The Latest
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Defining Acceptance Criteria for Agile Requirements[article] Acceptance criteria can be helpful in expanding on user stories in order to capture requirements for agile projects. However, acceptance criteria should not be a route back to long, detailed documents, and they are not a substitute for a conversation. This article tells you how and when acceptance criteria should be written and employed. |
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I Don’t Want to Talk about Bugs—Let’s Change the Conversation: An Interview with Janet Gregory[interview] In this interview, Janet Gregory discusses changing the testing conversation from bugs to solutions, why testers need to focus on the actual business, and simple methods that teams can employ right now to measure value and to focus on the positives rather than the negatives. |
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Product Owner, Product Manager, or Project Owner?[article] If you really want to get the benefit of Scrum, you have to make the mind shift to product ownership, not project management or project ownership. The product owner role is often thought of as being a requirements specifier, when in fact a good product owner is a value maximizer, and a great product owner is a product maximizer. |
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The Scrum Daily Standup Meeting: Your Questions Answered[article] The daily standup, or daily scrum, is a short meeting the team uses to briefly communicate work commitments with each other. Dick Carlson answers some questions that agile teams, management, stakeholders, and those who are thinking about transitioning to agile commonly have about these daily standup meetings. |
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Test Automation in the Agile World[article] After decades of talking about test automation, the agile movement suddenly seems to be taking it seriously. You might be wondering what all the buzz is about. Sanjay Zalavadia talks about why test tooling is suddenly so critical, when teams should think of automating, and how to bring the change so that your team will embrace it. |
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Stories, Epics, and Tasks: Organizing Agile Requirements[article] Some teams only work with stories, but it can be difficult for a team new to agile to write stories that are easy to understand and provide value every time. An alternative is to add epics and tasks. Understanding the differences between each level and knowing what size story to use for each situation will improve the accuracy of your sprint planning. |
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STAREAST 2015 Interview with Griffin Jones on Regulated Software Testing[interview]
Video
In this interview, STAREAST speaker Griffin Jones discusses his experience at the conference, as well as his presentation titled, "The Workshop on Regulated Software Testing." It's a peer workshop dedicated to improving the practice of testing regulated systems. |
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Revitalize Your Retrospectives with Gamification[article] Agile and DevOps teams, which emphasize continuous improvement, can benefit greatly from effective retrospectives. However, retrospectives can get monotonous, and that’s when they become ineffective. Using gamification in your retrospectives brings a completely different dimension of thinking—and even makes the process fun. |
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The "Show Me the Money" Approach to Software Development: An Interview with Michael Harris[interview]
Podcast
In this interview, Michael Harris, the president and CEO of David Consulting Group, explains his five-step Value Visualization Framework. He discusses how he came up with the idea, how it can help your team right now, and its similarities to the agile methodology. |
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How Business Teams Can Embrace Agile Techniques[article] As agile principles and practices receive greater organizational exposure, business teams are embracing certain aspects of agility that were traditionally reserved for technology teams. This article details the experiences of a group of people with business roles who have adopted some agile methods and how their teams have benefitted. |
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Welcome to Agile: A Developer’s Experience[article] In this article, a developer shares his personal experience with the transition from a waterfall environment to an agile one. He compares what it was like for him coding, learning, and communicating using each methodology, and he shares what it was like making the change to agile—and why he's never looking back. |
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Know Your Customers: They Can Help You Write Better User Stories[article] Too many user stories begin, "As a user …" Who is your user? Or, more accurately, who are they? Improving your understanding of the types of customers who use your software lets you see multiple products where previously, there was only one—and identifying dedicated products will help you prioritize and accelerate delivery. |
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STAREAST 2015 Interview with Rob Sabourin on Exploring Usability Testing for Mobile and Web Technologies[interview]
Video
In this interview, Rob Sabourin talks about his STAREAST presentations. These cover how to elicit effective usability requirements with storyboarding and task analysis, and how to blend the requirements, design, and test cycles into a tight feedback loop. |
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Does Anyone Really Do All That Is Recommended by the ISTQB Tester Certifications?[magazine] In this FAQ column, Claire Lohr discusses the International Software Testing Qualifications Board's (ISTQB) syllabi for topics related to software testing and it's application and usage among those who perform some aspect of testing. |
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Choosing the Right Tools for Your Testing Needs: An Interview with Tata Consultancy Services[interview] In this interview, Prasad Mk of TCS discusses the changing nature of the testing tools landscape, what an organization needs to do in order to be successful in this new world, and whether your company should buy or build the tool you need. |