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Robert Charette on Risk Management Risk Management can be divided into three general types: risk management and decision-making, the process and mechanics of IT risk management, and the practice of risk management. In this issue's "Reference Point," Bob Charette recommends some useful resources on risk management.
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Process and Personality People tend to gravitate toward what they feel comfortable with. This is also true when it's time to choose a testing methodology. Is a particular personality more suited to software testing than another? In this issue's "Technically Speaking," Brian Marick explores this possibility.
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Ready, Aim ... Hire When is a year of experience not a year of experience? When that experience doesn’t match your needs. Assembling the right mix of people for your software team can have a tremendous impact on productivity and quality. Find out how to discern whether a potential candidate will make the grade.
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Knowing the Odds Want to know what you’re up against before you start? In just one afternoon, you can perform a simple risk analysis for your project. Doing so can ensure that you are better prepared for whatever surprises may lay ahead. Payson Hall teaches you how to do that in this article.
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Show and Tell It's critical that you discover the defects before your customers do. Metrics give you plenty of data, but creating charts and graphs that properly showcase this data can be difficult. In this article, read about six techniques that can help make this task a lot easier.
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The Upside of Downsizing This article gives some pointers on surviving downsizing and will introduce you to the Scrum process. Scrum empowers teams by allowing requirements to be fluid while work is progressing. Learn what steps to follow to simplify and streamline your project by adopting this process.
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Are You Listening? Chances are you won't be able to deliver on everything your customer wants. Asking good questions at the beginning of a project can help you determine where your customer wants to go. Although you may not be able to give them everything they want, if you are able to deliver the top ten things on a list of fifty items you've still delivered value. Keeping the lines of communication open is essential to helping you achieve your project goal.
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The Productivity Factor How effectively and efficiently your team functions can make the difference between project success and project failure. Once a decision-making process is established, it is up to the project manager to hold the team accountable to the process. Over time, processes can stagnate and lose their relevance. The project manager should continually monitor the process for applicability and make adjustments where necessary. Learn how to leverage your team's performance through process, structure, and team leadership.
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A Calculated Gamble Starting a project without considering the risks is quite a gamble. Learn how to increase your odds through the practice of good risk management. Effective organizations recognize that bad stuff may happen during a project. Risk management is about anticipating what might happen, examining and prioritizing those possible bad events, and figuring out what to do about them. In this article, review the Risk Management Glossary and discover remedies to risks that may help you prevent many common problems.
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Making Virtual Teams a Reality What all virtual teams have in common is that they are working on a project, but may not be located in close physical proximity, and they must find ways to communicate, track progress, and manage tasks without being able to physically meet regularly. The prerequisites for success with virtual teams are 1) clear, manageable objectives; 2) management's commitment to necessary resources; and 3) mature management and technical personnel. Learn how to lead a workgroup you cannot see.
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