Articles

Laptop screen showing test data analytics Applying Data Analytics to Test Automation

Testers gather lots of metrics about defect count, test case execution classification, and test velocity—but this information doesn't necessarily answer questions around product quality or how much money test efforts have saved. Testers can better deliver business value by combining test automation with regression analysis, and using visual analytics tools to process the data and see what patterns emerge.

Harsh Vardhan's picture Harsh Vardhan
Server stack with a line through it The Pros and Cons of a Serverless DevOps Solution

The dream of any product owner is fully customizable production software without the expense of the hardware it rests upon. While not completely free of infrastructure, serverless infrastructure significantly reduces overhead costs by abstracting away physical hosting, physical security, server maintenance, and OS patching. Here's what you need to know to decide if serverless infrastructure is right for you.

Glenn Buckholz's picture Glenn Buckholz
Four people on a crew team rowing together Rowing in the Same Direction: Use Value Streams to Align Work

Ambiguity abounds about value streams, so it’s good to clarify what they are, why they matter, and how to exploit them. It's important to help employees understand the organization's definition of value, to provide visibility on how business value is created, and to focus on the fast flow of value through the value streams. If everyone understands which direction to row the boat, they can steer toward it together.

Dominica DeGrandis's picture Dominica DeGrandis
Failure Next Exit sign How to Guarantee Failure in Your Agile DevOps Transformation

Many organizations make the same agile and DevOps scaling mistakes year after year, then attempt to rectify them by putting together a great new strategy—only to miss the reasons causing the failure. If you want to refuse to evolve and, as a result, cause your organization’s agile and DevOps transformation efforts to deliver zero business value, be sure to follow these seven antipatterns.

Mik Kersten's picture Mik Kersten

Better Software Magazine Articles

Six Ways to Use Business Analyst Superpowers in Agile

There are those agilists who believe there is no place for a business analyst on their team. Joy Beatty and James Hulgan, both experienced agile consultants, refute this belief and explain how business  analysts can enhance the effectiveness of most any agile team.

Joy Beatty James Hulgan
Painful Lessons I Learned from Bootstrapping a Startup

If you are considering leaving the nest to self-fund your own endeavor, you may want to read about Mike Botsko's experience creating a cloud-based, bug-tracking app called Snowy Evening. What started out as a lot of fun quickly turned into a tough journey. Don't worry—it has a happy ending!

Mike Botsko's picture Mike Botsko
How Can You Get More Effective with DevOps?

By emphasizing better communication and collaboration between software development and IT, this article explores ways to establish trust by focusing on customer value. For example, Manoj Khanna suggests continuous integration and validation as techniques that helps build that trust.

Manoj Khanna's picture Manoj Khanna
Moving Beyond the Backlog: The Four Quadrants of Product Ownership

What do you consider the role of product owner in an agile development project to be? Bob presents a compelling perspective that a product owner has four distinct critical roles that can prove impactful to a team's success.

Bob Galen's picture Bob Galen

Interviews

Greg Paskal Data Visualization in Test Automation: A Conversation with Greg Paskal
Video

Greg Paskal, test automation lead at Ramsey Solutions, talks about data lakes and how to effectively use data visualization. Done well, data visualization should help practitioners, managers, and stakeholders easily consume, understand, and act on the information the visual displays.

Owen Gotimer's picture Owen Gotimer
Adam Auerbach Shifting Left on Your Journey to Continuous Testing: An Interview with Adam Auerbach
Video

In this interview, Adam Auerbach, the senior director of technology for advanced testing and release services for Capital One Financial Corporation, shares his company's experience implementing continuous testing and describes its core principles.

Jennifer Bonine's picture Jennifer Bonine
Rob Sabourin discusses Usability Testing for Mobile and Web Technologies STAREAST 2015 Interview with Rob Sabourin on Exploring Usability Testing for Mobile and Web Technologies
Video

In this interview, Rob Sabourin talks about his STAREAST presentations. These cover how to elicit effective usability requirements with storyboarding and task analysis, and how to blend the requirements, design, and test cycles into a tight feedback loop.

Jennifer Bonine's picture Jennifer Bonine
Manish Arora discusses big data Demystifying Big Data: An Interview with Manish Arora

In this interview, Manish Arora demystifies big data by covering some of the biggest misperceptions and pain points held by businesses and SMEs. Arora also talks about his recent article featured on LinkedIn and why it's important to put good teams and technology into proper perspective.

Cameron Philipp-Edmonds's picture Cameron Philipp-Edmonds

Conference Presentations

Collocated West Logo Great Business Analysts “Think Like a Freak”
Slideshow

In today's competitive market, employers increasingly depend on business analysts to act as change agents. This puts BAs in the powerful position of influencers—providing the analysis and evidence needed to support an organization’s strategic direction and decision-making. In their book...

Faye Thompson
The Business Analyst’s Critical Role in Agile Projects
Slideshow

Are you a business analyst, wondering how you fit into agile projects? Are you a ScrumMaster who wants to work with business analysts for a stronger project team? Are you a product owner who needs to supercharge your product backlog? Mark Layton introduces you to the critical role of the...

Mark Layton, Platinum Edge, Inc.
STARCANADA 2013: Quantifying the Value of Static Analysis
Slideshow

During the past ten years, static analysis tools have become a vital part of software development for many organizations. However, the question arises, “Can we quantify the benefits of static analysis?” William Oliver presents the results of a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory study...

William Oliver, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The Right Question for the Right Requirements
Slideshow

How often have you gone down the road of developing software almost to completion only to discover new requirements that require significant design and coding changes at the last minute? Requirements analysis is not just writing down what customers say they want. It's about digging down and discovering what they need. Without real analysis, our requirements often end up as poorly defined lists, anemic mock-ups, and incomplete or inconsistent models. Jack Jones spotlights one simple technique to discover these needs: Ask "why?" When the customer states a requirement, ask "why?" to delve down a level to discover their real problem, need, or opportunity. You may find you need to repeat "why?" a number of times. Join Jack to explore the very real consequences of not comprehending customer needs early in the process, and practice better communications techniques to avoid unnecessary requirements and scope changes.

Jack Jones, KMI

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