The Risk Management Paradox
Payson Hall, Catalysis Group

The road to the financial ruin experienced on Wall Street during the past two years was paved with ineffective risk management strategies. While risk management theory continues to evolve, implementation of that theory often fails, especially when it comes to software. Though most executives readily acknowledge risk management is an essential practice for software projects, few can point to accomplishments and sustainability of their organization’s software risk efforts. Why is it so difficult to build and sustain effective software risk management? Do risk management’s intellectual demands exceed human capability? Are hidden forces thwarting our efforts to build and sustain good practices? Payson Hall describes the human challenges inherent in developing and sustaining an effective risk management program and why many risk management efforts become paradoxical victims of their own success. Most importantly, you’ll learn the systemic causes of the “boom and bust cycle” of software process improvement and what you can do to eliminate them.

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It's the People; It's Always the People
Johanna Rothman, Rothman Consulting Group, Inc.

Why do we insist on calling people “resources”? If software projects were a factory, people would be fungible—interchangeable equipment just like desks and computers. Because software development is highly creative work and not a manufacturing factory, we need to manage people as human beings, not as tasks or resources. Johanna Rothman describes how to find and develop the right people for your teams and projects—people who fit your culture, share your values, and will become integral parts of your team. She explores what skills make a team great and how great managers model those skills and reward people who use them to help the project. Find out how to empower your team, including protecting it from bad influences, making sure the team has what it needs, and helping team members learn to be accountable to each other. It’s the people working in teams—and not their managers—who make software projects successful.

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From Big Boss to Servant Leader
Esther Derby, Esther Derby Associates, Inc.

It's fashionable these days to decry the command and control style of management. Although self-organizing teams are all the rage, managers are still responsible for ensuring that teams perform the work that needs to be done and deliver value to the organization. If you are or have been the big boss, you don’t just wake up one morning as a different person. Esther Derby shares the servant leader way to think about management that moves from mandate and monitor to guide and support. She explains—and shows you how to avoid—the oscillating “too hands-off/too hands-on” pattern that often follows the decision to eschew command and control management in favor of a more collaborative, supporting model. Join Esther and take back new tools for forging a trust-based relationship between managers and the teams for which they are responsible. Learn how servant leaders empower their teams and teams of teams to do great things that help their organizations and themselves.

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