For decades brainstorming has been our go-to method for ideation, yet it holds back our success when the environment doesn't encourage everyone to contribute. Instead, try brainwriting—writing ideas on paper and letting teammates iterate on them. It improves not only the quantity of ideas you get, but also the quality.

Tools are a normal part of testing jobs because they can amplify our ability to learn about product quality. It's a good idea to review new tools for automation, performance, or monitoring to see if some solution will help you test better. Before you even look at tools, though, there are two questions you should ask.

For many organizations, traditional testing groups are separated from the IT security group. But having traditional testers perform some security testing efforts is a great way of achieving a balanced approach to shifting left while being mindful of staffing and budgetary challenges. It also has some great advantages.