Articles

Naming convention for build Convention over Configuration: Replace Scripting with New Build Names

Bernie Zelitch writes that his company’s build system scales well because early on, they scrutinized their build naming convention, saw its implications to the build ecosystem, and made radical changes. Their new naming convention takes some getting used to, but once it was fully adopted, it improved economy, flexibility, and functionality.

Bernie Zelitch's picture Bernie Zelitch
Gears: CM architecture How Enterprise Configuration Management Architecture Fits with DevOps

When it comes to DevOps, the fundamentals of CM may be forgotten (erroneously) by some practitioners. DevOps tools can be strategic assets, but they are not as important as established CM standards and process. It's up to us as practitioners to ensure that the DevOps tool chain implementation supports the corporate CM policy.

Dennis Furr's picture Dennis Furr
Shared idea in a group Harnessing the Collective Unconscious to Understand Organizational Culture

Process improvement requires that we understand and influence human behavior by helping people improve the way in which they perform their work. By understanding the organization's collective unconscious, you will be more capable of designing effective process improvement strategies that are aligned with the corporate culture.

Leslie  Sachs's picture Leslie Sachs
Testing mind map 4 Steps to Successfully Implement Mind Maps in Testing

Mind maps can encourage a new perspective in your test team and promote collaboration. These maps make it easier for colleagues to grasp your work process, your progress, and your understanding of the project. How do you get started? Here are four steps that will help you implement mind maps successfully in your testing efforts.

Mush Honda's picture Mush Honda
Clock: ready for go-live Are You Ready for Go-Live? 8 Essential Questions

As real and daunting as scheduling pressures can be, they have to be balanced with the consequences of a potentially disastrous premature go-live. Don’t let all the reasons a system simply "must" be implemented by a target date overwhelm compelling evidence that it is not ready. Consider these eight questions honestly first.

Payson Hall's picture Payson Hall
Flowers blooming: growing configuration management Seven Lessons You Learn When Growing Your Configuration Management

When the number of employees, products, and releases you’re managing grows rapidly, that transformation introduces several challenges—and opportunities—in almost every aspect of configuration management. This article presents the major issues a company may face and the improvements you can make to processes and tools as a result.

Yossi Zinger's picture Yossi Zinger
Agile Development Conference West logo ADC West 2015 Keynote: Lean UX: Turn User Experience Design Inside Out

When developing products, features, and enhancements, you have to have your customers’ best interests at heart. “We’re not just creating software,” speaker Jeff Patton said. “We’re changing the world.” You need to better understand the people you’re building things for, and the only way to do that is to spend more time with them.

Beth Romanik's picture Beth Romanik
APIs Require Integrity SOA Was Built on Trust, but APIs Require Integrity

With SOA, the services you consume are typically developed by your organization or a close business partner, so you can assume they have standards similar to your own. But when you adopt APIs, you usually have no visibility into how solidly the services were built—or when and how they are evolving. How should you properly vet an external API?

Thinking Critically about Software Development BSC West 2015 Keynote: Better Thinking for Better Software: Thinking Critically about Software Development

Software developer Laurent Bossavit delivered the second keynote presentation, about why we need to think more critically about software development. He began his presentation by saying his intention was to make you question what you know—or what you think you know.

Beth Romanik's picture Beth Romanik
Cultures of Continuous Improvement How Courageous Leaders Create Cultures of Continuous Improvement

The success of your organization is dependent on the courage of your leaders. Until you confront your collective fears, you will never get down to the true root cause of many of your problems, and they will persist in preventing you from succeeding. Read on to discover how to confront five common fears that may be holding you back from continuous improvement.

Joakim Ahlstrom's picture Joakim Ahlstrom

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