Inspired by the success of India’s Weekend Testing movement, Michael Larsen saw a need for a group closer to home. The Weekend Testing Americas chapter invites testers from across the Western Hemisphere to join an informal, distributed group of their tester peers to learn and perfect their craft.

My lunch-mate and I were seated quickly. Time passed, yet no one took our order. I’m not the most patient person in the world, but on this occasion, I was willing to wait my turn.

Why? Because the waitresses were dashing about breathlessly. They never just sauntered. They never moseyed. They never even dillydallied. They hustled and bustled, racing from table to table, into the kitchen, out of the kitchen, somehow managing never to spill a drink or drop a tray.

With all of agile's documented successes, the methodologies are being used in areas never before seen. Scott W. Ambler looks into why agile is as popular as it is, and why its popularity will only increase in the future.

Looking for an agile refresher? Here, Jurgen Appelo applies his seven dimensions of software projects—people, functionality, quality, tools, time, value, and process—to what he believes are the fundamentals of agile. And, for those who might disagree, he suggests an eighth dimension that brings its own value to agile: conflict.