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Johanna’s Books
Monthly Archives: August 2003
Clogged Email: Choices and Consequences
The only good thing about this current spate of worms and viruses is that the spammers seem to sending less spam. Naively, a few months ago, I bemoaned the state of automated spam filters. Now I wish my mail program … Continue reading
Posted in thinking, user experience
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The People Factor in Software
Earlier this week, I was at the Rational User Conference. I was part of a dynamic panel, “The People Factor: Experts Weigh In On The Soft Side of Software.” One question was about how technical managers or project managers … Continue reading
Release Trains Help Manage Resources
Release trains, the technique of planning releases on a particular date several times a year (such as quarterly releases, on the 12th of the last month of the quarter), can help you manage your development and test staff as … Continue reading
What is Accountability?
Hal’s post about the meaning of project management got me thinking about accountability and how we use it in organizations. In the last three weeks, I’ve heard these definitions: “I want to know who’s accountable. Who do I get … Continue reading
Characteristics of Great Project Managers
In his comment to my previous post, Babu said, “unqualified project managers quickly sink a project which would’ve otherwise fared better.” (Keith, I’ll respond to your next comment in another post.) I’ve had the pleasure of meeting great project … Continue reading
Projects and Programs Require Managers
In addition to Frank Patrick’s excellent post of the Top 10 Sources of Project Failure, I have one more: No project manager. In the past week, I’ve received inquiries from people, asking how they can successfully complete projects or … Continue reading
Different People, Different Strengths
I’ve been musing over types of people on projects lately. This morning, my husband and I exhibited two common types: the serially, walk-through-the-whole-thing-systematically type (hubby), and the big picture, can’t-wait-to-see-it-put-together type (me). See this post for more information. Mark’s … Continue reading
Management Speak — or Admitting You Don’t Know is Hard to Do
Every so often, I hear managers say things they vowed they’d never say when they were technical contributors. (Yeah, parents do that too, but that’s not the topic today :-) Here are a few of my favorites with their … Continue reading
Competitive ‘Research’ About Overtime
It’s worth taking a quick listen to Commentary – Overtime’s not good for your health. The folks from University of Arkansas actually have data that says overtime is ok and doesn’t reduce productivity. Hah! I wonder where their data … Continue reading
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