Some say test-driven development may work well initially, but as soon as we start to refactor our code, it breaks old tests and requires us to write new ones. This is not the fault of TDD; it’s the way we’re using it. TDD remains a valuable way to verify code as we write it, so we need to repair our test-driven damage.

Of course a developer's primary job is to produce good code, but there's also a lot they can do to contribute to quality and test their code before it gets to a tester. Code quality techniques help developers write better code, more thoroughly understand their changes, and avoid builds with many easy-to-find problems.

Hackathons, where developers meet up to do some collaborative programming, are a great venue for problem-solving and creativity. They give employees the potential to get ideas out there that could pay off big, work the bugs out of new technology, and increase morale—and, best of all, they can be held anywhere.