In this book, Agile Alliance cofounder Mike Cohn discusses the philosophy of agile estimating and planning and shows you exactly how to get the job done, with real-world examples and case studies.Concepts are clearly illustrated and readers are guided, step by step, toward how to answer the following questions: What will we build? How big will it be? When must it be done? How much can I really complete by then? You will first learn what makes a good plan-and then what makes it agile.Using the techniques in Agile Estimating and Planning , you can stay agile from start to finish, saving time, conserving resources, and accomplishing more. Highlights include:Why conventional prescriptive planning fails and why agile planning works How to estimate feature size using story points and ideal days--and when to use each How and when to re-estimate How to prioritize features using both financial and nonfinancial approaches How to split large features into smaller, more manageable ones How to plan iterations and predict your team's initial rate of progress How to schedule projects that have unusually high uncertainty or schedule-related risk How to estimate projects that will be worked on by multiple teams Agile Estimating and Planning supports any agile, semiagile, or iterative process, including Scrum, XP, Feature-Driven Development, Crystal, Adaptive Software Development, DSDM, Unified Process, and many more. It will be an indispensable resource for every development manager, team leader, and team member.

    It begins with the basics--defining these proposals and why they are necessary--and coaches you through the entire proposal process. In this book, you'll learn how to establish outcome-based business objectives and maximize your success and commensurate fees.From bestselling author Alan Weiss, Million Dollar Consulting Proposals delivers step-by-step guidance on the essential element in creating a million dollar consultancy.Outlines the nine key components to a Million Dollar Consulting proposal structure Presents a dozen Golden Rules for presenting proposals Offers online samples, forms, and templates to maximize the effectiveness of these tools The New York Post calls bestselling author Alan Weiss one of the most highly regarded independent consultants in America. Alan Weiss's expert guidance can lead your consulting business to unprecedented success, and it all starts with a million dollar proposal.

    It points out that you must be a leader that people follow, keep informed, make timely decisions and take effective action. In effect you must control the activities of your organization rather than being controlled by them. Here's what’s in the book: * How to lead and manage people; powerful tips and strategies to motivate and inspire your people to bring out the best in them. Be the boss people want to give 200 percent for. * How to Make a Good First Impression * How to Motivate Your Employees in the Workplace * How to Manage Change Effectively * How to Deal With Difficult Employees * Effective Business Negotiation Techniques * How To Set and Achieve Goals * Effective Delegating Strategies * How To Ensure the Profitability of Your Business * How to Create a Business Environment that Supports Growth * All these and much much more. My name is Meir Liraz and I'm the author of this book. According to Dun & Bradstreet, 90% of all business failures analyzed can be traced to poor management. This is backed up by my own experience. In my 31 years as a business coach and consultant to managers, I've seen practically dozens of managers fail and lose their job -- not because they weren't talented or smart enough -- but because they were trying to re-invent the wheel rather than rely on proven, tested methods that work. And that is where this book can help, it will teach you how to avoid the common traps and mistakes and do everything right the first time. Table of Contents 1. How to Lead and Manage People 2. How to Make a Good First Impression 3. How to Motivate Employees in the Workplace 4. How to Manage Change Effectively 5. How to Deal With Difficult Employees 6. Effective Business Negotiation Techniques 7. How To Set and Achieve Goals 8. Effective Delegating Strategies 9. How To Ensure the Profitability of Your Business 10. How to Create a Business Environment that Supports Growth Tags: leadership development, student leadership challenge, business leadership, leadership development program, leadership dynamics, management skills and application, developing management skills.

    With vital performance and career lessons and ideas for how to apply them, it is a must-read for managers at every level.

    Now in its Eighth Edition, Public Relations: Strategies & Tactics combines numerous current real-life case studies with fundamental concepts of the field, helping students relate theory to the actual practice of public relations. Grounded in scholarship, the main text and features are all built on references to landmark studies and situations in today's headlines. In this age of corporate and political scandals, terrorism and national health issues, a new chapter, Conflict Management: Dealing with Issues, Risks and Crises, lays the groundwork for understanding and coping with various crises. Written in a disarming and accessible style, this edition also focuses technology in every application, and it leads readers to think about other creative ways to use new media. This edition continues to be the most definitive, comprehensive introductory text in the market, written by two leading public relations educators

    Even companies committed to jabbing-patiently engaging with customers to build the relationships so crucial to successful social media campaigns-still yearn to land the powerful, bruising swing that will knock out their opponent or their customer's resistance in one tooth-spritzing, killer blow. Right hooks, after all, convert traffic to sales. They easily show results and ROI. Except when they don't.In the same passionate, street-wise style readers have come to expect, Gary Vaynerchuk is on a mission to improve marketers' right hooks by changing the way they fight to make their customers happy, and ultimately to compete. Thanks to the massive change and proliferation in social media platforms in the last four years, the winning combination of jabs and right hooks is different now. Communication is still key, but context matters more than ever. It's not just about developing high-quality content, but developing high-quality content perfectly adapted to specific social media platforms and mobile devices-content tailor-made for Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Tumblr. A mash-up of the best elements of Crush It! and The Thank You Economy with a 2013 spin, here is a blueprint to social media marketing strategies that really works.

    More than 10 million iPods have sold, putting Apple at the forefront of the digital music revolution. This book is filled with real-world examples of Apple's phenomenally successful management principles, and is written by the bestselling author of several Harvard Business School Press titles.

