Conference Presentations

What Better Software Means to the CEO

Today's organizations depend on software applications for their business success-and survival. When applications fail, businesses are severely damaged-revenue losses in the millions, key data stolen, brands and reputations damaged. Security vulnerabilities impact consumer trust and result in violations of customer privacy or customer lawsuits. Often the root cause of these dire consequences is an information and communication gap between development and corporate management. Simply stated, business executives often do not know the first thing about how software is built, tested, or maintained. They often refuse to approve the time and resources necessary to ship a product with acceptable quality and security. Likewise, development teams often do not know the first thing about business and cannot adequately justify their needs to business.

Jeffery Payne, Cigital, Inc.
The Lecture

Whether you're being admonished for having more than ten items in the express lane at the supermarket or you are telling off a tester for missing a bug, at some point we've all been on the giving and on the receiving end of The Lecture. We're all human and fallible. Isn't there a more effective (and mature) way to communicate when a problem arises?

Lee Copeland's picture Lee Copeland
Skills for Software Smokejumpers

Sometimes the only way to get a fire under control is to call in the smokejumpers. These specially trained firefighters parachute into a region to take on a blaze and contain it before any more damage is done. Some software development projects have smokejumpers, too. These professionals enter struggling projects midstream, assess the situation, and hopefully lead the team to a successful outcome.

Don Gray's picture Don Gray
How to Be Persuasive

Successfully persuading others to adopt your point of view is a matter of neither magic nor luck. It's a skill and like any skill, improvement takes know—how, opportunity, and practice. In this column, Naomi Karten offers pointers to help you strengthen your persuasion skills.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
Extreme Programming Is People

Agile agents of change, listen up. Do you remember the Agile Manifesto? How about the part about valuing people over process? J.B. Rainsberger fears that as Extreme Programming becomes more widespread, teachers, consultants, and mentors are losing sight of one of agile’s most important components—teamwork.

J.B. Rainsberger
Kicking Off the Slow Software Movement

Do your team members jump into a project with both feet before they fully understand what problem they are trying to solve? We’ve all been convinced that for our customers faster is better. But is that really what they want? Jeff Patton thinks it’s time for us to slow down and focus on the quality of our products.

Jeff Patton's picture Jeff Patton
Games Stakeholders Play

Activity theory explores what is happening inside a person while he is acting. Find out how you can use it to make better decisions about what to build, create a motivation map, and ask what your stakeholders are thinking about besides using your system.

Alistair Cockburn's picture Alistair Cockburn
Small Releases Big Returns

Many teams work on several projects simultaneously, which is a mistake. By working on one project at a time and releasing early and often, you can achieve startling improvements in value for your stakeholders.

James Shore
When Trust Goes AWOL

Trust is invisible, but the symptoms of its absence are not. That is the theme of this column, in which Clarke Ching recounts the difficulty one of his clients went through to rebuild trust with a customer. The customer had long ago lost faith in the quality of the products provided by this client since every piece of software delivered seemed buggy. But both were determined to make the relationship work. That's when Clarke Ching stepped in and took an agile approach to relationship therapy.

Clarke Ching's picture Clarke Ching
Drawing Out the Facts

A properly conducted discovery interview can lead to a wealth of information. Steven Smith explores some effective actions you can take before, during, and after the face-to-face interview to help you master the art of the interview process.

Steven M. Smith's picture Steven M. Smith

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