A Question of Timing
Software testing seems to be a growing element in the overall landscape of software development. Just this week I was contacted to see if I wanted to be involved with yet another test certification that I had not heard of before. There are conferences focused on testing, outsourced testing is big business, and in most organizations, if a group carries the Quality Assurance title, they likely spend most of their time focused on testing. Read more
No Problem!
While rare, there have been times that I have run into businesses that consciously chose to turn a blind eye to what was clearly dysfunctional practice. In both cases, this blind eye was accompanied by a rationalization that allowed them to justify this behaviour. Amazing! Read more
Erosion
It seems to be pretty rare for people to consciously undermine any established system that has been put in place to develop software. At least, few will admit doing so. What usually happens is more subtle, an erosion over time of the good practices that make the software development machine tick. Read more
Idiot Lights
It is quite easy to justify doing nothing to improve how your organization develops software. Whether it takes the shape of “we don’t have the budget”, or “we can’t afford the time, we’re just too busy right now”, the point is the same. It can be paraphrased as “We have decided, consciously or not, that our current painful approach is preferred to spending the money or time to do something about it.” Read more
