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Branching example Picking the Right Branch-Merge Strategy

A good branch-merge strategy facilitates processes among multiple developers and is the basis for any well-functioning DevOps pipeline that uses continuous integration. Let’s explore branching strategies, merging strategies, and how you can put them together in a way that’s right for your team in order to bring quality features to production faster.

Alan Crouch's picture Alan Crouch
Product owner standing in front of a wall of sticky notes 3 Elusive Qualities of a Great Product Owner

When it comes to guiding the development of a product and ensuring you’re building what the user actually needs, a product owner is the most important hire for the team. There’s just one problem: A good product owner can be really hard to find. The characteristics that make a good product owner are elusive, but here are three qualities you should prioritize in your search.

John Yorke's picture John Yorke
Scrum team participating in a daily standup meeting 5 Ways ScrumMasters Can Enhance Daily Standups

Daily standup meetings can turn into a perfunctory chore, with everyone simply going through the motions. It’s the ScrumMaster’s job to make sure that doesn’t happen and the meetings remain useful for everyone. With these five ideas, the ScrumMaster can actively help daily scrums be effective and encourage communication, transparency, and efficient delivery of value.

Ajeet Singh's picture Ajeet Singh
Person solving a Rubik's cube Eliminate Fake Certainty and Solve the Real Problem

Too often, customers have a “fake certainty” about the problems they want to solve. They might not have defined the real problem, but they have frequently defined the solution anyway. The risk is that we might build the wrong thing. When the product owner works with the customers to define the problem, then works with the team to define the solution, everyone can win.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman John Le Drew
Testing team standing around a computer and smiling 3 Methods for Better Communication and More Effective Testing

Successful delivery of software requires the entire team, so it’s imperative that everyone choose their words carefully so they convey what they really mean, are sensitive to others’ feelings, and consider all aspects of a problem. Here are three questions to remember when communicating about your software testing projects to ensure you’re considering the power of words.

Ajay Balamurugadas's picture Ajay Balamurugadas
Partially open computer showing a bright screen Software Development: An Industry of Amateurs

David Bernstein says the software industry is an industry of amateurs. It's a young field, and he doesn’t think it's yet graduated into a true profession. Here, David contrasts the software industry with other, more established fields, and he talks about what software professionals need to do in order for the industry to become accepted and esteemed.

David Bernstein's picture David Bernstein
Circle made of arrows Why You Need Continuous Testing in DevOps

DevOps is more than adopting the right set of tools; it's a cultural shift that incorporates testing at each stage of the agile project lifecycle. Continuous testing is key to unlocking this culture change because it weaves testing activities into every part of the software design, development, and deployment processes, which helps everyone involved communicate more, collaborate better, and innovate faster.

Tom Alexander's picture Tom Alexander
Felt letters of the alphabet The Agile Alphabet, Part 2

The world of agile has many terms for concepts, principles, and practices common in the community. Ben Kopel came up with a list of some of the most important words used when practicing agile and organized them into a glossary with one term for every letter of the alphabet. Here's the second half, with N through Z.

Ben Kopel's picture Ben Kopel
Felt letters of the alphabet, photo by Magda Ehlers The Agile Alphabet, Part 1

The world of agile has many terms for concepts, principles, and practices common in the community. Ben Kopel came up with a list of some of the most important words used when practicing agile and organized them into a glossary with one term for every letter of the alphabet. Here's the first half, with A through M.

Ben Kopel's picture Ben Kopel
A player running up to kick a football for kickoff Kickoff Meetings Give Your Agile Projects a Running Start

Agile projects are ideally a collaborative effort among the team members and with the customers, and the planning process should be a similar endeavor. Everyone should get a clear understanding of the project as well as their respective roles and responsibilities. As the saying goes, well begun is half done. A well-planned kickoff meeting sets the tone for a successful project.

Jane Thomson's picture Jane Thomson

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