Software Best Practices

What vital element of business communication is the most forgotten? Discovering what hasn't been said. Marianne, Jamshid, Johanna, and Dave are participants in a project retrospective for the CRM system. Lan, the retrospective leader, asks the group to brainstorm the question, "What problems...

Twenty percent of the participants arrive late to the weekly meeting you lead. What do I recommend you do? It depends. Do you arrive late? If you do, I recommend that you change your behavior. Participants respond to leadership cues. You are enabling participants to excuse their behavior when you demonstrate...

A high signal to noise ratio will help you have an effective conversation. I have noticed that the words "I don't disagree" (IDD) reduces the signal to noise ratio of a conversation. What does IDD mean? What do I recommend if you are in the habit of saying IDD? What do I recommend if you...

Managers who like to be in control have a predictable reaction to their organization grappling with a change which creates chaos—they want it to stop. When? Now, right now. What happens if management decides to short-circuit chaos with a magical solution? What happens if management accepts chaos as a...

I argued in my first post about stand-up meetings that the "right" participants were the key to the success of a meeting rather than whether the participants were standing up or sitting down. Despite my dislike for the stand-up component, I did mention in my first post that there are components...

Stand up meetings are popular in software development organizations now. What makes a stand-up meeting more effective than a traditional meeting to socialize status information? Nothing. The effectiveness of a stand-up meeting, like the traditional status meeting, depends on the participants. If you...

How many times have you heard a supplier assert that they offer a technique that is a “best practice?” What do they mean? How do you test whether a technique is a best practice? The words “best practice” is hyperbole used by suppliers to make a technique sound more attractive. That’s a harsh statement...

The social awkwardness of an extreme introvert—a loner—confounds most extroverts. Extroverts prefer using social interaction as a big part of the problem solving process while a loner prefers solving problems without social interaction. Can a loner be a contributing member on a collaborative team? Yes...

Has a member of your team become completely concerned about how something is done rather than whether it is done? Is it a problem when someone is completely focused is on how something is done? What do you do about it? A good starting point for exploring these questions is a quote from John Gardner’s...

What actions are available to you and every other member of your team to help a new teammate become a productive member of the team? Move over. Give them space to operate. Encourage their participation. Provide advice when asked. Refrain from providing advice when not asked. If you can't take these...