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Improve Your Software Organization’s Processes: Focus on the Right Thing While processes may seem like overhead, you need defined, documented procedures to avoid problems. It's when processes exist just because "we've always done it that way" that they become a problem. Keep processes useful by asking questions and constantly verifying that the purpose behind them is relevant. |
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Software Project Management: The Responsibility of Communicating Quality Trade-Offs Some requirements are negotiable, even if it sounds like they aren’t. But expectations have to be managed carefully to avoid problems. Payson Hall explains that when executives agree to sacrifice quality in order to hit a deadline, it's up to the team to ensure they understand the tradeoff and possible risks. |
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Agile Methods for Tackling the Work You Don’t Want to Do We all have work we don't want to do. Some of it is boring or unpleasant, but there's another type: work we don't know if we can finish to our satisfaction. It's hard to tackle a task you're not an expert at. Johanna Rothman offers two classic project management approaches to face the work you're putting off. |
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Creating Effective Processes to Deliver Quality Software Delivering complex systems depends on software processes that guide the work on a daily basis. Much has been written about the evils of verbose waterfall processes, but the truth is that not having enough process also makes it impossible to deliver enterprise software without making many mistakes. |
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Fine-Tuning and Expanding Your Mobile Test Plan When new technology is introduced, QA teams usually have a period of scrambling to figure out how to support engineering efforts. Melissa Tondi identifies some key mobile challenges and talks about creating solutions to address them. The result: an efficient mobile test plan and minimal impact to the QA team. |
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Pick a Chicken: How to Prioritize and Get More Done A project manager was having trouble with his list of projects, all of which were behind schedule. They were all vitally important, so he was in a state of thrash with too many options to choose from. Luckily, Payson Hall was able to help him—thanks to his childhood experiences chasing chickens on a farm. |
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The Value of Taking Breaks Many people think breaks are a waste of time; if you keep working, they reason, you'll get more done. But what is the quality of that work? And how do you feel at the end of the day? Breaks are beneficial to you and to your work. You can refresh yourself, gain a new perspective, and evaluate what you've done. |
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Traveling Light: Pare Down Software to Move Faster If you take time to examine every part of your development process, you'll probably be surprised at how many nonessential things go into your software. Kickoffs, estimations, insurance, workarounds, changes ... All these little extras add up to big things that slow you down. It's time to get lean again. |
