Software is easy. People are hard.

Somewhere, a project is failing. More than likely the project isn’t failing because it’s difficult, or the budget ran out, or because there wasn’t a market fit. The project is failing because of people. People introduce communication problems, staffing problems, politics, disenchantment with the client or stakeholders, and often result in lack of motivation. It doesn’t matter what methodology you use to scope, design, and implement a project if you’re unable to deal with the underlying people issues because people are hard and people are what cause project failures.

In this session we’re going to discuss not so much on the technical problems of project implementation but more on the sociological nature of the work we do and how to overcome them.

Participants will learn:

• Why projects are easy

• What about people makes projects hard

• How to overcome communication styles, engage in successful conflict, overcome politics, and set correct expectations

• Tips and tricks to effectively negotiate conversations

• Learn how to get what you need out of people to improve the chances of project success

About this event’s speakers, Rachel and Bermon:

Rachel Parsons

Rachel is the AppDev Practice Manager at Cardinal Solutions in Charlotte, NC. As a maker of digital things, Rachel thrives on leading teams to deliver high quality software. She’s been programming for over 15 years and leading for at least 6 of those years. Most recently, she’s been architecting mobile apps using Swift and React Native, and her teams are well-versed in development best practices. Invite her out for a mobile tech chat over a pint of craft beer, and you might make a friend for life.

Bermon Painter

Bermon is the organizer of various events for user experience practitioners, front-end developers, and designers. He also leads the user experience practice for Cardinal Solutions’ Charlotte, Raleigh and Tampa offices where he consults with large enterprise clients on interesting problems across user experience, design and front-end development. In his free time he contributes to http://sass-lang.com/ and is the creator of the Sass logo.