Author name: Johanna

I help you identify and solve the problems that prevent you from releasing systems, hiring the right people, deciding which project to work on next. I take a pragmatic approach: what will work best for you, now? Some people call me a focuser. Some call me an accelerator. When I work with people, first we define our goal together. Typically, it's to get a better product out the door faster. I work with my clients to help managers figure out how to do the managing better, and how the technical contributors can contribute better, not to create a by-the-book system. I work with you, your staff, and your current product development practices. Together, we learn what works well for you and what doesn't. I believe in changing only what needs to be changed at the current time, to maximize your success. We work together to develop a blueprint for the future, and to build in capacity to recognize and implement change.

Agile Job Search, HTP

Possible Career Finder Tool for Job Seekers

I discovered this career finder tool. See What Career Should I Choose? There is a lovely chart. Here is how I walked myself through the chart. I plugged in Computer and Mathematical occupations and Management, figuring I would find me 🙂 I turned annotations to On. Then I moved the mouse around to see what

Books, MPD

Hiring Geeks That Fit Interview Posted on InfoQ

What’s the single biggest point of leverage you have in changing your team? It’s not the process. After the manager, it’s the people on your team. (Your manager is the single biggest point of leverage because of the political leverage the manager has.) This is why it is so important to become great at hiring

HTP

Spreading Blogger Love from SHRM 2013

I had a chance to hang at the Blogger Lounge at SHRM this week, courtesy of Dice.com. I’m used to participating in conferences. I speak at many conferences, keynoting at many of them. This conference was a different experience for me. I got to be in the Blogger’s Lounge, talking to bloggers, writing (attempting to,

hiring strategy, HTP

What Google Has Learned About How to Hire People

Have you read this New York Times article, In Head-Hunting, Big Data May Not Be Such a Big Deal? It’s an interview with Laszlo Bock, senior vice president of people operations at Google. There are several points that are critical for you to read: We looked at tens of thousands of interviews, and everyone who

management, MPD

Chess Pieces or Domain Expertise? Your Choice

Many years ago, I started a job as a contract manager, and it became clear I had a big problem. I had developers who knew one area of the code well. I had testers who knew not much of any area of the code well, even though they had worked for the organization for many

hiring strategy, HTP

Do We Have a War for Talent in Software?

I’m at the SHRM conference in Chicago this week, courtesy of Dice.com. I blog for them, and am working on an agile recruiting series. Watch for it, in the coming weeks. I read this piece, The War for STEM Talent is a Lie. I agree. Until we do all of these things: Hire the people

Articles

Management Myth 18: I Can Move People Like Chess Pieces

“Sally, I need you to stop testing on this project and move over to Dan’s project.” “Are you serious, Ben? I just got here a month ago. I just started to learn what’s going on. I finally have the trust of the team. I haven’t worked with these guys before. I found a nice, juicy

HTP, job analysis

How Many Essential Skills Are You Demanding in a Job?

When I taught that one-day workshop in Sweden, one of the questions we discussed was the number of essential skills to list in a job analysis, and by extension, the job description. Too few essential skills, and you don’t differentiate your position from anyone else’s. Too many, and you over-constrain the role. Surely, there must

management, MPD

Slides from Exploding Management Myths Posted

I gave a talk last week at Better Software/Agile Development, called Exploding Management Myths. This is my first talk based on some of my management myths. Yes, the ones I’ve been writing for the last 18 months. Yes, I have more in me 🙂 I have posted the slides and the audio from my talk

MPD

Slides and Audio from Let's Test Posted

I delivered a keynote at Let’s Test in Sweden last week, “Becoming a Kick-Ass Test Manager.” A lovely gentleman, Aleksis Tulonen, recorded the audio. Thank you, Aleksis! I attempted to marry the audio to the slides. I was not successful. However, the audio is up on slideshare. You can download the slides, page through them

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