The Latest
Top-Down Agile Adoption Strategies[article] This article covers the challenges that organizations may face and also recommends possible "top down" solutions that could help in quickly adopting agile. |
||
Scaling Agile Processes: Five Levels of Planning[article] Experience gathered during large-scale implementations of agile concepts in software development projects teaches us that agile methods, like Scrum, do not scale to program, product and organization levels without change. However, various planning frameworks have, in fact, been used successfully in large-scale agile projects, which can broadly be defined as projects that involve over 50 people and take months or years to complete. |
||
![]() |
Be More Effective: Test Automation below the UI[presentation]
Slideshow
To maintain optimal product quality of large-scale enterprise systems, the regression test suite usually increases in size over time. Whether using automated or manual regression, this brings an additional maintenance and infrastructure cost that tends to get way out of hand, often... |
![]() |
The Agile Pyramid: Aligning the Corporate Strategy With Agility[article] Agile software engineering and agile project management have become more mainstream in recent years with great success. But the benefits from agility should not have to stop there. Instead of initiating a project and letting the team run with it, progress reporting, planning and estimating should translate through all the channels, back to the corporate strategy. That way, executive management or the PMO can continuously balance the vision of the organization. This article will present these concepts for agile portfolio management. |
||
The Metaphors of Scrum[article] We claim that by exploring the metaphors of Scrum, many of the common confusions and debates surrounding Scrum are easier to understand. It has been our experience that people often reach different conclusions with the same words because they are using different metaphors. Additionally, we have observed that that once people become aware of the differences in their applied metaphors they can see each other's point of view more easily. |
||
Disciplined Approach to Adopting Agile: Adoption Framework[article] Over the past few years organizations have asked the agile community "Why should we adopt agile practices?" Today, however, they are turning to the agile community, with a different question: "How do we proceed with adopting agile practices?"; Unfortunately, there is no structured approach (at least that is published in the public domain) for agile adoption. The absence of guidance and assistance to organizations pursuing agility is the main problem addressed by this article. |
||
Feedback without Fear[magazine] Does the word "feedback" make you cringe? How about "configuration management"? Steve Berczuk has a pain-free plan for using your build environments and software configuration management system to provide the feedback that is essential to a successful agile project. |
||
Analysis Paralysis and the Law of Imperfect Plans[magazine] Humans don't handle complexity well, and we certainly can't see the future—which helps explain why our plans and designs so often are flawed. In response to this truth, our guest technical editor offers Payson’s Law of Imperfect Plans. Embracing this law can help you avoid the dreaded analysis paralysis and accept that perfection just isn't possible. |
||
A Classic Example[magazine] Many systems architects have a technology—centric view of service-oriented architecture. This article emphasizes the need to understand the business side of SOA before tackling the technology and illustrates this need with a look back in time. |
||
Testing Around the World[magazine] These days outsourcing is a pretty familiar concept in this industry. Has globalization hit your company yet? Naomi Mitsumori has been involved in sending testing work offshore, and she has six suggestions that can help you successfully manage the transition. |
Naomi Mitsumori
April 26, 2007 |
|
The QA Catchall[magazine] Pssst. You with the QA hat on. Would you be surprised to learn that you probably don't work in a QA department? Find out why what you are doing may not be QA, and discover some practices you can implement to insure that A really does stand for assurance in your organization. |
Alan S. Koch
April 26, 2007 |
|
![]() |
Attack of the Fifty-Foot Favors[magazine] When your boss constantly has you doing favors for another group, it can get in the way of fulfilling your own responsibilities. Find out how defining your work mission to your manager and illustrating how "small" favors potentially cut into company revenue can help to get everyone on the same page. |
|
When in Doubt, Reframe[magazine] One often overlooked testing skill is understanding what our clients are saying--in addition to the words that actually come out of their mouths. Sometimes reframing a seemingly irrational response can lead to a higher level of communication and a more productive relationship. |
||
Indulge in Code Review[magazine] Code review is one quality initiative you can't afford to skip. Don't have time for a full-blown, line-by-line review? No problem. Discover how even something as simple as a peer review can benefit your project and ultimately improve your code. |
||
Agile Tooling: A Point, Counter-Point Discussion[article] It has been six years since the authoring of the Agile Manifesto, and the technology and tooling landscape has changed since then. This conversation between Ron Jeffriesand Ryan Martens debates the merits and weaknesses of tooling agile. |