Decision Making and Problem Solving: In-House Training We may live in an era of fast technology and increasing reliance upon automation, but our human abilities to think critically, make careful decisions, and solve nuanced problems are more important than ever. Our personal lives depend on those things, and so do the lives of our organizations. Since business is now conducted at remarkable speeds, we put our organizations at great risk daily when we have weak competencies with decision-making and problem-solving. Decisions and solutions that are executed impulsively and without structured approaches can create more problems or make existing ones worse! This course aims to help participants improve their skills so they can execute well and add value to the workplace. Learners will experience multiple decision-making and problem-solving models, tools, and techniques meant for the real world. They will learn how to align their growing toolboxes with the right situational contexts so that they can transfer that skill to the workplace. They will also discover how indecision, cognitive bias, and default thought processes can create obstacles to effective decision-making and problem-solving. What you will Learn Recognize the importance of making a sound decision in a timely manner Infer types of cognitive biases and obstacles that impact decision-making Separate facts, requirements, ideas, and perceptions when making a decision or solving problems Apply structured decision-making and problem-solving approaches Conduct cause and effect and Force Field analyses Evaluate alternative solution methods using various techniques Analyze real world situations to determine the best aligned decision-making and problem-solving models, tools, and techniques Implement decision-making and problem-solving models, tools, and techniques Foundation Concepts Contextualizing decisiveness and problem-solving Discriminating between decisiveness and problem-solving Understanding Decision-Making Decision-making challenges and impacts Key drivers of good decision-making Thought processes and obstacles Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) Decision-Making Models and Supporting Tools Decision-making models, tools, and guidelines Tools to evaluate alternatives Translating requirements into action Problem-Solving Defining the problem Problem-solving models Cause and effect analysis Quick hit vs. innovative problem-solving Summary and Next Steps Course summary Personal action plan
Effective Presentation Skills: In-House Training In today's results-oriented, global working environment, the ability to create and deliver presentations effectively is a necessary skill set for people at all levels of an organization. Regardless of your role, it's important to know how to synthesize your ideas into a coherent and focused narrative, add visuals that support and reinforce your message, and deliver it in a way that resonates with your audience. In this highly interactive course, we will unpack and practice some of the tools and techniques used by top speakers and influencers all over the world. In this engaging two-day course, you will plan, write, refine, practice, and deliver a presentation to the class. Your presentation will be filmed on both days, and you will leave the course with a flash-drive copy of your videos; participants of the virtual classroom workshop should be prepared to present via webcam. In addition to discovering and enhancing your own personal delivery style, you will learn how to create an overarching goal for your presentation and then organize and structure it for maximum impact. You'll gain insight into how to anticipate your audience's needs and tailor the content and delivery in a way that connects with them and sustains their attention and engagement. You will also learn skills that will help you control nervous energy, remain focused on and attuned to your audience, improvise under pressure, deal effectively with questions, and build a compelling call to action. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Construct an effective presentation goal statement, opening, body, and closing that connect with an audience Analyze an audience's needs and style preferences, including relevant DiSC®-related elements Deliver a complete criteria-based presentation that will persuade others Align usage of visuals as well as verbal and non-verbal techniques to maximize the impact of your presentation Getting Started Introductions and social agreements Course structure Course goals and objectives Opening activities Planning and Organizing Video: 'The Art of Misdirection' Setting your presentation goal Writing a goal statement Analyzing your audience Applying the 'reality' test Creating and strengthening supports Structuring your presentation 5 components of an effective opening Presentation body Presentation closing Write your presentation opening Audience Analysis Video: 'How to Tie Your Shoes' Everything DiSC® introduction Audience DiSC® Styles Analyzing your audience Further audience analysis Effective Delivery Delivery challenges: virtual and in-person Keeping your audience engaged Your body as your instrument Verbal / paraverbal elements Body stance and nonverbal communication What are your 'tells?' Controlling nervousness Staying attuned to your audience Responding to questions Review and edit your opening Deliver your opening Visuals and Enriching Elements Using images in your presentation Guidelines for visual composition Using questions to engage your audience The power of the pause Practicing and Applying What You've Learned Preparation Delivery Feedback Opportunity to put into practice the program content and receive a video copy Summary and Next Steps What did we learn and how can we implement this in our work environment? Your personal action plan
Building High-Performance Teams This course pulls together the most current and popular theories and writings on this complex topic and presents this amalgamated view in a highly interactive workshop and activity-based approach. Students will understand and have the skills required to build and participate in high-performance project teams and will possess the insight to proactively affect change within their respective organizations by guiding the existing culture to one that promotes high performance.
