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Drawing Motivation for Software Development Teams from Unlikely Places What do football or a submarine command have to do with agile success? At first, you might say, "Nothing." But football coaches, submarine captains, and their teams all have to establish a clear vision, analyze and prepare, and manage risks and adapt. Metaphors from other fields can motivate agile teams. |
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How to Deal with an Underperforming Employee (without Making It Awkward) Sometimes, an employee's ability just falls short of what your team needs. Talking to an employee about his performance can be uncomfortable, but it doesn't need to be. You need to make sure they know what’s expected of them, what kind of improvements you’re seeking, and how you’ll gauge their improvements. |
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Who’s Responsible for What? Use a RACI Matrix to Keep It Straight As projects get larger and more complex, roles and responsibilities can become confusing. To clarify, teams can create a RACI matrix: a chart that shows who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed for any work product. Each role has a different level of authority, so everyone knows their duty. |
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Dealing with Know-It-Alls A know-it-all is a person who is always ready with an unsolicited opinion—and a lengthy one, at that. Being on the receiving end of a lecture on something you don't care about or an uninvited correction is tedious at best. Naomi Karten provides ways to deal with a coworker or superior who's a know-it-all. |
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The Risk of Negative Customer Experiences If people have a positive customer experience, they tell a few friends, but if they have a negative one, they tell everyone—and now that social media have made sharing so easy, no flaw, delay, or mistake seems too small to complain about. More than ever, it's important to create positive customer experiences. |
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Testers, Tech It Up! Become More Technically Competent As our world becomes more complex, the demand for technical testing expertise is going up. While there will always be a need for domain specialists, we also need just as many technical testing roles—particularly with programming skills. Mike Sowers has some ideas on developing additional technical expertise. |
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So You Want to Go to Mars? NASA Is Recruiting Astronauts Did watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens get you thinking about a career exploring the universe? NASA is on a mission to Mars and is currently accepting applications for the next class of astronauts through February 18, 2016. |
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The Potential Problem with Hiring Smart People Believe it or not, intelligence is not always an asset; it can breed hubris, excessive self-confidence, and a superiority complex. Therefore, when hiring, it's important to seek people who exhibit humility about their abilities, and to weed out the know-it-alls who want to be the one-stop decision-maker. |
