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Articles

Software professional identifying risks along a project lifecycle How Agile Reduces Product Risk

With traditional software development methods, you are betting that end-of-lifecycle testing will let your team correct all risks, but experience has taught us that this seldom happens. With agile, you are incrementally reducing risk with every iteration and release you do, mitigating risks as you go. This article examines each of the value statements from the Agile Manifesto to illustrate how agile ultimately helps us reduce product risk.

Leanne Howard's picture Leanne Howard
Man holding a lit light bulb How to Get Value from Measuring Agile Team Health Metrics

One common metric in agile measures team health or team happiness, but creating a way to measure this that is valued by the team is not an easy task. It’s having clarity on the reason you’re measuring these metrics and who benefits from it that gives you real value. Here are some ways you can measure this elusive quality, as well as how to make sure you're gaining useful information.

Vic Bartash's picture Vic Bartash
Signs saying "Continue doing," "Start doing," and "Stop doing" 5 Tips for Getting Retrospectives Done Right

Unfortunately, many retrospectives are not productive. It may be that the discussions are unfocused, not enough data was gathered to be helpful for analysis, or the team concentrates too much on issues they can’t control. Retrospectives should be a key part of an agile process for helping the team improve. Here are five tips that will help you have more valuable retrospectives.

Marco Corona's picture Marco Corona
Whiteboard with sticky notes for each day's retrospective comments Experimenting with Daily Retrospectives

Experimentation is a great way to unleash creativity, continuously improve, and see what works and what doesn't. When a team was tossing around the idea of doing daily retrospectives, agile coach Ben Kopel decided to guide them through some iterations on the process. Here, he talks about what the team did and what they gained from both the retrospectives and the quick feedback from experimenting.

Ben Kopel's picture Ben Kopel

Better Software Magazine Articles

Estimates: From Wrong to Real

Need a place to go to get the solutions you've been craving? Management Fix is what you've been looking for. In this issue, find out how to create estimates that make sense.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Asking the Right Questions and Asking Them Right

Naomi Karten shares how to ask the questions that ensure you and your customer are on the same page. Her tips include: 1) guard against conflicting interpretations; 2) don't jump to conclusions; 3) gather feedback early and often; 4) examine your rules for commenting; 5) conduct congruent questioning; and 6) find out what's important to your customers.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten

Interviews

Effective Software Quality Management The Blueprint for Effective Software Quality Management: An Interview with Neeraj Tripathi

In this interview, Neeraj Tripathi, vice president of Global QA at Infor, goes over the principles of effective software quality management. He explains how to measure customer satisfaction and how active QA involvement eliminates defects early and shifts quality left.

Josiah Renaudin's picture Josiah Renaudin

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