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Software Configuration Management[magazine]

Pat Wegerson recommends software configuration management resources AntiPatterns and Patterns in Software Configuration Management and the online CM Yellow Pages.

Pat  Wegerson's picture Pat Wegerson
Manage the Risks and the Process[article]

Including a testing/QA component early in a software project necessarily prolongs the schedule, right? Not so, according to Ross Collard. In this, the third of a three-part series, Collard explains how to anticipate risks and to aggressively manage the process to prevent disaster.

Ross Collard's picture Ross Collard
Can You Predict Danger?[article]

Testers are in a position to see danger coming. Speaking up early about risks that others may not see can save a project. In this article Yogita Sahoo looks at the problem of NOT speaking up, and discusses the unique position of the test team in preventing failures.

Yogita Sahoo's picture Yogita Sahoo
Manage and Strengthen Testing[article]

Including a testing/QA component on a software project necessarily prolongs the schedule, right? Not so, according to Ross Collard. In this, the first of a three-part series, Collard explains how speed and quality assurance don't have to contradict each other. Read his examples of how testing can actually help reduce the time to market.

Ross Collard's picture Ross Collard
Tinkerable Software[article]

In what ways should software be like a house? In a recent issue of STQE magazine, Technical Editor Brian Marick's musings about the concept of "tinkerable software" generated some interesting discussion about the very nature of software design. This week's column runs a portion of that piece so that our Sticky-minded readers can sink their thoughts into the concept.

Brian Marick
Driving Forces for Success[article]

Uncertainty and risk weigh in the decision to outsource, or not to outsource. In this article, Jay Boyle provides useful information and tips for knowing when to outsource and making the right decision when selecting an outsource vendor.

Jay Boyle
Bug Counts vs. Test Coverage[article]

Occasionally, we encounter projects where bug counts simply aren't as high as we expect. Perhaps the product under test is in its second or third release cycle, or maybe the development team invested an inordinate amount of time in unit testing. Whatever the reason, low bug counts can be a cause of concern because they can indicate that pieces of functionality (which potentially contain bugs) are being missed. When low bug counts are encountered, management may begin to wonder about the quality of testing. This article covers techniques for dealing with low bug counts, and methods for reassuring management that coverage is being achieved.

Andrew Lance
Failure Is Not an Option[article]

This paper discusses the factors involved in determining the cost of a 24x7 e-commerce or internal Web site going offline for any length of time. After determining these costs, and showing a real-life example calculation, the paper then goes into several ways to minimize this risk via hardware architecture, software architecture, and stress testing.

Ed Bryce
build and deployment mechanism layout Build and Deployment Process for Web Applications[article]

This paper describes practices that have led to a sound and reliable build and deployment process at Hewlett-Packard. Two teams of engineers, later joined by a third, responsible for developing e-service components to build a Web application, chose to use open source development tools/utilities in the "Evolutionary Software Development Lifecycle" environment.

Bhushan Gupta
Extreme Programming Considered Harmful for Reliable Software Development[article]

This paper presents data collected on extreme programming (XP) and how this method relates to traditional software engineering practices. The author presents reasons—albeit no scientific proofs—why extreme programming may be harmful to a reliable software development project. The paper also discusses why Extreme Programming fails to provide answers to significant questions that contemporary software development methods have to answer. The Extreme Programming hype, and its variant in the "Agile Methods" packaging, currently dominates the software development scene and should be investigated and evaluated before assuming it is the best method for a particular project. This paper is an attempt to contribute to the discussion.

Gerold Keefer
What Does Success Look Like?[article]

How do you know when software is ready to release? This article discusses one piece of knowing when the software is ready to release—knowing what a successful release would look like.

Johanna Rothman's picture Johanna Rothman
Giving the Human Touch to Software[article]

Yogita works as a QA/testing professional with Mindfire Solutions, and has written a number of articles on QA and testing strategies. Yogita is currently exploring thoughts of beauty as an area of testing and its relation to usability. Her role at Mindfire has been to implement Quality processes throughout the organization and build a dedicated testing team. The team recently published a White Paper “Porting projects: Test techniques,” downloadable from www.mindfiresolutions.com. Yogita can be reached at [email protected].

Yogita Sahoo's picture Yogita Sahoo
Becoming a Testing Expert[article]

Achieving expertise as a tester is a progressive journey. It helps to have a vision to guide your efforts. James Bach, a well-known name in software testing, shares his vision of expertise and provides a testing challenge for those aspiring toward expert status.

James Bach's picture James Bach
Implementing Status Acounting[article]

This article is based on the problems that we faced in implementing configuration management in our project. Status Accounting has been the buzz word around the field of configuration management, but how to do it and what is the real intention of doing status accounting? This article tries to identify some of the issues and the means to solve them.

Magesh M
Change Management[article]

Companies need to be flexible and innovative in the ways in which they deal with the unfamiliar situations they often find themselves in. We are in a time of great change. The reality of yesterday proves wrong today, and nobody really knows what will be the truth tomorrow. The steadily increasing complexity of the world is asking too much of us. How can we, as individuals, as well as organizations, prepare ourselves for an uncertain future? Through creating our own future. Change management means empowering organizations and individuals for taking over their responsibility for their own future.

This paper describes the Challenges of Change faced by today's managers and how to cope with these challenges and lead the organization.

Hemamalini Suresh

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