If you're a manager, you probably know what it's like to have more work than you can possibly do. However, it's unlikely you'll receive approval to hire another "you." How can you free up some time to focus on the strategic work of management? You may have an untapped resource in your group. Take a look at the career aspirations of your staff: Does anyone want to move up to be a team lead or manager? Delegating a defined chunk of management work can give someone the chance to try on a new role and learn a new skill.

The industry is full of software makers and software breakers—which are you? Are you a developer or a tester at heart? Not what job do you hold at the moment, but what do you love to do? Harry Robinson offers up a small personality test that might just give you some insight on the question.

What do you do when you're upset about something at home and you know you need to focus on work? Do you try to push your emotions aside and tough it out? Paradoxically, when we ignore our emotional responses they poke back up and get in the way. When emotions are acknowledged, people are better able to focus on the task at hand. Esther Derby offers some advice for dealing with the "human stuff."

Testers are in a position to see danger coming. Speaking up early about risks that others may not see can save a project. In this article Yogita Sahoo looks at the problem of NOT speaking up, and discusses the unique position of the test team in preventing failures.