Articles

Seven (Terrible) Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Manage Risks, and Thoughtful Responses to Each of Them

Proposing more effective risk management is essentially suggesting a change to the way people do things. Payson Hall explains seven dismissive remarks you might encounter if you propose increased risk-management rigor.

Payson Hall's picture Payson Hall
Management Myth 16: I Know How Long the Work Should Take

The longer a manager has been away from technical work, the less the manager still knows the technical details. And—as we all know—for software, the details matter. If you have a manager who insinuates himself into your work, ask that manager what he wants. As long as managers trust in their project teams, and as long as those project teams work to earn trust, both sides can work together.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
In a Flat World There Are Many Potholes

Imagine that you are the project manager of a software delivery program. Say someone on your team has been stumped by a problem for numerous hours and needs to resolve this "show stopper" to move to the next delivery phase of the project. You have called an emergency meeting and gathered a group of analysts, architects, software developers, and testers in a room for you all to work towards solving the issue. What do you do? David Lipien and Nicolas Concha explain how to handle this stressful situation as well as the lessons to be learned.

David Lipien's picture David Lipien
Douglas Adams on Software Development

In honor of what would have been Douglas Adams' sixty-first birthday, Kent McDonald explains how the esteemed author is still relevant to today's software professional. While Adams was alive he shared numerous, unintentional pearls of wisdom about software development and knowledge work that are as relevant and chuckle inducing today as they were when he wrote them.

Kent J. McDonald's picture Kent J. McDonald
Management Myth 15: I Need People to Work Overtime

When you force people to timebox their work to just the workday, they start making choices about the work they do and don’t do. They stop doing time-wasting work. They start doing useful work, and they start collaborating. But, only if you stop interfering.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
A Product Owner’s First Glimpse of Agile

Kent McDonald introduces us to Arthur, a middle manager and product owner in a medium-sized insurance company who has been assigned to take on an agile project. For those unfamiliar with agile, the terminology and techniques of agile approaches can seem strange and often a little silly when not accompanied with an explanation as to why those techniques exist. Kent explains the challenges product owners like Arthur face and how to make product owners understand agile better.

Kent J. McDonald's picture Kent J. McDonald
The “They, They, They” Syndrome of Change

Naomi Karten tells the story of a developer named Bruce who became upset when his team members acted indifferent to his plans to implement multiple changes. By viewing yourself as a participant in the change effort, the odds will be higher for having your ideas accepted and acted on, as opposed to Bruce's situation.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
When the Project Isn’t Going According to Contract

When large systems projects become troubled, lawyers often get involved. Payson is not a lawyer, but he has consulted on a number of troubled large projects. His observations may help you salvage a vendor relationship if it is salvageable and both you and the vendor are amenable to reworking the contract to continue the project.

Payson Hall's picture Payson Hall
Mobile Challenges for Project Management: The Human Factors

Continuing the conversation on building software for mobile devices, we look beyond the devices to the human concerns and challenges of managing a mobile-app development team, including ergonomics, health, and scheduling.

Jonathan Kohl's picture Jonathan Kohl
Converting Costs into Cash—Testing as a Product

For the customer, test automation reduces the demand for resources, compresses the implementation schedule, and increases the stability of the deployment. Linda Hayes writes that QA team members can monetize their efforts and also develop a closer relationship with their customers as they share test cases and results in a common format and platform.

Linda Hayes's picture Linda Hayes

Pages

StickyMinds is a TechWell community.

Through conferences, training, consulting, and online resources, TechWell helps you develop and deliver great software every day.