The latest issue of Agile Record is out, and includes some terrific articles by Gojko Adzic, Jurgen Appelo, Ellen Gottesdiener, Johanna Rothman, Linda Rising, Catherine Powell and several more – what an incredibly talented and diverse group of contributors! My “Agile Testing in Real Life” column is about practicing our software development (that includes testing) […]
Read MoreUsing Mind Maps for Test Planning
Recently I wrote a post about how our team used a mind map to help us with theme planning. We also sometimes use mind maps to help us in planning our testing. Some people asked if I’d post an example. Here it is: We’re a financial services company, and this theme was a rewrite of […]
Read MoreTeamwork & Making Good Choices
Agile is pretty mainstream now, but some folks still aren’t sure what testers do. In addition, the “Whole Team” approach to quality and the idea that testing and coding aren’t separate phases still mystifies some people. I think my team’s activities the past two days are a good illustration of how agile teams work together […]
Read MoreExploring to Get Specifications & Story Tests
Today was day 2 of a new sprint. We’re working on a big, complex theme. Up to now, our system allowed only one employer or “plan sponsor” account for every 401(k) retirement plan. Many companies want several plan sponsor accounts: one for their accountant who submits the payroll contributions, one for the human resources manager […]
Read MoreBook Review: Managing Software Debt by Chris Sterling
When I read Earl Everett’s foreword to Managing Software Debt: Building for Inevitable Change, I knew I wanted to keep reading. He points out that “system architecture is a human activity”, and that Agile recognizes the humanness of systems development. That’s my experience, and this book affirmed that delivering valuable software frequently and consistently over […]
Read MoreThoughts from Mid-Project – on Stickyminds
I have a new blog post on my Stickyminds blog with my thoughts as I am in the middle of a big, complex, high-risk project. This has been a highly unusual project for our team, which just goes to show, even after 7 years as an agile team, new challenges constantly present themselves. Please share […]
Read More