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Value without Numbers[magazine]

Justifying the role of testing and measuring the value of testers' performance are problems that many of us struggle with. James Bach offers some things he finds helpful when he has to give a quantitative answer to the question, "What is your group saving the company?"

James Bach's picture James Bach
The Art of Influence[magazine]

Abby is a tester who can't seem to make herself heard. She feels invisible in design meetings, and feels like she lacks credibility with the developers on the team. But she learns a few simple changes in her communication approach that improve her chances of being listened to. Elisabeth Hendrickson talks about how testers can learn the art of influence.

Elisabeth Hendrickson's picture Elisabeth Hendrickson
A Look at the Build Tool Ant[magazine]

Tool selection is an important choice in the development process. For any project that relies heavily on Java technology, Ant is a valuable tool for the build process. It is portable, packed with features, and is open source. Moreover, since it is easily extensible, a growing number of additional tasks are available on the Internet.

Greg Kubaczkowski
All Hands on Deck[magazine]

The challenge: With one week to go before release, the product still needs to be put through its paces. The test team: A few developers, a network engineer, a receptionist, an office manager, and a CTO. In this real-life story, Geordie Keitt explains how one dot-com employed some nontraditional testers to uncover the bugs in their new system.

Geordie Keitt
Tracking Wild Pointers[magazine]

Tracking down wild pointer bugs is not easy; the wacky symptoms that result are inconsistent and confusing. Pointers are arguably the most difficult class of bugs to handle. Ibrahim El-Far and Herbert Thompson give some examples of tracking down wild pointers and tips on how to tame them.

Ibrahim K. El-Far
Hung Nguyen on Testing Web Applications[magazine]

Here is a list of sources on Web testing, with descriptions, that Hung Nguyen has collected over the years. While most of these resources are on the Internet in the form of useful links and articles, some are training courses and books that Mr. Nguyen finds helpful.

Hung Nguyen
A Defining Moment[magazine]

People use the word "accountable" a lot lately. But what do they mean? Sometimes "You're accountable" really means "You're to blame for this!" Technical Editor Esther Derby takes a look at what's often the coded meaning behind the word "accountable."

Esther Derby's picture Esther Derby
A Blueprint for Success: Implementing an Architectural Review Process[magazine]

The most costly product defects are often a problem of software architecture. Testing your architecture is a crucial, but often overlooked, step in product development. Learn how to create apply a Systems Architecture Review Board for your own architectural review process.

Daniel Starr
Mission Made Possible: Harnessing Tools and Procedures to Test a Complex, Distributed System[magazine]

Automating unit, component, and integration testing can sometimes seem like an impossible mission. Read how one team of programmers combined the right tools and processes to make their test mission not just possible, but successful.

Adopting XP[magazine]

Extreme Programming (XP) takes practices that are known to be good and combines and applies them in a revolutionary way. Before you turn your team on to XP, check out the steps to take, and pitfalls to avoid, to make your project an "Xtreme" success.

C. Keith Ray
Focused Improvement[magazine]

Improving processes takes planning, time, and effort. A formal improvement project that applies the best practices of development to process improvement can help focus your team and effect real and lasting change.

Karen King
Preparing to Choose a CM Tool[magazine]

Do your homework when shopping for a CM tool. This article teaches you how to bypass the marketing hype to select the tool that will work best with your company's processes and tasks.

William Rinko-Gay
Why Nobody in Our Business Can Estimate[magazine]

Tim Lister gives three examples of software project failures that resulted from poor estimates. The main problem? Software practitioners often don't understand the difference between an estimate and a goal. Here is some advice on how to be better estimators.

Tim Lister's picture Tim Lister
Managing Technical People (When You're No Techie)[magazine]

There's a lot more to managing software teams than understanding the technology. Do you know how to elicit requirements from users? Do you work well with management? Do you have a knack for asking the right questions at the right time? Not knowing where to put the semicolons in a line of code isn't a big deal. Knowing how to lead people–that's a big deal. Elisabeth Hendrickson explains how to bring your own unique talents and skills to the table.

Elisabeth Hendrickson's picture Elisabeth Hendrickson
A Look at Rational's RequisitePro[magazine]

Creating requirements involves tracking and documenting all of the criteria for a system's success. A requirements management tool, such as IBM Rational's RequisitePro, can support this effort. While the tool won't verify that the requirements are consistent, correct, complete, relevant, coherent, and testable, it can help manage the task more efficiently by allowing you to document, track, and maintain the requirements in an automated fashion.

Elfriede Dustin's picture Elfriede Dustin

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