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Vendor reviews are a wonderful technique to taste before you swallow commercial, off-the-shelf software. They're also a great way to build a partnership with your business decision-makers on packaged-software projects, instead of being brought in late or left out completely. Here are some important things to consider when conducting a vendor review.

If you're paying the bill for all the graphics, glitz, and applets, you're going to want to have some evidence that thousands of potential customers have actually seen your Web site. Here is a step-by-step recipe for testing system, network, and Internet reporting systems.

A use case is a sequence of actions performed by a system, which combined together produce a result of value to a system user. Use cases describe the "process flows" through a system based on its actual likely use, so the test cases derived from use cases are most useful in uncovering defects in the process flows during real-world use of the system. Here is an example of how a use case is used to derive and prioritize test cases.

Software development involves sharing critical ideas in a hectic, high-pressure environment. If you want your team to excel in its software projects, it's important to understand the communication circuitry at work in your everyday interactions. Here's a look at the components of the communication process, and five common errors to avoid.

This article takes you from “what happens before Lo-Fi Design” (understand the user) to storyboarding (with post-it notes), through final implementation. Other steps include window design (get out the scissors) and simulated execution. This thorough, step-by-step explanation of design method is supplemented with graphics and a usability sidebar.

Most advice on requirements gathering is targeted for brand-new "green-field" projects. What about evolving projects? Here's a seven-point strategy for those of us working on maintenance, updates, and legacy documentation.