    In Fish! the heroine, Mary Jane Ramirez, recently widowed and mother of two, is asked to engineer a turnaround of her company's troubled operations department, a group that authors Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen describe as a "toxic energy dump." Most reasonable heads would cut their losses and move on. Why bother with this bunch of losers? But the authors don't make it so easy for Mary Jane. Instead, she's left to sort out this mess with the help of head fishmonger Lonnie. Based on a bestselling corporate education video, Fish! aims to help employees find their way to a fun and happy workplace. While some may find the story line and prescriptions--such as "Choose Your Attitude," "Make Their Day," and "Be Present"--downright corny, others will find a good dose of worthwhile motivational management techniques. If you loved Who Moved My Cheese? then you'll find much to like here. And don't worry about Mary Jane and kids. Fish! has a happy ending for everyone. --Harry C. Edwards

    Redesigning your home page won't help. Investing in a new content management system won't fix it, either. So, where do you start? Without meaningful content, your website isn't worth much to your key audiences. But creating (and caring for) "meaningful" content is far more complicated than we're often willing to acknowledge. Content Strategy for the Web explains how to create and deliver useful, usable content for your online audiences, when and where they need it most. It also shares content best practices so you can get your next website redesign right, on time and on budget. For the first time, you'll: See content strategy (and its business value) explained in plain languageFind out why so many web projects implode in the content development phase ... and how to avoid the associated, unnecessary costs and delaysLearn how to audit and analyze your contentMake smarter, achievable decisions about which content to create and howFind out how to maintain consistent, accurate, compelling content over timeGet solid, practical advice on staffing for content-related roles and responsibilities "

     Running Meetings guides you through the basics of:• Crafting a useful agenda• Inviting the right team members• Making sure everyone’s voice is heard while avoiding conflict• Capturing decisions, ideas, and follow-up tasksDon't have much time? Get up to speed fast on the most essential business skills with HBR's 20-Minute Manager series. Whether you need a crash course or a brief refresher, each book in the series is a concise, practical primer that will help you brush up on a key management topic. Advice you can quickly read and apply, for ambitious professionals and aspiring executives—from the most trusted source in business. Also available as an ebook.

    

    The exam is designed to ensure that someone who is handling computer security in a company has a standardized body of knowledge. The book is composed of 10 domains of the Common Body of Knowledge. In each section, it defines each domain. It also provides tips on how to prepare for the exam and take the exam. It also contains CISSP practice quizzes to test ones knowledge. The first domain provides information about risk analysis and mitigation. It also discusses security governance. The second domain discusses different techniques for access control, which is the basis for all the security disciplines. The third domain explains the concepts behind cryptography, which is a secure way of communicating that is understood only by certain recipients. Domain 5 discusses security system design, which is fundamental for operating the system and software security components. Domain 6 is a critical domain in the Common Body of Knowledge, the Business Continuity Planning, and Disaster Recovery Planning. It is the final control against extreme events such as injury, loss of life, or failure of an organization. Domains 7, 8, and 9 discuss telecommunications and network security, application development security, and the operations domain, respectively. Domain 10 focuses on the major legal systems that provide a framework in determining the laws about information system.

    We’ve combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you boost your emotional skills—and your professional success.This book will inspire you to:• Monitor and channel your moods and emotions• Make smart, empathetic people decisions• Manage conflict and regulate emotions within your team• React to tough situations with resilience• Better understand your strengths, weaknesses, needs, values, and goals• Develop emotional agility

    Author Patrick Lencioni--noted screenplay writer and sought-after executive coach -- deftly tells the tale of a young CEO who, facing his first annual board review, knows he is failing, but doesn't know why. "This book provides extraordinary insight into the pitfalls that leaders face when they lose sight of the true measure of success: results. This model is required reading for my staff." --Eric Schmidt, chairman of the board and CEO, NovellAny executive can learn how to:recognize the mistakes that leaders can make avoid errors before they occur and much more! Refreshingly original and utterly compelling, the story of this executive (written to be read in one sitting) will be enjoyed, remembered, and reread for years to come. It serves a timeless and potent reminder that success as a leader can come down to practicing a few simple behaviors--behaviors that are painfully difficult for each of us to master."Lencioni delivers a provocative message: CEOs mainly have themselves to blame when things go wrong. If you're a CEO (or any manager for that matter), do you have the courage to face the blame? Doing so could change your future-for the better." --Dr. Jerry Porras, coauthor, Built to Last; professor, Stanford School of BusinessYou won't find any dry management rhetoric in this razor-sharp novelette. Apply these riveting lessons in leadership with the self-assessment at the end of the book. It will change your career!

    Hundreds of thousands of Python developers around the world rely on Python for general-purpose tasks, Internet scripting, systems programming, user interfaces, and product customization. Available on all major computing platforms, including commercial versions of Unix, Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X, Python is portable, powerful and remarkable easy to use.With its convenient, quick-reference format, "Python Pocket Reference," 3rd Edition is the perfect on-the-job reference. More importantly, it's now been refreshed to cover the language's latest release, Python 2.4. For experienced Python developers, this book is a compact toolbox that delivers need-to-know information at the flip of a page. This third edition also includes an easy-lookup index to help developers find answers fast!Python 2.4 is more than just optimization and library enhancements; it's also chock full of bug fixes and upgrades. And these changes are addressed in the "Python Pocket Reference," 3rd Edition. New language features, new and upgraded built-ins, and new and upgraded modules and packages--they're all clarified in detail.The "Python Pocket Reference," 3rd Edition serves as the perfect companion to "Learning Python" and "Programming Python."