The Latest
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Helping Agile Teams Tip Towards Greater Emotional Maturity[article] Teams at a tipping point Is there a transformational moment within a team when an individual shifts from behaviors that support only individual achievement to those that support team achievement? What observations can we make as leaders about the specific behaviors that help individuals turn towards their team and lean on behaviors that support the team? How can we nudge teams forward until these behaviors gain their own momentum? My experience in setting up agile teams to tackle complex, systemic problems has brought me to focus on the set of behaviors that are both markers and catalysts of emotional maturity. Emotional maturity matters for agile teams because it enables business value. Emotionally mature teams are resilient and innovative in the face of the setbacks and barriers that come along with complex problems.
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Ellen Braun
February 8, 2010 |
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Tracking what Matters with Burn Down Charts[article] Burn down charts help agile development teams track sprint and release progress. The basic idea of a burn down chart is that the team starts with estimates for all of the tasks in the sprint, and then on daily (or more frequent) basis re-estimates the amount of work remaining. |
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Negative Positive[article] Testers who point out project risks are often perceived as "negative" thinkers. Software test consultant Fiona Charles (an optimist by nature and a pessimist by trade) writes about how a culture of unthinking optimism pervades our organizations and our society, and describes some of its detrimental effects on software projects. |
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Empowering Self-Organization and Energizing Project Planning with the Commander's Intent[article] Things change, and when they do, it's best to be ready to change with them. The best plans are doomed to fail if they aren't malleable. In this column, George Schlitz and Giora Morein take a look at the military concept of "Commander's Intent" and how it can apply to non-military project planning. |
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Mocks and Making Tests Easier to Read[article] There has been a lot of recent discussion on Twitter about the use of mocking frameworks and writing readable tests. Here is a roundup of some of the recent blogs on the subject.
Making Tests More Readable |
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Navigating Conflict on Agile Teams: Why "Resolving" Conflict Won't Work[article]
Video
Lyssa Adkins reveals a conflict model that helps you do just that, walking you through five levels of conflict from "Problem to Solve" to "World War," with each step finely tuned to view conflict in a deeply human and humane way. |
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2010 Trends in Project Management[article] 2010 brings with it multiple trends for project management. It is not surprising that many of these trends will help mature the world of project management as we know it today. Just as businesses must be flexible with market conditions, project management professionals and organizations must also adapt accordingly. |
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What HR Doesn't Know about Scrum[magazine] Scrum's relentless "inspect-and-adapt" cycle leads to change beyond software development practices. Scrum teams have reported changes in the way they think about human resources management. This article outlines ways Scrum teams may want to modify HR's beliefs and practices. |
Michael James
January 13, 2010 |
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Oh, When Will They Ever Learn?[magazine] After reading the book The Day the Phones Stopped, which was published in 1991, Lee began wondering why the poor software quality and complaints about development and testing documented in this book are the same complaints we hear today. |
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Crowdsourced Software Testing[magazine] In response to shrinking budgets and tight launch deadlines, crowdsourced software testing is a growing trend. Here are six ways an on-demand testing team can complement your in-house QA efforts. |
Doron Reuveni
January 13, 2010 |
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Offer Appreciations[magazine] We don't always appreciate the power of taking a moment to reflect on past performance. Find out how real change can happen when a team invests in time together. |
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Virtual Labs in the Cloud[magazine] Learn how to overcome infrastructure management challenges using virtual lab automation, and discover which cloud—private, public, or hybrid—best meets your organization's needs. |
Ravi Gururaj
January 13, 2010 |
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Finding Nuggets in the IT Gold Mine[magazine] Development teams often are unaware of the commercial impacts of the software improvements they deliver. Often, the prioritization of work is done based on technical, rather than commercial, considerations. Based on a real-world example, this story explores the commercial benefits enabled by delivering in short release cycles and prioritizing according to bottom-line benefits. |
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The Right Business Analysis Tool[magazine] The continued rise of the business analysis profession has led to a surge in software tools specifically designed for the business analyst. Find out what types of tools are in the marketplace today and how to select the right business analysis software tool for your organization. |
Matthew Leach
January 13, 2010 |
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Swan Song: How Testers Can Find Improbable and Unexpected Errors[magazine] Black Swans, in the book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, are improbable and unexpected events with a severe impact. One of the most important goals of testing is to find problems in the product. What can testers do to help reduce the likelihood that we'll encounter a Black Swan? |
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