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The Software Process and Measurement Cast 420 features our interview with John Hunter. John is a SPaMCAST alumni; John first appeared on SPaMCAST 226 to talk about why management matters. In this podcast John returns to discuss building capability in the organization and understanding the impact of variation. We also talked Deming and why people tack the word improvement on almost anything!

John’s Bio

John Hunter has served as an information technology program manager for the Office of Secretary of Defense Quality Management Office, the White House Military Office and the American Society for Engineering Education.

In 2013, he published his first book – Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability.

John created and operates one of the first, and still one of the most popular, management resources on the internet. He continues to aid managers in their efforts to improve their organizations with an emphasis on software development and leveraging the internet. His blog is widely recognized as a valuable resource for leaders and managers with a focus on improving the practice of management in organizations.

Re-Read Saturday News

In this week’s re-read of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass, Copyright 2002, 33rd printing), we tackle the sections titled Accountability, Individual Contributor, and The Talk. We are getting close to the end of the novel portion of the book but over the next few weeks, we have a number of ideas to extract from the book before we review the model.

(Remember to buy a copy and read along.) We are well over halfway through this book and I am considering re-reading Carol Dweck’s Mindset next. What are your thoughts?

Takeaways from this week include:

Team members hold other team members accountable.

Be aware of how you affect the people around you or suffer the consequences!

Try to step back and reduce the stress when confronted by tough negotiations.

Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads.

Next SPaMCAST

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 421 will feature our essay on vanity metrics. Vanity metrics make people feel good, but are less useful for making decisions about the business. The essay discusses how to recognize vanity metrics and the risks of falling prey to their allure.

We will also have columns form Steve Tendon with another chapter in his Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban, published by J Ross (buy a copy here). Finally, Gene Hughson will anchor the cast with an entry from his Form Follows Function Blog.

Shameless Ad for my book!

Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: “This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team.” Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.