Posted by Robert Merrill on October 8, 2009 under Agile Methods, Software-Intensive Businesses | 
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If your firm hires or contracts programmers, and your business results depend on their work (and if your business results don’t, why did you hire or contract programmers?), this question is for you. Read more of this article »
Posted by Robert Merrill on September 21, 2009 under Software teams, Software-Intensive Businesses | Be the First to Comment
Think that your software team performs best under pressure?
Not if what a Harvard Business School professor learned about other knowledge workers—auditors and consultants—applies to programmers, too.
In Feeling the Heat: The Effects of Performance Pressure on Teams’ Knowledge Use and Performance, Heidi Gardner explains that the pressure triggers “threat rigidity,” and causes “reduced cognitive processing.” Teams under pressure are also more likely to defer to “high-status” team members, rather than make full use of those with the most relevant, specific expertise.
Prof. Gardner’s research involved 72 teams of management consultants and auditors across twenty regional offices of a Big Four firm.
Leading a software-intensive business means overseeing some high-stakes projects–there’s no way around it. But don’t assume that the people doing the work will respond to the pressure the way you do.
Posted by Robert Merrill on June 20, 2009 under Agile Methods, Software-Intensive Businesses | Be the First to Comment
From the CUES Skybox, I read,
In 2009, marketing and technology are inseparable; however, within today’s credit union org chart, marketing and technology are completely separate.
This isn’t just true of credit unions, and it isn’t just true of marketing. In today’s increasingly software-intensive businesses in many industries, business and technology are inseparable. But the org chart seldom reflects it yet. Read more of this article »
