leadership

Articles

QA Management: All Bark and No Bite? QA Management: All Bark and No Bite?

Mike Talks shares with us the unlikely story of how his pet German Shepherd inadvertently became his team's QA manager. Talks explains how his German Shepherd was able to gather people together and have them talk to each other, similiar to what a QA manager does—keeping people on task, handing out assignments, and following up with team members.

Mike Talks's picture Mike Talks
The Self-Abuse of Sprint Commitment The Self-Abuse of Sprint Commitment

Adam Yuret explains what can go wrong when teams blindly commit themselves to sprints; collaboration and quality suffer when we pressure people to work themselves to death by forcing them to promise things they cannot yet understand. Investing in systems-thinking approaches to improve the lives of our workers will pay dividends in improved quality, engagement, and creativity.

Adam Yuret's picture Adam Yuret
Myth 27: We Can Take Hiring Shortcuts Management Myth 27: We Can Take Hiring Shortcuts

Hiring is difficult to do well, Johanna Rothman writes in her latest management myth piece. Because everyone who is looking to hire has a job, they think they know how to hire. But it’s not easy. You want to hire the best people you can who fit the team and the organization.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Pervasive Leadership Can Help You Manage Successful Projects How Pervasive Leadership Can Help You Manage Successful Projects

Jean Richardson shares a story about how the idea of pervasive leadership can help you manage a successful project. In order to practice pervasive leadership, one must change one's mental model of "I" and "thou," act locally and think holistically, and enact empathetic stewardship.

Jean Richardson's picture Jean Richardson
Myth 26: It’s Fine to Micromanage Management Myth 26: It’s Fine to Micromanage

Johanna Rothman explains the challenges and pitfalls of micromanagement. Sometimes, managers micromanage when they need information. In that case, it’s easier to create an information radiator rather than have the manager come running to you every thirty minutes.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Positive Psychology Can Help Your Organization How Positive Psychology Can Help Your Organization

Positive psychology is providing a new focus on effective ways to ensure that teams exhibit the right behaviors in a group or organizational setting. Closely related to many agile and lean concepts, these emerging practices are helping teams to improve communication, collaborate, and emerge as highly effective groups. Leslie Sachs explains what positive psychology is all about and how to start using these practices in your organization.

Leslie  Sachs's picture Leslie Sachs
What Position Do You Play in Software? What Position Do You Play?

Micheleen Merritt explains that as an agile coach, you need to take into account all of the participants of a team, not just the developers. If you aren’t acknowledging the quality assurance analysts, business analysts, and product owners, you aren’t coaching the whole team.

Mickey Merritt's picture Mickey Merritt
 A Team’s First Steps into Shared Ownership 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.

 Geographically Distributed Agile Team Primary 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.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman

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