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5 Skills That Make a Great Manager When it comes to being a great people manager, the tried-and-true methods continue to be the most effective. Listening to employees, leading by example, and focusing on results will set you apart. Read on to learn why these skills—and a couple more—can make all the difference between a good manager and a great manager. |
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How to Give Tough Feedback It's not easy to give tough feedback. But delaying, withholding, or sugarcoating critical feedback is ultimately a disservice—to the individual, the team, and the work involved. Giving timely, constructive feedback is one of the most important roles of any manager. Here’s how to handle these delicate situations. |
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Why We Need to Stop Calling Them Soft Skills People often focus on hard skills for career development, but soft skills are just as important—if not more. Soft skills require practice and they are crucial for professional success, so we should stop referring to interpersonal skills as soft. They’re hard, human skills, and they can set you apart in your job. |
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Making Testing Work within Your Sprints A common problem for Scrum teams is having a good understanding of what work is complete by the end of the sprint. Teams often end with a few items coded but not fully tested, but since the goal of a sprint is to have a deliverable increment of work, skipping tests isn’t a good idea. Here's how you can fit them in. |
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The Black Swan Myth Actually Devalues Expertise People love to hear how someone with no formal training solved a problem that stumped experts because they weren't tainted by years of experience. These "black swan" stories are the exception, though, not the rule, and they can be dangerous because they trivialize hard work and study. Most times, you want an expert. |
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6 Ways to Build Strong Relationships on Your Project Team When you form a new team to tackle a major project, the project's success hinges not just on the technical savvy of the team members, but also—and especially—on how well the team members get along. How everyone communicates and collaborates can make or break your project. Here's how to build strong team relationships. |
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To Be a Good Leader, Become a Better Servant Wanting to serve others—not wanting them to serve you—is one of the best signs of an effective leader. Being a leader is also not about doing more of the work or being the most technical person on your team. Rather, it's actually about giving up some of your work to help others grow. Here's what else good leaders do. |
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Scrum Can Help You See the Forest and the Trees In project management, it's easy to focus on details to the extent that you lose track of the larger goal. Scrum can help you identify flaws and gaps, and skipping or trivializing Scrum events will just hide the fact that there are things you need to improve. Finding problems is something to be celebrated, not hidden. |