communications

Articles

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
December 4, 2013
Dialogue Sheet Retrospectives Are Important Why Dialogue Sheet Retrospectives Are Important

We all know we need to do retrospectives. And sometimes, it feels as if we go through the motions. Maybe with dialogue sheet retrospectives, we don’t have to. Here, Allan Kelly shares his perspective on dialogue sheet retrospectives.
Allan Kelly's picture Allan Kelly
August 13, 2013
Be an Effective Leader When Working Remotely Can a ScrumMaster Be an Effective Leader When Working Remotely?

Mariya Breyter explores the role of a ScrumMaster and whether or not one can work effectively when working remotely. If the ScrumMaster is not available to orchestrate product delivery, bridge any gaps, and remove any obstacles, a product will never be delivered—even worse, a wrong product will be delivered. In order to achieve this understanding, the ScrumMaster must show value to the team as a natural leader, no matter if he is onsite or remote.
Mariya Breyter's picture Mariya Breyter
June 16, 2013
How to Rule a Self-Organizing Team

Matthias Bohlen shares with us the importance of self organization. As a manager, you must set time or organizational boundaries that serve a purpose and let team members do what they think is appropriate and necessary within those boundaries.

Matthias Bohlen's picture Matthias Bohlen
February 26, 2013
More

Better Software Magazine Articles

Don’t Bury the Survivors: The Value of Clear Communication

Whether you’re discussing software defects with your test team, analyzing requirements with your BA, or programming in your favorite new language, communication is essential. Lanette Creamer has some tips to help you communicate clearly with any audience.
Lanette Creamer's picture Lanette Creamer
November 10, 2012
Let's Talk Agile

Agile development employs more oral communication, feedback, and interaction than traditional development. These communication tools can help ease the transition into the more interactive agile team relationship.
Ken Pugh's picture Ken Pugh
May 1, 2008
The Whorfian Hypothesis

Benjamin Whorf hypothesized that the language we speak constrains the thoughts we can have. Learn how a well-developed organizational vocabulary can help increase the quality of your products.
Lee Copeland's picture Lee Copeland
May 31, 2007
Is the Pope a Bachelor?—Why Examples are Most Important

We like to believe that the categories we assign to the world are real and the definitions we use draw clear boundaries, but how clear are they really? Brian Marick writes about the vital nature of examples, both in the realm of software development and in the larger picture of life.
Brian Marick
May 2, 2006
More

Interviews

Software professional and Open Space facilitator Steven Doc List Listen to What You're Saying!: An Interview with Steven "Doc" List

Steven "Doc" List and Noel Wurst sit down for what starts as a standard interview about communication skills but quickly evolves into a fascinating conversation that reveals a lot about what we're saying—and what we should be saying. You may be surprised at just how much you have to learn.
Noel Wurst's picture Noel Wurst
July 2, 2013
Why the BA Is Essential to Agile Development: An Interview with Steve Adolph
Video

Steve Adolph explains why the BA's role on an agile project cannot be overvalued, due to their immense communication and collaboration skills. Steve describes the best BAs as "boundary spanners" who know the importance of keeping everyone sitting together, and most importantly—talking.
Noel Wurst's picture Noel Wurst
March 5, 2013
From One Expert to Another: Dawn and Shannon Code

Did you know that former Dawn Cannan, lover of all things testing, and her husband legally changed their names to Dawn Test Code and Shannon Null Code? In this interview, they discuss the reason for their name changes and what it means to have and show enthusiasm for what is important to you.
Joey McAllister's picture Joey McAllister
January 24, 2012
Improving QA-Development Communication: An Interview with Amit Chopra

In this Sticky ToolLook interview, Microsoft senior program manager Amit Chopra takes a look at some of the common communication breakdowns between QA and development teams and offers suggestions for avoiding or repairing those situations.
Joey McAllister's picture Joey McAllister
November 9, 2011
More

Conference Presentations

Creating Crucial Test Conversations

Many test leaders believe that development, business, and management don't understand, support, or properly value our contributions. You know what-these test leaders are probably right! So, why do they feel that way? Bob Galen believes it’s our inability and ineffectiveness in communicating-selling-ourselves, our abilities, our contributions, and our value to the organization. As testers, we believe that the work speaks for itself. Wrong! We must work harder to create the crucial conversations that communicate our value and impact. Bob shares specific techniques for holding context-based conversations, producing informative status reports, conducting attention-getting quality assessments, and delivering solid defect reports. Learn how to improve your communication skills so that key partners understand your role, value, and contributions.
Bob Galen, iContact
Conversations I Never Expected to Have as a Test Manager

There are times in a test manager's career when the work situation becomes surreal. If you've been in situations where you think you must be dreaming, sometimes it helps to look at things from the other person's perspective. As we mature in our jobs, we can examine these situations and see how to better answer the questions we have about unexpected communications. In this session we'll look at some typical conversations and discuss alternative ways to help everyone find the true reality, then better deal with the situation. From her years of experience as a consultant and her personal encounters, Johanna Rothman shares her insights and gets you involved in discovering what's really being said in these strange conversations.
Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group
STAREAST 2000: Confessions of a (Recovering) Coding Cowboy

The battle lines are drawn, it seems, between programmers and testers. Do you wonder what makes some programmers so opposed to process control? Why do programmers seem to resent testers? And, more importantly, what can we do to bridge the gap? Learn how to identify different types of developer personalities and development styles and deal with them to your advantage. Susan Joslyn explores ways to inspire quality (recovery) in coding cowboys while minimizing clashes. Discover your own twelve step program to recovery in your relationships with your developers!
Susan Joslyn, SJ+ Systems Associates, Inc.
Management of Outsourcing--How to Avoid Common Mistakes

One of the most challenging areas of software management is encountered in the first year after an outsourcing contract is signed. Carol Dekkers discusses the actions that can be taken by both implementation teams to ease the transition and to achieve outsourcing success. Learn of the common mistakes made involving personnel, measurement, and expectations, and obtain recommendations to increase the transition to a successful partnership.
Carol Dekkers, Quality Plus Technologies, Inc.
More

AgileConnection is a TechWell community.

Through conferences, training, consulting, and online resources, TechWell helps you develop and deliver great software every day.