Happy Friday everyone! Today, we’re discussing human productivity and the efficiency of an experimental four-day work week. Earlier this year, a firm in New Zealand ran an experiment where it let its employees work four days a week while being paid for five. Employees chose which day of the week to take off, and the… Continue reading A 4-Day Work Week?
How To Have Better Conversations
At Steelray, every employee attends a seminar called “Fierce Conversations,” taught by Larry Hart and based on the book by Susan Scott. We hold all these lessons to heart and firmly believe that effective communication is a pillar to great teamwork, which in turn creates excellent products, and is a baseline for our really cool… Continue reading How To Have Better Conversations
Women’s Empowerment & Bravery
We discovered another great TED Talk, this time by Reshma Saujani, the founder of the non-profit organization Girls Who Code which supports efforts to increase the number of women in computer science. Saujani draws attention to the tough issue of the gender imbalance in the technology industry. She recognizes aspects of our socialization that affect… Continue reading Women’s Empowerment & Bravery
Unintended Consequences
A hunter was injured when a bear landed on top of him after he shot it on a hilltop. I am not making light of this happening, and I hope the hunter makes a full and quick recovery, but this story is a perfect metaphor for the habit we sometimes have of shooting problems and at… Continue reading Unintended Consequences
Viewer Now Sold by Subscription
As of October 1st, 2018, we no longer sell “full” and “maintenance” licenses to our products. We only sell subscriptions. Prior to October 1st, 2018, we sold our viewer as a perpetual license. On October 1st, 2018, we switched to a subscription model, which means that all new sales are sold as subscriptions. For Perpetual License… Continue reading Viewer Now Sold by Subscription
Analyzer 2018.5 Release is Live
We are excited to announce the availability of Steelray Project Analyzer 2018.5, a major release of Analyzer! This is the biggest release of Analyzer in many years. What’s new in 2018.5? DoD DCMA EVAS Metrics Analyzer 2018.5 includes support for all of the latest schedule metrics that DCMA is using on their EVAS schedule assessments.… Continue reading Analyzer 2018.5 Release is Live
Alan – The Artifically Intelligent PM Assistant
Dateline: December, 2024 — Steelray launches Alan, our (fictional) Artificially Intelligent Assistant Project Manager. Let’s follow along as Alan takes on the day. Alan begins early by checking his news feed, noting that dock workers in Brazil are threatening to strike in January. He sends an alert to the risk analyst, checking to see if… Continue reading Alan – The Artifically Intelligent PM Assistant
Seven Business Practices that Need a Second Look
According to this recent article on Nautilus, there’s a long-held belief in educational systems around the world: Cursive handwriting is an important and valuable skill that should be learned by all children at an early age. The thinking is: It’s faster than manuscript It helps with spelling It helps with dyslexia So, cursive is taught… Continue reading Seven Business Practices that Need a Second Look
The Four Stages of Team Competence
Recently a recruiter reached out to me about a three-month Scrum Master role. Was I interested? No, I love my job at Steelray. Did I know of anybody? Well, maybe, but…three months? A Scrum Master’s core objective is to foster highly aligned, high-performing development teams, which takes time?certainly longer than a few months. Here’s why:… Continue reading The Four Stages of Team Competence