Better Software Magazine

Better Software Magazine Articles

Seven Ways to Make Testing Irrelevant on Your Team

Testers and developers can be friends. In fact, on teams working at a breakneck pace to deliver software, they must be friendly enough to rely on each other. However, there are a few sure-fire ways to ruin that relationship before it begins—and potentially make testing both irrelevant and unwelcome. Marlena Compton lists seven such ways here, along with suggestions for avoiding disaster.

Marlena Compton's picture Marlena Compton
Software for Good: The Maker Movement

Communities are sprouting up all over the world to provide an outlet for those who want to create new things and hack existing ones. In this article, Jonathan Speicher writes about one such group, HackPittsburgh, some of the projects he’s worked on, and the value the maker movement brings to those who work in the software industry.

Jon Speicher
Alternative JVM Languages For Java Projects

Java Virtual Machine has become a successful platform for applications written in many languages, not just Java. Alternatives like JRuby, Scala, Clojure, and Groovy can be more concise and offer new ways to approach problems.

Daniel Wellman's picture Daniel Wellman
Software Project Managers: Know Your Business Case

Many professionals in the software industry chose to pursue software to avoid business schools and MBAs. In this article, Payson explains that some of that "Business BS" can be useful both tactically and strategically to software project managers.

Payson Hall's picture Payson Hall
Goodhart’s Law

Charles Goodhart stated: "Any observed statistical regularity will tend to collapse once pressure is placed upon it for control purposes." In other words, "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."

Lee Copeland's picture Lee Copeland
Learning For Agile Testers, Part 2

In part one of our Learning for Agile Testers series, we addressed general "thinking" skills that go beyond technical competence and how learning these enhances the value you contribute. In part two, we discuss some specific technical skills that benefit testers and how to acquire them.

Lisa Crispin's picture Lisa Crispin Janet Gregory
What If Quality Shouldn’t Be Job One?

We live in a consumer-oriented society, where we are taught to expect that everything that we buy or create must be the best. Clearly, quality is considered to be a top-selling feature in many of the products that we buy. But what if it shouldn’t be?

Howard Smallowitz George Stark
The Three Amigos: All for One and One for All

Analysts determine what needs to be created. Programmers create it. Testers find the holes in the work of both. That's one way to do it, but all three can collaborate to do these things better, and more easily, too.

George Dinwiddie's picture George Dinwiddie
10 Thoughts On Technical Debt

Many people realize that the technical debt spiral is a perverse incentive—it ends up rewarding behaviors we don't want and causing long-term pain. In this article, Matt Heusser moves beyond cliché to talk about how tech debt happens and what we can do about it.

Matthew Heusser's picture Matthew Heusser
Book Reviews for BAs

Get a head start on your New Year's resolution. Hone your business analysis skills or learn new ones, and make 2012 the highlight of your career.

Heather Shanholtzer's picture Heather Shanholtzer

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