4 Impediments to Nurturing a Feedback-Rich CultureBeing able to have open, candid conversations that fuel learning, growth, and improvement is critical to a team’s success, so it is important to look out for impediments that can get in the way of having a feedback-rich culture. Here are four common impediments to watch for, as well as behaviors you should nurture.
Fighting Key-Person Dependency Risk on Your TeamKey-person dependency risk is when only one person on your team possesses certain business-critical abilities or knowledge—so if that person leaves, you're in trouble. The first step of mitigating that risk is taking stock of your team members and their skills. Decide what's important, and train or hire accordingly.
Is Your Agile Team Taking Every Opportunity for Communication?Scrum events are well-defined points where team members communicate, but they shouldn't be the only times. If you’re not considering coding, tests, and the delivery process as opportunities for a conversation, you are missing an important chance to leverage individuals and interactions, as the Agile Manifesto states.
Tips for When You Have to Deliver Bad News at WorkDelivering bad news is rarely easy and never fun. But delaying and worrying often make it worse than it needs to be. Most people on the receiving end would prefer to hear bad news sooner rather than later, so instead of putting off the undesirable task, try some of these tips to deliver bad news as easily as possible.
Stress and Project Management: 5 Ways to Relieve Project PressureProject managers have many sources of stress. They are responsible for the performance of their team members, and often for whether a project is successful or fails. Keep the pressure off with these five tips for reducing your stress and ensure a smoothly functioning team.
The Role of the Test Manager in AgileIn traditional software processes, test managers are responsible for all management aspects of their team. Agile, however, is self-directed, so teams handle all the usual duties. Still, there is a role for test managers in agile, and it’s much more strategic than it was before. Here are the opportunities for the role.
Accelerate Your DevOps Transformation by Focusing on CultureThe toughest part of a DevOps transformation is the cultural changes required to make it successful, so to accelerate your transformation, figure out what they are as soon as possible. Explore your company's attitude toward innovation and the tools you have and how you use them, and it will make the change easier.
Creating an Environment That Encourages ResilienceCreating environments at work that acknowledge that failures will happen—and supporting the efforts team members make to recover—can help your organization become more effective. You cannot predict every challenge, but by embracing risk and providing opportunities for people to experiment, you can be more productive.
