Большое машиностроительное предприятие в Екатеринбурге и как там всё работает

A - The task requirements and goals might not be clear enough. If you are trying to get yourself to “plan for a project” or “write a book” then it’s hard to identify the next actionable items. Put some time aside to figure out what physical things you can do to move the project forward. Try break down the larger tasks into the smallest pieces possible. The goal of the project might need identifying, or the requirements fleshed out from a supervisor.

B - The task might exceed your current competency. Sometimes we know what we have to do, but don’t know how to do it, and then we become avoidant rather than admitting this. In this case, it’s worth figuring out what you do know how to do and what you don’t know how to do, and be honest with that. Then slowly ask for help or read up on the things you don’t know.

C - The tasks might really not be worth it. Sometimes you are assigned tasks that don’t actually help you achieve your long-term goals, and so your brain demotivate you from doing them. Maybe the payoff is low, maybe you don’t learn anything new from them, or maybe a colleague you don’t like will gain credit for the tasks, or maybe you just wont be rewarded or appreciated for getting the tasks done.

Everyone knows micromanagement is evil, but very few understand what exactly it is and what's a better alternative.

A properly configured distributed team of programmers can and must deliver a higher quality of code than a co-located one.

When a task you're working on is too big or you simply don't want to do it, you cut corners; here is how you can do it professionally.

A project is not a school, and it shouldn't pay for our education; however, we want to learn while working on a project. Here is some simple advice on how to align our goals and project objectives.

Chats, emails, phone calls, mailing lists, issue tracking systems, face-to-face meetings, and other communication instruments for a software project.

In XDSD everybody is motivated to produce tangible and meaningful results. That's why we don't use emails, Skype, HipChat or phone calls.

Patent-pending methodology of breaking down big tasks into smaller ones is explained in the article, by example in Java

Micro-tasking is a management paradigm we've been practicing for over eight years, to the benefit of our programmers and project sponsors.

Solving technical problems in a large scope which is difficult to understand is a very stressful activity; I suggest we behave professionally.

Instead of asking over and over again if she is working tomorrow. I just consult her very organised calendar — and when she wants to check if I'm free she looks at my very empty calendar.

What weeknotes are, how weeknotes work, and how to start writing weeknotes of your own