risk management

Articles

Take A Hike: Death March Projects And The Ice Age Wilderness Trail
Dave and his friend Bob hiked Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail and returned home with more than just sore legs and hiking experience. Learn some of the project management tips Dave picked up while adventuring in the wilderness.
Testing Tradeoffs and Project Risk: A Case Study

Between extreme opinions of what is testing “overkill” and what is “essential,” there sometimes exists a reasonable middle path. In this field report, Payson identifies an example of risk mitigation and the evolution of the analysis that brought him there.

Driving Efficiency and Effectiveness with Web Analytics and Risk-Based Testing
Web analytics can help you deduce, reduce, and prioritize your testing efforts. Learn how to gather and use qualitative and quantitative information about your users and the risks that can threaten your software's success.
Dear Customer: The Truth About IT Projects
In this personal and direct letter to customers, Allan Kelly pulls no punches and explains why IT projects don't always pan out for all of the parties involved.

More

Better Software Magazine

Surprise! Making the Most Out of Your Most Surprising Moments
Lee Copeland explains that surprise is often an indicator that discovery, learning, or even delight may be just around the corner. The surprise itself can be amusing, enlightening, befuddling, disconcerting, or frightening, but surprise should not be the end of the experience; it should be the beginning. Analyze the surprise to learn why you didn't see it coming and what you gain from that.
Unintended Consequences

Every action elicits a response, but sometimes that response is not what we expect. These anecdotes from industry experts are good examples of how our best intentions don't always match our plans.

Working Together—Not Just Working Together
People collaborate—and don't—in a variety of ways. Johanna Rothman examines what happens when collaboration isn't working, and how to make it work. Watch for several barriers to collaboration including those imposed on people by the organization itself.
Oh, When Will They Ever Learn?

After reading the book The Day the Phones Stopped, which was published in 1991, Lee began wondering why the poor software quality and complaints about development and testing documented in this book are the same complaints we hear today.

How Agile Practices Reduce the Top 5 Requirements Risks
Requirements risks are among the most insidious risks threatening software projects. Whether it is having unclear requirements, lack of customer involvement in requirements development, or defective requirements, these troubles are a major culprit in projects that go awry. As requirements expert and agile coach Ellen Gottesdiener explains, agile practice can go a long way in mitigating the top 5 requirements risks.
Three Pounds of Manure in a Two-Pound Sack
Multitasking is not a magical cure for getting too much work done by too few resources. Listen in as Payson Hall eavesdrops on a coaching session between two managers about how to assign and prioritize work.
Risk-based Testing in Action

Risk-based testing allows project teams to focus their limited test efforts on the areas of the product that really matter, based on the likelihood of bugs in those areas and the impact of bugs should they exist. By using risk priority to sequence test cases and allocate test effort, test teams can also increase their chances of finding bugs in priority order and allow for risk-based test triage if necessary.

More

Interviews

A Firsthand Agile Transition Success Story: An Interview with Penny Wyatt
In this interview, Penny Wyatt speaks with us ahead of her Agile Development Conference West session, "Transform Your Agile Test Process to Ship Fast with High Quality," to share some of the ways she and her team achieved success, and how they—and you—can continue to develop and grow together.
Security Testing in an Agile World: An Interview with Jeff Payne
Jeffrey Payne sat down with Noel Wurst to discuss a range of topics, including advice for teams that are attempting agile for the first time, the importance of clear communication between teams, and the ways that security testing has changed alongside modern technology.

More

TechWell Stories
How Acknowledging Work Effort Increases Productivity and Motivation
To Estimate or Not to Estimate—That Is the Question
Removing Waste in Software Projects
Create a Vendor Contract While Keeping Agile
How Agile Teams Use DevOps for Deployment

Recommended Web Seminars

May 29 How to Integrate Performance Testing into Agile and Hybrid Environments
Jun 11 Test Infrastructure Changes as Easy as Pressing Play
Jun 18 Adopting Agile and Moving into the Future
Jun 20 Where Has All the Tester's Time Gone?
On Demand 7 Habits of Highly Effective Agile Teams

Featured Resources

» An Innovative Approach to Integration Testing | IBM Rational
» Improve Quality and Decrease Time to Market with Requirements Management | PTC
» Performance Testing in the Cloud | J9 Technologies
» Perfection Just Became Mobile: An Easy-to-Use Solution for Mobile App Testing | Micro Focus
» Improving Test Automation for Visual Studio Projects | LogiGear

Visit Our Other Communities

The home for software testing and QA professionals—practical advice on test automation, test management, test techniques, and more.
Where configuration management and development professionals go for answers on SCM, ALM, change management, DevOps, tools and more.