With limiting resources and having to do more with less it's important that managers inspire their employees to "think out of the box". This phrase has been used for quite awhile and now it may mean more than just a buzz phrase. Entrepreneur.com has...

I read this line on businessballs.com and it made me really stop and think. Often times when changes happens, or comes down the pipe it definitely involves people, but is it involving the right people, while imposing the wrong ones. In a perfect world...

We've gotten some really good feedback both positively and negatively on the issue of retention during a recession. This is not an easy time for anyone, but there is always something to be learned. Like my father and grandfather used to tell me, "Tough...

CIO Insight has a great slide show illustrating ways to retain your talent during this insane economy. With budgetary cut backs and other cost saving measures being put into practice it's easy to lose sight of a company's most improtant assest-it's people...

As companies tighten up and work groups/teams scale down in size we may find ourselves being asked to take on new roles and responsibilities. Some of us have even taken this economic downswing as an opportunity to stretch ourselves and take on new projects...

I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing about the economy, layoffs and the stimulus package especially since we are bombarded by this news almost everyday. However, this is the current reality we are all living in and we must continue to be productive....

Every manager and employee engages in some form of career discussion. There are many ways this takes place and they vary by company. We posed this question to Kevin S, Principle Program Manager, and he believes in the 1:1 method. What have you seen...

I come across quite a few management related blogs, books, article, etc...and I found this content from one of the many email lists I'm on. I read it and thought it would be appropriate to share out. I'm interested to hear feedback on this method and...

It's been said many times, "that the only constant is change, " and Heraclitus would agree considering his doctrine of change being central to the universe. Everything changes and this means you may be a new manager, or you will be managing a new ...

I would like to thank Rajesh who is a Principle Development Manager at Microsoft for providing the content for this entry. He poses a great question and scenario that I'm sure quite a few TechLeaders deal with on a daily basis. There is a soft skills...

It more than obvious that our economy is in trouble and hopefully will we see an upswing in the second half of the year. Unfortunately, many of you have had to be the bearer of bad news and let employees go, or you have been let go yourself. This weakened...

Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP) are definitely very aligned. In fact, if you walked in on a team doing one of these processes you might have hard time quickly deciding whether you had walked in on a Scrum team or an XP team. The differences are often...

Does your project and leadership fail due these process mistakes? How do you combat these? What do you feel the #1 reason for failed projects is? (Which might come back to you, the manager, since you were leading the charge) Overly optimistic...

While doing content research for TechLeaders I came across an interesting list that describes some of the people-related classic mistakes in the software industry. The article was broken down into people, process, product and technology. Over the next...

Empower and Grow individuals! I am very passionate about this. I fully believe that everything else I am responsible for takes a back seat to making sure the people on my team can be successful and move forward in their careers. That those individuals...

This is the last installment of our 5 part series on managing remote employees. Managing remote employees is not easy and just like being a remote employee it is not meant for everyone. Hopefully through this series you have been able to take away some...

Goal: Establish strong relationships to fuel motivation, collaboration, and productivity. Recent research from the Gallup Organization’s Tom Rath shows that people with strong friendships at work are more motivated, loyal, collaborative, and productive...

Happy New Year and welcome back from the holidays. We are going to pick up from where we left off and discuss tactics and advice for managing remote employees. Communication is extremely important when working on a team and having remotes makes it that...

The traditional office and the 9-5 days have morphed into home offices, teams in different countries and no standard set hours. Some employees flourish in a remote role, while others are just not cut out for it. It takes a certain type of individual to...

Due to the globalization of today's business managers are faced with having to manage remote employees. This can be a daunting task especially if you are new to managing people let alone remote folks as well. Throughout the next couple of weeks TechLeaders...

With various reorg’s, promotions and people transferring across organizations we might find ourselves working for a new manager. There is often a sense of excitement and trepidation as everyone gathers for the first team meeting to find out who’s leading...

When you think about work-life effectiveness, do you think of it as a destination, or as a continuous journey of juggling priorities? Does it mean working long hours during the week so that you have all weekend off for adventures? Or do you work a 9-5...

Very interesting question and as a front line (M1) manager this can be challenging. I am a firm believe that everyone on the team needs to have a clear attachment to the Vision. I like to work both directions… from the bottom up and the top down. First...

There is an obvious theme of uncertainty and possibly a feeling of self preservation for most during these tough economic times. Building off of yesterday's post one of the TechLeader contributors sent me an article from Seattlepi.com. The article speaks...

In today's economic cycle many people, employees, managers, (the list goes on) are fearful in whether their projects will be cut, or they will lose their jobs. I've spoken to several of my friends and colleagues around the industry and it seems as...