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What's in the Winter 2017 Issue of Better Software Magazine? The first issue of our nineteenth volume of Better Software magazine has a new simplified, modern look. We've been planning this design overhaul for months, and the content keeps getting better. Check out the articles on reducing the risk of failed system updates, scaling agile, and servant leadership. |
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Don't Be Fooled by Statistics Statistics provide numbers that confer credibility to ideas, recommendations, and conclusions. But we do ourselves a disservice if we unthinkingly accept reported statistics without understanding how to interpret them—and without realizing that sometimes they are presented with deliberate deception. |
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Know the “Why” behind Your Projects Every project has its own unique reason for existence. We often work on projects to deliver some kind of return for our organizations. When you start a project, do you know what that return is? When we know the reasons behind our work, we can be more successful—knowing why can create success. |
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How Software Testers Can Stay Relevant Testers have an important responsibility to protect and further their craft. Many people who want to be considered testers should engage in career development more than they might have in the past. Hans Buwalda highlights four areas that testers need to understand to stay relevant. |
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Make Your One-on-One Meetings More Effective One-on-one meetings between managers and the people on their teams can be a very powerful tool, but it's also all too easy for these meetings to become routine, simply turning into regular status reports. One-on-ones should address career development, identify obstacles, and look at the big picture. |
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The Importance of Giving Others a Sense of Control It's important to give people some sense of control over their circumstances, especially during times of stress. This is good to keep in mind when dealing with clients. Feeling a sense of control is a very deep need, so it would be smart to ask clients' opinions and let them influence how some things happen. |
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Where Do You Start When It Comes to DevOps? 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. |
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Flattery Can Get You (and Everyone Else) Everywhere The difference between flattery and a compliment seems to be a matter of motives. A compliment represents a genuine acknowledgement of another person, while flattery, by contrast, is driven by the desire to gain some advantage. This is important to keep in mind when you’re on the receiving end. |