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If a process tool or service claims to be agile it must be good, right? Not necessarily. The term "agile" has become abused and, since we don't have a standard dictionary definition, it is open to interpretation. So, let's look beyond the label to what really matters—value.

Acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) means different things to different people based on their experiences—from "It's all about testing" to "It has nothing to do with testing,” and from "TDD, ATDD—it's all the same" to "TDD and ATDD are nothing alike." These nine landmarks will help you navigate ATDD no matter where you are coming from.

As programmers, we are not merely engineering drones; we are also artisans. The act of programming involves as much artistry as it does technicality. When we craft great software, we naturally use language idioms help to show the elegance, beauty, and artistry of a piece of code. But sometimes the desire for beautiful idiomatic code can trip us up.

Many technology workers are drawn to the industry from seemingly unrelated professions. Don't underestimate the importance of a liberal arts education and general life experiences to the technology field. These workers can bring a lot of value and wisdom to your team.

Most projects do not fail because of bad business cases, poorly defined requirements, or inadequate testing.These are all symptoms that turn up at the project level. Project failures along with failed software process improvement initiatives, reflect a fundamental failure of "tone at the top." Often a Collective Protective Inertia Syndrome and other organizational pathologies control how decisions, including project governance decisions, are made.

Everyone responds to change differently, whether managers know this or not. A good leader knows this, and doesn't hurt the morale of a team by expecting them to act a way that their incapable of, or that feels unnatural to them. Naomi Karten brings this all to light in this article.

Testers and test managers who come equipped with their own practices and tools can save time and effort and get a head start on their projects. In this column, test manager and consultant Fiona Charles describes the "go with me" collection she has built over many years and projects to help leverage her varied experience and provide a quick start on new deliverables.