The 12 Steps to Faster Data Warehouse Success

Announcement!

I have exciting news!

With the help of my good friend Dan Linstedt (of LearnDataVault.com fame), we have just launched my first online training video based on my very popular white paper and talk: Agile Methods and Data Warehousing: How to Deliver Faster.

Most of you will agree that data warehousing and business intelligence projects take too long to deliver tangible results. I am sure all you project and program managers wish it was not true.

Often by the time a solution is in place, the business needs have changed.

With all the talk about Agile development methods, including SCRUM and Extreme Programming, the question arises as to how these approaches can be used to deliver data warehouse and business intelligence projects faster. This new online course will look at the 12 principles behind the Agile Manifesto and see how they can be applied in the context of a data warehouse project. Then I will talk about some of the specific agile techniques I have used with great success on my projects over the last 15 years. The goal is to determine a method or methods to get a more rapid (2-4 week) delivery of portions of an enterprise data warehouse architecture.

The last time I gave this talk, in Helsinki, Finland at Harmony 2014, I had standing room only and ended up being rated the 2nd best speaker at the event (pretty cool!). It was so popular that the UK Oracle Users Group asked me to write an article on the same topic for their international newsletter.

Since many of you don’t get the chance to travel to events like this (or may have missed my session), you can now see my talk online, at your convenience, for much less than the cost of a conference fee (and the airfare to get there!). We just filmed it last week, after I completed my most recent agile data warehouse engagement, so it contains some new insights and stories that even the folks in Helsinki did not get to hear.

As a bonus, once you have finished the course, you will be able to download a free copy of the detailed article I wrote for UKOUG.

If you have questions during or after the course, you can post them right there in the training portal where I will answer them. So in addition to the training course and the white paper, you also get interactive access to me!

How do I sign up?

So how do you sign up for this new class and how much does it cost?

Well, the full price for course will be $199, but for those of  you who read my blog, I have a special Valentines Day Special offer: if you are one of the first 50 people to purchase the class between now and midnight February 15, 2015, you get a full 50% off the retail price.

So that is $99.50 for over an hour of valuable content PLUS a copy of my white paper (and access to ask me your burning questions).

Use the coupon code: GRAZIANO50

You can buy it now by going to the all new Learn Data Vault training portal now.

On the site you see the class description, outline, and my introductory video, along with the “Buy Now!” button.

So hurry and cash in my special gift to you before the time is up (remember after 2/15/15 it will be $199).

Applying Agile

For those of you who had no idea there were 12 Principles behind the Agile Manifesto, let me tell you about one that I think is vitally important: Principle #6

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

This means the team works best when co-located so they can easily talk to each other during the day.

HINT: If not co-located, you need to be sure you have an adequate instant messaging system in place to facilitate their daily interaction. And that the team agrees to use it!

In addition, another best practice is to hold Team Huddles every morning. In the class, I give a lot of details about huddles and how they work, but the main point is that the team needs to meet briefly once a day (usually the morning) to make sure they are all one the same page as to what they are all working on.

I can tell you for a fact, that the daily huddles and ongoing interaction is definitely a critical success factor in adopting agile practices for your data warehouse team. I have seen great success where this was implemented properly and I have also seen lots of issues when the team did not communicate daily. There is no better recipe for disaster than to have your data architect building the wrong view when the report writer is trying to finalize the output with the user. Yikes!

So, if you want to learn how to apply the 12 Principle of Agile to become more successful in delivering usable results to your data warehouse and BI program, please go over to the training site and sign up from my class.

Here’s to your success!

Kent

The Data Warrior

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up before 2/15/15 with coupon code GRAZIANO50 to get 50% off the full price.