The Latest
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Man and Machine: Combine the Human Mind with Test Automation Tools[magazine] Instead of viewing software test automation as an effort to replace manual tests think of it as a means to extend the abilities of the tester. Combining the power of the human mind with automation tools helps fuel observation and discovery and provides a different perspective of the software under test. |
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The Full Meal Deal[magazine] A good working relationship with your human resources department can help you simplify your recruitment process. Learn to work together to find the candidates who are best suited for the position rather than relying on the "skill-list shotgun." |
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What Counts?[magazine] In the testing business, we are infected with counting disease–we count test cases, requirements, lines of code, and bugs. But all this counting is an endemic means of deception in the testing business. How do we know what numbers are truly meaningful? |
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Tools for Our Time[magazine] Software development has really changed over the years, and programming languages have evolved along with it. Learn more about D, one of today's more interesting languages; it's a high-level, type-safe language with the efficiency of C++ and the convenience of Java. |
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Sixty Steps in the Right Direction[article] Michele Sliger uses a simple exercise to exemplify the changes self-organized teams cause in any company, especially with the project manager. In this column, Michele explains how to conduct this exercise and how to review and use the results to improve work relationships and communication. Above all, this exercise should help your whole organization understand how everyone's knowledge of a project's initiatives and goals affects the project's success. |
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Hidden Messages[article] A defect management system contains data such as how many defects have been raised, the priority and severity of individual defects, and even who is raising them. This information is regularly used by program and test management to guide decision making. In this article, Dan Minkin proves that an experienced test manager can gather useful information by looking at more than just the defect management system's data. |
Dan Minkin
November 27, 2007 |
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How Early Interface Analysis Reduces Risk[article] Analyzing a project's interface requirements often starts late and focuses--sometimes exclusively—on creating a snazzy user interface. But failing to conduct interface analysis in a early increases the risk of project delays, overruns, and even failure. In this column, Mary Gorman makes the case for investing in interface analysis by explaining what it is and how it reduces the risk in software projects. |
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Agile 2007- Jochen Krebs - Agile Certification[article] We invite you to listen in on this podcast conversation between Bob Payne and Jochen Krebs. Jochen brings a great deal of knowledge about agile certification and the two found a lot of great points to talk about while attending Agile 2007. |
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Business Case-Driven Decision Making[article] Decision making should be approached just like a software project: You have to map out what you want and how you're going to get it. Payson Hall tells the story of a team that set out to find the perfect product—without an official plan. Learn how to avoid the mistakes they made. |
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Agile Techniques for Meeting Customer Commitments[article] Agile teams struggle with successfully applying agile approaches to project planning and delivery. In particular, an area that needs to be explored is negotiating customer commitments within an agile process. In this article, I will explain the key steps, and practices within each step, that will assist in making and delivering on customer commitments in an agile fashion. |
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Why Agile Development Teams Need Business Analysts[article] Unfortunately for the business analyst (BA), much of the literature regarding agile development focuses on the perspective of the developer, largely ignoring the role of the business analyst. BAs play a key role capturing requirements on large, software-intensive projects. Teams are co-located where programmers and their "customers" interact directly as a means of eliciting requirements. Organizations that are moving toward agile development may wonder if a has a role in agile software development. The answer, as addressed by this paper, is a resounding "Yes." |
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How to Quickly Build Trust[article] You can't get far in your career if people don't trust you. Yet trust is such an elusive concept. It's not tangible. It's not concrete. It's not something you can point to and say, "That's what it looks like." In this column, Naomi Karten ruminates about the concept of trust and offers some ideas about what you can and cannot control in earning the trust of others. |
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Getting New Agile Teams into Flow[article] Jean Tabaka considers "flow," a term borrowed from the lean thinking world, to be a core discipline for guiding new agile teams. In this week's column, Jean reveals the characteristics of agile teams in flow, the roadblocks they may have to overcome, and the benefits they will derive from their successful flow adoption. |
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3... 2... 1... Liftoff![magazine] The amount of effort put into a project's initiation lays the groundwork for all the work that follows. Learn six activities every project manager perform at initiation to ensure the project starts (and finishes) strong. |
Karl E. Wiegers
October 27, 2007 |
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Twelve Ways Agile Adoptions Fail[magazine] Agile methodologies have taken some heat when they appear to have failed to deliver expected benefits to an organization. In my travels as an agile coach, I have found that agile practices don't fail—rather the variations on agile adoption fail. Here are my top twelve failure modes. See which ones may be painfully familiar to you: Note: This article was originally published on StickyMinds.com as "11 Ways Agile Adoptions Fail."This updated version includes additional information that explains why some agile adoptions that appear to have failed may never have been truly agile to begin with. |