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All software work is time sensitive and there is a real cost of delay.  The speed at which new or improved software is implemented matters. Always. Being the first to implement an innovative capability can be be the competitive edge that makes one company thrive leaving its competitors to struggle. "speed and security are the keys [...]

What is a work breakdown structure (WBS)? A work breakdown structure or WBS is a charting technique used in project management for describing the work packages needed to deliver the project.  It includes the sum of the all of the activity required to deliver the project. .   (For a more detailed explanation follow this link to [...]

Can you trace the value of your user stories back to business outcomes?  If not, you may be wasting valuable team time on your software projects.  Follow this simple technique to ensure that all your user stories are delivering a valuable contribution to business benefit.    This is an excellent way to prioritise your backlog. Identify [...]

Start user story testing On most software activity the user stories are a terse reminder of the conversations between product owner, developer and tester. Although user stories are very short, the form is commonly misused and this leads to ambiguity, unnecessary discussion and rework.  In this article we set how to [...]

Shift left - defined Shift left or shift left testing is the concept of performing quality assurance work as early as possible in the software development cycle to reduce the overall work required to deliver high quality software. Even in Agile there is a sequence that is followed in software development which is typically as follows: [...]

A Universal Technique to Improve Software Quality Everyone wants to improve software quality as much as possible, provided that it does not slow down delivering new functionality. It just so happens that there is a single technique that can dramatically improve the quality of software development.  In this article, you will learn two key fundamentals: Knowledge [...]

Large Software Projects Are Hard Large software projects are often delayed, exceed their budgets and in some cases fail altogether.  They are hard to get right.  If a project is on time, on budget, fully functional and to a satisfactory quality, it is considered successful.  This type of success is rarely achieved.   A constant stream [...]

Where do Software Defects Originate? Defects in software are inevitable. A common misperception is that the defects are caused only by faulty code, this is NOT so.  In fact, more defects are caused by poor requirements, poor architecture or poor design (collectively) than poor code. Usually the concept of a defect or bug is [...]

There is more to the login the user story than you might think.  Behind a two field entry can lie significant processing and complexity, so it's really important to spend time getting the words right.  To start with, the wording should be clear, unambiguous, consistent, concise yet also complete. There is no [...]