Author: Tanmay Vora
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From my blogroll – link dump
One of my favorite stickyminds columnists Esther Derby writes about approaching a conflict in style. Some very useful insights here. Over at Clarrus Compedium we have good posts on “Comfortable Communication” in “People tips” section. Worth having a look. Esther Derby, on her weblog, writes about conducting better retrospectives in her post titled “Instead of […]
Tanmay Vora
Follow your instincts
There is always an internal conflict between what our gut feeling tell us and what our reasoning reveals. Normally, people choose to follow their reasoning, because its logical and probably supported by others around. I called up one of my team members and informed him that in he could have added a few more details […]
Tanmay Vora
Bug Reporting is an art
The work of a software tester on software projects is much like diagnosis doctors do. There is no scope for ambiguity when a doctor diagnoses. Before a doctor reveals his diagnosis, a lot of symptom analysis and mind work goes into it. A doctor has to be very precise in reporting the problems as he diagnoses. […]
Tanmay Vora
Workplace Detoxification
“When in doubt, throw it out” is what Peter Clarke says on Stickyminds.com whose company has embarked on a “lean office” initiative. Peter stresses on workplace cleanup by cleaning up junk periodically. Sure, we can be more effective if the physical desk and desktop are cleaner. Things become easy to access leading to greater efficiency. […]
Tanmay Vora
Should Project Managers be technical?
There has been an ongoing debate around on whether a software project manager should be technical. I have worked with project managers who are technical (a part of them is still a developer) and project managers who are non-technical (people who know how to get things done, and not exactly how to do it). However, […]
Tanmay Vora
Effective Communication on Projects
I am revisiting the topic of project communication again. Earlier, I wrote a post on “Quality of Project Communication” where I also summarized the aspects of effective communication. In software projects, teams spend over 50% of time in communication – communication on project start up, scope, requirements, design, development standards, issues, clarifications, reviews and so on. […]
Tanmay Vora
Managing Change in Software Projects
One of the most difficult portions of executing a software project is the user acceptance phase since a lot of changes in the application are suggested during UAT. Project managers might think "Why can't the stakeholders anticipate these things in requirements phase?" or "We are getting changes even after getting the prototypes approved." Fair. But […]
Tanmay Vora
Don’t test more, develop better
The following quote by Steve McConnell emphasizes on importance of processes in software projects. Poor quality results from weak process structure. Processes that enable teams to do "right" things first time not only improve the overall effectiveness but also improve the quality. Test results are just a measure of the overall product quality. Testing by itself does not improve software […]