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2 Ways to Know Your Work Is Actually Done Some people think a good indication that a piece of work is done is if it's been tested. But by whom, and how? Testing alone doesn’t specifically determine whether you are done—especially when we probably don’t mean the same thing when we all talk about testing. Here are two ways to know when your work is truly done. |
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4 Tips to Refocus Stale Standups The daily standup is supposed to get everyone on the same page and make teams more productive and efficient. But it’s easy for this short meeting to become stale and stop providing any real benefit. Here are four ways to get out of the slump of merely delivering status updates and re-energize your daily standups. |
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Is Your Culture about Responsibility or Blame? When things go wrong, it can be helpful to understand what happened and who was involved. However, all too often organizations (and the managers within) confuse responsibility with assigning blame. The former is essential for improvement. The latter works against an effective, collaborative, productive culture. |
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Beware of Success Stories The tendency to look back and think you know what contributed to a success is called survivorship bias. It occurs when you make a decision or take some action based on past successes while ignoring past failures. That's why it's important to approach reports of successful projects with a healthy dose of skepticism. |
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Lessons Learned from Product Failures Being agile is all about learning from failures and building on experiences. This applies to not just individuals, but even to large organizations. The key is being transparent and objective in accepting and understanding failures, and taking away lessons for future actions and decisions. Just keep innovating. |
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Superior Leaders Ask the Tough Questions Inspiring quotes can be motivating, but there's more to good leadership. New leaders may feel compelled to find clever and memorable things to say, when in reality, they should probably focus less on what they’re saying and more on what they’re hearing. The best leaders ask good questions and listen to the answers. |
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Coaching Senior Management to Be Agile Embracing an agile mindset isn’t always easy, and it can be especially difficult for senior managers who spent most of their careers working in more traditional development methodologies. By trying to speak the same language and demonstrating successful self-organization, teams can help senior management become agile. |
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Your Vacation Time Should Be Your Vacation Time Many people can’t take all the vacation time they’re entitled to. Some take it, but they're so constantly in contact that they might as well be in the office. Taking time off reduces stress, improves focus, and even increases productivity once you're back at work, so even if you can't travel, take your vacation time. |