© 2005 Johanna Rothman. This column originally appeared on Stickyminds.com Summary: Every manager has a story to tell. Find out how one management professional tackles a fictional dilemma. The story may be made up, but the solutions are tried and true. In this installment, Johanna Rothman recounts the tale of a wayward project rescued by a […]
© 2005 Johanna Rothman. If your agile projects are like most of the projects I’ve encountered, they started because a bunch of people already in your organization decided they needed to use agile techniques to be successful. Those projects have been successful, and now it’s time to hire more people. Now there’s an even more
© 2005 Johanna Rothman. Your new hire has just come on board. Now it’s time to integrate him into your business as quickly as possible. You’ve just hired a new person. You’re fully staffed, so now you can pay attention to the work, not more hiring. But how do you bring this person up to
When I was in Israel earlier this month, Roy Osherove interviewed me. The interview is hosted at IT Conversations. Roy asked questions about why I wrote the hiring book, and what people would get out of it. We also spoke about managing projects and managing people, including the biggest mistake I ever made as a
I’m excited to announce that Roy Osherove’s interview with me is now posted on IT Conversations. Here’s the link to the interview. Roy interviewed me about the hiring book, and of course we segued into project management and management issues. Enjoy!
We’re teaching my older daughter to drive. She’s had her permit since late August, and we try to make sure she drives 2-4 hours/week. In reality, that’s not a lot of driving. Just commuting to work most likely takes you 5 hours/week. But this past weekend, my daughter drove back from our ski weekend in
In Greg’s provocative comment, he says, “The idea that contributor initiatives are a drag on an organization speaks more to the insecurity of the management than to its skills.” I’ve been noodling that comment since I received it. I agree with Greg that some managers are insecure enough to insist that they make all
If you’ve hired new people or transferred people into your group, you know that they’re not immediately productive when they start. If you’re lucky, they start to be useful in a month, but you most likely spend closer to six months or even a year before they raise the entire group’s productivity. One technique for
Take a look at Ask My Advice. If you’re hiring a senior manager, it’s difficult to imagine not using a recruiter. But the recruiter fees can be a heavy tax to pay. But, take A (Anthony?)’s advice: Ask why someone would want to work at your company Negotiate with a smaller recruiting firm for a
Read The Graphing Calculator Story. (Thank you to Obie Fernandez for finding this gem. Some ideas that stood out for me: The secret to programming is not intelligence, though of course that helps. It is not hard work or experience, though they help, too. The secret to programming is having smart friends. …he told