How to Change Software Testing for New Cloud Configurations
Development and operations (DevOps) tools such as Puppet and Chef automate changes to configurations in systems. Some teams use these tools, and other frameworks, to actually automate the creation of...
View ArticleLessons Learned at Invite-Only Performance Testing Conference
Explaining the Workshop on Performance and Reliability is a bit like peeling back an onion. On the surface, there's a three-day workshop, but peel back the layers and you see approach to learning...
View ArticleHow to Do Financial Trading IT Right: Behind the Scenes at Liquidnet
When most people think of big financial trades in Manhattan, they think of Wall Street, where the suit-and-tie culture applies to all roles, including the programmers and operations folks.But there's...
View ArticleWhat Every Programmer Should Know About Design
After spending the day visiting the technical staff at the trading firm Liquidnet, I was moved by the company's attention to design and how it impacts customer service as well as products...
View ArticleHow to Move Beyond Project Estimates and Provide Better Value
The buzz in the room at Agile2013 Nashville is "no estimates" - the idea of dropping estimates entirely from the software development process.Matt Barcomb, co-chair of the "Open Jam" stage, a...
View ArticleWhy You May Need an 'Agile Coach' (Whatever That Is)
For the most part, attendees at last month's Agile2013 Nashville conference downplayed their title. Programmers, managers, DevOps and testers instead described themselves as "agilists" there to share...
View Article'No Estimates' in Action: 5 Ways to Rethink Software Projects
My coverage of the panel discussion on how to get beyond project estimates at Agile2013 Nashville garnered a great deal of positive feedback. There was one recurring question, though - Where do we...
View Article6 Software Development Lessons From Healthcare.gov's Failed Launch
"I spent $174 million on a website and all I got was this bad press."Someone, somewhere in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)Well, at least someone should have said...
View ArticleHow to Break Bad News About Shipping Software
With 250 project managers in the audience, Richard Sheridan asked the certified project managers to raise their hands. Those who had never had to fake project data, not once, in any way, were told to...
View ArticleGetting Started With Ruby: A Tour of the Scripting Language
In the world of programming languages, sometimes you don't need the overhead and performance of Java, C#, C++ and other power tools. Sometimes a scripting language, or Swiss army knife, will do.Of...
View ArticleHow to Install Git, Ruby and Jenkins on Windows
This article provides supplemental instructions to the piece How to Expedite Continuous Testing. Specifically, it explains how to install Git, Ruby and Jenkins on Windows (as opposed to a Mac or Linux...
View ArticleIntroducing SAFe, the scaled agile framework
[Editor's note: This article was updated on June 22, 2015.] "Size clearly matters. You probably couldn't run an XP (Extreme Programming) Project with a hundred programmers. Nor 50. Nor 20, probably....
View ArticleDiving into DevOps' details
The basic idea behind Dev and Ops is to get the two roles working together. This sounds obvious, but think for a moment about how the roles have traditionally been implemented. Operations is...
View ArticleAre you overtesting your software?
Release candidate testing takes too long. For many agile teams, this is the single biggest challenge. Legacy applications start with a test window longer than the sprint. This happens over and over...
View ArticleGetting serious about portfolio and program management
It's been 10 years since Johanna Rothman co-authored 'Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management’ with Esther Derby. In the time since, Rothman has become known as the Pragmatic Manager, served...
View ArticleScaling agile frameworks: A comparison
When the Agile Manifesto hit the street in 2001, it combined several methods, sometimes called "lightweight methods," under a single banner. Scrum, DSDM, ExtremeProgramming (XP) and Crystal were all...
View ArticleHow to become an independent IT consultant
In my previous article I talked about the first half of the journey toward consulting – increasing responsibility as an employee, from getting direction, to owning your own process, to finally being a...
View Article