Strategic Thinking The goal of this course is to provide you with the building blocks and the motivation to develop the critical skill of strategic thinking. The participants will consider a four-part model that distinguishes strategic thinking from strategic planning and managing. With that understanding, you will investigate the critical components of strategic thinking and how to apply it effectively. What you Will Learn Define strategic thinking and distinguish it from strategic planning and management Explain a high-level approach to gaining strategic thinking skills Integrate other interpersonal skills, such as self-awareness, systems thinking, leadership, constructive conflict, and collaboration, into the fabric of strategic thinking skills Select appropriate techniques to apply strategic thinking in specific situations Recognize and emulate effective strategic thinking behaviors Getting Started Introductions Course structure Course goals and objectives Foundation Concepts Interactive event: Define Strategic Thinking (ST) Interactive event: Discuss relationship of ST with Strategic Planning, Management and Decision Making Strategic Level Framework - Tying it all together Strategic thinking attributes Strategic Thinking Critical Success Factors Strategic Thinking Critical Success Factors - 5-part model Strategic Thinking and the Organization Critical Success Factors Model applied to an organization Tools Introduction (5): Environmental, 5 Forces, SWOT, Value Proposition, Integral Theory of Worldview Video: Fog of War Strategic Thinking and the Individual Critical Success Factors Model applied to an individual Tools Introduction (5): Thinking Styles, Six Thinking Hats, Reverse Thinking, Systems Thinking, Integral Theory of Worldview Strategic Thinking at the Interpersonal and Team Levels Emotional Intelligence - Self Awareness and Working With Others Team Leadership and Trust Constructive Conflict as the Gateway to Collaboration Interactive event: Testing the Models - Challenge Perspective; What's Missing Applying the critical skill of Strategic Thinking Worldview: Team versus client Trusted Advisor Interactive event: Doing what is asked (Case study, wherein participants review the default case scenario prepared for this workshop and add specific details to make the scenario more relevant to their experiences / needs. Teams develop an action plan for applying ST concepts and techniques they have learned here to the situation, then compare and contrast results.)
Virtual Agile Teams Agile teams are a must in this world of intense competition, marketing demands, and changing expectations. Global virtual teaming has become a necessity as organizations become increasingly distributed, with suppliers and clients actively engaged in joint projects. Agile Teams now work across geographical, organizational, and cultural boundaries to deliver solutions and services to global users. Distance and differences may amplify the effect of issues and factors that are relatively straightforward for co-located Agile teams. This workshop delivers practical concepts and techniques that participants will start using immediately with their virtual Agile teams. The goal of the course is to enable you to successfully execute your preferred Agile or Scrum methods in a virtual project team environment. What you will Learn At the end of this program, you will be able to: Explain the characteristics of a virtual team and how they differ from a co-located team Build an effective virtual Agile team using a Team Charter approach Develop Release Plans, including prioritizing user stories, with a virtual Agile Team Construct a Sprint plan, including effective user story estimates, virtually Execute a Sprint, including essential Agile or Scrum ceremonies, virtually Conduct effective virtual meetings in an environment supportive of Agile and Scrum methods Foundation Concepts Agile Mindset and Values Agile Benefits and Methods Scrum Overview Co-located vs. Virtual Teams Forming Virtual Agile Teams Exploring Virtual Leadership Focusing on Virtual Agile Leaders Developing a Virtual Agile Team Charter Meeting Team Challenges in a Virtual Environment Planning Releases with a Virtual Agile Team Planning releases overview Estimating user stories Prioritizing user stories Setting release parameters Getting consensus on the release plan Planning a Sprint for a Virtual Project Sprint Planning Overview Confirming Sprint Scope with Virtual Agile Teams Developing a Sprint Delivery Plan for Virtual Agile Teams Running a Sprint in a Virtual Environment Self-organizing a Sprint for a Virtual Agile Team Using Scrum tools in a Virtual Environment Conducting End of Sprint Meetings in a Virtual Environment Iterating as a Virtual Agile Team Creating an Environment for Success Piloting a virtual Agile team Creating an Agile-friendly virtual environment
