A Question of Timing

May 27, 2007 by Jim Brosseau · Comment
Filed under: Agility, Process, Project management 

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!

May 20, 2007 by Jim Brosseau · Comment
Filed under: Leadership, People, Process 

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

May 13, 2007 by Jim Brosseau · Comment
Filed under: Process, Project management 

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

May 6, 2007 by Jim Brosseau · Comment
Filed under: Process, Project management 

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

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    Jan 28, 2010 - Thoroughly enjoyed an exploration of inter-cultural issues in the workplace with VanQ - 11 countries were represented, with fewer than 20 participants!
  • What People are Saying

    The requirements prioritization portion was especially interesting. I can use this next week with a customer directly. — Mike Aksmanovic, MDSI Mobile Data Solutions Inc