The Latest
A Story About User Stories and Test-Driven Development: The Setup [magazine] While "testing" is part of its name, many TDD pundits insist TDD is not a testing technique, but rather a technique that helps to focus one's design thinking. Drawing on real events from the authors' combined experience, this story follows a fictional team as it encounters some of the pitfalls of using test-driven development. |
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Behind the Scenes[magazine] Have you ever found a major defect while testing an unfamiliar system and been unable to explain exactly how you found it? The Framework for Exploratory Testing can help. These four activities help you explain your thought processes and allow you to train others to be better exploratory testers. |
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The Measure of a Management System[magazine] Traditional management systems were designed to measure conformance to plan, not adaptability. So in order to achieve truly agile, innovative organizations, a change in our approach to performance management systems is necessary. Find out why a switch to an adaptive performance management system can unleash the full potential of agile methods. |
Jim Highsmith
October 27, 2007 |
Agile2007 - James Shore - The Art of Agile Development[article]
Podcast
James Shore talks about his new book. |
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Buddy, Can You Paradigm?[magazine] Contrary to popular belief, object orientation is not the One True Paradigm--there isn't one, each programming style has its own claim to fame, and one is not necessarily better than another. So, even more important than being proficient in multiple languages is the addition of multiple paradigms to your development arsenal. |
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How Testers Think[magazine] People think in models and metaphors, which help us make sense of the world and deal with new things. Citing material from the book "How Doctors Think", Michael draws a comparison between how doctors diagnose illness in patients and how testers find problems in software. |
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The Blind Leading the Blind[magazine] When a team decides to go agile but its management fails to acknowledge the changes to each team member's role and provide support during the transition, frustration ensues. Find out how recognizing the needs of each new role can help smooth the way to a successful agile adoption. |
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A Christmas Carol: The Software Tester's Version[presentation]
Video
Grab some hot cocoa, sit back, and watch this software tester's take on A Christmas Carol by the Grove Players. |
The Grove Players
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Agile 2007 - Johanna Rothman - Author, Consultant and Agilist[article]
Podcast
Johanna Rothman talks about agile at the 2007 conference. |
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Establishing and Maintaining Top to Bottom Transparency Using the Meta-Scrum[article] Agile processes and practices have gained enough attention that both IT businesses and product development organizations are engaging in large Agile implementations. These larger-scale products, programs, and projects are more complex, have more dependencies, and present significant challenges. |
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Better Guess-timating[article] What is "guesstimating" anyway? How could it be fair to ask an agile project manager and her team to estimate an agile project in traditionally managed organization. Senior management often expects detailed and "accurate" estimates as early as during project initiation because at this point projects are funded and budgets controlled. For the agile project, this estimation exercise could easily turn into estimation paralysis. |
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The Product Owner: Choosing the Right Person for the Job[article] Agile teams large or small, co-located or distributed, have one very important common denominator: the absolute imperative that a strong product owner be established before any work begins. Arguably the strongest, or weakest, link in any Agile team is the product owner. At odds with this basic fact is a startling oversight of this role at the outset of many projects. Add to this a multi-site outsourced development team and it's no wonder successful enterprise Agile adoption is slow going. What makes a good product owner? Why is this role critical to the success of any Agile project? How should this role be supported within the team and organization? These fundamental questions will be addressed herein. |
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Business and IT - A Marriage Made in Heaven?[article] To most non-technical people, the mere mention of "IT" can be a real turn off, or result in a roll of the eyes. Although traditionally associated with geeks developing code in a back room, IT - in its very broadest sense - forms the backbone of organizations today, which begs the question: why is there still such a huge communication gap between the IT discipline and the business it powers? This article provides anecdotes and advice for businesses to help them resolve the issues between business and IT, and describes how using Agile methods might just save their relationship. |
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What Do Agile and Community Have in Common?[article] Several forces in the software industry are combining to dramatically shorten product cycle times for even the largest applications. These forces also shorten the feedback loops on an application's quality, usability, and customer relevance. As feedback loops shorten and the number of software deliveries goes up, it becomes paramount to inform and collaborate with employees, customers, and partners in a community setting. |
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Why Agile Development Teams Need a Community Setting[article] Several forces in the software industry are combining to dramatically shorten product cycle times for even the largest applications. These forces also shorten the feedback loops on an application's quality, usability, and customer relevance. As feedback loops shorten and the number of software deliveries goes up, it becomes paramount to inform and collaborate with employees, customers, and partners in a community setting. |