Better Software Magazine Archive: Jan/Feb 2013

IN THIS ISSUE

Take a Hike: Death March Projects and the Ice Age Wilderness Trail
By David Katauskas

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.

Lessons Learned from Ancient Wisdom: A Software Review Story
By Dorothy Graham
Robert Sabourin

Lessons learned long ago from reviews and inspection can be effective today, particularly in collaboration within agile teams. Learn how an organization used review techniques as part of its agile collaboration, including the advantages and potential problems of this ancient wisdom.

Simplicity and Precision: Test Planning in Agile Projects
By Janet Gregory

Test planning is often thought unnecessary in an agile project. However, if our mindset is on "planning" rather than "plans," we see that test-planning activities happen throughout the project, taking advantage of levels of precision, i.e., what is absolutely necessary at each level.

I’ve Got a Feeling: Emotions in Testing
By Michael Bolton

There are people who believe that emotions have no place in software testing when, in fact, the opposite is true. Decisions about quality are always emotional. If you want to be a better tester, get in touch with your feelings.

Season Cycle Moving Round and Round
By Joey McAllister

A letter from the Better Software magazine editor.

Software Testing Is a Game
By Jonathan Kohl

Skilled testing—an important part of creating valuable technology—is under attack. We need to rethink the problem, analyze why people resist testing, and create approaches to make it more engaging. Gamification provides one model to help us improve our approach.

How Can I Become a Test Automation Entrepreneur?
By Linda Hayes

In Better Software's FAQ, SQE trainers answer the questions they are asked most frequently. In this issue, Linda Hayes talks leveraging your automation expertise.

Driving DevOps Through Shared Knowledge and Control
By Tracy Ragan

For development, a production application should be fully baked and not in what would be considered a “development” state. Tracy Ragan explains that frequent releases are a basic requirement of rapid development methodologies like agile and this impacts the way in which development teams and production control teams must interact.

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