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As always, the snake oil bandwagons are circling your organization. But unlike snake oil, a purported health supplement of old, modern organizations bet their success on technologies with often equally dubious claims.

In the software business, poor product design can lead to frustration and wasted time for our customers.

Today's organizations depend on software applications for their business success-and survival. When applications fail, businesses are severely damaged-revenue losses in the millions, key data stolen, brands and reputations damaged.

Whether you're being admonished for having more than ten items in the express lane at the supermarket or you are telling off a tester for missing a bug, at some point we've all been on the giving and on the receiving end of The Lecture. We're all human and fallible. Isn't there a more effective (and mature) way to communicate when a problem arises?

Think you know what your customer wants? Can you afford to be wrong? Based on the concept of tracer ammunition, which allows a shooter to follow the path of a bullet toward its target and adjust his aim as needed, tracer bullet software development can help you better understand your users’ wants so you can build a product that hits the mark.

Mom always said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." But Michael Bolton made an interesting discovery when he asked testers to talk about users they don't like. While nobody likes a complainer, listening to what your users are saying--even if you don't like it--can help you spot problems you may have overlooked.

Good code is a beautiful thing--especially when you don't have to write it. While most of us are quick to use prepackaged containers such as vectors, lists, and maps in everyday programming, we often overlook algorithms as a reuse tool. Find out how standard template library algorithms, specifically, can put you on the road to reuse.