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Managers who want high-performing agile teams may think this involves finding people who all possess every required skill. But in addition to that being unlikely, it would also be a bad idea; it's the mix of perspectives that really gives benefit and value to the business. Instead, find experts in individual skills who can collaborate well together.

In this interview, TechWell speaks with Wim Demey, a solution architect working for CTG Belgium. At STARWEST, he gave a presentation titled "Take Your Test Center of Excellence to the Next Level with ITIL."

In both improv and agile, there is a tight-knit community where everyone can explore possibilities and feel free to innovate. Without that community, there can be no trust or collaboration. Travis Klinker tells you how success in both improv and agile means exemplifying transparency, adaptability, and unity.

Using effort estimates as the only criteria for deciding whether work is undertaken could be leaving money on the table. Considering value—in particular, the effect of time on value, as in whether there is a cost of delay—makes for more intelligent conversations and better decisions.

Status accounting is following the evolution of a configuration item through its lifecycle. Using application lifecycle management along with agile helps prevent mistakes, but lets you have the minimum amount of red tape; the team achieves an acceptable velocity without being unduly burdened with too much process.

There is no magic bullet to create an effective test automation environment. But Steve Gibson believes that creating a test automation vision, adopting metrics, and delivering value throughout a project lifecycle puts an organization on the right path.

A key component to being agile is the adoption of testing from the very inception of the project. According to Bob Galen, to achieve a high degree of quality assurance, there needs to be a careful balance among development and test automation, software testing, and cross-functional team practices.