech-hobbyist path, one that is much less appealing to the masses. Dale Dougherty of Makezine.com estimates there are currently around 100,000 “personal” 3d printers, or those not owned for business or educational purposes. I don’t think they’ll ever be as ubiquitous as computers, but there are plenty of mechanically inclined, crafty hobbyists out there who would love to play around with a 3d printer if it was affordable enough.

That being said, is there reason to worry about the economic implications of consumers making what they want, essentially for free, instead of paying someone else to produce it? Or will the printers instead be used for unique items more so than replicating and ripping off other companies’ merchandise in mass amounts? The number of people working in industries that would be affected by a development like this is far greater than the number of people who work in content-based industries, so any downturn would probably have a much larger economic implications. Certainly, those times are a ways off, but a little foresightedness never hurt anyone!

Smart Project Management: Best Practices of Good Managers

[Apr, 23, 2014] |
Tags:

Smart Project Management –Best Practices of Good Managers

Project management could be one of the easiest jobs on the planet, and could also be the worst nightmare. The difference between the two extremes depends on smart management of a project. According to the project management institute, there are five phases in project management - Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring & Controlling, and Closing.

Every manager has his own style of project management. But there are a lot of contributing factors that result in a successfully managed project. These factors vary from project to project, but they all contain some common elements.

1. Setting SMART Goals

Tech Life in Florida

Software developers in Florida, have reasonably great opportunities for development positions in Fortune 1000 companies scattered throughout the state. In town and in reach, Floridians have access to corporate headquarters for Citrix Systems, Tech Data Corporation, the SFN Group, and the Harris Corporation just to name a few.

If I had a nickel for every time I've written for (i = 0; i < N; i++) in C I'd be a millionaire. Mike Vanier

other Learning Options

Software developers near Coconut Creek have ample opportunities to meet like minded techie individuals, collaborate and expend their career choices by participating in Meet-Up Groups. The following is a list of Technology Groups in the area.

Tampa Bay Laravel · Jacksonville Drupal User Group · Web Frameworks Meetup ·

Fortune 500 and 1000 companies in Florida that offer opportunities for Project Management developers

Company Name	City	Industry	Secondary Industry
Lender Processing Services, Inc. (LPS)	Jacksonville	Software and Internet	Data Analytics, Management and Storage
World Fuel Services Corporation	Miami	Energy and Utilities	Gasoline and Oil Refineries
SEACOR Holdings Inc.	Fort Lauderdale	Transportation and Storage	Marine and Inland Shipping
MasTec, Inc.	Miami	Business Services	Security Services
Health Management Associates, Inc.	Naples	Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Biotech	Hospitals
B/E Aerospace, Inc.	Wellington	Manufacturing	Aerospace and Defense
Roper Industries, Inc.	Sarasota	Manufacturing	Manufacturing Other
AutoNation	Fort Lauderdale	Retail	Automobile Dealers
Watsco, Inc.	Miami	Wholesale and Distribution	Wholesale and Distribution Other
SFN Group	Fort Lauderdale	Business Services	HR and Recruiting Services
Tupperware Corporation	Orlando	Manufacturing	Plastics and Rubber Manufacturing
AirTran Holdings, Inc.	Orlando	Travel, Recreation and Leisure	Passenger Airlines
WellCare Health Plans, Inc.	Tampa	Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Biotech	Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, and Biotech Other
Lennar Corporation	Miami	Real Estate and Construction	Real Estate Agents and Appraisers
HSN, Inc.	Saint Petersburg	Retail	Retail Other
Certegy	Saint Petersburg	Business Services	Business Services Other
Raymond James Financial, Inc.	Saint Petersburg	Financial Services	Trust, Fiduciary, and Custody Activities
Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.	Jacksonville	Retail	Grocery and Specialty Food Stores
Jabil Circuit, Inc.	Saint Petersburg	Computers and Electronics	Semiconductor and Microchip Manufacturing
CSX Corporation	Jacksonville	Transportation and Storage	Freight Hauling (Rail and Truck)
Fidelity National Financial, Inc.	Jacksonville	Financial Services	Insurance and Risk Management
Tech Data Corporation	Clearwater	Consumer Services	Automotive Repair & Maintenance
TECO Energy, Inc.	Tampa	Manufacturing	Chemicals and Petrochemicals
Lincare Holdings Inc	Clearwater	Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Biotech	Medical Supplies and Equipment
Chico's FAS Inc.	Fort Myers	Retail	Clothing and Shoes Stores
Burger King Corporation LLC	Miami	Retail	Restaurants and Bars
Publix Super Markets, Inc.	Lakeland	Retail	Grocery and Specialty Food Stores
Florida Power and Light Company	Juno Beach	Energy and Utilities	Gas and Electric Utilities
Ryder System, Inc.	Miami	Transportation and Storage	Freight Hauling (Rail and Truck)
Citrix Systems, Inc.	Fort Lauderdale	Software and Internet	Software and Internet Other
Harris Corporation	Melbourne	Telecommunications	Wireless and Mobile
Office Depot, Inc.	Boca Raton	Computers and Electronics	Audio, Video and Photography
Landstar System, Inc.	Jacksonville	Transportation and Storage	Freight Hauling (Rail and Truck)
Darden Restaurants, Inc.	Orlando	Retail	Restaurants and Bars
PSS World Medical, Inc.	Jacksonville	Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals and Biotech	Medical Supplies and Equipment