Work Breakdown Structures It's amazing how often project managers begin the project planning process by making an outlined list of every task they believe will be required to complete a project and then proclaim they have created the work breakdown structure (WBS) for the project. The result is a list of hundreds, or even thousands of tasks, many of them having durations of a few days or a few hours. Essentially, what they have done is create a 'to do' list, which they then use as a 'checklist' to measure progress. This approach leads to, and even encourages, micromanagement of the resources working on the project without consideration of more critical aspects of project management such as: requirements management, risk management, procurement management, estimating, scheduling, executing, and controlling. Further, it makes it impossible to see the big picture, at levels of detail, in keeping with the needs of sponsors, clients, project and functional managers, team leaders, and project performers. Join us for this exciting program and learn how to use the WBS to make better-informed business decisions. What You Will Learn You will learn how to: Describe the need for a project WBS Describe the WBS role in the project Gain practical experience in the development, decomposition, and use of the WBS Determine the appropriate level of detail in the WBS. Explain how the WBS integrates with project requirements, risk, procurement, estimating, scheduling, and overall project execution. Provide the basic tools to enhance efficient re-use of key information in your future projects Foundation Concepts Key definitions History of the WBS Importance of the WBS Overall structure Terminology Other breakdown structures WBS tools WBS & Scope Project scope management processes Specification of the project objectives WBS design based on project deliverable WBS decomposition process and 'The 100% rule' Work Packages and Control Accounts WBS & Risk Risk management planning and WBS Risk identification to enhance the WBS Risk analysis and the WBS Risk responses and updating the WBS Implementing risk response and Monitoring risks and the WBS WBS & Estimating Use of WBS in the estimating process Components and work packages Sizing and algorithmic estimates WBS & Scheduling Component Scheduling - High-Level Milestones WBS activity decomposition WBS elements dependencies Work Package Level Schedules Responsibility assignment matrix WBS & Execution and Control Earned Value Management and tracking of work performance Progress reports, forecasts, and corrective and preventive actions used to manage work performance Necessary information to close out a project
Internet of Things training course description A concise overview course covering The Internet of Things and the technologies involved. Particular emphasis is placed on the high level architecture of IoT and the benefits achievable. What will you learn Describe the structure of the IoT List the technologies involved in IoT. Explain how IoT works. Internet of Things training course details Who will benefit: Non-technical staff working with IoT. Prerequisites: None. Duration 1 day Internet of Things training course contents What is IoT The Internet, what is IoT? IoT and M2M, IoT technologies, IoT architecture. Wired and wireless communication. IoT applications; Smart houses, smart cities, smart cars, wearable, environment, other domain specific IoTs. IoT architecture Physical objects, virtual objects, cloud computing, data capture, communications. Big data. Components Hardware, sensors, actuators, chips, firmware, embedded systems. Open source platforms. Power options: Battery, solar, PoE. IoT communication RF, ZigBee, Bluetooth, Bluetooth LE, RFID, WiFi, 802.11ah, mobile technologies. Wired. Arduino (as an example) Microcontrollers, the platform, development, Arduino software, reading from sensors, I2C, SPI. Arduino and the Internet, HTTP, WiFi, GSM. The cloud and IoT: Pachube, nimbits, ThingSpeak Security in IoT Authentication, Encryption, secure booting, firewalls.
Regular expressions training course description Regular expressions are an extremely powerful tool for manipulating text and data. They are now standard features in a wide range of languages and popular tools, including Python and MySQL. Regular expressions allow you to code complex and subtle text processing that you never imagined could be automated. Once you've mastered regular expressions, they'll become an invaluable part of your toolkit. You will wonder how you ever got by without them. What will you learn Use Regular Expressions. Troubleshoot Regular Expressions. Compare RE features among different versions. Explain how the regular expression engine works. Optimize REs. Match what you want, not what you don't want. Regular expressions training course details Who will benefit: Anyone looking to use regular expressions. Prerequisites: None. Duration 1 day Regular expressions training course contents Introduction to Regular Expressions Solving real problems, REs as a language, the filename analogy, language analogy, RE frame of mind, searching text files: egrep, egrep metacharacters, start and end of the line, character classes, matching any character with dot, alternation, ignoring differences in capitalization, word boundaries, optional items, other quantifiers: repetition, parentheses and backreferences, the great escape, expanding the foundation, linguistic diversification, the goal of a RE, more examples, RE nomenclature, Improving on the status quo. Extended introductory examples A short introduction to Perl, matching text with regular expressions, toward a more real-world example, side effects of a successful match, Intertwined regular expression, intermission, modifying text with regular expressions, example: form letter, example: prettifying a stock price, automated editing, a small mail utility, adding commas to a number with lookaround, text-to-HTML conversion, that doubled-word thing. Regular expression features and flavours The regex landscape, origins of REs, care and handling of REs, Integrated handling, procedural and object-oriented handling, search-and-replace example. strings character encodings and modes, strings as REs, character-encoding