The Latest

There is more to software development problem solving than processes and tools. Discover a way to get to the heart of a problem with none of the hacks, shortcuts, and workarounds that have become the industry norm.

In a previous article published on this site, "Testing the Bold and the Beautiful" (May 2001), the author received many thoughtful comments and questions about the importance of aesthetics in software. This paper was inspired in part from those questions. It clarifies the difference between aesthetic testing and usability testing. The paper makes the business case for "beauty testing" and argues that an ugly UI can undermine the bottom line. It offers methods and a survey-template for successful aesthetic testing. The paper concludes with a list of "Facts and Myths, Dos and Don'ts."

It's happened again. Your boss corners you and pressures you to take on extra work. The additional project gives you more work than you can realistically do, let alone do well. Find out how you can stand up to your boss and work with him to create reasonable priorities for your time without damaging your relationship.

Whether you are concerned that your job is going to be shipped to India or feeling safe that the outsourcing craze is calming down, the reality remains that we live in a global economy and more and more companies are beginning to explore ways to creating software in distributed and multicultural environments. The Web and the open source movement have demonstrated that it is not only possible to create quality software in a highly distributed and decentralized manner, but also that it "makes business sense" to do so. This article presents a pragmatic framework for introducing Agile practices and tools to onshore-offshore distributed teams.

Are there elements of glass box testing and black box testing that overlap and can be helpful to either type of tester? One developer looks at the gray area between black box testers and glass box testers and comes up with some surprising results.

Looking to bridge the gap between code and customers? David Crosby and Carl Erickson elaborate on the benefits of an approach called Presenter First, a simple technique that can be repeated as many times as needed to get the job done.

Through this tale of a planning spreadsheet and its effect on three different projects, learn the impact a single decision can have on a project--and pick up some helpful tools like fingerprint graphs and project timelines along the way.