The Latest
 |
Coaching and Producing[article] David Hussman applies lessons he learned as a music producer to his current position as an agile coach. An excerpt of this article was originally published in the March 2009 issue of the Iterations eNewsletter. |
|
|
What Software Developers Can Learn from Their Cafeteria[article] Did you know that Starbucks sells a cup size called "short"? It's a small cup that is less expensive than the other cup sizes. They never mention it on their menu; you have to know it exists before you can order one. Why? By having a smaller, cheaper option, they give their budget-conscious customers an opportunity to pay for coffee rather than go without. This kind of thinking has important repercussions to software developers. |
||
|
White Paper: Graphical UI Testing Checklist[article] A GUI as we now know is a computer-interface that uses images, typed text, and icons on the screen that replace many of the functions of the keyboard. This paper explains different validations need to be used while testing GUI. |
||
|
Refactoring Doesn’t Mean Rewrite[article] Peter Schuh writes that it is not a good thing that the use of the term refactoring has grown so common, which makes him cringe every time he hears a business person say the word. Refactoring is meant to be one skill of many that is second-nature to a journeyman programmer. |
Peter Schuh
March 9, 2009 |
|
|
The Three Pillars of Executive Support for Agile Adoption[article] As an executive sponsoring the adoption of agile methods, you've already spent dollars for training and coaching. You've talked to the management team and the rest of the organization about the need and rationale for using agile development methods. But your job isn't over. Communication and budgetary support are necessary, but not sufficient for your organization to realize the benefits of agile methods. If you want the transition to succeed you must provide on-going support. The good news is, that doesn't mean you must keep handing over money. The bad news is that what's required of you is much harder than writing a check. |
||
|
Adopting Agile: Hidden Benefits[article] When XDx's Software Group adopted an agile approach to application development, we achieved the fastest development time on any software project in the company's history. While we expected to shorten development time and reduce costs, we discovered that agile provides several hidden benefits. Beyond its value as a software development methodology, our agile platform is a tool that enables and improves communication with our users which has been a key success factor, because user groups have a hard time thinking in the software development terms imposed by the traditional waterfall method of upfront specification. This improved communication has helped everyone to let go of complete up-front specifications and trust the agile process. |
||
|
Quality Management in the World of Scrum and Agile IT System Development[article] Russell Pannone was asked, "Does quality assurance have a place in agile software development?" His knee-jerk answer was yes, but what form and function quality management takes depends on many factors. |
||
|
Responsibilities of the Agile Product Owner in the Enterprise[article] In part two of this three-part article, Dean Leffingwell describes the responsibilities of the enterprise product owner and discusses the attributes of a good product owner. |
||
|
Group Coherence for Project Teams – Group Creativity[article] Creative achievement is typically associated with individual effort. Think of Newton, Edison, or Leonardo Da Vinci. Until not very long ago, creativity and design were the focus of a few, while the work of the masses was broken down into repeatable steps. Creativity was perceived to undermine the result of mass-production. Today, the work depends on the design and creative skills of the knowledge workers that perform it |
||
|
Enterprise Agile: Yes, Your Whole Company Can Adopt Agile[article] About 12 months ago, our company started an initiative to adopt agile practices across our entire organization—not only our software development organization, but our business organization. For years we had experienced outstanding results by utilizing Scrum for our clients' application development projects. Team productivity improved, executive visibility strengthened, and overall quality increased. Our goal was to capture similar results for our business. Find out how we're doing! |
Melissa Meeker
March 9, 2009 |
|
|
The Future of Agile[article] Software development is currently being "driven". This article finds existing X-Driven Development approaches wanting because they focus on too narrow an aspect of development and, primarily, because they are grounded in the wrong philosophy of what exactly software development "is". An alternative—theorY Driven-Development - YDD—addressing the "essential difficulty" of development is proposed. How YDD represents an evolutionary step for Agile is argued. |
||
|
APLN Washington DC - Scott Ambler - New Survey Information - What We Really Do.[article]
Podcast
Bob interviews Scott Ambler about new survey information from APLN. |
||
|
Six Ways to Build Trust and Three Ways to Break It[article] Esther Derby has been thinking about trust in the workplace a lot lately, and the absence of trust, too. When she asks people what it's like to work in a group where people trust their managers, they tell her information flows freely, conflict is productive, and that they can tell their managers what they think without fear of retribution. On the other hand, when trust is absent, people hide information, look out for themselves, don't bring up new ideas, and withhold effort. |
||
 |
Reloadable Test Data-O-Matic[magazine] Reloadable test data takes more time up front (as compared to on-the-fly data creation), but saves blood, sweat, and tears in the long term. It also virtually eliminates "works on my machine" bugs, creates a more intricate and realistic environment, and is the first step on the road to test automation. |
Tanya Dumaresq
February 26, 2009 |
|
Off the Trails[magazine] A focused approach toward testing a product is important, but sometimes we discover information that we didn't anticipate at all. One of the key skills in testing is dynamically managing our focus; sharpening it sometimes and widening it at other times. If we vary our approaches, we might find something surprising and broaden our coverage. |
Pages
AgileConnection is a TechWell community.
Through conferences, training, consulting, and online resources, TechWell helps you develop and deliver great software every day.