Making Testing VisibleMost testing work is invisible—something that happens inside your head and leaves no artifacts behind. This generally leaves testers feeling like no one understands what they do all day. Here are some ideas for collaborating with your coworkers so they can see—and start to understand—your testing work.
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.
Helping Introverts and Extroverts Work TogetherThe personality tendencies of extroversion and introversion concern where people get their energy, and this is key to understanding how coworkers can perceive—and sometimes misinterpret—each other’s behavior. If the introvert-extrovert dynamic poses challenges, consider discussing these differences as a team.
Solo Programming, Pairing, and Mobbing: Which Is Right for You?Programming often is considered an individual pursuit, but there are other options gaining popularity: pairing, where you work with another developer or tester, and mobbing, where the entire team works on one thing at a time. Each is effective for certain kinds of challenges. How much collaboration is right for you?
What Aircrews Can Teach DevOps TeamsAircrews learn a set of skills involving a structured way of communicating that breaks down barriers and forces an honest evaluation of the issues. They also automate what they can but still practice their craft over and over again, including what to do during failures. DevOps teams can learn a lot from aircrews.
4 Lessons from the STARWEST 2018 Keynote PresentationsWith a week full of sessions, tutorials, training classes, and events, the STARWEST software testing conference had plenty of takeaways useful for your professional and personal life. Here are four lessons distilled from the conference’s keynote presentations on testing, communication, and directing your career.
Testing Centers of Excellence and the Return of SilosTesting centers of excellence aim to be R&D labs for software testing, experimenting, and innovating new testing techniques and then piloting them on projects and analyzing the results. But that's not always the reality. Some CoEs merely isolate testers, taking a step back to the days of silos. What's your experience?
How to Be a Team PlayerSome people think of themselves as team players because they're technically savvy, hard workers, and strong contributors. But these traits alone don’t make someone a team player. Teamwork, after all, is the process of working together to achieve a shared goal. Team players collaborate to solve problems.
