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What's in the Spring 2018 Issue of Better Software Magazine The Spring 2018 issue of Better Software magazine is now available, and it's got a great mix of foundational basics and cutting-edge techniques. This roundup describes the featured articles about DevOps, service virtualization, Scrum, test automation strategies, and testing for the internet of things. |
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The 5 Levels of Listening: Which Does Your Team Practice? The ways we listen—and not listen—are detailed in the Five Levels of Listening model, which goes from most distracted to most focused. Ideally, we’d all practice the fifth level: empathic listening, where we try to understand what matters to the person who is speaking, delaying our problem-solving and responsiveness. |
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Self-Organization: What Your Scrum Team Can Learn from Kindergarteners Some kindergartens are experimenting with new approaches to teaching, including letting students form groups to accomplish tasks that interest them, which also allows them to support and engage with each other. This is self-organization, the heart of Scrum. If five-year-olds can do it, your agile team likely can, too! |
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Scrum Isn’t the Only Path to Agility Scrum can really help a team to become more agile. But that doesn’t mean it is the only way for a team to become agile. Agile is all about self-organizing teams collaborating to find what works for them, so if a nontraditional approach helps your team get started, then you’re just forging a new path to agility. |
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How Testers Can Collaborate with the ScrumMaster ScrumMasters serve the team by providing facilitation and coaching, but they also have many challenges. Those in testing roles are in a good position to collaborate with the ScrumMaster to improve agile processes. Here are some ways testers can partner with, support, and assist the ScrumMaster—and the rest of the team. |
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Breaking the Cycle of Bad Scrum When practiced well, Scrum can empower people, teams, and organizations to solve complex problems and deliver value to their customers. But bad Scrum does the opposite. If team members or leaders don't embrace Scrum values, it can be oppressive and create tension. Here's how you can prevent bad Scrum from taking hold. |
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Fitting Specialists into Your Scrum Team While you may try to create Scrum teams composed entirely of people with T-shaped skills, you might still have gaps in certain specialized areas. Consider forming “specialist teams” to organize experts in the areas that require certain skills. You can have these specialists temporarily become part of your Scrum team. |
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Technical Debt, Product Value, and Risk Management Reports that the Equifax breach took advantage of a known issue in Apache Struts set the stage for a conversation about technical debt, product value, and risk management. Steve Berczuk shares his thoughts on how to help prioritize technical work in a way that balances short and long term value. |
