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Testing Techniques for Applications With Zero Tests
Agile techniques recommend having adequate unit and acceptance tests to build a robust test harness around the application. However, in the real world, not all applications are fortunate enough to have a test harness. In an interesting discussion on the Agile Testing group, members suggested ways to test applications which do not have any automated tests.
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Learning from the creative industries - consistency to build trust
This is the first in a series of discussions looking at factors that enable teams to be successful. This post reports on a recent Wired magazine article that looks at the creative process in use at Pixar Animation Studios and how their process encourages team formation, long-term relationships and trust in a “safe to fail” environment.
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The "Oath of Non-Allegiance"
The Agile community of full of smart people, smart ideas, opinions, positions-- and differences. Substantial differences can lead to learning, but more often than not, differences can lead directly into heated conflict. Now an original signatory of the Agile Manifesto is offering an all-new declaration-- the 'Oath of Non-Allegiance'.
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Do Story Points Relate to Complexity or Time?
Many Agile teams use the terms Story points and Complexity points interchangeably. Agile teams believe that they are better than hours just because they are based on complexity and relative size. Mike Cohn suggested that it is wrong to use story points to depict the complexity of developing a feature, they are all about the effort.
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Open Space Technology Goes Mainstream
Just a few short years ago, "open space" and similiar formats like the "un-conference" and "bar camp" were considered edgy-- and mostly unknown to the average person attending technology conferences. All that has changed. Open space events are now commonplace, and the most progressive companies-- and some companies in a crisis-- are using Open Space for direction-setting and decision-making.
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Remote Customer, Remote Developers and a Project in Crisis
Though collocation is one of the prime recommendations of Agile, more and more projects are executed in a manner in which the teams are distributed. Safari Asad started an interesting discussion on the Scrum Development group to discuss about a project in crisis, which not only had a remote customer but also had remote developers.
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Computing Careers: the future is bright
Contrary to myth, the number of computing career opportunities in the US is increasing - far exceeding the supply. An indirect result of the imbalance is rising salaries in the IT field. This news article summarizes a report done by Joel Adams, a professor at Calvin College in Michigan.
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Visualize First. Build Later.
A Computerworld article and webinar announcement, both featuring the use of iRise, to visually capture business application requirements calls attention to this growing product segment.
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What does it mean to be Agile - survey results
The Agile Manifesto was written almost ten years ago in February of 2001. Since then the environment has continued to change and thousands of people across the world have tried to apply the twelve agile principles to their daily work life. Laurie Williams has been conducting research to understand how well the Agile Principles have stood the test of time and use? She discusses some early results.
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Agile Users Groups in the USA: Communities of Practice
One area of the Agile ecosystem that is gaining traction these days is Agile user groups. This year, established groups are growing, and new groups are forming. Established groups are taking shots at larger conference-style events. The Scrum Alliance has a new user-group community liaison. It appears that user groups are starting to play in influential role in the worldwide Agile community.
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Do ScrumMasters need to be Technical?
Does a ScrumMaster need a technical background? Do they need to be able to read code and coach developers on their day to day work?
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State of the Practice - 2010
A number of leading authors, practitioners, and speakers in the area of software development were asked a series of common questions about the state of software development practice in 2010. The interview took place at the Better Software / Agile West concurrent conferences in June 2010.
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Eclipse Helios Simultaneous Release
The Eclipse foundation today announced the release of Eclipse Helios, bringing 39 different projects to the same station for the seventh annual release train. The Eclipse projects are managed in an agile fashion, releasing seven milestone builds throughout the year and then a number of release candidates in the weeks leading up to June each year.
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The Rugged Software Manifesto
Security, is often either an oversight or an afterthought for most software projects. Most development teams would rather focus on getting more functionality on the table than spend time to evade a possible security breach. In order to help developers realize the importance of rugged software Joshua Corman, David Rice and Jeff Williams founded the Rugged Software Manifesto.
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FXCop 10 was Shipped with Windows 7.1 SDK
For .NET developers who want the rigor of code analysis without the expense of Visual Studio Premium, FXCop is the tool for choice. But with FXCop 1.36 pulled from Microsoft Downloads without warning, many developers were left wondering what happened. Fortunately this tool is still available if you know where to look.