Planning

Articles

Receptiveness to Change

Everyone responds to change differently, whether managers know this or not. A good leader knows this, and doesn't hurt the morale of a team by expecting them to act a way that their incapable of, or that feels unnatural to them. Naomi Karten brings this all to light in this article.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
Test Managers-Start Managing!

Some things in life, like death and taxes, are a given. Software development teams face their own givens: Project schedules will always change and certain teams will suffer because of these changes. If that's to be expected, then why haven't most managers done anything to save their teams from undue stress and abuse? In this column, Dion Johnson explains that we've got to take care of our teams, or else we'll never see the end of team abuse.

Dion Johnson's picture Dion Johnson
Preparing for Resource-Constrained Times

The economy, like the weather, is a complex system that cycles through good times and bad. Dark economic clouds are brewing on the horizon. Predictions of inflation, stagnant growth, crushing debt, tightening credit are in the forecast. Payson Hall tells us how to weather the storm.

Payson Hall's picture Payson Hall
Applying the Inverted Pyramid to Agile Development

Modern day reporters tend to write their articles using what is known as the "inverted pyramid" style. They start with the most important information in the first sentence, followed by the next most important, and so on. This format not only gives the reader the biggest bang for his buck as he reads it also gives both the reporters and their editors huge flexibility in their uncertain and fast-changing environments. Clarke Ching shows how modern software development techniques use the same idea to give customers the best bang for their buck—in equally uncertain environments.

Clarke Ching's picture Clarke Ching
Sixty Steps in the Right Direction

Michele Sliger uses a simple exercise to exemplify the changes self-organized teams cause in any company, especially with the project manager. In this column, Michele explains how to conduct this exercise and how to review and use the results to improve work relationships and communication. Above all, this exercise should help your whole organization understand how everyone's knowledge of a project's initiatives and goals affects the project's success.

Michele Sliger's picture Michele Sliger
Looking Back, Moving Forward: Retrospectives Help Teams Inspect and Adapt

Retrospectives are a great way for teams to inspect and adapt their methods and teamwork, and they're a great way for teams to build on success and learn from hard times. Retrospectives take a critical look at what happened during an iteration (or part of a project) without being critical of people. But not everyone realizes that, says Esther Derby, so in this column she outlines how to approach retrospectives in the most productive way.

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby
When Trust Goes AWOL

Trust is invisible, but the symptoms of its absence are not. That is the theme of this column, in which Clarke Ching recounts the difficulty one of his clients went through to rebuild trust with a customer. The customer had long ago lost faith in the quality of the products provided by this client since every piece of software delivered seemed buggy. But both were determined to make the relationship work. That's when Clarke Ching stepped in and took an agile approach to relationship therapy.

Clarke Ching's picture Clarke Ching
Formality and Agility

In this article, Jose Silva addresses managers involved in the maintenance of software development processes. The information provided should help readers make more conscious decisions on what and how to include agile practices in a formal software development process. The author also provides a real case example and the practical results that came from this experience.

Taking Off to the Smart Shore

Offshore and onshore development, outsourcing, and the relocation of IT jobs to low-cost countries are headlines we see in everyday news. Jochen Krebs has played several different roles in software engineering throughout his career. From those experiences he shares some thoughts and ideas about current industry trends regarding outsourcing. The scenarios in this article, "Inside the Project," lead to the second part, which will offer a critical view on those trends. The last part, will address trends for a better offshore approach.

Jochen Krebs
Hurdling Roadblocks

We all encounter things at work that impede our progress. Having the skill to effectively deal with the roadblocks makes a big difference in your overall productivity. Will you get a reputation as a whiner or as someone who pushes through obstacles? In this week's column, Danny Faught offers help with two common types of roadblocks and gives suggestions for reducing the chances that any barricade will impact your schedule.

Danny R. Faught's picture Danny R. Faught

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