Ok, so you’re all nodding your heads saying, “JR, why wouldn’t I ask about what’s important? Do you think I’m an idiot?” No. You are absolutely not an idiot. You may not remember to ask about everything that *is* important. A colleague on Jerry Weinberg’s Shape forum was discussing a problem she had with a […]
Auditions are an interviewing technique that lets you watch the candidate in action. Actors audition for parts, why shouldn’t technical people audition for their work?Here’s how to develop an audition: Define the behaviors you want to see in an audition. You can’t see everything about a person, just a 15-30 minute snippet, so define the
I talked to a project manager recently who was so busy fussing with the schedule (WBS) that he didn’t have time to make decisions on the project. He was a project administrator, not a project manager. If you’re working on a difficult and complex project, spend time on the schedule. You need to review
If you’re looking for a job, make sure you describe the benefits of your work to potential employees. Especially if you’ve been performing staff work such as QA or process improvement, try to quantify the benefits of your work. Here are some examples: Instead of saying “Led process definition” consider: Managed process improvement project, leading
Have one or two open reqs? Want to make the most of them? Follow these steps: Define the job. Don’t create a laundry list of tools and technology. Create a set of requirements for the position: Who will the person interact with, and how What the person needs to know about the product domain
How much time should your project spend on development vs. time on quality? I’ve received a bunch of email over the past year asking me how much time a project should allocate to development and how much to quality. To me, that’s a funny question, because I think of quality as integrated with development. So,
If you’re like me, you work with people all over the world, never mind all over the country. I generally ask, “When is a good time to call?” before I call someone. However, some people don’t remember to ask. Or, they may remember to ask, but then forget to think about the time when
Many companies have automated spam filters. This is a Good Thing. However, they look for certain words that have been co-opted by the pornography industry, such as Xtreme Programming (XP) and a cum laude notation on a degree. It’s not a bad thing to look for spam and remove it. It is a bad
Many of the project schedules I review contain milestone completions on Fridays and new task or phase beginnings on Mondays. With a Friday or Monday milestone, what you’re really saying is that people can work overtime all week and all weekend to make the Friday milestone, so they won’t be late for the Monday start.
by Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published in Software Development, January 2003. When the avalanche of work piles up past your eyebrows, sending for a St. Bernard won’t help. Ask yourself six crucial questions—and use the answers to dig out of trouble. Part 1 of 2. Raul, a CIO, arrives at work at 7:45. Between