The Latest
Redefining the Project Manager Role in Scrum[article] Scrum teams are meant to become self-sustaining, so it’s natural for project managers to wonder how they will fit into this new environment. But they still have important skills. Their new role may—and probably will—look different from the traditional project manager role they’ve been used to, but there are still plenty of opportunities to provide real value to their new Scrum team. |
||
Marrying AI with Software Testing: An Interview with Wendy Siew Wen Chin and Heng Kar Lau[interview]
Video
In this interview, Wendy Siew Wen Chin and Heng Kar Lau, from Intel, discuss their STARWEST presentation, “Marrying Artificial Intelligence with Software Testing: Challenges and Opportunities.” They discuss their experiences with AI, their first STARWEST conference, and some of the differences they have observed between testing practices in Malaysia, their home country, and the United States. |
||
For Distributed Agile Teams, It’s Not All about the Tools[article] Many managers and distributed team members think that if they just had the right tools, they could make some agile approach work. Maybe, but tools only enhance the work of a collaborative agile team. Before you select tools, make sure you have people who can work together and have enough skills and capabilities for your distributed team. Tools do not make the team; they support the team. |
||
What Testers Can Learn from Airline Safety Improvements: An Interview with Peter Varhol and Gerie Owens[interview]
Video
Technologist and evangelist Peter Varhol and Gerie Owens, a test architect and certified ScrumMaster, discuss their STARWEST presentation, “What Aircrews Can Teach Testers about Testing.” They talk about how testers can apply airline safety practices to their teams’ delivery of high-quality applications through complementary expertise, collaboration, and decision-making. They also explain how blind deference to authority and automation can be detrimental to a testing team, and how to use everyone’s skills to achieve success. |
||
Build Just Enough of a Feature with ATDD[article] Developers have a tendency to overbuild their code. This is frequently due to not knowing exactly when they're done and not knowing how robust a feature needs to be. Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) is a great way to avoid this practice because when the acceptance test passes, the developer knows they're done building that particular feature. |
||
The Glamour Is Back in Testing: An Interview with Dona Sarkar[interview]
Video
In this interview, Dona Sarkar, head of the Windows Insider Program at Microsoft, speaks about how the initiative allows them to get user feedback before final release. She highlights the importance of getting out in the field to understand your users’ experiences and the difficulties they encounter. Dona also discusses the evolution of the testing role, saying she anticipates that in the near future, testers will have their moment. |
||
Storytelling in the Age of AI[presentation]
Slideshow
People are actively engaging in civic tech, social robots are tweeting, and veteran storytellers are capturing stories in new ways using virtual and augmented reality. This explosion of tools, sources, voices, and data is indicative of a new, more collaborative era for storytelling. |
Davar Ardalan
|
|
Fun as a Productivity Tool[presentation]
Slideshow
We should all just be professionals and do our jobs, right? There's no need for fun at work as long as everyone comes in and does their hours, right? As long as we have our processes to cover the work needed, we're good, right? Wrong! |
Kristoffer Nordström
|
|
Making the Career Transition from Software Testing to Data Science[presentation]
Slideshow
A decade ago Microsoft had over twelve thousand full-time testers, and when you added up all the contract and outsourced testers too, there were more software test engineers than developers. |
Ken Johnston
|
|
QADevSecOps: Leading a Quality-Driven DevOps Transformation[presentation]
Slideshow
Have you wondered where QA professionals fit into a DevSecOps transformation? Stacy Kirk thinks they should champion the transformation. |
Stacy Kirk
|
|
Continuous Delivery Is Not a Pipeline[article] Pretty much everything you hear about DevOps mentions “the pipeline.” Continuous delivery is not really about the pipeline, however. Continuous delivery is about two things: testing strategy and branching strategy. The pipeline is important; it is an integral part of DevOps. However, the central element is the practice of testing continually using automated tests. |
||
Overcoming Challenges to Good Test Documentation[article] Getting good test documentation is a consistent challenge. Agile proposes that you should go very light on documentation, and while test documentation does not need to be heavy, it does need to be clear and cover all that the product is intended to do so you can ensure testing is consistent and results are recorded. Here's how to overcome some major barriers to getting good test documentation. |
||
8 Scrum Meeting Mistakes to Avoid[article] Scrum meetings aim to increase productivity and reduce rework by improving and enhancing the level of daily communication. Doing so helps teams stay on the same page, properly break down work into small and manageable tasks, and keep everything running smoothly. However, Scrum meetings can go wrong very quickly if they are not done properly. Here are eight common mistakes you should try to avoid. |
||
Using Agile to Learn Anything[article] Acquiring new skills is always admirable, and it can even help you find new opportunities in an increasingly competitive job market. By going in with a plan and organizing your self-improvement activities, you’ll be learning new skills in no time. Agile can help. Here's how forty-five minutes a day and a structured approach using kanban can set you up for success. |
||
Why Testers Should Be Using GitHub: An Interview with Wilson Mar[interview]
Video
In this interview, Wilson Mar, principal DevOps performance evangelist at JetBloom, describes the importance of Git to testing and to securing employment in the field. Because Git is a great way for testers to display their work, many interviewers look at an applicant’s public GitHub account as a means of judging their work. Wilson discusses his STARWEST session on Git and resources he provides on his GitHub account about Git basics. |