5 Reasons You Should Have More Unit TestsThe test pyramid is a valuable visual in agile. In particular, it argues that unit tests should make up the majority of tests, and while agile teams recite this principle, it is often not clear why it is so important. Here are five reasons unit tests should make up the majority of tests written for an application.
Feature Branching Is Not EvilSome people believe branching and pull requests are inherently bad. True, branching done poorly can slow down a team, but advocating for avoiding branching altogether can lead you to ignore the more important goal of an agile process: rapid integration of changes. First, make sure you're considering the right metrics.
4 Takeaways from Agile + DevOps East 2018With a week full of sessions, tutorials, training classes, and events, the Agile + DevOps East software conference had plenty of takeaways. Here are four highlights, including discussions about agile estimation, finding your ideal job, some challenges to advancing test automation, and leading self-organizing teams.
Agile and DevOps Bring the Focus Back on QualityAs companies move to agile and DevOps, silos are coming down and there is more interaction and collaboration among teams. Quality is also becoming everyone's responsibility for the entire software development lifecycle. Quality is more than just testing: Consider a quality value stream along the overall value chain.
Frameworks Are an Agile Leader's Best FriendWith a framework in place, engineers can stop worrying about everything that framework does for them. Your team can focus on solving your business problems instead of building yet another solution to an old problem that's been solved before. Look around and identify the mistakes your team is making over and over.
Rethink Your Strategy to Innovate InexpensivelyMany companies avoid genuine innovation for fear of making potentially complex changes without producing measurable results. But you can start small with internal changes that have limited scope and that deliver prompt solutions, so there's less upfront investment—and less risk. Here's how to innovate inexpensively.
Implementing Continuous Delivery in the Federal GovernmentFederal agencies generally have more regulation, slower processes, and a command-and-control style of bureaucracy. How does it work when trying to foster agility and implement a continuous delivery model? Gene Gotimer relates his experiences and challenges with encouraging a culture change in federal government.
3 Steps to Transformational Leadership for Business AgilityBuilding your agile organization only starts with developing software in an agile way. The next step is transforming your business with a customer-focused embrace of agile across the entire enterprise. Managers who want a truly agile organization must lead with focus, steer from the edges, and change the system.
