Collective Wisdom from the Experts 49
Bank supervisors report that reversing numbers is a common error, espe-
cially when employees are not 100% focused due to work-related or personal
stress. Knowing this human tendency, the wise project manager will carefully
check estimates, budgets, and other documents for these types of careless, but
human, errors.
What leads to stress on your project team? It could be personal, such as having
an argument with a spouse before leaving for work, or financial pressures at
home. Perhaps there are family worries about health or children.
Work-related encounters can also be stress inducing. It could be something
as minor as being late to a key stakeholder meeting and forgetting to bring an
important document. Or, it could be concerns from job security to worries
that the coding and testing for this project cannot be completed on target.
Stress leads to past behavior, not active problem-solving actions. As the soft-
ware project manager, it is your job to be on the lookout for symptoms of stress
that can lead your team members to regress to old behaviors. By having active
conversations with them and carefully managing their work environment, you
can prevent or help minimize the effects of stress.
People are human, so human emotions are natural in the workplace. But only
people can develop software. So, nurture and manage your human capital as
carefully as you monitor and protect your nonhuman resources.