process improvement

Reviewing the Keynote Presentations at STAREAST

The STAREAST testing conference in May featured more than a hundred learning opportunities. Here, we examine the four keynote presentations: Deliberate Testing in an Agile World, The Future of the Software Testing Profession, Blunders in Test Automation, and Innovation: From the Tester’s Viewpoint.

Sandy Sidhu's picture
Sandy Sidhu
What's in the Summer 2015 Issue of Better Software Magazine?

This issue of Better Software gives best practices that will improve your skills in a variety of categories, including agile, testing, DevOps, and process. These articles aim to better your professional lives so that you and your team can deliver software technology that delights customers.

Ken Whitaker's picture
Ken Whitaker
An Agile Approach to Managing Your Software Testing Career

Testers are very much still needed. However, with so many new technologies and roles becoming available, some testers may want to explore options for their career paths. Michael Sowers offers an agile approach to determining your career direction, evaluating the alternatives, and developing a plan.

Michael Sowers's picture
Michael Sowers
Figuring Out What to Measure: Metrics for Agile Teams

For agile to work, it's important to evaluate how your team and your project are doing. Qualitative feedback, such as from reviews and retrospectives, can be valuable. But at some point you may need more quantitative information to improve your project. How do you decide what metrics to gather?

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
Three Ways to Organize System Information for a Better Test Plan

A performance test cycle should start with establishing a planning process, but this step often gets ignored or is viewed as less important. Having a better way to organize system information can help your team see what information is available and form a more effective performance testing plan.

Anish Krishnan's picture
Anish Krishnan
How Visual Thinking Can Solve Project Management Problems

After launching a project, have you ever found yourself without a clear vision of the next steps? The solution is to adopt visual thinking from the very beginning: Imagine your finished concept and work toward it. Read on to learn how to apply visual thinking to the flow of product development.

Dmytro Svarytsevych's picture
Dmytro Svarytsevych
How Much Time Do You Spend Doing Your Job versus Learning Your Job?

When was the most recent time you decided to learn something specific about your job? Many organizations do not build time in for learning in the workday. Instead of thinking you're too busy doing your job to take time to learn, ask yourself if you can incorporate learning into everything you do.

Johanna Rothman's picture
Johanna Rothman
DevOps and Reckless Driving

There is a trend of development managers suggesting that they need to embrace DevOps—but without the “Ops.” They argue that the operations team is too slow and lacks the skills to really participate. We want speed, but we also need to avoid error while improving reliability and enhancing security.

Bob Aiello's picture
Bob Aiello