Pini Reznik explains how containers can help shorten the software development feedback loop by drastically reducing the overhead involved in deploying new software environments. This leads to faster build and test executions and simplifies the standardization of the development and production environments, allowing for an easier transition to continuous deployment.

In this roundup of noteworthy quotes from industry experts interviewed in 2013, read about what constitutes effective agile methods, the year in testing techniques, and why you shouldn't put too much trust in the latest and greatest tools.

The “look and feel” of good design is critical for many of today’s interactive and web-based systems. Carl Singer writes on configuration management's role in producing a quality product with good design in mind. CM practitioners—including build, release, and deployment engineers—are in a unique position to understand how the entire system is constructed and implemented.

Imagine that you are the project manager of a software delivery program. Say someone on your team has been stumped by a problem for numerous hours and needs to resolve this "show stopper" to move to the next delivery phase of the project. You have called an emergency meeting and gathered a group of analysts, architects, software developers, and testers in a room for you all to work towards solving the issue. What do you do? David Lipien and Nicolas Concha explain how to handle this stressful situation as well as the lessons to be learned.