culture

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Management Myth 27: We Can Take Hiring Shortcuts

Summary: Hiring is difficult to do well, Johanna Rothman writes in her latest management myth piece. Because everyone who is looking to hire has a job, they think they know how to hire. But it’s not easy. You want to hire the best people you can who fit the team and the organization. “Hi, Tricia, […]

management, MPD

Performance Reviews Are Not Useful; Feedback Is

I have received some wonderful feedback from some of my managers. Back when I was a young engineer, one of my managers gave me the feedback at an annual review that I didn’t quite finish my projects. “Oh, you mean on the project I just finished last week?” I wanted to know if it was

cultural fit, HTP

When is “Hiring for Culture” Discrimination?

There’s a great post, Please: Stop “Hiring to Cultural Fit”. Laura Bergells explains the problems of what she sees when people supposedly hire for cultural fit: They consider for personality first They consider tech and business skills second If you read this blog on a regular basis, you are shaking your head in disbelief. That’s

MPD, project management

Creating a Healthy Project Culture

Glen Alleman seems to have nailed it, with Alert – Was Poor PM the Root Cause of ACA Difficulties? Among the many problems: No overall program manager No way for stakeholders to know what Done looks like (no release criteria) No replanning I’m a huge fan of rolling wave planning.  (Read Starting with Rolling Wave

MPD, project management

What is the Future of Work?

I just read Scott Berkun’s The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work. For me, it was a mixed read. Yes, you can make a totally distributed team work. What you need to do: Make all of the work visible Keep everyone focused on one project at a time Keep all of the

HTP

HR Needs to Learn the Business

I just read Social Media is Paralyzing HR. (Hat tip to John Sumser, @JohnSumser who tweeted it.) I sympathize with Paul, who is sympathizing with HR. Let me tell you what I see in too many small to medium size companies: One lonely HR person who is trying to do: All the recruiting for all

HTP, interview

Interview Questions for Program Managers

One of the top posts on this site is Interview Questions for Project Managers. I bet some of you are interviewing for program managers, too. Here’s a little guidance for how to interview for those jobs. A program manager is a strategic job. Remember, a program is a collection of projects where the business value

HTP, Recruiter

Series on Agile Recruiting Posted on Dice

I just completed writing a series on agile recruiting for Dice.com. Here are all the posts: What is Agile Anyway? How Tech Teams Manage Workload in Agile What the Heck is Kanban? Agile Culture and Recruiting–Hiring Geeks That Fit Five W’s of Agile Recruiting I hope you enjoy these posts. Tell all your recruiter friends!

HTP, job analysis

Are You Overspecifying Your Open Jobs?

Are too many job descriptions over-specifying what they need? I read these two posts: Shooting Ourselves in the Foot Isn’t an Effective Engagement Strategy and Top 3 Hiring Mistakes to Avoid. Both posts discuss poor job analysis. This is the issue of How Many Essential Skills Do You Require? Over-specifying a job is bad management and

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