Emotional Engagement at work: Difficult work environments are driving people away from organizations today

Enhancing CRM: Workflow vs Plug-ins:  Plug-ins can be executed either synchronously or asynchronously.   Workflows function in an asynchronous manner.

The Synchronous operation will modify the data stream as it is being saved to the database, which can introduce a delay in the user's experience, but will provide results back to the user in a quicker fashion.

Asynchronous operations will happen shortly after the data has been saved which will not impact the user, but which may result in a slight delay between the time the user saved the record and when the value will be updated.

Update: http://blogs.msdn.com/lezamax/archive/2008/04/02/plug-in-or-workflow.aspx

It’s Software, Not a Unicorn - Why Tools Won’t Solve Organizational Dysfunction: In truth, we create the poisons that pollute our projects. We call them emergencies, business priorities, contractual requirements, customer satisfaction issues, must haves…you name it. Whatever we call them, we cannot rely on software tools to protect us from ourselves. We must rely on ourselves. The cure for what ails our projects is, quite simply, discipline. We must discipline ourselves to abide by the few guidelines that Scrum and Agile development put forth in order to be effective. Not that this is shocking news for software developers. After all, how often does the development process actually have a fairy tale ending?

Motivation and Leadership Styles: Leadership style influence level of motivation. However, throughout a lifetime, man’s motivation is influenced by changing ambitions and/or leadership style he works under or socializes with. Command-and-control leadership drains off ambition while worker responsibility increases ambition.

1. Send a preparatory email to a new team member even before they get in. Give a brief overview about the kind of projects, technology etc..

0. Build Trust: The first step in getting started in any relation ship is to build trust. Especially when you are building a team from scratch there will be team members from different background. Some of them could be from your company and some of them could be from different company backgrounds. Its very important as a manager to build the trust.
1. Setup the First 1:1: I have learnt this from one of my favorite manager "Musthafa". Let the team members try to settle down things on their own for a week time, see how they are doing and setup the first 1:1. 1:1 is a great tool for managers.
   1. Share the information about Project, Group, Culture, how the team works, information about the customers etc… with the new member.
   2. Share the Vision
   3. Explain the Roles and Responsibilities and clearly define what you are expecting from the new team member.
   4. Ask the team member about his/her expectations towards the project and know more from the new member.
   5. Get the Buy-in from the Team member.
   6. Define how to follow up

2. Have Buddy Programs where someone from the team can be a buddy for the new team member. Not everyone will be comfortable speaking to managers and there will be scenarios where the new member has to find out information about how - to do things (Especially if they are from some other place).
3. Speak to the team members very frequently… not just during 1:1's.
4. Provide Feedback. Team members need to know how they are doing. Setup 1:1's every month. I prefer having 1:1's with my team members every 3 weeks.
5. Appreciate and Recognize team members.
6. Finally, Promote Participation. Participative management always helps.

Refer to this interesting article "A Leaner Start: Reducing Team Setup Times". This article discusses the strategies to Reduce team setup times.

Happy Employees = Happy Customers !!!

Happy Team Building!!!! :)

An Interestring from the book "Becoming Agile".

Migrating to Agile is more than changing your process. It also requires a change in culture. For most companies changing culture is the most difficult part. I believe this is true for several reasons. Here are a few:

• Whether successful or not, companies get comfortable with their processes.
• Many people still believe requirements change because they are poorly managed. They cannot comprehend a process that embraces change.
• Most managers have been trained to control events. Empowering the development team to deliver and own the project is not intuitive or logical.
• Job protection. In larger companies whole groups are dedicated to regulating and overseeing projects. An Agile team has less need for these services.

Via: http://www.infoq.com/news/2008/04/smith-creating-agile-environment

Orignial URL: http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=70

Interesting Post.

The article, What Every Baby Needs to Thrive, highlights eight steps every baby needs to thrive. For example, the first one is, "Show your love." What I have done is take this step and draw similarities to how this would apply to the success of a development team. This exercise can transcend outside of development teams to other teams, but this is a blog focused on engineering.
I have not altered the steps provided in the article. Each step and how they can be applied to a development team can be seen below.
Step 1. Show your love
How to Apply: Acknowledge them, give them praise, constructive criticism, tone of voice, genuinely care for their progress, listen to them, coach them, help them help themselves.
Step 2. Care for your child’s basic needs
How to Apply: Give them the knowledge and tools necessary to be successful, provide training opportunities for them to take advantage. Rest them, don’t just sprint them month after month without a break. A well rested employee is more productive. Reward them when they have done well, instruct them when they have not. Show them what it means to be a good developer. Provide a welcoming team atmosphere, lead the culture promoting it, and provide frequent feedback.
Step 3. Talk to your child
How to Apply: Communicate openly and frequently, listed and hear them, ask them how they are, what they are doing, learn how to help them.
Step 4. Read to your child
How to Apply: Present to them, demonstrate and show them what you know, teach them skills that they will learn to admire and achieve so they may help themselves.
Step 5. Stimulate all his senses
How to Apply: Give them a broad range of experiences, don’t just stick them in one technology or one facet of a project. Teach them all the parts of the project. See where there interests and skills develop. Groom them for future development in several areas.
Step 6. Encourage new challenges
How to Apply: Encourage them to raise their bar higher, step out of their comfort zone, teach a class, present a session, develop leadership skills. Teach them to teach others. Train the trainer.
Step 7. Take care of yourself
How to Apply: Lead by example, if you are not well rested (on top of your game), it becomes difficult to instill this sense amongst the team. Continue your education to grow and lead. Find time for yourself away from the team.
Step 8. Find good childcare
How to Apply: Develop a good team atmosphere. Who do you want your developers to emulate? Find mentors, get them training, pay for good speakers, find the right conventions. Encourage them to care for each other, to present to each other, to respect one another.

Original URL: http://elegantcode.com/2008/04/02/caring-for-the-team/