leadership

Articles

Snapshot: A Team’s First Steps into Shared Ownership
Karen Favazza Spencer writes of the time her team members had to modernize and expand the capabilities of their legacy system. In this situation, Karen took on the role of ScrumMaster, implemented several helpful agile techniques, and empowered the team to share leadership of the project with management.
Getting the Most Out of Your Geographically Distributed Agile Team
Shane Hastie and Johanna Rothman explain the challenges that come with distance, be it cultural, social, linguistic, temporal, or geographic. If you work to reinforce your collaboration habits every day, your geographically distributed agile team will thank you.
Management Myth 13: I Must Never Admit My Mistakes
Managers are people, too. They have bad-manager days. And, even on good-manager days, they can show doubt, weakness, and uncertainty. They can be vulnerable. Managers are not omnipotent. That’s why it’s critical for a manager to admit a mistake immediately.
Management Myth #12: I Must Promote the Best Technical Person to Be a Manager
Managing requires a different skill set from technical work, yet many companies promote their best technical workers to management positions. Here are some things to consider when it's time to promote your technical workers.

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Better Software Magazine

Surprise! Making the Most Out of Your Most Surprising Moments
Lee Copeland explains that surprise is often an indicator that discovery, learning, or even delight may be just around the corner. The surprise itself can be amusing, enlightening, befuddling, disconcerting, or frightening, but surprise should not be the end of the experience; it should be the beginning. Analyze the surprise to learn why you didn't see it coming and what you gain from that.
Which Obstacle Should You Tackle Today?
As a lead and manager, your job to remove obstacles that impede work is most important. But of all the obstacles you find, whether they be people's perceptions, bottlenecks in the work flow, or an ill-fitted chair or desk, which do you tackle first? Johanna Rothman explains how to remove the obstacles that slow, impede, or halt project work.

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Interviews

Culturally Sound Leadership: An Interview with Pollyanna Pixton
Podcast
Pollyanna Pixton shares why crafting a healthy and productive agile culture is so difficult, and how it relies heavily on the shoulders of team leaders. She stresses the importance of leaders not providing their teams with answers—but giving them the ownership to solve problems on their own.
Adding Lean to Agile or Vice Versa: An Interview with Ade Shokoya

Ade Shokoya has interviewed some of the industry's leading agile experts, and we got the chance to interview Ade himself about the current relationship between agile and lean, and the challenges and rewards of being a ScrumMaster in today's software world.

Creating Healthier, Stress-Free Teams: An Interview with Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf discusses with us the way to create happier, more productive teams is to liberate them, and remove the stress that's holding them back. Michael is presenting a session titled "Group Interaction Patterns: The Keys for Highly Productive Teams" at the 2012 Better Software Conference East.

Returning to Agile: An Interview with Dan North

Dan North is presenting three sessions at the upcoming 2012 Better Software Conference East, including a keynote. Titled "Embracing Uncertainty: A Leap of Faith," Dan will discuss how embracing uncertainty is one of agile's core principles and how taking risks amidst diversity can result in resounding success.

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TechWell Stories
How Acknowledging Work Effort Increases Productivity and Motivation
To Estimate or Not to Estimate—That Is the Question
Removing Waste in Software Projects
Create a Vendor Contract While Keeping Agile
How Agile Teams Use DevOps for Deployment

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