issues, unicode, regex modes and match modes, common metacharacters and features, character representations, character classes and class-like constructs, anchors and other 'zero-width assertions', comments and mode modifiers, grouping capturing conditionals and control. The mechanics of expression processing Two kinds of engines, new standards, regex engine types, from the department of redundancy department, testing the engine type, match basics, about the examples, rule 1: the match that begins earliest wins, engine pieces and parts, rule 2: the standard quantifiers are greedy, regex-directed versus text-directed, NFA engine: regex-directed, DFA engine: text-directed, first thoughts: NFA and DFA in comparison, backtracking, two important points on backtracking, saved states, backtracking and greediness, more about greediness and backtracking, problems of greediness, multi-character 'quotes', lazy quantifiers, greediness and laziness, laziness and backtracking, possessive quantifiers and atomic grouping, possessive quantifiers ?, +, *+, ++ and {m,n}+, the backtracking of lookaround, is alternation greedy? taking advantage of ordered alternation, NFA DFA and posix, the longest-leftmost', posix and the longest-leftmost rule, speed and efficiency. Practical regex techniques Continuation lines, matching an IP address, working with filenames, matching balanced sets of parentheses, watching out for unwanted matches, matching delimited text, knowing your data and making assumptions, stripping leading and trailing whitespace, matching and HTML tag, matching an HTML link, examining an HTTP URL, validating a hostname, plucking a hostname, plucking a URL, parsing CSV files. Crafting an efficient expression Efficiency vs. correctness, localizing greediness, global view of backtracking, more work for POSIX NFA, work required during a non-match, being more specific, alternation can be expensive, benchmarking, know what you re measuring, benchmarking with Python, common optimisations, the mechanics of regex application, pre-application optimizations, optimizations with the transmission, optimization of the regex itself, techniques for faster expressions, common sense techniques, expose literal text, expose anchors, lazy versus greedy: be specific, split into multiple REs, mimic initial-character discrimination, use atomic grouping and possessive quantifiers, lead the engine to a match, unrolling the loop, observations, using atomic grouping and possessive quantifiers, short unrolling examples, unrolling C comments, the free flowing regex, a helping hand to guide the match, a well-guided regex is a fast regex.
Cyber Security training course description The reliance of the world on the Internet and computer systems means the protection of information systems is vitally important. This is even more important smart devices and the Internet of Things increase the number of devices. This Cyber Security provides a concise overview on the threats and attacks that can happen along with the counter measures that can be taken. What will you learn Recognise the different types of attack. Describe the attacks that can be made against information systems. Describe the counter measures available. Cyber Security training course details Who will benefit: Non-technical staff working with computers. Prerequisites: None. Duration 1 day Cyber Security training course contents What is Cyber Security? Computer security, Policies, Types of security breach, denial of service, data manipulation, data theft, data destruction, security checklists, incident response. Attacks Physical access, Social engineering, Privilege escalation, Malware, Trojans, worms, viruses, rootkits, Backdoors, Denial of Service (DOS), Distributed DOS, Eavesdropping, Spoofing, Man the middle tampering. Countermeasures Prevention, detection, response. Physical, user accounts, Firewalls, IDS, AAA, authentication, cryptography, encryption, data integrity. Cyber security standards ETSI, ISO 27001, 27002, NIST, ISA/IEC 62443.
WiFi demystified training course description A concise overview aimed at less technical staff requiring an overview of WiFi networks. The course covers the technologies at a high level allowing delegates to discuss WiFi networks with others recognising the buzzwords used. The course will also allow the delegates to recognise the issues involved in planning and installing WiFi networks as well as securing them. What will you learn Recognise the different WiFi technologies available. Describe the architecture of WiFi networks including the role of Access Points. Recognise the distance limitations of WiFi networks. Describe the buzzwords used in WiFi. Recognise the security issues of WiFi networks. WiFi demystified training course details Who will benefit: Anyone working with WiFi networks. Prerequisites: None. Duration 1 day WiFi demystified training course contents Introduction When to use wireless, when to use wired, WiFi technologies: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, WiFi speeds and distances, comparison to other wireless technologies, 802.15 (Bluetooth), 802.16 (WiMax). Simple WiFi networks Network cards, Antennae, Access Points, WiFi routers. Enterprise WiFi networks SSIDs, Multiple WiFi networks, Repeaters, Wireless bridges, Controller based access points, Wireless switches, Power Over Ethernet. RF site surveys Steps and techniques, tools, analysing the feasibility of WiFi, range, performance, roaming. Security How safe are WiFi networks? Encryption, Authentication, WEP WPA WPA2. 802.1x, EAP, RADIUS.