Because agile favors lots of short meetings, it may seem like they take up a lot more time. But when you compare it to time spent meeting in the pre-agile days, it's usually actually less. However, this doesn’t mean all meetings you attend are useful. Here are a few tips for deciding if all your meetings are necessary.

When a software defect is identified, best practices usually only pertain to the initial writing of the defect, not the tasks required to close it. Many factors can influence the tester's work. The solution is to add a “Next Steps” section that identifies the work remaining and the person responsible for completing it.

Although technical skills will always be essential for testers, this should be the year we also have a collective responsibility to focus on two softer aspects: being realistic about goals for quality, and bringing back simplicity into the software engineering discipline. Here's how these goals can bring value in 2020.