IS 209 : Professional Skills Workshop

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January 19 : Thursday

Lecture: Introduction - What is the "Vein of Gold"? 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Assignment 1: Being a Professional assigned 

Due on January 26

Assignment details

January 26 : Thursday

Lecture: Professionalism - Foundations 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

"Perspective on McKinsey, Chapter 7" Marvin Bower [Handout]

Chapter 24 of Consulting for Dummies [Textbook]

"101 Ways to Love Your Staff" Joe Marino [Handout]

Assignment 1: Being a Professional due 

Assignment details

Assignment 2: Drafting a Proposal assigned 

Due on

Assignment details

February 2 : Thursday

Lecture: Project Proposals 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

"Proposal Process Guidelines" PriceWaterhouseCoopers [Handout]

Chapter 5 and 25 of Consulting for Dummies [Textbook]

"Request for Proposal from Southwest Airlines (fictional)" [Handout]

Resources

Lecture Notes

Assignment 3: The Contract and Other Documents assigned 

Due on February 9

Assignment details

February 9 : Thursday

Lecture: Contracting and Other Key Startup Documents 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

Chapter 16 of Consulting for Dummies [Textbook]

"Sample Contract #1 - Large Consulting Firm - excerpts" [Handout]

"Sample Contract #2 - Independent Contractor Agreement For Software Consultant, from Consultant and Independent Contractor Agreements (NoLo Press 4th ed. 2004)" Stephen Fishman [Handout]

Sutter Insurance Co. v. Applied Systems, Inc. submitted to 7th Circuit in U.S. App. LEXIS 26890 (2004) [Handout]

Resources

Lecture Notes

Assignment 3: The Contract and Other Documents due 

Assignment details

Assignment 4: Effective Meetings assigned 

Due on February 16

Assignment details

February 16 : Thursday

Lecture: Effective Meetings 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

"The Mythical Man-Month" Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. [Handout]

Addison-Wesley (1982)

Resources

Lecture Notes

Assignment 4: Effective Meetings due 

Assignment details

Assignment 5: Interviewing Skills assigned 

Due on February 23

Assignment details

February 23 : Thursday

Lecture: Interviewing Skills 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

Chapter 6 of Consulting for Dummies [Textbook]

Resources

Lecture Notes

Assignment 5: Interviewing Skills due 

Assignment details

Assignment 6: Client Service assigned 

Due on March 2

Assignment details

March 2 : Thursday

Lecture: Client and Sponsor Relationships - The Services Model 

Guest Lecturer: Joe Marino of IBM Global Services

Required Readings

"Practice Development Do's and Don'ts (undated)" Andersen Consulting [Handout]

"Putting the Client First (undated)" Andersen Consulting [Handout]

"The Quality Bible Ver. 1.1" (1992) (excerpts)" Andersen Consulting [Handout]

"Quality Management Handbook (undated)" Price Waterhouse [Handout]

Assignment 6: Client Service due 

Assignment details

Assignment 7: Managing Difficult People #1 assigned 

Due on March 9

Assignment details

March 9 : Thursday

Lecture: Managing Difficult People I 

Guest Lecturer: Guest

Required Readings

"The Seven Habits, pages 236-260." Stephen Covey [Handout]

Assignment 7: Managing Difficult People #1 due 

Assignment details

Assignment 8: Effective Presentations I assigned 

Due on March 16

Assignment details

March 16 : Thursday

Lecture: Effective Presentations I 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

Chapter 8 of Consulting for Dummies [Textbook]

Assignment 8: Effective Presentations I due 

Assignment details

Assignment 9: Marketing Yourself assigned 

Due on March 23

Assignment details

March 23 : Thursday

Lecture: Marketing Your Skills 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

Chapter 20-22 of Consulting for Dummies [Textbook]

Assignment 9: Marketing Yourself due 

Assignment details

Assignment 10: Managing Difficult People II assigned 

Due on April 6

Assignment details

March 30 : Thursday : Spring Recess

Lecture: Holiday: Spring Break 

April 6 : Thursday

Lecture: Managing Difficult People II 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" Stephen Covey [Handout, pages 52-54, 183-203]

Assignment 10: Managing Difficult People II due 

Assignment details

Assignment 11: Ethical Conduct assigned 

Due on April 13

Assignment details

April 13 : Thursday

Lecture: Ethical Conduct 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

Chapter 10 of Consulting for Dummies [Textbook]

Assignment 11: Ethical Conduct due 

Assignment details

Assignment 12: Effective Presentations II assigned 

Due on April 20

Assignment details

April 20 : Thursday

Lecture: Effective Presentations II 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

Required Readings

Does PowerPoint Make You Stupid?, Tad Simons [Online]

PowerPoint Sins [Online]

PowerPoint: What's Wrong With It?, Rebecca Ganzel [Online]

Summary of the Annoying PowerPoint Survey, David Paradi [Online]

Really Bad PowerPoint (and How to Avoid it), Seth Godin [Online]

Good examples of bad PowerPoint slides [Online]

More good examples of bad PowerPoint [Online]

Optional Readings

The Gettysburg PowerPoint Presentation, Peter Norvig [Online]

Assignment 12: Effective Presentations II due 

Assignment details

April 27 : Thursday

Lecture: Managing the Value Curve 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

May 4 : Thursday

Lecture: Business Fundamentals 

Lecturer: Larry Downes

last updated on 2006-01-12 by syardi