Help simplify the entire development process, from design to deployment. Bring a vision to life using powerful prototyping, modeling, and design tools. Work more efficiently with integrated testing and debugging tools that enable delivery of high-quality solutions.

We hear that more rigor means good testing and, conversely, that less rigor means bad testing. Some managers-who've never studied testing, done testing, or even "seen" testing up close-insist that testing be rigorously planned in advance and fully documented, perhaps with tidy metrics thrown in to make it look more scientific. However, sometimes measurement, documentation, and planning don't help. In those cases, rigor may require us not to do them. As part of winning court cases, James Bach has done some of the most rigorous testing any tester will do in a career. James shows that rigor is at least as dangerous as it is useful and that we must apply care and judgment. He describes the struggle in our craft, not just over how rigorous our processes should be, but what kind of rigor matters and when rigor should be applied.

You are probably familiar with maturity models for software development. Greg Pope and Ellen Hill describe a corresponding five-stage maturity model for software quality-not just testing-which addresses the challenges faced by organizations attempting to improve the quality of their software. How do you go about transforming your organization to improve software quality in today’s better, cheaper, faster world? Greg and Ellen present the different maturity levels of software quality organizations: (1) the whiner or know-it-all phase, (2) writing documents phase, (3) the measure the process phase, (4) the measure-based improvements phase, and (5) the tools and process automation phase. Learn how to recognize the signs of each maturity level, where and how to start the quality improvement process, how to get buy-in from developers and management, and the tools to predict and measure software quality.

Struggling to help your team or organization become more innovative? Have great ideas but can't seem to get them off the ground? We all try to influence others, whether we want to move our department to a better development method or suggest a Friday night movie for the family. We discover new ideas to take back to our workplace but then struggle to make something happen. How can we successfully influence change? From her latest book Fearless Change: