Tips

  • Managing large Agile application lifecycle projects

    Index cards and sticky notes might work for small teams, but for large projects, your tool set is going to need more sophistication. In this tip, contributor Chris McMahon explains the importance o...

  • Planning for Agile development projects

    Whether a small Web application or a large-scale enterprise application, planning is essential. Agile expert Lisa Crispin describes the balance between "big design up front" and diving in without ...

  • Eight steps for a successful software release

    Have you done everything to prepare for a successful software release? Software project manager Kay Diller describes eight things you can do to ensure your deployment will go smoothly. From creatin...

  • Software iteration deployment: retrospectives

    The end of a software iteration marks a time when there should be retrospectives, feedback from customers and celebration. SSQ Contributor Chris McMahon describes his end-of-iteration experiences i...

  • Software test management: Reporting for business

    Test managers are often at a loss for creating a report that will be most useful for business users. Software consultant Catherine Powell gives step-by-step advice to test managers on how to identi...

  • Best practices for building high-performing teams

    How do development organizations stay competitive? A recent Forrester report has shown that the three best practices for building a high-performing application development team are 1) recruit the r...

  • Extending ALM to deployment

    Application lifecycle management is not done with code complete. ALM now includes involving the operations team with release management processes and tools. ALM is more than automating the software...

  • Performance testing tips from the greats

    Ever wondered how major organizations such as Facebook handle performance testing? To find out, Matt Heusser took the performance testing tutorial at STPCon in Las Vegas, Nevada-- and shares five t...

  • Collaboration tools: Communication trends in ALM

    Geographically dispersed teams are common in today’s software industry, making strong communication and collaboration tools essential in carrying out real-time communication throughout the applicat...

  • Adding agility to CMMI-mature organizations

    Paul McMahon, author of Integrating CMMI and Agile Development, explains some of the fallacies associated with CMMI and how CMMI-mature organizations can add more agility to their organizations.

  • Adding CMMI process maturity to Agile organizations

    Paul McMahon, author of Integrating CMMI and Agile Development, McMahon talks more about the integration of CMMI and agile techniques, explaining that, while met with initial resistance, agile orga...

  • Understanding application lifecycle management's comple

    Application lifecycle management seems to take a cue from a "Scooby Doo" villain. Once you think you know what it is, it pulls off its mask and reveals itself as something else. Is ALM a developmen...

  • Are ALM tools really Agile?

    Using agile methodologies and tools can help streamline processes and bring flexibility to end-to-end software management. This tip delves into why ALM can only be effective if truly-agile tools ar...

  • CMMI for development: An overview of a process improvem

    SEI has released CMMI for Development, v1.3 in October, 2010. This tip provides an overview of the Capability Maturity Model for Integration, explaining some of the basic terminology, including pro...

  • Agile methodology techniques: Unit test, automation and

    Yvette Francino explains the basics of unit test, automation and test-driven development. Test-driven development (TDD) is a form of unit testing, originating from the agile methodology XP. The tes...

  • Test management: Measuring the performance of testing--

    By answering three questions, software test organizations can improve their effectiveness and the value of their services. In this tip with Software Quality Systems' director Ivan Ericsson, you'll ...

  • DevOps: Fostering collaboration in software development

    Departmental silos are breaking down and development and operations are collaborating more closely. In this tip, SSQ contributor Chris McMahon gives advice on how the relationship between developme...

  • Security ALM: Testing throughout the software applicati

    One of the most important aspects of software development today is writing secure software. Yet, for most IT organizations, security testing is introduced too late in the cycle to be of any help. S...

  • 100% Distributed Agile teams: Communication and workflo

    What is the key to success for a distributed agile team? SSQ contributor Chris McMahon explains the importance of communication and workflow and discusses technologies to help distributed teams col...

  • Eleven steps to kickoff ALM

    Regardless of the methodology or process that your organization uses, it's important that you define your application lifecycle. Director of QA John Scarpino shares 11 important steps you can follo...