Project Management
Articles
7 Keys to Building Great Work Teams Successful projects depend on how well the team works together. Elements that lead to success include commitment, contribution, good communication, and cooperation. Cooperation itself includes factors such as follow-through, timeliness, and others. Conflict management and change management are also important. This article analyzes and explains all of these elements that constitute a productive and successful team. |
Suzanne Willis Zoglio
August 20, 2001 |
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Measuring Performance Against Management Deliverables Prompted by a comment from our sticky-minded audience, this week Johanna shares some ways test managers can assess their performance against specific management deliverables likely to be high on an organization's priority list. |
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A Hudson's Bay Start The correlation between project size and project failure is well known in the software industry. Despite this well documented danger, companies continue to sponsor huge projects. It's unlikely we will talk executives out of their dreams of huge projects, but we can talk with them about ways to manage the inherent risks. Often a short story is worth a thousand words. The "Hudson's Bay Start" is one of these stories and a great risk reduction technique. |
Eileen Strider
July 31, 2001 |
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Inspecting Requirements Errors in requirements specifications translate into poor designs, code that does the wrong thing, and unhappy customers. Requirements documentation should be inspected early and often. Anything you can do to prevent requirements errors from propagating downstream will save you time and money. Karl Wiegers shows you how. |
Karl E. Wiegers
July 25, 2001 |
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What You Don't Know May Help You Some testers take it upon themselves to learn as much as possible about the inner workings of the system under test. This type of "gray box" testing is valuable, and most testers have the technical wherewithal to grasp much of what's going on behind the scenes. But it's important to recognize that sometimes "ignorance is strength" when it comes to finding problems that users will encounter. |
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Across the Great Divide Many bemoan the strained relationship between testers and developers. But while we can't force testers and developers to see eye to eye on everything, we can reduce some of the tension by making simple changes in the way we communicate. Learn some great tips and tricks in this article. |
Susan Joslyn
June 18, 2001 |
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What Is It You Want from Management? It's easy to be frustrated by lack of executive management support for QA. Often it's difficult to get the backing we need to really operate effectively. But somewhere beyond cynicism lies a world of possibilities, and exploring them can help you articulate your needs. What would you ask for if you could? |
Eileen Strider
June 11, 2001 |
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Conducting a Temperature Reading Negative mindsets and instances are so easy to fall into, and it can be difficult to see the positive in things. By using the "temperature reading" technique, a completely attitude and outlook turnaround time can be achieved in very little time. Learn this easy method for improving your mindset. |
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What Could Possibly Go Wrong? A software project is a complex thing. It involves many players, many tasks, and lots of things that could go wrong (and often do). If not for dogged optimism, some projects might not be tackled at all. But optimism doesn't mean turning a blind eye to potential pitfalls. In this column, Esther Derby applies a lesson about asking, "What if..." |
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Getting to the Bottom of Project Troubles It's amazing how many projects, already in a hole, keep sinking deeper. When team members and staff don't have the insight or objectivity to turn things around, an independent consultant can help—or not. In this column, a leading industry consultant gives you "the straight dope" on what to watch out for. |
Eileen Strider
April 10, 2001 |