Conflict in the classroom (How to resolve differences of opinion at school)

It's tough being a child. You're always being told what to do and what not to do. You have to deal with mountains of homework, disgruntled parents, disapproving teachers and competitive classmates. You feel like there is never enough time to do what you want. You have no freedom, no independence, no power and no rights. Everything you say, everything you do is judged and criticised. You are even told what to think.

It's no fun being a mediocre student in the class. However, if you thought being an achiever was easier, think again. Far from being popular, brighter students may have to face several...

Read the full article in the September 2015 issue of Georgia Family

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1115 words
Nonfiction
US publication

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Words from the Wise

"I like the article."

Olya Fessard

Publisher

Georgia Family Magazine

"I did like your piece!"

Cheryl Crosby

Senior Editor

Boston Parents Paper

"I like this a lot. I will be using it an upcoming issue."

Todd Posselli

Publisher

Utah Family Magazine

"This does sound like an interesting topic"

Betty Casey

Editor

TulsaKids Magazine

"It's a well-written article and I enjoyed reading it."

Michelle Ang

Editor

New Age Parents

Conflict in the classroom (Resolving differences at school)

It's tough being a child. You're always being told what to do and what not to do. You have to deal with mountains of homework, disgruntled parents, disapproving teachers and competitive classmates. You feel like there is never enough time to do what you want. You have no freedom, no independence, no power and no rights. Everything you say, everything you do is judged and criticised. You are even told what to think.

It's no fun being a mediocre student in the class. However, if you thought being an achiever was easier, think again. Far from being popular, brighter students may have to face several...

Read the full article in the September 2015 post of New Age Parents

or

Request to read the original article via email for just 99p! (T&C apply)

1115 words
Nonfiction
Singapore publication

***********************

Words from the Wise

"I like the article."

Olya Fessard

Publisher

Georgia Family Magazine

"I did like your piece!"

Cheryl Crosby

Senior Editor

Boston Parents Paper

"I like this a lot. I will be using it an upcoming issue."

Todd Posselli

Publisher

Utah Family Magazine

"This does sound like an interesting topic"

Betty Casey

Editor

TulsaKids Magazine

"It's a well-written article and I enjoyed reading it."

Michelle Ang

Editor

New Age Parents

When workplace becomes warzone: Resolving office conflict

Jane: “We should revolutionise our business model. It’s time to get in step with the rest of the world and embrace change.”

Dave: “No, our customers feel familiar and comfortable with our products. Old is gold.”

Jane: “You just don’t get it. We’ll be left behind! Your stick-in-the-mud attitude is exactly what is holding this company back. We need versatility. We need dynamism. Out with the old, in with the new!”

Dave: “Rubbish! If it ain’t broke, why fix it?”

And so saying, Dave walks off in a huff shaking his head and muttering something under his breath about ‘upstarts’. Jane throws her hands...

Read the full article in the May 2015 issue of Legal Management

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1850 words
Nonfiction
US publication

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Words from the Wise

"Looks interesting... I like the article very much. It's a great article I would have loved to publish. Worth every bit of your fee. Do keep in touch!"

John O'Hanlon

Editor

Business Excellence

"Your article (is) very interesting"

Rick Maze

Editor

Army Magazine

"We think this information would be useful to our readers"

Robert and Melanie Whitcomb

Editors

Psychology For Living

"I'm intrigued by the creativity in some of your highlighted articles online."

Brendan Howard

Channel Director for Business

Advanstar

"This is a good subject for us."

Paul Sterman

Associate Editor

Toastmaster

Developer-tester relationships

Pogrammers program. Testers test. In an ideal world, everyone would do what they were good at (or at least what they were employed for) and the result would be a stable reliable fit-for-purpose product that helped the customer stay happy, the shareholders become rich and you survive to work another day.

The world of software development, though, is far from ideal. Tight deadlines, unclear requirements, limited budgets, and human errors make the office a volatile place with constant fire-fighting. Tempers run high. Patience runs low. Programmers and testers are at each others' throats. ...

Read the full article in the May 2015 post of Simple Talk


2065 words
Nonfiction/Software testing
UK publication

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Words from the Wise

"I enjoyed reading it. It is a very interesting article in places and at several places in the article I thought you'd made some very valuable points...The point you made about the testers rating the priority of bugs was an interesting one because I've known that cause conflict...
I like the style of the article, it is good, clear and straightforward. It puts the points across, and is easy to read."

Andrew Clarke

Editor

Simple Talk

We need to talk

Formal and automated communication is usually described in the context of large, widely distributed teams made up of specialists. For many testers reality is different. I work with a small company whose development arm consists of a project manager, a tester (me) and about six programmers. This team handles all new projects. We work closely in an unstructured, informal environment to very tight deadlines.

Tight focus, tunnel vision

Earlier this year, the company was commissioned to deliver a web application. The PM and I had a meeting with the customer's representatives. We went over...


Read the full article in the October 2011 issue of Professional Tester


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1800 words
Nonfiction/Corporate
Europe publication

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Words from the Wise

"Your wonderful writing style would be a fine asset to the magazine. Thank you for sending this: I like it very much. I remain a big fan of your writing ability and style and I want it to appear in PT very much. I want your opinions, stated in your wonderfully clear and descriptive way. I think readers will like this article. I think the article is great and will resonate with many readers. It has the weight needed to balance the last two issues where the agile and automation crews have tended to have things their own way due to HP's influence."

Edward Bishop

Editor

Professional Tester

Developing the right attitude

"A degree of tact and diplomacy is an essential tool in the tester's arsenal. A tester must be aware that his/her task is, in its baser nature, finding faults in another person's work and nobody likes that. It is important to learn how to avoid confrontational situations."

"Testers must try to make their bug reports impersonal and unbiased. Focus on reporting the bug in the most comprehensive way not on placing the blame on the developer."

Sound advice. And one that is familiar to all testers. The ubiquitous phrase of "conflict resolution" crops up regularly and often in the tester's day to...


Read the full article in the October 2011 issue of TEST Magazine


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2920 words
Nonfiction/Corporate
Europe publication

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Words from the Wise

"Love the feature!"

Matthew Bailey

Editor

T.E.S.T. Magazine

"I think that the topic you’ve chosen is a strong one, and your opening paragraph reflects this. It really got me excited about reading more on developer-tester conflicts and how to resolve them."

Joey McAllister

Editor

StickyMinds.com

Turning disputes into decisions

“It’s a bug!”

“No! It’s a feature!”

“C’mon, you’ve got to be kidding! How can it be a feature? It’s just wrong!”

“Rubbish! You just can’t understand it. It’s supposed to work that way!”

And so saying, my colleague in Production walks off in a huff shaking his head at my supreme ‘thickness’. I, on my part, throw my hands up in exasperation and mentally shudder at the utter lack of quality understanding that permeates through my team.

That was me, half a decade ago. I was only two years old in the corporate industry and was still finding my feet. I had idealistic views and a very black-and-white concept...

Read the full article in the 2 November 2010 issue of What's New Gram

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1000 words
Corporate/Software Testing
US publication