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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.
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By the Dashboard Light: Providing Information, Not Data Your test group has an abundance of data but what does it mean to developers, project managers, or senior managers? In this column, Johanna offers a solution for delivering information to all of your customers in one place, that will be as handy as your car's dashboard.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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When Enough is Not Enough Have you ever found yourself stuck in a situation where, no matter what you do, you can't seem to please your senior manager? Your manager wants you to decrease test time, but at what price? You go back and forth, but no matter how much you compress the schedule, it's never enough. Johanna Rothman explains how to avoid the bring-me-a-rock trap, when enough is not enough, and keep your team from being sucked into unreasonable time constraints.
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Out of Mind, Out of Sight Sometimes it takes a child's perspective to remind us of the things that have become "invisible" to us. We make choices that become part of the daily flow and are forgotten until something happens that reopens our eyes. This week, Esther Derby explains how a four-year-old reminded her of an important lesson about decisions and routines.
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Becoming an Information-Gathering Skeptic Customers don't always know what they want. That's a given. But even if they do know, they may not always be able to communicate it clearly. That's also a given. Given these givens, you have a much better chance of comprehending your customers' needs and concerns if you're a skilled information-gathering skeptic.
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