InfoQ Homepage Social Skills Content on InfoQ
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How Testers Can Contribute to Product Definition
Utilizing the tester’s feedback during product definition and design is valuable for the business. Listening to the organization's needs, understanding the business goals, and customizing the test process by incorporating different skills and practices is one way testing can begin while the product is still "on paper".
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Engaging All Generations with Adaptable Reward and Recognition Systems
Reward and recognition systems should be adaptable, agile, and take contexts into consideration. All generations want three things - to be respected, rewarded and recognised for their work. The motivation and the form factor of the rewards are what differ for the generations. You need to be creative and keep reward and recognition systems fresh, and tailor them to teams.
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Developing Testing Skills outside of Working Hours
Gamifying your way of testing, joining online testing communities of practice, and virtual traveling; these are examples of activities you can do outside of working hours that can make you a better tester. You can practice continuous learning with other testers in the world, and then implement things you learned at your workplace and share them with your team to improve ways of testing.
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Growing Personal and Organisational Courage
Courage is vital for organisations if they want to thrive in today’s complex world as it will create the right conditions for the highest possible levels of creativity, adaptability and productivity. We all have the power to lead with courage, no matter what our role is.
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Taking Advantage of Attitudes for Building Products
Attitudes like cynicism, skepticism and optimism impact how we develop products. Being aware of attitude matters, as it can block development or lead to building the wrong product. InfoQ interviewed Gwen Diagram about cynicism, skepticism, and optimism, the impact developers can have, and dealing with attitudes in teams.
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Spotting and Calling Out Micro-Inequities
Micro inequities, small events based on subtle unintentional biases, are pervasive and can lead to discriminatory behaviour, both negative and positive, argued Coral Movasseli in her session at Women in Tech Dublin 2019. The good news is that behaviour containing micro-inequities is malleable through counter-stereotypic training, intergroup contact, and by taking the perspective of others.
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The Tech Coach Strikes Back: The Value of Mentoring and Mob Programming
Technical coaching is all about helping developers grow by finding ways to increase their technical excellence and to work with softer skills, like the ability to be able to communicate and listen to other developers, argued Tobias Modig at GrowIT 2018. The softer part is closely connected to traditional coaching, but it also comes with a tech twist.
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The Importance of Feedback for Skill Development and Careers
Feedback and continuous learning are crucial for personal and professional development. Non-technical skills like creative problem solving, critical thinking, and an entrepreneurial mindset are important to make progress in your career. You have to own your career direction and know what you ultimately want to be in order to decide on the next steps.
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Lean Organisations for the Digital Age
Lean IT should help to simplify and improve the way we create value for customers and develop better solutions for tomorrow. Organisations of the future will focus on horizontal product or service streams- and everything else, including experts and managers, is there to enable the front-line to do their work right-first-time-on-time, with no hassles.
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Courage to Become Agile
Being brave is about doing what is necessary, even when you are afraid. The single most important thing in agile is to inspect and dare to change things which aren't working. You can start with small experiments to find solutions, and if it turns they do not work, then you can stop them.
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Testing Challenges and Essential Skills for Testers
Complex AI systems with non-deterministic outcomes pose challenges for testers and programmers. Such systems will increasingly become normal in high-impact, high-risk applications, argues Fiona Charles; testers should increase their capacity for thinking and learning and develop a number of personal strengths such as courage and good judgement.
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Trust and Leadership - New Study Reiterates Connection
Being trustworthy is highly associated with leadership success. A recent study by the Ken Blanchard Companies re-iterates this connection, showing how trust of one's leader affects an individual's intentions toward the organization, including performing well, endorsing the company, and staying at the company.
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Cultivating Attention and Awareness in Teams
Technology makes it easier to collaborate, but also distracts us and can have negative consequences on the quality and content of our personal interactions. The mere presence of a cell phone can pull you away from a task and reduce your focus. An interview with Jeffery Hackert on cultivating attention, awareness and empathy when working in teams, and giving and receiving uninterrupted attention.
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Leadership Fit for the 21st Century: Intent-based Leadership
This third post and last in the series on leadership fit for the 21st century covers the keynote given by David Marquet at the evening seminar on leadership fit for the 21st century about intent-based leadership and the leader-leader model.
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Investigation of Project Management Skills
An investigation was done to find out which skills are desired by employers for project management positions and what it takes to be successful as a project manager. An interview about skills for managing projects, likability of bosses and leadership skills, why people feel miserable at work and what can be done to prevent it and the need for project managers when organizations migrate to agile.