Channeling Change
Software Development Magazine
Miller Freeman
Nov 2002 Career Center
Burnout is never fun, but it can be useful, if we understand the psychological and cultural processes underlying its symptoms, and if we learn to listen to what it is trying to tell us.
Decisions, Decisions
Software Development Magazine
Miller Freeman
Apr 2002 Project Management
Gary Klein's wonderful book, Sources of Power - How People Make Decisions, talks about bounded rationality and the limits of logic when you have to make an important decision right now. Sue put Klein's ideas to the test recently, when she had less than a week to make an important and emotionally charged business decision.
The Soft Stuff is Hard
Software Development Magazine
Miller Freeman
Feb 2002 Book Review
Sue reviews three great books: Sources of Power - How People Make Decisions, by Gary Klein, Project Retrospectives - A Handbook For Team Reviews, by Norman Kerth, and Slack - Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency, by Tom DeMarco.
The Manager's Dance
IEEE Software
May/June 1999 Manager Column, edited by Roger Pressman
So, what do you really do for a living?
Managing in the Balance
Software Development Magazine
Miller Freeman
August 1998 Management Forum, edited by Larry Constantine
Now available in the book Beyond Chaos, by Larry L. Constantine.
Management is all about balance. Balancing the needs of the project and the company with the needs of the people around you with your own needs... These four lessons have proven very helpful whenever life happens and Sue gets knocked temporarily off balance.
ReUse? It's A Snap!
Windows Tech Journal
March 1995
Think of what a truly reusable entity-relationship diagram could do for your database programming. Our Lego approach combines vertical and horizontal reuse to offer a brave new OOP-based alternative.
Discovering Your Design
Windows Tech Journal
August 1995
When Sue's application became too large and complex to manage with seat-of-the-pants coding techniques, she turned to CASE tools, entity-relationship diagrams, an outside consultant, and the IDEF1X data-design notation. And she didn't hate it!
Room For Improvement, with Juancarlo Aņez
Windows Tech Journal
November 1996
Component Create is billed as a tool to ease and simplify the creation of components for the Delphi Visual Component Library. Does it hit the mark? Our experts put the tool through its paces in this illuminating review.
Preview from the hammock
Windows Tech Journal
September 1997
Sue previews the upcoming fall Software Development show.
The secret weapon of peer reviews
Windows Tech Journal
December 1997
Sue discusses the psychology behind successful (and unsuccessful) peer reviews. Why do they work, and what resources are available to help us learn to use them more effectively?
Make it a cohesive couple
Windows Tech Journal
January 1998
No matter how OOPY, GUIY our world gets, the core principles of hoary old Structured Design are still relevant. Sue reminds us that "Delphi programmers who create highly cohesive and loosely coupled components will lay the strongest possible foundation under the future systems in which their components are used."
You, Guru
VB Tech Journal
December 1995
Some people add energy to their world, others seem to drain the energy and enthusiasm from the people around them. Luckily, it is possible to learn to tell the difference between the Gurus and the Urugs (the anti-Gurus). And it's also possible to become a positive source of energy ourselves. Learn to 'pay forward', to take the energy we have been given by others and return it, multiplied, to the world.
Plumbing the Depths of Normalization
PC Techniques / Visual Developer Magazine
Dec/Jan 1996
Professional quality database systems must be normalized to keep sense and efficiency intact. It's not as scary as it sounds; and Sue's real-world database design scenario will point you the way there.
Design Traps in Delphi Properties
PC Techniques / Visual Developer Magazine
Dec/Jan 1997
Are your components brittle? Delphi's new programming paradigm can sometimes be at loggerheads with time-tested design strategies. Let Sue show you how to tiptoe through the minefield while designing your next Delphi application.
Breakpoint... What Do You Do With All Those AOL CDs?
PC Techniques / Visual Developer Magazine
Oct/Nov 1997
Sue and her online buddies wonder what to do with all those AOL CDs that keep showing up in the mail...
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