process improvement

Round analog alarm clock Make the Most of Your Downtime with the 3 P’s

Downtime doesn’t need to mean unproductive time. It doesn’t have to be spent passively waiting for your next assignment. Instead, you can take advantage of your downtime and use it productively. If you want to maximize your downtime but don’t know where to start, focus on the three P’s: product, process, and people.

Richard Estra's picture
Richard Estra
Apple cut open to reveal an orange inside 6 Signs Your Agile Project Isn’t Really Agile

There's a trend of organizations declaring they are agile without actually changing how they develop software. Declaring that an apple is an orange doesn’t make it so. These six key indicators can help you determine whether your agile project isn’t really agile after all—and give you some solutions to help.

Alan Crouch's picture
Alan Crouch
View from above of five coworkers fist-bumping over their computers 4 Ways to Increase Software Quality and Decrease Test Time

Software testers are continually under pressure to test faster without sacrificing quality. By taking the perspective that quality is the responsibility of the entire team, not just the testers, shorter test cycles with higher quality software are possible. Here are four ways the whole team can improve releases.

Richard Estra's picture
Richard Estra
An airplane in flight, photo by Andrew Palmer What Aircrews Can Teach DevOps Teams

Aircrews learn a set of skills involving a structured way of communicating that breaks down barriers and forces an honest evaluation of the issues. They also automate what they can but still practice their craft over and over again, including what to do during failures. DevOps teams can learn a lot from aircrews.

Peter Varhol's picture
Peter Varhol Gerie Owen
Sketches showing the minimum viable product for a project Why the Minimum Viable Product Matters

The MVP brings tremendous value to a team’s ability to effectively implement agile practices. It also allows us to better understand what “value” actually means to our users and how context changes the meaning. Your MVP must move through your validation and release cycles while still being valuable to your users.

Alan Crouch's picture
Alan Crouch
Bug in a circle with a line through it Stop Hoarding Bugs and Clean Up Your Backlog

Many testing organizations have bugs sitting in their bug-tracking tool gathering dust. The issues aren't high-priority enough to fix immediately, but no one wants to close them because they might get around to fixing them eventually. This is a hoarder mentality! You need to organize and declutter your bug backlog.

Jerry Penner's picture
Jerry Penner
Woman shaking hands with a job candidate after a hiring interview An Agile Framework for Improving Your Hiring Process

When hiring, adopting a framework to help you screen candidates can save a lot of time. However, much like adopting Scrum to improve your software development, following a framework won’t magically guarantee perfect results. But a framework will give you the tools to start off better, and to improve over time.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
Clipboard with customer feedback indicating good and bad experiences The Right Way to Respond to Customer Feedback

Due to time constraints and other logistical issues, it’s not always possible to respond to customers about their feedback. But when it is possible, the impact on the customers can be strongly positive if you make your response personal. Here are some things to keep in mind the next time you gather customer feedback.

Naomi Karten's picture
Naomi Karten