The Latest
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Relating PMBOK Practices to Agile Practices - Part 2 of 4[article] Michele Sliger understands the turmoil project management practitioners go through in the transition from plan-driven approaches to agile methodologies. Michelle continues her four-part series relating Project Management Institute (PMI) best practices--as identified in the PMBOK--to agile practices. |
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Agility and Quality[article] What is "quality"? There are many competing definitions, but the one that makes the most sense, "Quality is in the eye of the beholder," is hard to make workable in a real business situation. Some would say it is impossible to use, but Agile methods beg to differ.
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Alan S. Koch
April 12, 2006 |
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Where in the World?—Is Your Test Strategy Multicultural?[magazine] Good software travels far and wide, and for rapid testers that means one of their goals is to discover risks associated with the product's operating differently with respect to some distinct locale. That's why Michael Bolton says "localizability" is preferred "internationalization," because the new target market may not be in a different country at all. |
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Feedback Before Firing[magazine] If someone on your project team isn't working up to par, it might take more than a simple showing of your disapproval to put him on the right track. Johanna Rothman suggests trying specific and useful feedback--show your employees the light before you show them the door. |
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Logging a Path to Code Clarity[magazine] A good log file may be the best tool to track down those "cannot reproduce" bugs, but creating the best log takes a certain amount of careful nurturing. In this article, Tod Golding explains why log files can be worth every extra line of code. |
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That's Not My Job[article] When trying to complete a task, nothing is more frustrating than insufficient documentation of the process. Well, maybe the coworker who knows the process but is unwilling to help you can be just a tad more irritating. Unfortunately we run into these problems daily. People try to do more with less, which can severely stall or prevent completion of any task. In this week's column, Peter Clark recalls how he helped a coworker through similar hassles and what he did when others claimed that helping coworkers was "not their job." |
Peter Clark
April 6, 2006 |
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How to Merge XML Data with a Database[article] In his article "Data Crunching Tips and Techniques," Greg Wilson taught us how to translate legacy data into XML. In the second half, he explains how to merge new data into an existing database. Developers will always face these types of data crunching problems, and knowing the standard data crunching tools can save you a lot of time. Greg also shares the basic knowledge about relational databases that every developer should possess. |
Greg Wilson
April 6, 2006 |
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A Look at GreenBlue Inspector by Ecyware[magazine] Why should hackers have all the good tools? Marnie Hutcheson takes a look at Ecyware's GreenBlue Inspector, an inexpensive tool that automates gray box vulnerability testing for simple data types, buffer overflow, SQL injection, and cross-site scripting in forms, cookies, and client requests. |
Marnie Hutcheson
March 30, 2006 |
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Stress Testing - What a Load![magazine] People often ask software quality specialist Scott Ames how they can increase stress in their projects. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, he responds with some steps that are guaranteed to increase the overall stress on people and projects. |
Scott G. Ames
March 30, 2006 |
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Held Hostage by a Prima Donna[magazine] This installment of Management Chronicles relates the story of an office that has been overtaken by the whims of a real prima donna. Is the value of one indispensable person worth risking the productivity of the entire team? Author Esther Derby offers her insights. |
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Patterns Without Purpose[magazine] Architectural patterns are a convenient way to design and build your code, but be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. Tod Golding offers advice on avoiding useless layers and letting each pattern earn its way into your architecture. |
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Maintaining Your Course[magazine] What does maintainability mean to you? Michael Bolton discusses the different elements of this often-overlooked attribute of software projects and what it means as a guideword heuristic to rapid testers. |
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Living by Principles, Not by Plans[magazine] Reality is not a static thing, and when the reality of a situation changes, so too must our plans. In his article, Lee Copeland explains why "planning" does not equal "controlling" and suggests that we should look to our principles for guidance. |
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Breaking With Tradition[magazine] Though the term "agile" isn't often ascribed to the ways of software configuration management, Steve Berczuk offers some ways in which applying the principles of agile SCM can help teams work more effectively. |
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I Didn't Know I Needed That[magazine] There is a natural relationship between the features in a product and the customer's satisfaction with that product, but not every feature influences customers in the same way. The best plan for satisfying customers, as author Mike Cohn explains, is to give them what they want. |
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