When trying to complete a task, nothing is more frustrating than insufficient documentation of the process. Well, maybe the coworker who knows the process but is unwilling to help you can be just a tad more irritating. Unfortunately we run into these problems daily. People try to do more with less, which can severely stall or prevent completion of any task. In this week's column, Peter Clark recalls how he helped a coworker through similar hassles and what he did when others claimed that helping coworkers was "not their job."

One of the trends being discussed in business, among vendors and in the analyst community is the importance of automating the functions performed by IT. Growing demands by the business, tight budgets and compliance pressures together accentuate the need for IT to be more agile, efficient and responsive to business stakeholders.

Configuration Management always remains as one of the key contributing factors for a successful project execution. Software Quality guru, Watts Humphrey in “Managing the Software Process” states - “The most frustrating software problems are often caused by poor configuration management .” It therefore becomes inevitable for organizations to establish and maintain good configuration management practices.

As a professional project manager and amateur magician, Payson Hall assures us that effective project management isn't magic. A magician should never reveal how a magical effect is accomplished, but good managers do share the rationale behind their actions to help others become more self-sufficient. Demystifying effective management actions improves our ability to get results, allowing us to move on to new and different challenges. In this column, Payson explains the strongest management "trick" in his repertoire--the pursuit of unambiguous completion criteria. He also tells us that perfecting this trick takes a lot of practice, but it can serve us immediately and throughout our careers.