training details locations, tags and why hsg

the hartmann software group advantage

why take Project Management with the hartmann software group?

A successful career as a software developer or other IT professional requires a solid understanding of software development processes, design patterns, enterprise application architectures, web services, security, networking and much more. The progression from novice to expert can be a daunting endeavor; this is especially true when traversing the learning curve without expert guidance. A common experience is that too much time and money is wasted on a career plan or application due to misinformation.

The Hartmann Software Group understands these issues and addresses them and others during any training engagement. Although no IT educational institution can guarantee career or application development success, HSG can get you closer to your goals at a far faster rate than self paced learning and, arguably, than the competition. Here are the reasons why we are so successful at teaching:

Learn from the experts.
1. We have provided software development and other IT related training to many major corporations in Florida since 2002.
2. Our educators have years of consulting and training experience; moreover, we require each trainer to have cross-discipline expertise i.e. be Java and .NET experts so that you get a broad understanding of how industry wide experts work and think.
Discover tips and tricks about Project Management programming
Get your questions answered by easy to follow, organized Project Management experts
Get up to speed with vital Project Management programming tools
Save on travel expenses by learning right from your desk or home office. Enroll in an online instructor led class. Nearly all of our classes are offered in this way.
Prepare to hit the ground running for a new job or a new position
See the big picture and have the instructor fill in the gaps
We teach with sophisticated learning tools and provide excellent supporting course material
Books and course material are provided in advance
Get a book of your choice from the HSG Store as a gift from us when you register for a class
Gain a lot of practical skills in a short amount of time
We teach what we know…software
We care…

learn more

page tags

what brought you to visit us

Coconut Creek, Florida Project Management, Coconut Creek, Florida Project ManagementClasses, Coconut Creek, Florida Project ManagementCourses, Coconut Creek, Florida Project ManagementCourse, Coconut Creek, Florida Project ManagementSeminar

training locations

Florida cities where we offer Project Management

·Tamarac, Florida · Davie, FL · Kissimmee · Sanford, FL ·West Palm Beach, Florida · Pompano Beach, FL ·Boynton Beach, Florida · St. Petersburg, FL · Delray Beach · Daytona Beach, FL ·Wellington, Florida · Hialeah, FL ·Largo, Florida · Plantation, FL · Cape Coral · Port St. Lucie, FL ·Hollywood, Florida · Tallahassee, FL ·Coral Springs, Florida · Orlando, FL · Tampa · Weston, FL ·Deltona, Florida · Palm Bay, FL ·Boca Raton, Florida · Miami Beach, FL · Sarasota · Deerfield Beach, FL ·North Port, Florida · Clearwater, FL ·Pembroke Pines, Florida · Melbourne, FL · Coconut Creek · Sunrise, FL ·Lakeland, Florida · Bradenton, FL ·Pensacola, Florida · Miramar, FL · Miami · North Miami, FL ·Homestead, Florida · Fort Lauderdale, FL ·Ocala, Florida · Lauderhill, FL · Fort Myers · Palm Coast, FL ·Margate, Florida · Gainesville, FL ·Miami Gardens, Florida · Port Orange, FL · Jacksonville