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Manage Project Problems without Getting Trapped by Catastrophic Thinking It would be short-sighted for any project manager not to consider the potential risks in the project and not to evaluate and continue re-evaluating what can go wrong. But there's a difference between planning for risk and falling victim to catastrophic thinking—focusing on unlikely or irrational worst-case scenarios. |
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Tester Contributions to Scrum Conversations Scrum is one of the most popular paths to agile, but testers sometimes join this framework as an afterthought and aren’t quite sure how they fit into the development flow. Scrum is more than answering three daily questions, and testers are in a position to understand the project better than anyone else on the team. |
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When You Should Get Your Project Sponsor Involved If there are decisions to be made on a project, the project manager may think he's helping by going directly to the customer to get her opinion. But project sponsors represent the organization, and they should be consulted before any significant decisions are made. Do you know when you should get the sponsor involved? |
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Who’s the Boss? Let Agile Teams Manage Themselves This idea of a team in charge of itself is difficult for many people to accept. Traditional practices condition us to wait for someone to tell us what to do, and managers are accustomed to controlling everyone’s work and knowing everyone’s status. But agile teams can manage themselves—in fact, it's essential to agile. |
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The Difference between Managers and Leaders You often hear managers referred to as leaders, but the two terms are not synonymous. Managers can be leaders, but not always, and there are people who don’t have formal management positions who are leaders. Understanding the difference can help people in both roles—and their team members—be more effective. |
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Speaking the Same Language in Software Testing Arguments in software testing often revolve around language. We use phrases like test case, exploratory testing, and regression testing every day, but we can’t be sure that you and I mean the same thing when we do. Increased communication and detailed discussions can help avoid misunderstandings. |
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Do Software Teams Need Managers with Technical Expertise? Soft skills matter in how effective a manager is, but what about technical skills? If you're a software engineer, how important is it to you for your manager to have the same background and to fully understand your job? Ideally they would, but in some cases, that role can be better filled by a technical lead. |
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3 Common Collaboration Problems for Teams Transitioning to Agile A shift toward working in smaller teams on tighter releases forces organizations adopting agile to rethink what successful delivery looks like. It can be a big change for those used to silos. Here are three key symptoms of agile teams that don’t have close collaboration—and some solutions you can implement to fix them. |