management

management, MPD

Never Talk About Other People’s Performance

A colleague asked how to deal with this situation. “It’s clear Brad is being a jerk. I’m working with him on how to be less of a jerk. But Susie asked me today when I’m going to do something about the problem–nothing she says seems to make a dent in his behavior. What can I […]

management, MPD

Why Do Some Testers/Test Managers Have a Siege Mentality?

  I facilitated a management problem-solving session at the STARWest conference yesterday. When I was debriefing the activities, one participant said he’s met a bunch of testers and test managers who had a “siege” mentality. He was surprised by that. I’m still surprised when I meet people like that. I sometimes see developers who feel

MPD, workshop

Managing One-on-One

  Since Esther and I started advertising our One-on-One workshop, I’ve been hearing wonderful stories about how managers and team members have benefited from one-on-one meetings. Here are some: A tester said he’d been ready to give notice when his manager started doing regular one-on-ones. WIth the advent of one-on-ones, his relationship with his manager

MPD

Are Your Managers Part of Your Team?

  I was talking with Don Gray this morning about our work on the AYE Conference. I’m the marketing chair, he’s the program chair. We were discussing the sessions we have so far, and I said we could put one of the management sessions into the team effectiveness track. “No,” Don said, “Managers aren’t part

MPD, workshop

Announcement: Managing One-on-One Workshop

  A couple of weeks ago in Positive Results With One-on-Ones, I let you know Esther and I would be running public workshops soon. We are finally ready to announce the workshop. July 10-12, 2006, in Minneapolis, we will hold the first Behind Closed Doors: Managing One-on-One workshop. Interested? Here’s the flyer (PDF). I’ll be

MPD

Positive Results With One-on-ones

  Via Keith’s A Few Good Posts by Ed Gibbs, I read Better Feedback Loops With One on Ones. Sounds like one-on-ones are helping Ed and his team. Last week, I had dinner with a manager (also using Scrum) who has had great results with one-on-ones. It’s always nice to hear positive news about a

MPD, portfolio management

Courage Required

I recently spoke with a manager who had too many projects and not enough people. (Sound familiar?) I suggested he organize two kinds of project portfolios. The first is organized with the weeks across the top and the people down the side, explaining which people are doing what in each week, and how much work

Interview, MPD

O’Reilly’s Pick of the Week

  This is way cool: Roy‘s interview with me, “Hiring Techies and Nerds” is O’Reilly’s Pick of the Week. The first part of the interview is about hiring issues. But the last 20 minutes or so is about management and project management. If you haven’t heard it already, enjoy!

MPD, project management

Responsibility vs. Authority

At a recent project management workshop, a participant asked was “I have responsibility but not enough authority to do what I need to do as a PM. How do I get things done?” I can’t remember feeling as if I didn’t have the authority to get things done as a PM. I decided long ago,

management, MPD

Flipping the Bozo Bit Back

  A new-to-a-company manager explained this situation to me recently. She’d overheard something like this recently from one of her team members. So you’re working in a place where it seems as if all the managers are Bozos. But you like the work and you like the people, and you know nothing lasts forever. After

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