I'm honored to have a guest post on Sources of Insight from Dr. Rick Kirschner (aka Dr.K) on Top 10 Lessons in Interpersonal Skills. Dr. K is the best selling author of Dealing with People You Can't Stand.   I think that communication skills improve your effectiveness in just about any situation.  I find this is especially true in software development given how much of the work is about collaboration, teamwork, and getting things done with other people.  You can luck into communication success or you can learn key skills.  Dr. K does a great job of giving actionable, prescriptive advice for bringing out the best in people.

Here's a summary of the top 10 lessons in interpersonal skills:

• Lesson #1: Make Useful Assumptions
• Lesson #2 Assume Positive Intent
• Lesson #3: Know What You Want
• Lesson #4: Meet People Where They Are
• Lesson #5: Listen To Go Deep
• Lesson #6: Choose Your Words Carefully
• Lesson #7: Relationships Are About Perception
• Lesson #8: Project and Expect The Best
• Lesson #9: Keep Your Wits About You
• Lesson #10: Create Change In Stages

Read Top 10 Lessons on Interpersonal Skills for more on these lessons.

I posted slides on how we do Customer Connected Engineering at patterns & practices to Shaping Software.  Customers Connected Engineering (CCE) is how we engage customers throughout our product development. We formally engage customers during the planning, development, and release of our deliverables to help make sure our deliverables are customer-driven.  Customers supply the scenarios, help prioritize, and provide feedback helping reduce the gap between what we build and what customers actually need.  It's effectively a prosumer model where the producer pairs with the consumers to improve the results.

Find out more about Customer Connected Engineering including key activities and guiding principles.

I added a set of my favorite motivation quotes to Sources of Insight.   You never know where you might find just the inspiration you need.