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Better Software Magazine Articles

Season Cycle Moving Round and Round

A letter from the Better Software magazine editor.

Joey McAllister's picture Joey McAllister
New Skills for Software Testers and Software QA Engineers: 2013 … and Beyond!

Let's take a look into the future—all the way to the year 2013! As a software tester or software quality engineer, are you planning to learn a new skill in the new year. If you are, make sure you approach it in a way that will make that skill stick.

Matthew Heusser's picture Matthew Heusser
Leveraging Core Values for Healthier, More Productive Teams
Slideshow

Although all teams require a healthy level of interaction, high-performing teams' interactions are all based on trust, respect, and shared goals. Such teams find ways to overcome the fear of conflict, and quickly identify and resolve issues that are getting in the way. Scott Ross shares how, when the Omnyx software R&D department determined their culture was hindering performance, they crafted a core values statement that has served them well for the past three years. Scott describes the ways they proactively and intentionally use their value statement to drive the culture they seek and discusses the results they have achieved. Take back the list of resources that Scott uses daily to help himself and others see how their actions add to and take away from their core values.

Scott Ross, Omnyx
Beyond Processes and Tools: What about Ethics?
Slideshow

Too often we focus only on the latest headline-grabbing processes and products. While recognizing that we must respond to ever-changing business needs, deep down we know we must live by a few absolutes as we approach our daily work. At the core is a standard of ethical conduct that we always uphold. With an ethical underpinning, we will earn the trust and respect of our peers and those we serve. Jackie Pulley presents a framework for professional ethics within the IT development profession, including key practices from her experiences gained during more than twenty years in IT software development. Drawing on the PMI ethics standards, her personal lessons learned, and conversations with other leaders, Jackie offers a thought-provoking session for C-Level executives, freshly degreed software developers, and everyone in between.

Jackie Pulley, Pulley Consulting Partners, LLC
The Journey from Manager to Leader: Empowering Your Team
Slideshow

As I reflect on my struggles empowering teams to become self-managing, I am amazed that I didn't understand earlier. Things that seem so obvious after the fact are often difficult to acknowledge in the moment. I failed to recognize that my extensive experience with risk mitigation was preventing the team from taking risks. Tricia Broderick shares the lessons she learned in her journey from manager to leader. Join in and expect challenging self-reflection as you work with Tricia to recognize how your past successes can create limitations for your team. Learn about assumptions and expectations surrounding self-managing teams, common misunderstandings of what you need to do to empower a team, and the reasons why so many managers, despite their good intentions, fail. Leave with a goal to let go of certain skills that helped achieve your professional success.

Tricia Broderick, TechSmith Corporation
Red Beads: A New Tool for Managing Software Projects
Slideshow

Warning! Warning! Managing software projects may be accompanied by continued bouts of nausea-brought on by unmet expectations, process churn, late deliveries, and worse. In their attempt to conquer these problems, many managers stiffen their resolve, create stricter schedules, and install rigid processes to guide development from inception to production. Howard Deiner demonstrates that better results come from fundamental changes in the way managers and the organization approach problems. Drawing on W. Edward Deming’s "14 Obligations of Management," Howard reprises (with volunteers from the audience) Deming's famous Red Bead Experiment on its 30th anniversary and draws conclusions about how our approach to problem-solving affects our day-to-day work. Expect to get up on your feet and have a lot of fun "working" in a simulation of a modern workday environment, leading and managing the development efforts.

Howard Deiner, Deinersoft, Inc.
Group Interaction Patterns: The Keys for Highly Productive Teams
Slideshow

Development teams often fail to recognize the complex group interactions and multi-person relationships that are critical to build and maintain a highly productive team. Instead, they adopt follow-the-crowd practices such as stand up meetings or Kanban boards without understanding the underlying fundamentals. Michael Wolf introduces group interaction patterns of highly productive development teams to provide a framework for understanding group interactions and a vocabulary for discussing ways to improve. Michael demonstrates a simple tool-based on nine keystone patterns-that you can use to observe and understand your team members' interactions. He shares case studies that illustrate successes, failures, and turnarounds he's observed and explores how they relate to the different group interaction patterns.

Michael Wolf, Self
Form Follows Function: The Architecture of a Congruent Organization
Slideshow

One principle architects employ when designing buildings is "form follows function." That is, the layout of a building should be based upon its intended function. In software, the same principle helps us create an integrated design that focuses on fulfilling the intent of the system. Ken Pugh explores congruency-the state in which all actions work toward a common goal. For example, as Ken sees it, if you form and promote integrated teams of developers, testers, and business analysts, then personnel evaluations should be focused on team results rather than on each individual’s performance. If you embrace the principle of delivering business value as quickly as possible, the entire organization should focus on that goal and not the more typical 100% resource utilization objective. If you choose to have agile teams, then they should be co-located for easy communication, rather than scattered across buildings or the world.

Ken Pugh, Net Objectives
Context Is King

A letter from the Better Software magazine editor.

Joey McAllister's picture Joey McAllister
Where Are the Interns?

The demand for software engineers is outpacing the supply from colleges and technical schools. Learn how to attract new talent through internships.

Patrick Bailey's picture Patrick Bailey

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