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Don’t Be a Work Martyr—Use Your Vacation Time Almost half of American workers who are entitled to paid vacation days don’t use some of them. But few people can work nonstop without a decrease in productivity, an increase in errors, or a grouchy attitude. Taking time off improves your work-life balance, recharges your batteries, and reduces burnout. Use your days! |
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What Does Effective Communication Really Mean? The ability to communicate effectively is not just nice to have, but a must-have for many IT positions. Still, the term “communication skills” is vague, and it’s reasonable to ask what it actually entails. Think about making a list of communication skills to use when evaluating job candidates—or job hunting yourself. |
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4 Ways to Restore Purpose to Your Daily Scrum The daily scrum was created to help the Scrum team meet its sprint goal. Unfortunately, answering the three daily questions can turn a synchronization and planning meeting into a status report. Here are four ways to make sure your team members are collaborating about their work and are ready to tackle the next day. |
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Growing Generalized Specialists on an Agile Team A generalized specialist is not a jack of all trades. It is an individual with deep knowledge in a particular specialization who also has learned to be productive in other team roles. Here are some tips on how to grow generalized specialists on your team in order to maximize your team's productivity potential. |
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Designing an Office to Nurture Innovative Agile Development Teams Agile software development is a collaborative activity in many ways, but it also requires quiet time. While open office spaces foster communication and collaboration, it's still important for a workspace to have areas where people can buckle down and work. What is the best office configuration to nurture innovation? |
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How to Grab People's Attention In this hectic, fast-paced world, it can be tough getting anyone’s attention. But you’re more likely to succeed if you quickly arouse interest, generate intrigue, and make an impression. One way to do that is with a hook—an opening statement or question that quickly piques curiosity. Here's how to grab attention. |
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To Improve Agile Teamwork, Think about the Individuals Given the emphasis on teams, it can be easy to forget that agile has the value of individuals and interactions as a central principle. As much as an effective team dynamic is what makes Scrum work, teams are composed of individual people, and it’s important to acknowledge each person's role and to express appreciation. |
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Develop Stronger Client Relationships through Empathetic Action There’s a big difference between simply saying "I feel your pain" and displaying evidence of empathy. When dealing with clients' complaints and issues, do more than try to understand what they're going through. Aim to communicate early, often, and with sincere concern. It will improve the situation for them—and you. |
