The Latest
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen[article] As a piece of Christmas cheer we bring you a traditional olde English carol. It is believed that this particular carol was sung to programmers by configuration managers to earn additional money during the Christmas season. The lyrics (including mention of Mil-STD-973 and CMM among other themes) are reputed to date back to the 15th century although the author is unknown. We have been lucky enough to track down a recording of this traditional carol—click the start button. |
||
Result-driven Testing: Start Adding Value to Your Organization[article] Within the test scene there is a vivid discussion about the necessity and use of a certification model for the test experts. The population of testers can be roughly divided into two groups: Firstly, a group that states that it will not do a better job when certified, because the current certifications like ISTQB and ISEB focus on methods and terminology, but fail to look at the practical testing skills of the tester [Bolton, 2008]. Secondly, a group who is pro certification and regards the testing industry as a young yet not fully grown profession that lacks certification models that other professions have been using for ages [Windsor 2007]. Meanwhile, voices are heard that the test profession is accepted in the IT industry and that it has actually grown into a mature profession. The website of the last EuroSTAR conference stated that a mature profession has clearly-defined standards, codes of conduct, and a number of levels of professional competence. Having all those, we might conclude that the testing profession has indeed earned its place among the IT-professions. |
||
CM Planning for a Downturn in the Economy[article] The end of 2008 presents us with a very weak economy. We hear the words economic crisis, gloomy outlook, recession, and economic decline in the news again and again. We are also seeing small to massive layoffs in a number of sectors and IT is certainly not immune. The question for those CM'ers in light of this economic downturn is how do I adjust my configuration management (CM) planning for the coming year when budgets are being slashed and projects are being cancelled? |
||
Configuration Management Primer For Hiring Managers: Two Different Jobs Confused By The Same Title[article] Your software development and support teams come to you one day and say they need a configuration management person to manage infrastructure configuration and releases. But wait a minute - doesn't the software development team already have a configuration management person? And what was it again that she was hired to do? Oh yeah, software builds. So why are your teams trying to give this position a configuration management title too? What really is configuration management? |
||
Determine How a Vendor's Tool Will Support Your Project CM Plan[article] I've seen countless sets of requirements and RFIs come my way for acquiring new CM/ALM tools. However, it is a very rare occasion when I see a company actually publish (and send out) the project CM Plan to potential tool vendors. In my most recent encounter of this approach, the pitch was: How would you change this plan based on your CM/ALM solution for us? This project has it right—not just a set of requirements, but an actual CM Plan, and not so much, "What does your tool do?" as, "What will our CM Plan look like with your solution?" |
||
CM Planning in Turbulent Times[article] In Turbulent economic times such as the recent days, it is reasonable to assume that while some things will be reduced or cut, (e.g. human resources and budgets), others (e.g. documentation) will be maintained or even increased. So, what can we do to create effective and accurate CM Plans? In this article I'd like to show some essential points for effective CM planning, which can offer a solution of reducing costs, based on the IEEE 828 standards. Basically, the goal is to reduce quantity but not quality. |
||
Reusability vs. Usability: Where to Draw the Line?[article] Arbitrary reuse of code components could deteriorate overall usability. In this column, Linda Hayes explains the good and bad qualities of reusability and five factors one should keep in mind when managing reusability to get the most of it. |
||
Transitioning from Analysis to Design[article] The step between specifying requirements to working on a system design can be tricky. Fortunately, the basis on which the step is made can be calculated. Paul Reed thoroughly explains how the transition should progress and offers some instructions on how to move properly through this phase. |
||
GIT For Basics[article] Editor's Note: Recently, I asked my colleague, Dilip, to give me an article describing his own experience learning a CM tool that I was not familar with myself. The best part of writing for CM Crossroads is that we get reports from people who actually know and understand how these products work in the real world. Please take a look at Dilip's excellent article and get ready to share your best practices and experience next! |
Dilip Mahadevappa
December 2, 2008 |
|
Tracing rule execution in GNU Make[article] Who hasn't wondered what exactly Make's log file output means. This article is about Makefile tracing. I cover tracing the execution of Makefile rules. |
||
Using Working Folders in Version Control[article] The repository is the official archive of a project's work products. We treat our repository with great respect. In contrast, developer often treat their working folder with very little regard. It exists for the purpose of being abused. The working folder starts out worthless, nothing more than a copy of the repository. If it is destroyed, we have lost nothing, so we run risky experiments which endanger its life. In this excerpt from his online book, "Source Control HOWTO," Eric Sink describes explores common "best practices" for using working folders. |
||
The Abolition of Ignorance[magazine] The testing profession isn't easily mastered, and isn't something that can be perfected by practice alone. Good testers study testing to improve their knowledge of the areas they know about, but great testers strive to find out about areas of software testing they don't yet realize they don't know about. |
||
Lessons Learned in Close Quarters Combat[magazine] Few would think that the tactics employed by military and law-enforcement Special Forces to breach buildings under siege bears any relation to software project teams. After a number of weekends training with ex-military and ex-law-enforcement Special Forces—just for fun—Antony Marcano draws a surprising parallel between the dynamics of modern Special Forces "room-clearing" methods and the dynamics of modern software development teams. |
||
The Key to Good Interviewing[magazine] The foundation of any successful assessment is interviewing a diverse cross section of the staff. But asking the right questions and asking those questions right makes all the difference in the quality of information you can elicit from your interviewees. |
||
![]() |
Six Thinking Hats for Testers[magazine] Fresh ideas can provoke us into discovering great insights: Six thinking hats did just that for Julian Harty, who then applied them to software testing with great success. He, and tens of others, has found the thinking hats easy to use, practical, and very productive. Read on to find out how you can apply them to your work. |
Julian Harty
November 25, 2008 |