The Latest

Behavior Modification[magazine]

Novices are often hampered by test-driven design's legacy terminology and notation. Behavior-driven development shifts the emphasis from testing to specification. Dan North describes how behavior-driven development makes established agile practices more accessible and effective for teams new to agile.

Dan North's picture Dan North
Understanding Introversion and Extroversion[article]

Personality differences often pose challenges for people who need to work together. One such difference is that which separates introverts and extroverts. Just by being themselves, introverts and extroverts can drive each other crazy. But they can also benefit from each other's strengths. In this column, Naomi Karten explains this personality difference and helps introverts and extroverts better understand and appreciate each other.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
Venkat Subramaniam - Practices of an Agile Developer - NFJS Tour 2006[article]
Podcast

Venkat Subramaniam talks about his new book Practices of an Agile Developer during the NFJS Tour 2006 in Reston, Virginia. The practices are laid out in a way that eases adoption for people new to Agile and improves the practices for those who have been doing Agile.

Bob Payne's picture Bob Payne
The Test Team Paradox[article]

Successful testers need to be continually critical of other people's work. Yet this critical approach can spill over into other aspects of our work. Therein lies the paradox within every test team. How do we prevent that continual criticality from denting our own motivation and leaving the test team dispirited? In this article, William Echlin helps us look to the bright side of testing.

William Echlin
Jay Zimmerman - No Fluff Just Stuff Tour 2006[article]
Podcast

Bob Payne talks with Jay Zimmerman at the end of the No Fluff Just Stuff conference in Reston, Virginia. Jay talks about the Java roots of NFJS and discusses the inclusion of Ruby and Agile Methods into the conference tracks.

Bob Payne's picture Bob Payne
Mark Richards - FDD & Agile Architecture - NFJS2006 Tour[article]
Podcast

Mark Richards and Bob Payne sit down to discuss agile architecture in this podcast. Mark shares his thoughts on feature-driven development, among other topics in this informative discussion.

Bob Payne's picture Bob Payne
Going the Distance: Five Tactics to Compensate for Distance on Distributed Teams[article]

Teams communicate quickly and freely when they work in the same room. There's no time wasted walking down the hall, going to another floor, or waiting for a return email or call back. Collocation is the most effective arrangement for teams, but that's not always possible. Esther Derby shares five tactics that help teams compensate for distance.

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby
Write a Blockbuster Using User Scenarios[article]

Big projects require many little user stories. But if these scenarios don't add up to one good story, then you're probably missing out on the big picture. In this week's column, Jeff Patton describes how his team weaves many small tales into a single strong report by identifying key characters and themes.

Jeff Patton's picture Jeff Patton
Supercharge Your Application Development Open Source Strategy with an Architecture-centric Approach[article]

Application Development Open Source Strategy with an Architecture-centric Approach Today's software developer, like never before, is blessed with a plethora of sophisticated open source tools and technologies to aid his craft in producing market-worthy applications.  Leveraging these resources together with the developer's business domain knowledge and agile best practices can quickly yield some truly amazing results  To sustain these successes, an application developer must apply an architectural-centric approach in order to realize longevity, flexibility and independence in his application.

Dave Thomas - No Fluff Just Stuff 2006 Tour[article]
Podcast

Dave Thomas speaks about the Dreyfus Model of Learning at the No Fluff Just Stuff conference held in Reston, Virginia.

Bob Payne's picture Bob Payne
Who do You Trust?[magazine]

The defensive programmer may sometimes feel a touch of paranoia in his work, but it’s all part of the job. Writing code today that is robust and defensive will help protect against the potential errors of the unforeseeable future.

Tod Golding's picture Tod Golding
A New Strategy[magazine]

After a conversation with a stranger about the abuses of process in an industry that features spaceships, technology, and an oddball rebellion against a controlling empire—no, nothing to do with Hollywood—Matthew Heusser ponders a simple dose of process improvement.

Matthew Heusser's picture Matthew Heusser
A Look at Command Line Utilities[magazine]

There are some large and complex tools out there for testers, but the ones Danny Faught uses most often are small and conveniently accessed by way of a simple, old-fashioned command line user interface.

Danny R. Faught's picture Danny R. Faught
When an Emergency Takes Center Stage[magazine]

The middle of an emergency is no time to make a plan. Take a look at this installment of "Management Chronicles" to learn how not to be prepared for an emergency situation, and then read the Story Lines for some helpful, preparatory advice.

Peter Clark
Is the Pope a Bachelor?—Why Examples are Most Important[magazine]

We like to believe that the categories we assign to the world are real and the definitions we use draw clear boundaries, but how clear are they really? Brian Marick writes about the vital nature of examples, both in the realm of software development and in the larger picture of life.

Brian Marick

Pages

AgileConnection is a TechWell community.

Through conferences, training, consulting, and online resources, TechWell helps you develop and deliver great software every day.