Articles

communicate company strategy Communicating the Big Picture

Do you know how your work affects the bottom line? Esther Derby explains that taking more time to communicate company strategy to everyone on your team is an investment, which will save you time in the future. When people can connect the dots from their job to company success, they'll be better equipped to make decisions and set priorities.

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby
How to Energize Your Test Team

You're waist deep in your third month of late nights, weekends, and shipping stress; you can see and feel your team's energy waning. The goal is in sight but still far off, and you need the very best from everyone to reach the goal. How are you going to motivate and energize your team to reach the finish line? This article explores the major issues test team leaders face: keeping a team motivated and knowing when it needs to be energized.

Jamie Tischart
Late Projects Preventing Late Tasks from Creating Late Projects

We like to think that being late on one task isn't so bad because early and late completions will average out over the course of an entire project. If you flip a coin 1,000 times, it will land on heads about 500 times and on tails about 500 times. If your project has 1,000 tasks, about 500 will finish early and about 500 will finish late, right? Wrong--and many project plans are sunk by this common misperception.

Mike Cohn's picture Mike Cohn
audition interview Watching Testers in Action

Why wait to see your candidate work? Implement an audition into the interviewing process and add dimension to your candidate's resume. In this column, Johanna Rothman discusses how you can increase the effectiveness of an interview by implementing a well-planned audition. Whether this audition takes place over the phone or in person, you'll gather a richer perspective of the candidate's capabilities and how easily the applicant can adapt to your working environment. Put your candidate's words to the test; the results of an audition may break the tie between two superb applicants.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
delegating management Win-Win Delegation

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.

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby
Charge of the Light Brigade Considered Harmful

Communication problems can be devastating to a project–Just ask the Light Brigade. In this week's column, Matt Heusser offers some tips that may help you keep your team a cohesive, functioning unit.

Matthew Heusser's picture Matthew Heusser
Was It Something I Said?

Sometimes it seems like talking to a customer is about as effective as chatting with a brick wall. Have you ever considered that the problem may not be your customer but your communication skills? Naomi Karten explains why HOW you say something can be just as important as the WAY you say it.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
Multiprojecting: The Illusion of Progress

Think working on five projects at once will make great results appear like magic? Don't be so sure. The price your team pays by switching from one project to another could make your productivity disappear. Johanna Rothman reveals the smoke and mirrors behind the illusion of multiprojecting.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Dodging the Ditches

"We want the software to be faster, better, cheaper!" the marketing guy declares. We want to deliver, but if we aren't positive what those adjectives mean, we will fail. Read on to learn how a road trip prompted industry veteran Esther Derby to revisit how to avoid the expectations gap.

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby
Through the Eyes of a Troubled Customer

Have you ever had to cope with a demanding developer? A touchy tester? A quarrelsome QA person? A cantankerous customer? Why oh why do people act that way? This column describes the route one IT group took to reverse a customer's bad attitude and make her a valuable ally.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten

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