Process

Deliverable-oriented project management and test-driven development can be combined to provide an objective and easily understandable way of measuring project progress for the client, team members, and management. In this article, John Ferguson Smart presents a case study of how this approach was made to work.

As more test items exist, there is a tendency for them to evolve due to the changes to requirements and code and, therefore, must be managed effectively. When there are an increasing number of test items, this increases the risk of failing to accurately track all test items, particularly when this is done manually. This is where configuration management (CM) can help.

In his April 2005 column, "After the Bug Report," Danny R. Faught suggested that when you're testing a bug fix, you should also look for additional bugs. This week, he expands on that idea, showing you how one bug report can multiply into many more bugs.

Service and a good variety of features are key in developing relationships with the customer. We always want to satisfy our customers. But if we sometimes exceed their expectations, overly satisfied customers will more than likely spread the news about our service or product--we've added whipped cream, and maybe even a cherry, on top of their ice cream. In this week's column, Mike Cohn explains how he measures customer satisfaction using Kano analysis, which categorizes the features customers look for into baseline, linear, and exciter features. Doing so will help us identify which features will delight our end users, and help us surpass the level of simple satisfaction.