Recent Articles
Article by Dave Gelperin |
Comments (7) |
Nov 22 2003 - 3:35pm Organizations that don't expect and encourage about 20 percent of their projects to be stopped may either be wasting resources or implementing only the safest bets. Denying reality or playing it safe may be the riskiest strategy of all according to industry authority David Gelperin. Read More
Article by Esther Derby |
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Oct 31 2003 - 6:57pm Jessica and Sean have just attended the company spirit meeting, and they're feeling a little dispirited. What does it really take to build morale? The answer is both simple and difficult. Learn the ingredients of morale as identified by a group of experts--a project team that may be a lot like yours. Read More
Article by Eileen Strider |
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Oct 23 2003 - 1:04pm Tackling communication issues at the start can set a project up for success. Staying alert to communication issues during a project means keeping the lines open, clear, accurate, and helpful. Then when the deadline approaches, the schedule slips, or serious problems start cropping up, issues can be confronted much more smoothly and efficiently. In this column, Eileen discusses how human communication affects projects from start to finish. Read More
Article by Sheryl Smith |
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Oct 9 2003 - 3:02pm Common practice says that software projects need documentation. But there's still something of a gap between the preaching and the practice. In small companies especially, managers may claim there isn't time to document, or that "Our project is different." Maybe some of these managers know something the rest of us don't know. Are there factors that might make a project exempt from documentation? I've thought of a few possibilities. Read More
Article by Lee Copeland |
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Oct 5 2003 - 12:12pm Over the years our industry has witnessed an explosion of maturity models. Last month I published a tongue-in-cheek column on this subject, "The Maturity Maturity Model™ (M3)." In this follow-up column, I hope to offer some actual constructive comments on the concept of maturity. For your reading pleasure, I included a list of thirty-four "Maturity Models" at the end. All thirty-four are real, including the "Broccoli Maturity Model." (You couldn't make this stuff up!) Read More
Article by Brian Marick |
Oct 1 2003 - 2:58pm If you find an article grating on you, if you think the author is clearly wrong-headed, I suggest you read it differently than you probably read most articles. Explicitly separate what the author implies you should believe from the actions she describes. Focus on her specific results and the actions that led to them. How, in your style of work could you adapt the author's actions to get your results? In this edition of Technically Speaking, Brian Marick explores this possibilty. Read More
Article by Naomi Karten |
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Sep 25 2003 - 5:11pm In their eagerness to embark on a new project, project teams sometimes overlook an essential aspect of their effort-building a relationship among team members, which will foster not just a successful project outcome, but also a satisfying work experience. Investing in relationship building is invariably less costly and time-consuming than recovering from the divisiveness and conflict that may result from its absence. And that's where team norms come in. Read More
Article by Elisabeth Hendrickson |
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Sep 4 2003 - 6:32pm We create lists to help us prioritize tasks and stay on schedule. Sometimes those lists help us accomplish those tasks faster. Sometimes those lists simply chain us to an archaic way of doing things. Having a "To Do" list is a good thing if you don't let it prevent you from thinking outside the box. In this week's column, Elisabeth explains why the agenda items that don't make the list can often be some of the most important. Read More
Article by Lee Copeland |
Comments (15) |
Sep 3 2003 - 6:52pm Over the years our industry has witnessed an explosion of maturity models. You can see a list of thirty-four of them at the end of this column. Unfortunately, until now, we have been lacking a maturity model to evaluate our own maturity-thus the need for the development of the "Maturity Maturity Model (M3)." Read More
Article by Esther Derby |
Comments (12) |
Aug 27 2003 - 4:44pm In my last column, I outlined some ideas for improving the quality of meetings for people who are responsible for the meeting. But what can you do if you have to attend other people's horrible meetings? Even if you can't stand up and take control, you can nudge the meeting in the right direction from where you sit. Now that you're on the edge of your seat, keep reading! Read More
