Better Software Magazine Articles

Become Agile 10 Things You Must Do to Become Truly Agile

Agile is not a state of doing; it’s a state of being. Adopting business models on value and learning how to make teams autonomous are both necessary steps to reap the benefit of agility.

James Schiel's picture James Schiel
The Impossibility of Estimating Software The Impossibility of Estimating Software

Estimating software schedules must be an art, not a science. With so many techniques published on the subject, why is it so difficult? It has to do with the human element and past project knowledge.

Balancing Waterfall Predictability with Agile Flexibility

In this FAQ column, Arlen Bankston highlights the difficulty many companies have making the full transition to agile, straddling between waterwall ways and the new horizons of agility.  Arlen provides techniques that can enable companies to ease into the transition, allowing their organization to make the adjustments without the burden of large plans and commitments.

Arlen Bankston's picture Arlen Bankston
Become a Great ScrumMaster

Performing all the functions required to facilitate project teams as ScrumMaster can be a task. Zuzi Sochova describes creative ways to become a master of Scrum by adopting a ScrumMaster state of mind.

Zuzi Sochova's picture Zuzi Sochova
Adopting ALM Will Enhance the Value of Your Test Team

Modern ALM emphasizes total team involvement and a comprehensive set of tools so that the development lifecycle runs smoothly. Joe Farah shows you how test case management is a vital component to a successful ALM strategy.

Joe Farah's picture Joe Farah
Is Agile Breaking Product Management?

It can be a challenge for a product manager to know how to lead an agile software team. As product managers take on many different roles throughout a project lifecycle, there can be confusion, resulting in the product manager doing what nobody else wants to do. Steve Johnson offers a perspective of the agile product manager that every software developer should know.

Steve Johnson's picture Steve Johnson
Are You Done or Done-Done?

Probably one of the most frustrating roles a manager has to master is how to know the true status of work being performed. To a developer, completing 80 percent of the work may be good enough, but is it  even close to being really done? Masha Nehme shows techniques you can use to verify task completion.

Masha Nehme's picture Masha Nehme
Project Management in Cloud Development

Cloud-based software development definitely changes how project managers need to approach their projects and lead their teams. Cloud development is not the same as traditional software product  development and requires a unique mix of traditional project management and agility. Project managers considering working on cloud-based projects need to read what Sridhar Kethandapatti has to say.

Sridhar Kethandapatti's picture Sridhar Kethandapatti
The Curious Case of Waterfall Sprints

It isn't unusual for a project team to believe that adopting a mix of waterfall and Scrum can deliver the best of both worlds. According to Steve, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Steve retraces a real project that quickly disintegrated into an absolute disaster.

Alan Turing's picture Alan Turing
Chasing Mavericks: Using Rolling Wave Planning to Transform Agile Teams

By using an approach similar to that used by surfers to catch waves, you can effectively help your team transition to agility. Scott presents a four-stage process that alternates training with coaching and doing with learning.

Scott Frost's picture Scott Frost

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