Articles

Myth 26: It’s Fine to Micromanage Management Myth 26: It’s Fine to Micromanage

Johanna Rothman explains the challenges and pitfalls of micromanagement. Sometimes, managers micromanage when they need information. In that case, it’s easier to create an information radiator rather than have the manager come running to you every thirty minutes.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Managing Capital Project Interoperability Managing Capital Project Interoperability

Capital projects inherently involve integrating the work of numerous subcontractors for the on-time delivery of hundreds of facility systems and millions of project deliverables. If your company is involved in any of the lifecycle stages of a process facility, this article will help you learn some of the current pitfalls.

David Lawton's picture David Lawton
Combating Learned Complacency to Reduce Systems Glitches Combating Learned Complacency to Reduce Systems Glitches

Leslie Sachs writes on how employees in many companies have essentially learned to no longer raise their concerns because there is no one willing to listen, and—even worse—they may have suffered consequences in the past for being the bearer of bad tidings. Leslie refers to this phenomenon as learned complacency.

Leslie  Sachs's picture Leslie Sachs
In a Flat World There Are Many Potholes

Imagine that you are the project manager of a software delivery program. Say someone on your team has been stumped by a problem for numerous hours and needs to resolve this "show stopper" to move to the next delivery phase of the project. You have called an emergency meeting and gathered a group of analysts, architects, software developers, and testers in a room for you all to work towards solving the issue. What do you do? David Lipien and Nicolas Concha explain how to handle this stressful situation as well as the lessons to be learned.

David Lipien's picture David Lipien
Last Month’s Pragmatic Manager Posted: What is Okay to Discuss

I wrote the first of a three-part series about looking at culture when you hire people last month. I posted that Pragmatic Manager, Your Culture: What is Okay for You to Discuss? and forgot to tell you. If you are on my email list, you received today’s Pragmatic Manager about what the organization values and rewards. Next up is how people treat each other.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Give Positive Feedback Before Negative? Maybe Not

Many people are familiar with the build-break-build method of starting with positive feedback, then the negative, and then more positive. But is that the most effective way to convey your compliments and criticism? Recent research has been done to determine the most effective, and polite method.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
Reaching a Shared Understanding

Great things can come from teams that collaborate on projects, but reaching a shared understanding isn't always an easy task. With a variety of backgrounds and opinions, team members often face difficulty in coming to agreement. We looked into the causes for these roadblocks, and how to avoid them.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
The Power of “Pull” Conversations

My team has been looking for ways to make sure we understand what our business stakeholders really want from each software feature that we develop. We felt that we had to solve a basic communication problem but didn’t know how to approach that.

Lisa Crispin's picture Lisa Crispin
Uncertainty about Uncertainty

Uncertainty doesn't have to be a bad thing, but many say they'd rather know there were definitely problems coming, rather than be uncertain about whether there were or not. What do you prefer? Do you spend valuable time trying to prevent uncertainty?

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
Staying True to CM in Small Efforts CM for Small Teams: Staying True to CM in Small Efforts

Implementing configuration management in small teams presents a distinct set of challenges. Your ability to “right size” the effort will go a long way in how successful you are. Find out what questions to ask before you get started.

Joe Townsend's picture Joe Townsend

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