Westfall Weekly Webinars

Getting on the Same Page with Management presented by Robin Goldsmith

 Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at 12:01 pm Central

Engineering types historically have been viewed as “techies” out of sync with the business powers that be. That dramatically impacts one’s effectiveness, limiting one’s career and also benefits to the organization. The typical solution tried is to “learn to speak the language” of the business, but such simplistic efforts seldom succeed and easily can backfire.

• Why business/management has trouble with engineering types.
• Traps of relying on speaking in business terms and jargon.
• Keys to gaining needed credibility.

Stop Blending In: Communicating Your Personal Brand with LinkedIn presented by Diana Alt 

Thursday, March 20, at 12:01 pm Central

*** Note Special Day of the Week ***

EngineeringIf your LinkedIn profile still has the gray banner of neglect or your headline is just your job title, we’ve got a problem. In today’s job market, it’s not enough to have a LinkedIn presence—you need a killer LinkedIn presence. One that makes people want to connect with you, remember you, and—if you’re lucky—hire you.
But it’s not just about setting up a decent profile and calling it a day. Being active on LinkedIn is the real game-changer. Commenting, posting, and engaging with your network can take you from invisible to credible—without spending hours glued to your screen.
In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Build a LinkedIn profile that makes people actually want to connect with you.
• Create a killer “bumper sticker” for your profile that grabs attention fast.
• Engage strategically on LinkedIn to grow your visibility and influence.
• Avoid common mistakes that scream, “I haven’t touched my profile since 2010.”

If you’re ready to ditch the gray banner of neglect and start showing up like the pro you are, this session is for you.

The Listening Advantage: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Drive Success presented by Jason Raitz

Wednesday, March 26, at 12:01 pm Central

In a world filled with distractions, effective listening is a rare yet powerful leadership skill. This webinar will equip participants with the tools to listen with intention, understand underlying messages, and foster deeper connections in professional and personal interactions. Through practical strategies and real-world examples, you’ll learn how to transform your listening habits to enhance collaboration, build trust, and improve overall communication effectiveness. During this webinar you will learn to:

• Identify common barriers to effective listening and strategies to overcome them.
• Develop active listening techniques that improve comprehension, engagement, and rapport.
• Learn how to ask insightful questions and respond thoughtfully to enhance understanding and connection.

Value Stream Mapping

Presented by: Linda Westfall

Value Stream Mapping (VSM), a lean management technique that provides a visual representation of an organization's processes, enabling businesses to understand their operations in greater depth so they ca  analyze and improve the flow of their processes. By providing a visual representation of the entire production or service process, VSM helps organizations identify waste, bottlenecks, and areas of improvement. Attendees of this webinar will learn:
•    What Value Stream Mapping is
•    Why Value Stream Mapping is beneficial
•    When Value Stream Mapping is used
•    Who uses Value Stream Mapping
•    How to implement Value Stream Mapping

Available Free Until: 4/11/2025
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Of Course I Deliver Value, Don't I?

Presented by: Robin Goldsmith

We all assume we deliver value, but some folks may not see it that way.  

There really are two issues:  delivering value and communicating it.  It can be frustrating and confusing when bosses don’t understand what we do or why it is valuable.  Communicating may need to include conveying both what we’ve delivered and why it’s valuable.

•    Why our opinion of our value may not match managers’ views.
•    Ways to assess objective measurable value of what we do.
•    Overcoming impediments to communicating our value.

Available free until 04/04/2025
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Delivering Value ... Delighting the Customer

Presented by: Scott Duncan

This webinar will address ideas for delivering value to customers and, ultimately, working to delight them. Topics covered will be:
     - Essential Understanding of Value
     - The Need for Effective Feedback
     - Pursuit of Collaboration and Possible Challenges
     - Achieving Value Sooner
     - Delivering a “Working” Results
     - Classic Juran - Fit for Use
     - The Impact of Contracts on Collaboration
     - Kano’s View of Delighting the Customer
     - Summary of Ideas

Available Free Until: 3/28/2025

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Deliver VALUE, with REAL "Agile" presented by Tom Gilb

Presented by: Tom Gilb

Augment Your Ability to Deliver Business Value with     EVO, Competitive Engineering and Planguage

This webinar will cover,
1.    Conventional agile, looking for business results, and not finding them
2.    EVO: My Planguage (Planning Language) and EVO:  multidimensional incremental engineering of results. Results by. Engineering design.
3.    AI DEMO: A 10 minute live demo of Planguage (Stakeholders, Quantified Values, Design Impact Estimation Tables)

Available Free Until: 03/21/2025
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Is Managing by Metrics Really Bad? presented by Robin Goldsmith

Presented by: Robin Goldsmith

A common complaint is that one’s boss “manages by metrics,” paying attention only to numbers and not to other important information.  We’ll examine why this is considered bad, how bad it really is, and ways to reconcile it with presumed missing management methods.

•    Why some consider "managing by metrics" poor management.
•    Reasons for the metrics and why they disconnect.
•    Reconciling needs of mangers and those they manage.

Available Free Until: 3/14/2025
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Customer Satisfaction Metrics

Presented by: Linda Westfall

Satisfying our customers is an essential element to staying in business in this modern world of global competition.  We must satisfy and even delight our customers with the value of our software products and services to gain their loyalty and repeat business.  Customer satisfaction is therefore a primary goal of quality management systems and process improvement programs.

So how satisfied are our customers?  One of the best ways to find out is to ask them using Customer Satisfaction Surveys.  These surveys can provide management with the information they need to determine their customer's level of satisfaction with their software products and with the services associated with those products.  Software engineers and other members of the technical staff can use the survey information to identify opportunities for ongoing process improvements and to monitor the impact of those improvements.

Available Free Until: 03/09/2025
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Defect Escape Metrics

Presented by: Linda Westfall

During this webinar, attendees will learn about various Defect Escape Metrics, including:
  - Defect Escape Counts
   - Phase Containment
   - Defect Detection Efficiency

Available Free Until: 03/02/2025
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Software Size Metrics

Presented by: Linda Westfall

During this webinar, attendees will learn about various Software Size Metrics, including:
   - Lines of Code
   - Function Points
   - Weighted Requirements Counts
   -  Story Points
   - Use Case Points

Available Free Until: 02/26/25
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