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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 Consequences of Project Delay An often overlooked and underappreciated aspect of project schedules is the consequences of delay on others. Due dates and commitments sometimes matter more than they appear. Knowing the larger context of your project can help you prioritize how you undertake it, consider options, and improve problem-solving. |
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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. |
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Are Most Leaders Liars? With scandals hitting the headlines on a regular basis, it seems foolhardy to assume honesty among those in charge. As a result, leaders who truly are honest need to work harder to display evidence of the fact in order to gain the trust of those who look to them. Developing a culture of honesty is crucial. |
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The Tester as Product Owner A lot of the bugs we find were never thought through in the first place. Many of these situations are preventable, yet instead of prevention, we get the tester playing the role of the product owner—and playing it late. Why is it that we never have time to do it right, but we always have time to do it over? |
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How Do We Sell the “Test Early” Principle? Many companies are striving to test earlier. But goals and principles are always easier to articulate than they are to implement. Often, this is less of a technical issue and much more an organizational, change management challenge. Michael Sowers talks about the steps to take to make things happen. |