Recently, I have taken on the position of Promotion and Marketing Manager for Stout Systems. As part of my duties, I am now the editor for Pocket Protector Press, which publishes our newsletters.

Our content ranges from broad industry topics to very focused technical articles. We have a long established practice of giving industry professionals a chance to speak to a large audience through our publications and I will continue that effort.

So, I am seeking writers:

Are you an intelligent professional that can provide valuable material for our readers?

Our articles are not always strictly about technology. If you’re versed in a subject, such as marketing as it relates to our industry, we’re listening.

For reference, our newsletters can be viewed at http://www.stoutsystems.com/newsletters/. We publish a four-page printed newsletter at the start of each quarter and an email newsletter during the other eight months of the year.

The easiest way to get in touch with me regarding this is to visit http://www.stoutsystems.com/participate/. This page answers some of the most common questions about contributing to our publications and has a form at the bottom where you can drop me a line.

I look forward to working with you!

We at Stout were pleased to present a session with Mary and Tom Poppendieck at Marr Professional Development in Ann Arbor on Tuesday April 20th. As most of you already know, Mary and Tom are world renowned authors and consultants in the fields of lean and agile software development. They literally wrote the book on lean software development – several of them in fact. Currently they travel the world doing a variety of highly sought after presentations and workshops on these topics.

Our own Bill Heitzeg and John Stout attended such a workshop at CodeMash earlier this year and developed a good relationship with Mary and Tom. It was this relationship that opened the door for the session.

With limited seating available Stout hosted a sold-out crowd of 50 business and software professionals who were treated to an in-depth discussion of lean computing concepts.

There was also a detailed exercise demonstrating the power of value-stream mapping in identifying organizational and process waste. It is the elimination of such waste that defines lean processes of all kinds.

Mary and Tom were good enough to stop in between engagements and conduct the workshop. All proceeds from ticket sales went to benefit the Ann Arbor Chapter of the Association for Women in Computing and their scholarship fund.

You can find more information about Mary and Tom’s work and travels at their website www.poppendieck.com.

Recently, Peg Bogema and I gave a presentation to the Ann Arbor Association of Women in Computing. The topic: Insider Tips on Resume Writing, Interviewing and More. The bad news is that we told attendees that our presentation would only last an hour at most. The good news is that most everyone was still there, taking notes, after more than 2 hours of stimulating discussion.

Feedback from the presentation has been very good, and we’ve had the opportunity to help several candidates implement some of the resume ideas that were discussed. Because of the positive response, we will likely be repeating this event. Stay tuned for where and when!

Out of necessity we needed to limit the size of the “Mary Poppendieck comes to Ann Arbor event.” The event is intended to be interactive, with teams working together to solve real world problems. Mary asked that we limit the room to 40 so as that each individual could get the most out of the event. With the event full, so many people have asked us about future Mary Poppendieck events that we’ve set up a special list. If you’re interested, please fill out the form below. We will only use this to A) Give Mary a count of interested people B) Tell her what you’re most interested in C) Inform you via email of another Mary Poppendieck event in Michigan and D) Inform you of future Stout events (if you so choose).

As the software industry in Michigan continues to blossom in 2010, Stout Systems in conjunction with Ann Arbor Women in Computing, is lucky to be able to bring one of the great leaders of the Lean Software Revolution to Ann Arbor, Mary Poppendieck.

Three time author, speaker and trainer, Mary Poppendieck has a long career helping companies produce great software.  After retiring from 3M in 1998, Mary started helping software companies around the world adopt the lean patterns that have been so successfully applied in Manufacturing.  In 2003 she published her first of now three books on Lean: “Lean Software:  An Agile Toolkit.”  Focusing on the process of developing software, not necessarily on the code itself, Mary gives teams the tools and techniques to analyze, understand and continuously improve their software delivery.  In her third book “Leading Lean Software Development” (2010), Mary is teaching leaders how to continuously improve their organizations ability to consistently produce great software.

On Tuesday April 20th, Mary is going to lead a group of us in an interactive environment where we’ll work on real business problems.  She’ll help us learn, apply, and practice some of the important techniques that have helped so many other software organizations achieve software success.  If you’re involved in producing great software (and not necessarily a software developer), then please join us on April 20th from 2:30 – 5:30 pm.

When:  2:30 – 5:30 pm, April 20th, 2010.

Where: Marr Professional Development, 501 Avis Drive, Ann Arbor 48108

Who: Anyone who is involved in the software development process, from software executives to front line support.

Cost:  $25.00 (All Proceeds go to Ann Arbor Women in Computing)

Signup: AWC Event Page