Latest Blog Posts
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How Do I Find An IT Solution?
This post starts a series to walk one through the questions we must answer in finding solutions for business problems. We will focus on IT solutions because so many challenges are best solved through automation. That is where software applications shine. However, there will be situations where your best solution…
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Thank You For Your Business – Customer Appreciation Tips
Each year we enter a season of giving and thankfulness as it winds down. One of the things that come out of this is a sort of season of customer appreciation. The challenge in this attitude is finding the best way to show our appreciation without coming off too sappy. We…
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Setting Expectations and Project Success – Three Easy Steps for Improvement
We all can use more ways to achieve project success or at least increase its likelihood. Of course, there are many steps we can take in this effort. However, few provide the impact of setting expectations and managing them throughout the process. Here are some ways to help you do precisely…
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Coding While Impaired – A Reason For Project Failure Rates
Every so often you will come across a comparison of drunk driving to trying the same action while sleep deprived. This usually is surprising to spectators when the lack of sleep is shown to be as bad as consuming a lot of alcohol. Although developers tend to be comfortable drinking…
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Finding A Good Scrum Master
It is hard to believe many readers have not heard of the Agile approach to development. This methodology is a hot approach, and all of the players are in demand. Of these roles, the most in-demand appears to be the scrum master. The challenge in filling this role is often figuring out…
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Use Research Time To Improve Your Team
The schedule of every IT team I have worked with is full. There is always a steady stream of tasks to be done and technical debt to address. This makes it easy for a manager or team lead to keep the whole team working at 100% (or more) day in…
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Hours, Effort, Completed Tasks and Measuring Developer Value
It may be the line of business I am in (consulting), but it seems like finding how to evaluate developers is a common challenge. There are discussions and even arguments about developer value that impact employees, projects, and even companies. Although I do not have some divine insight to provide,…
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Hiring For The Long Term
When you want to build a team you need to hire for the long-term. This is a different process from finding just a match of skills to needs.
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Building a Team For The Long Term – Keeping Core Staff
There are so many factors that go into a successful development team that it can seem like an impossible task. The technology and requirements seem to change daily, and there are always options for staff to move to another job. All that being said, there is a considerable value in keeping…
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Keeping The Agile Development Approach Flexible and Increasing Velocity
The Agile development approach is a hot topic and has been for a while. Although it is adopted in a lot of shops and well-documented, there are still some issues with it. The way we implement the Agile approach can defeat the purpose of a flexible model that allows a…