In Fall 2011, Humboldt State University implemented a new standard for customers to submit requests for ITS help with system/service work, additions or changes. Known as “ITS Project Prioritization”, the goal was to make sure campus had one, common, widely known way to request ITS help, and could easily find/see the status of all the projects we’re working on.

Continuing the conversation from the last two CSU Tech Conferences, where we shared how we “Align IT Resources with Campus Priorities” and offered tips on “Selling Project Prioritization to your Campus”, this session will take a closer look at the steps within the Analysis Phase of our process:

*Functional Analysis - the “What”: We’ll share tips on how to get to the heart of the problem to be solved, with a limited investment of time. Participants will learn how we work with business areas to ensure their proposal is as complete as possible along with distilling it into 3-5 segments or ‘epics’ and the conditions of success.

*Technical Analysis - the “How”: Participants will learn how we use simple t-shirt sizes to estimate the effort and time for each epic. Working with the technical resources proposed for each request, and with limited time and information, we’ll share how they translate potential technical solutions into an estimated schedule using t-shirt sizes ranging from XS to XXL, where sizes incorporate the level of impact, complexity, and experience, by epic and across the entire project.

Participants will come away with methods for better understanding of their customer’s requests, providing the ability to better define potential technical solutions. They’ll have the tools necessary to begin creating their own t-shirt sizing and resource estimating exercises. These approaches have helped us better estimate the duration of projects and ensure we get the right people included, resulting in an increased rate of on-time project completion.


-Presenter Name and Title (all Presenters):
Bethany Rizzardi, Interim CIO Humboldt State University
Billie Herman, ITS Project Coordinator, Humboldt State University
Sabre Stacey, Project Coordinator, Humboldt State University


-Presenter Bios
Bethany Rizzardi
Bethany Rizzardi is the Interim Chief Information Officer at Humboldt State University. Over the course of the last 15 years, she has held various positions at Humboldt, including Director of Information Systems, Project Manager, Help Desk Coordinator, and ITC. She was a part of Humboldt’s project prioritization development process from the start and is proud to see how well it has evolved to continuously meet the needs of the university.


Billie J. Herman, PMP, CSM
Billie joined Humboldt State University's ITS Project Office in 2014, where she specializes in managing projects that build custom business solutions for the university. Billie brings 17 years’ experience in the software development industry based out of Seattle, where she managed software development projects and coached technical teams in agile practices. Her greatest passion is sharing agile insights and practices that enrich ITS and the project management services provided to the campus.

Sabre Stacey
Sabre Stacey joined Humboldt State University's ITS Project Office in 2013 bringing with her more than 12 years of contract, project, and software management experience. Prior to coming to HSU, she managed projects and contracts for the Office of the Attorney General of Texas. Sabre enjoys working with the campus community to identify and implement strategies and processes that make student life easier at HSU.