DevOps can be a loaded term. Sometimes, you’re just referring to the agile relationship between development and operations. Other people, when discussing it at a conference or in meetings, point toward more frequent releases, to the rate of hundreds of times per day or even per hour.

For agile software developers, acknowledging that change is inevitable is a core principle in how we work. Yet we often resist change—for a variety of reasons. By understanding human nature and being systematic about how we evaluate decisions, we can give ourselves a way of identifying changes that add value.

In the competitive environment of delivering software more quickly, many teams have abandoned detailed test plans. Michael Sowers argues for bringing back the overarching master test plan—not to have more documentation, but for the questions, creative test designs, and critical thinking the planning brings.