The Ambiguous Sounds of Silence: Why You Should Ask for InputSilence may not be golden when members of a team are trying to reach agreement, resolve an issue, or make a decision. In this setting, silence is often taken to mean that those who haven’t voiced an opinion approve of the matter under discussion—yet they may very well not. You should make sure.
I Don’t Sprint, I Stroll: A Non-Techie’s Journey to Product OwnershipWhat happens when the director of marketing becomes a product owner for some of her company's web properties? She gets a crash course on the real meaning of agile development and her role in it all—and a newfound respect for the people who work in software engineering every day.
Signs of an Ineffective Project ManagerIneffective project managers take many forms. Sometimes the PM simply lacks the knowledge or training to do what the job calls for. Sometimes he is eager to please, so he gives ambitious timelines or says yes to every client request. But then, some PMs are just bad. Learn to recognize some signs.
Agile Teams Can Learn a Lot from the World CupIt might not seem apparent at first, but there are more than a handful of similarities between agile teams and those football/soccer teams representing their respective countries in the World Cup. How teams are built, their objectives, and on-the-fly changes are all facets that tie both together.
Turning to the Turing Test for AgileWhat if there were some kind of a Turing Test for agile teams? A test that could separate those who are just mechanically following the process and those who are emoting the agile essence? This article explores that possibility.
Tips for Improving Your Geographically Distributed Agile TeamMany people on agile teams have at least one person who is not collocated. Those on collocated teams indicate that more of their projects are successful; those on far-located teams have the highest number of challenged projects. What can you do if you're part of a geographically distributed team?
Praise—and How to Give It RightGenuine praise can do many positive things for the workplace, such as rewarding work well done, raising self-esteem, boosting morale, and increasing productivity. Even so, it's possible to overdo it or even give praise the wrong way. Read on for tips on the best ways to give praise in the workplace.
Dysfunctional DevOpsDevOps is a set of principles and practices that help teams, including development and operations, to communicate and collaborate more effectively. But DevOps also has a dark side, and some dysfunctional behaviors and misunderstandings can keep organizations from implementing these best practices.
