Articles

When 'General Agile' Isn't Enough - Why Scrum Wins in the Enterprise

Each week, I find myself using Jenga, Hasbro's wooden building block game, as an analogy for introducing agile into the enterprise. Few topics are more hotly debated throughout the software development community than how to apply the simple values of agile to big business. Many approaches favor knocking down the entire Jenga tower to start from scratch with an entirely new foundation of values and practices. Others opt for the comfort of traditional management processes, with some agile practices — like pair programming and stand-up meetings — sprinkled on top.

Does Exploratory Testing Have A Place On Agile Teams?

Exploratory testing--questioning and learning about the product as you design and execute tests rather than slavishly following predefined scripts--makes sense for many projects. But does it make sense for agile projects? In this week's column, Johanna Rothman examines how exploratory testing might work on an agile project.

Data Object Pattern in Complex Business Objects Testing

In automated customer testing, scripts can operate with system under test (SUT) objects indirectly, via some interfaces: graphical user interface (GUI), application programming interface (API), command-line, etc. Business objects may contain a number of data fields. If many of these fields are supposed to be used in some data or behavior verification, the problem of business data storing can appear. This article describes general approach for complex business objects testing.

Write Now

Software professionals excel at writing code, test plans, and other types of technically oriented documents. However, many of them struggle when it comes to writing of a non-technical nature. Naomi Karten offers tips for strengthening your ability to write articulately and compellingly.

Agile2007 - Esther Derby and Diana Larsen - Retrospectives and the CWAC

Podcast

Bob Payne chats with Esther Derby and Diana Larsen at the Agile 2007 conference.

Code Ownership Revisited

Among well-known methodologies for software development one can recognize two philosophies regarding the assignment of responsibilities to team members for the code that they produce: collective code ownership and individual code ownership. In this article, Jurgen explains that there are not two but four ways of assigning responsibilities among team members. He also claim that the choice for either of these models should be made not by methodologies but by project managers, architects or team leaders. Jurgen also presents a number of criteria which might be helpful while selecting the best model.

May I Take Your Temperature?

This week's column isn't for you; it's about you. Linda Hayes wants to find out what it takes to be successful in the testing profession these days–if such a thing is really possible. Too many good ideas, such as incentive and recognition plans, have backfired. Linda feels there are a few good practices out there, but she needs your help to find them.

Open Source Tools for Performance Testing

This paper contains the comparative study of various open source performance tools like OpenSTA, WebLoad, and Apache JMeter.

Secrets to Automated Acceptance Tests

Has your team been on the search for a fully automated acceptance test? Before you set out on that adventure, check out some of the accomplishments and perils behind the quest for complete automation, as explained by Jeff Patton in this week's column. Fully automated acceptance tests may seem like the solution to many problems, but you should know that it comes with a few problems of its own.

The Four Pillars of Agile Adoption

Now that the world has heard of Agile [1], they think–incorrectly–that the pieces of Agile they like best can be cherry-picked and used in isolation. Unless it is combined with Lean Thinking, agile software development can achieve only a fraction of its potential. Agile software teams are not sustainable for very long if they are islands in a sea of waterfall projects. This artcle examines four change processes that must occur simultaneously for agile adoption to succeed.