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CyndiBarker

Hi everyone! I'm a "process improvement specialist" (is that a real title?) for Mellon Financial Corp. in Pittsburgh, PA. I work in the Project Office of one specific line of business within Mellon's Software Engineering Department. Our project work focuses mainly on Foreign Exchange applications, with our customers being internal traders and fund managers. My team works with our project managers to develop, maintain and improve software development/project management processes. My background as a developer and project manager has been a benefit in my current postition. Our line of business successfully achieved CMM Level II in April, and we are now on our way to Level III.

Our schedule has been kind of hectic trying to develop the plans for "closing the gaps" for Level III. That is partially why I'm so late in signing on to the WIKI. Actually, this is the first conference I've attended in which the participants get a word in up front. A unique and welcome difference.

In our organization, one of the biggest challenges we face is implementing processes in such a way that the practitioners who use them understand their value, and have a sense of buy-in and ownership. Since most people tend to not embrace change, we can encounter "pseudo acceptance" at times. Meaning that people say they agree, and that they'll do things, but then they game the system in such a way that they don't have to. (Hiding projects, falsifying estimates and status, etc.) Among other things, I want to come home from the conference with new ways to more effectively deal with that type of resistance, without alienating the very people on whom our success depends.

I attended the Weinberg Problem Solving Leadership (PSL) 2000 class in Albuquerque, NM last September. I thouroughly enjoyed that class, and am looking forward to an equally rewarding experience at AYE. (My first time). I'm also looking forward to seeing Jerry and Naomi again, meeting new people, and learning from their insights and perspectives.

I'm kind of nervous about flying, though. And as I read through the participant pages, the first one I came to was Anna's, which brought that fear home even more. How unimaginably devastating! My heart goes out to her family and friends. No words can truly express that loss.

I'm not sure there's a good way to transition to another subject, so to prevent myself from writing a small novel, I'll simply say that I look forward to dinner on Sunday, and then three days of fun, insight, laughter and friends.

See you in a few days. JerryWeinberg