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The Value of Testing Simply People obsess over the number of tests and test coverage, but tests that cover more code don’t always improve quality. Some tests have low value and thus, implicitly, high cost. Simple tests may not seem impressive at first glance. But the goal of testing is to ensure quality, and simple tests can be very valuable. |
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Engineering Architecture Systems for a Faster Build In the era of continuous integration and continuous deployment, big applications are creating bloated build pipelines. The problem is when code becomes so entangled that every change impacts large portions of the system, meaning there’s a lot to rebuild. If you reshape the code architecture, you can reduce build times. |
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Managing the Turbulence of Organizational Change In times of major change, particularly organizational change, it's normal for people involved to experience turbulence, including anxiety, anger, or uncertainty. If you’re overseeing a change, how you communicate with those affected can significantly decrease—or increase—the duration and intensity of that turbulence. |
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The Software World Is Changing—Are You Willing to Change with It? The software landscape is changing. Processes are becoming quicker and leaner, but instead of re-evaluating some of our traditional practices, we sometimes try to make them fit where they don't belong. This holds back continuous improvement. If you want change, you first need to be willing to change. |
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Managing Resistance to Organizational Change Change can be difficult, and some people's reaction is to shut it all down. If they think their concerns aren’t being heard, they get defensive, and your project is on a trajectory for disaster. Don't fire off an email while tempers are running high. Managing expectations thoughtfully is essential to project success. |
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The Importance of Timing when Implementing Change Too many changes at once can prolong upheaval and delay people's adjustment to the new norm. If you are planning to start a complex project, introduce a new tool, or undertake any other major initiative, and employees are still reeling from other changes, it may be wise to delay the planned change if you can. |
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The Problem with Software Measurement and Metrics Many software practices rely on setting target numbers for the team to hit. But when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. People start gaming the system by changing their behavior in such a way to favorably adjust the measure in order to achieve the target. Don't get hung up on metrics. |
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Shorten Your Feedback Loops to Build Better Software, Faster When we have short feedback loops, we are still in the moment for that feature. We still have the context. The longer the feedback loop, the less likely we are to still have all the context for the feature because we are on to the next piece of work. How long are your feedback loops? Can you shorten them? |
