people management

Articles

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.
Book Review: The Human Side of Agile
Being agile is difficult. Not only are there technical and organizational challenges, but the very nature of the way agile methods work brings the assumptions, context, and fears of team members to the foreground. These people issues are explored in Gil Broza’s book, The Human Side of Agile.
New Skills for Software Testers and Software QA Engineers: 2013 … and Beyond!
Let's take a look into the future—all the way to the year 2013! As a software tester or software quality engineer, are you planning to learn a new skill in the new year. If you are, make sure you approach it in a way that will make that skill stick.
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

Don’t Bury the Survivors: The Value of Clear Communication
Whether you’re discussing software defects with your test team, analyzing requirements with your BA, or programming in your favorite new language, communication is essential. Lanette Creamer has some tips to help you communicate clearly with any audience.
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.
The Software Development Game
Adapting your software development tools, practices, and processes can be difficult, even overwhelming. The authors have studied and applied game-like processes and behaviors to help provide structure to software development adaptation. They propose a process strategy called the software development game to help teams who are faced with change.
Making Beautiful Music—The Art of Small Teams
In a jazz combo, each member of the team has a specialty. As the members play individually, they create a tapestry of music that becomes much greater than the sum of the individual contributions. A small development team also works best this way.
Controlled Flight into Terrain
Entering a holding pattern on a project can give you the opportunity to gather additional information about a problem. But, sometimes, holding consumes valuable resources with disastrous consequences.
Crowdsource Your Career
In today's tech-centric environment, there are many advantages to building a social network both online and "in real life." Here are some ideas to help you boost your career, market yourself, and add to your problem-solving toolbox by harnessing this "people power."
How Do You Know When It's Time To Go?
Whether you are in a toxic work situation, or you feel you are no longer performing effectively, sometimes you find yourself at a crossroads in your job and you have to ask yourself, "Should I stay, or is it time to move on?"

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Interviews

Maintaining the Programming Mob: An Interview with Woody Zuill
Video
"Fun" and "kindness" aren't the first things that come to mind when thinking of the mob, but in software development—they're mandatory. Woody Zuill discusses how mob programming takes a very agile and collaborative effort at delivering great software on time, and with the respect of everyone on board.
The 2013 Software Development Lab: An Interview with Johanna Rothman
Video
Johanna Rothman details the upcoming "Software Manager's Lab" being held at the 2013 Agile Development Conference West in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Wednesday, June 5th. Communication skills will be focused on along with a peer-to-peer feedback model that can be used between all employee levels.
Agile-Enabled Continuous Improvement: An Interview with Bob Galen
Agile coach Bob Galen helps teams continuously improve and avoid getting stuck, complacent, or worse—regressing. By following some essential patterns, your team will learn how to spot the warning signs that lead to regression and ensure that everyone stays productive and happy.
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.

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TechWell Stories
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
Build a List of Things—But Don't Call It Agile

Recommended Web Seminars

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Featured Resources

» Skytap Automation Pack for Microsoft VS Team Foundation Server | Skytap
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» Cloud-Enabled Software Development and Testing | Skytap
» Performance Testing in the Cloud | J9 Technologies

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