teams

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
Microphone on a stage for a keynote presentation 4 Lessons from the STARWEST 2018 Keynote Presentations

With a week full of sessions, tutorials, training classes, and events, the STARWEST software testing conference had plenty of takeaways useful for your professional and personal life. Here are four lessons distilled from the conference’s keynote presentations on testing, communication, and directing your career.

Owen Gotimer's picture
Owen Gotimer
Annoying coworker talking loudly on the phone How to Deal with Coworkers' Irritating Behaviors like an Adult

Annoying behaviors are amplified in an office due to close quarters and personal preferences. No one likes to have an awkward conversation—especially when it’s with someone you have to face every day—but if a coworker's behavior is driving you up the wall, be a grown-up and let them know. Here's what to say.

Naomi Karten's picture
Naomi Karten
A mentor and mentee talking and looking at a laptop 5 Tips for Mentoring Future Mentors

Being a mentor is a big responsibility. It becomes a greater one when the person you're mentoring is set to become a mentor to someone else. What advice would you impart to your mentee? What do you wish you'd thought of when you were starting out as a mentor? Payson Hall distilled his experience into five principles.

Payson Hall's picture
Payson Hall
Two grain silos Testing Centers of Excellence and the Return of Silos

Testing centers of excellence aim to be R&D labs for software testing, experimenting, and innovating new testing techniques and then piloting them on projects and analyzing the results. But that's not always the reality. Some CoEs merely isolate testers, taking a step back to the days of silos. What's your experience?

John Tyson's picture
John Tyson
Two rocks balancing on another rock acting as a fulcrum Looking beyond the Tester-to-Developer Ratio

Many companies have some notion of an ideal tester-to-developer ratio, or the number of testers they need for every certain number of developers. It may seem like a superficial standard, but it's rooted in a very real need to understand staffing requirements and budgets. Let's dig deeper into the team balance.

Justin Rohrman's picture
Justin Rohrman
Training class with people's hands raised, photo by Nicole Honeywill If You Want Training to Take, Explore Experiential Learning

People typically think of training classes as passive activities, where the instructor talks and the others listen. But experiential learning, where you learn through hands-on activities and then reflect on the experience, often gets the lesson to stick in people's brains better. Consider using interactive lessons.

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Steve Berczuk
Group of team players on a soccer field How to Be a Team Player

Some people think of themselves as team players because they're technically savvy, hard workers, and strong contributors. But these traits alone don’t make someone a team player. Teamwork, after all, is the process of working together to achieve a shared goal. Team players collaborate to solve problems.

Naomi Karten's picture
Naomi Karten