Strategies for Addressing Thorny ALM Issues When looking to correct issues regarding ALM or CM, don't just look for quick fixes to stop the bleeding; look for solutions that allow you to grow, and to improve processes across the board. Short, iterative approaches are often a great starting point for seemingly never-ending projects. |
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Communication and Cooperation When Implementing CM and ALM If you have been involved with any technology-related efforts, then you will instantly recognize how often teams struggle with effective collaboration, communication, and cooperation. This article covers several key “people” issues that you should consider when implementing CM and ALM strategies. |
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Early Automation Approach An early automation approach involves the automation team in the early phase of the testing lifecycle to support agile or iterative projects. Automation scripting can commence in parallel to system development. |
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Experience and Learning In the past few months I've heard a couple of stories about (in effect) the disadvantages of experience when it comes to innovation and productivity. A Story on WBUR on July 5, 2011 |
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Branching to Distraction Branching can be an effective solution for managing change, enabling parallel development and improved productivity. But, working on a branch is a distraction and can decrease agility, productivity, and code robustness. Learn when the value of working on a branch outweighs the cost. |
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Specialization, Generalization, and Effectiveness in Software Teams: Clinical Metaphors I was thinking about the relative value to a team of a developer with specific skills (say UI development) versus adding someone who was more of an end-to-end developer. Two stories about medical practice that provided some insight into the question. |
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We're Agile I always recommend to teams newly transitioning to agile that they keep every iteration the same length. This helps them learn to manage their time, and after a few iterations they'll start to get a rhythm. Hopefully, they'll learn to work incrementally, doing testing and coding concurrently as part of one development effort, so that user stories are finished throughout the iteration, and testing isn't pushed to the last day. |
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Tips, Habits, Customs and Agility
Habits and routines are useful because they free you to focus on the important tasks. Rituals and processes take a somewhat irrelevant decisions out of your hands, and conventions make it easier for others to understand code and other artifacts. And when you are starting a new approach to work, following the rules by rote can help you understand the method. |
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Simulation Games: A Way to Improve Communication in the Team One of the hardest daily tasks developers, QA, ScrumMasters, and product owners encounter is effective communication with others. Sound implausible? According to many articles, research, and personal observations, the main cause of project failure is not technology or hardware, but inefficient communication stemming from lack of effective communication between team members, incomplete business analysis, imprecise requirements, and vaguely formulated business objectives. |
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Going Greener with Configuration and Supplier Management In this age of "going green," it helps to know how to get started. These selection criteria can help data centers become more energy efficient through the course of normal hardware and software replacement. |
Karen Ferris
June 8, 2011 |
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