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Retrospectives: A Case Study on Techniques for Incremental Improvement[article] In this article we describe our work with teams that were spread between the US and India, and with the unavoidable cultural difference. We used a facilitated retrospective to discover the most challenging issues in the process and, just as important, to build a team and increase trust between team members. In later work with the teams, we noticed the immediate positive impacts on the people and the process. |
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Opening the Door to Better Open Door Policies[article] Many managers claim to have an open-door policy. They want to be available to their employees. But do they really have an open-door policy, or is it a handy name for a commendable intention? Naomi Karten describes the flaws in open-door policies and offers suggestions for making them work. |
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Software Quality and the Prisoner's Dilemma[magazine] This industry spin on the classical dilemma illustrates the games we play when software quality is at stake and gives insight into why software managers who forego quality in order to reach a short-term marketing advantage are actually acting rationally. |
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A ''D'' in Programming[magazine] In certain company, the topic of favorite programming languages can elicit the same response as other taboo subjects, such as religion and politics. But, Chuck's going out on a limb to discuss his new favorite language, D, and some of its best features, such as its being strongly typed and compiling to native code, yet it is garbage collected. |
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A Change Would Do You Good[magazine] Visit any bookstore these days, and you will be faced with shelves of books whose titles claim they can make everything—from cooking to exercise—more interesting. In our industry, boredom is a problem that can affect your ability to solve complex technical problems. Discover how change can spice up your software processes. |
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Where Do I Go From Here?—Professional Growth for Software Testers[magazine] Most professionals have a detailed career ladder upon which to climb and grow their careers. But in many test organizations that ladder has only one rung—and it leads to management. If management isn't your path of choice, these tips can help you market yourself and add value to your career while you build your own technical career ladder. |
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Developers ... Start Your Engines: Reuse with Source Code Searches[magazine] Source code search engines can help you find chunks of reusable code. These search engines differ from generic text search engines by organizing the results to reflect the way code is organized—into functions, classes, packages, etc. These reviews of some popular engines can help you rev up reuse in your work. |
Alan Berg
March 31, 2008 |
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Incremental and Iterative Development[magazine] People get wrapped around the axle trying to understand the difference between incremental and iterative development. The Unified Process authors in the 1990s didn't help by indiscriminately calling everything iterative development. The two are different and must be managed differently. Successful teams do both at the same time, usually without thinking about it. Then someone starts thinking about it and does one without the other. Bad news follows. |
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Learning the Hardware Lessons[magazine] Systems and software aren't just about correctness; they are also about solving problems for people. According to the context-driven software testing movement, a problem isn't solved if the product doesn't work. Michael's experience in a hardware store drives that lesson home. |
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The Art of Persuading Management[magazine] You can't get your manager to give you what you want if he won't listen to you. Naomi suggests some strategies-including being methodical, gathering data, properly timing your requests, and practicing what you plan to say-that can help you make your case to the powers that be. |
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Project Negotiations and the Iron Triangle[article] Negotiation skills are useful in life and essential for professional success. This week, Payson Hall provides a short tutorial on project negotiations that includes a technique to help you look for solutions. The use of motivation and the "Iron Triangle" is a good starting point. |
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Lessons Learned About Starting a Development Group in India, Part 3[article] In this closing segment of a three-part series, Peter Clark explains how he and his company took lessons learned from their first failed attempt at establishing a software development group in India and developed a new and successful plan the second time around. |
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Role of Management in an Iterative and Agile Software Development Environment[article] This article discusses the role of management within iterative and agile software development and project management. The author shares his personal experience as a software engineer who started out in the traditional way of software development, and along the way discovered a much better way—iterative and agile software development and iterative and agile project management. |
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Experiences in Release Planning: Two Days in the Life of an Agile Newbie[article] Hello, my name is Maurice Sare. (my friends call me Mo). I am a first level tech lead/engineering manager at Gameonics, Inc, a multinational developer of distributed gaming for PCs and now, it seems, "smart phones." I've only been here a few weeks. Before that, I worked for a company that developed operating systems for smart phones, so I know something about the domain, but I've never worked at the applications layer, before. Before this, I hadn't had any formal training in agile development practices. |
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Well-Formed Teams and Agile: An Opportunity to Thrive[article] Well-formed agile teams can thrive in a direction ideally set by business vision. Unfortunately, many teams are forced into survival by organizations that push work through the team matrix, forcing teams to establish themselves as dependencies. The purpose of this article is to firmly establish the notion of well-formed teams so that guidance patterns for their creation can help organizations to "thrive" instead of "survive." |
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