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An Introductory Acceptance Test[article]

"If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else." Yogi Berra

This article is an excerpt from Ken Pugh’s upcoming book – “Lean-Agile Acceptance Test Driven Development” to be published by Addison-Wesley. Debbie, the developer, and Tom, the tester, are introducing acceptance test-driven development to Cathy, the customer.

The Triad – Tom, Debbie, and Cathy – are in their second meeting together. Debbie describes an example of an acceptance test and four ways that an acceptance test can be executed.

 

Ken Pugh's picture Ken Pugh
Continuous Testing: Building Quality into Your Projects[article]

I buy new cars infrequently, typically every 10 to 12 years. So when I bought a new car in 2003 I was surprised at the many advances in technology since I’d purchased my previous car, a 1993 Honda. One advance I was particularly pleased with was a sensor that automatically detects low air pressure in my tires. It is sometimes hard to tell by looking at a tire if its pressure is low, and checking tires manually is a dirty job, so I did it infrequently. A continuous test of tire pressure was, I thought, a tremendous invention.

 

TechWell Contributor's picture TechWell Contributor
Managing the Transition to Agile[article]

During these challenging economic times there is a dramatic increase in the need of organizations to adapt the software delivery lifecycle processes to the rapid changes often imposed on them. Leadership is making the decision to transition its development organization – not than just small teams but large numbers of engineers, working on a broad portfolio of development projects from many different locations around the world — to a more agile approach as part of an effort to vastly improve performance, be more responsive to customers and improve quality. However, there are many challenges that an established software organization faces when shifting to Agile.

 

TechWell Contributor's picture TechWell Contributor
Agile Portfolio Management[article]

I've heard people criticize agile methods as being too reactive and focusing too much on the little picture and ignoring larger goals. This is a misunderstanding of a basic idea of agile. Agile methods are't about thinking small and taking small steps towards a goal, applying programming an management discipline along the way.

Steve Berczuk's picture Steve Berczuk
The Unshreddable Résumé[magazine]

The recent economic downturn has record numbers of job seekers pounding the pavement. Find out what you need to include on your resume to increase your chances of getting out of the paper stack and into the building for that all-important interview.

Heather Shanholtzer's picture Heather Shanholtzer
Hidden Messages[magazine]

A defect management system contains data such as how many defects have been raised, the priority and severity of individual defects, and even who is raising them. This information is regularly used by program and test management to guide decision making. In this article, Dan Minkin proves that an experienced test manager can gather useful information by looking at more than just the defect management system's data.

Dan Minkin
Selling To Your Buyer[magazine]

No matter how well you've built it, no users will benefit from your product unless you can convince the buyers to purchase it. Selling to buyers is different than satisfying users—and you have to do both well to succeed. Consider the needs of the buyer as stakeholder. When you have no buyers, you have no users.

Scott Sehlhorst's picture Scott Sehlhorst
A Release Without a Tester[magazine]

In this article inspired by an unfortunate video store rental, Lee Copeland invites software organizations that think testing is expensive to try the alternative.

Lee Copeland's picture Lee Copeland
Working Together—Not Just Working Together[magazine]

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.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Demystifying Exploratory Testing[magazine]

Exploratory testing is a popular approach, but many testers secretly worry they might be doing it wrong. Jonathan Kohl addresses those concerns by explaining exploratory testing in ways that testers identify with.

Jonathan Kohl's picture Jonathan Kohl
The "One Right Way"[article]

For those who believe there has to be one right way to do something, especially in software development - there can be. But that one way isn't likely to come from a single individual. Through collaboration and teamwork, some of the greatest single ideas have evolved.

Lisa Crispin's picture Lisa Crispin
Estimation Poker[article]

Planning aoker, an estimating method popular with tgile teams can address some of these issues. Briefly, planning poker involves getting the developers on a team together to estimate stories using a deck of cards that have numbers that represent units of work.

Steve Berczuk's picture Steve Berczuk
Fixing the Quick Fix[article]

Demands on businesses these days tend to make speed a priority—often at the expense of other areas. When it comes to correcting a problem in your organization, you should make sure you are, in fact, fixing the problem and not just a symptom. In this article, Esther Derby takes a look at the issue of the quick fix and offers some tips on how to get to the heart of the problem.

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby
The Indivisible Task[article]

One of the things that makes agile work well is a daily sense of progress that can be reflected in, for example,  a burn-down chart.  For burn-down charts to be meaningful, the estimate of amount of work remaining in a sprint need to be accurate. Re-estimating work remaining in a task is helpful,  but the best measure of progress is the binary "done/not done" state of the items in your backlog.

Steve Berczuk's picture Steve Berczuk
97 Things Every Programmer Should Know is Done[article]

The book 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts is finally available, and the title is on the mark.

Steve Berczuk's picture Steve Berczuk

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