Failure makes you look at life in a way you're not likely to do when you're successful. The key to benefiting from failure is acknowledging it, owning up to it, and learning from it. There's a lot to be gained by analyzing what went wrong and what you want to do differently next time as a result.

Setting goals is admirable. But in doing so, you can't neglect the possibility of change. What good is achieving your goals if they became irrelevant or the assumptions behind them were incorrect in the first place? It's smarter to focus on the ultimate outcome you want, not just compliance to plan.

Shifting from being a tester in a traditional lifecycle model to in an agile methodology is not easy. There is a spectrum of differences, ranging from redefining the testing role and responsibilities completely to making only minor changes in context and accountability. Read on for some key changes.