The Latest Stories

Team grouped around a computer Growing Generalized Specialists on an Agile Team

A generalized specialist is not a jack of all trades. It is an individual with deep knowledge in a particular specialization who also has learned to be productive in other team roles. Here are some tips on how to grow generalized specialists on your team in order to maximize your team's productivity potential.

Jeffery Payne's picture
Jeffery Payne
tools Picking the Right Test Automation Tool

Take the time to evaluate your team and your goals before committing to automation, and be sure to try out different tools instead of following what might be popular at the time. Automation is critical, but bad automation will only slow down your processes and sink your projects.

Josiah Renaudin's picture
Josiah Renaudin
People working in an office Designing an Office to Nurture Innovative Agile Development Teams

Agile software development is a collaborative activity in many ways, but it also requires quiet time. While open office spaces foster communication and collaboration, it's still important for a workspace to have areas where people can buckle down and work. What is the best office configuration to nurture innovation?

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
Woman yelling into a megaphone How to Grab People's Attention

In this hectic, fast-paced world, it can be tough getting anyone’s attention. But you’re more likely to succeed if you quickly arouse interest, generate intrigue, and make an impression. One way to do that is with a hook—an opening statement or question that quickly piques curiosity. Here's how to grab attention.

Naomi Karten's picture
Naomi Karten
Many people all putting their hands in To Improve Agile Teamwork, Think about the Individuals

Given the emphasis on teams, it can be easy to forget that agile has the value of individuals and interactions as a central principle. As much as an effective team dynamic is what makes Scrum work, teams are composed of individual people, and it’s important to acknowledge each person's role and to express appreciation.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
stealth bomber The Balance between Being Stealth and Being Public during Product Development

While end user data protection is important from a business to customer perspective, businesses themselves have their share of data protection problems. Organizations need to find the balance between being in a stealth mode and being too public during product development.

Mukesh Sharma's picture
Mukesh Sharma
knights battling Is Agile versus DevOps a Real Debate or a Misconception?

Some organizations are seeing all the buzz surrounding DevOps, not quite reaping the benefits from agile that they had hoped, and putting all their eggs in this new basket. However, if you ask Jeff Payne, the CEO and founder of Coveros, you don’t often have DevOps without incorporating some aspects of agile.

Josiah Renaudin's picture
Josiah Renaudin
treesnap app logo Citizen Scientist Project: Saving Trees with Apps

Our forests struggle with invasive species and pests, yet some trees still survive. Why? To find out, scientists need resilient trees to study, and that’s where technology and citizen scientists can contribute—with TreeSnap, a free mobile app that enables everyday people to tag trees that scientists can study.

Pamela Rentz's picture
Pamela Rentz