The wise
navigator never relies solely on one method. -- Nathaniel Bowditch in
American Practical Navigator, 1799.
Experience is the worst teacher;
it gives the test first before presenting the lesson. —Vernon Law
Quality is the ally of schedule and
cost, not their adversary. If we have to sacrifice quality to meet schedule,
it's because we are doing the job wrong from the very beginning. --James
A. Ward on the Shape Forum
Knowledge comes, but wisdom lingers.
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson
While some of the terminology used to describe the world of software configuration management can be quite foggy, the fundamental importance of configuration management to development is crystal clear.
Presents some of the so-called lightweight software development methodologies being employed throughout the industry. Some of the concepts discussed include predictive (traditional) vs. adaptive processes, putting people before processes, and self-adaptive process. The author also reviews some of the various "lightweight" methodologies, such as "Extreme Programming".
http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html (An abridged version is available at http://www.sdmagazine.com/articles/2000/0012/0012a/0012a.htm.)
This article discusses how to successfully use the outcomes of project retrospectives (a.k.a., "lessons learned" meetings or "project postmortems"). The authors focus on how to use the meetings to gather and use important information rather than letting them turn into complaining sessions.
Many organizations consider their requirements phase complete when they have thoroughly captured the functional requirements - what the system is supposed to do. The Functional Specification is the basis of all future work on the project, but they are really only halfway there… Dr. Karl Wiegers describes product quality attributes. Often described as non-functional requirements, these capture how the system should behave to complement a description of what the system should do - both critical aspects of your expectations for the final product.
Many things have changed in IT over the years. Computers are faster, software is better and we can exchange information with the click of a button. Yet one thing that hasn't changed - but should - is the way we address the challenge of ensuring that functional requirements are implemented into critical business systems in an acceptable time frame.
This is a new article from Brian Marick regarding some of the principles that he believes make a good tester. He focuses on the tester's most visible deliverable—bug reports—to show how "good" testers make the best use of them.
An excellent site with many suggestions from a veteran software (and hardware) tester on how to do this software testing stuff. There are excellent discussions on how to use the inputs to the test process for successful test planning and execution.
The title of this article is a little misleading. Not only does it discuss some great principles of testing leadership, but it also presents how each member of the test team is integral to the success of the process and offers advice on testing's role and interaction with other team members. Highly recommended reading!
Although this is probably a little bit out of season, this page has a rewrite of the 12 Days of Christmas carol from the perspective of software problems.
This is an excellent on-line dictionary of UML (cf. RUP) terminology. It includes terms from five of the most popular and comprehensive sources on UML/RUP. The dictionary provides excellent cross-referencing between entries and indexing to sources, including page numbers.
This site provides a comprehensive list of keyboard shortcuts (accelerators or hot keys) for a wide array of Microsoft applications, including MS Excel, MS Word, and Internet Explorer 4.0 and 5.0.
Operating systems (OSes) are a ubiquitous part of any modern computing environment. But they are the foundation upon which all useful applications are built. This article gives a gentle, non-technical introduction to OSes and how they mate hardware and software to make usable computers systems.
The programming language once hailed as a revolutionary breakthrough is no substitute for simply training good programmers.
This site is a great resource for helping to improve skills at planning and giving presentations. It's specifically oriented toward PowerPoint, but much of the material is generic to any kind of presentation with or without presentation slides. The site is very well organized and even includes a site search tool.
SBC Communications should be offering long-distance service in four more states, including California, by year's end, chairman Ed Whitacre said on Friday at the company's annual shareholder meeting. SBC, the nation's second largest local telephone company behind Verizon Communications, has government approval to sell long-distance only in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma, but expects to add Missouri, Arkansas, Nevada and California to the list in 2001, he said.
New materials promise far more efficient light pipes with a much greater capacity to carry information. If they work, the Internet will never be the same.
Prosperity may be just around the corner for the badly battered streaming media industry, but not where most investors had placed their bets. According to a new study by Jupiter Media Metrix, corporations will spend dramatically higher amounts on streaming video technology in the next four years. Spending will reach $2.8 billion in 2005, up from a relatively meager $140 million last year, the study predicts.
In a most unusual setup, startup carrier Velocita is readying a nationwide broadband network to be funded in large part by Cisco and based mostly on AT&T's extensive rights-of-way. The company, which has been operating since 1998, is building a big chunk of AT&T's next-generation optical network in return for the rights-of-way, $220 million, and other incentives, according to a Velocita 10-Q filed last fall. Cisco may be forking over $485 million in funding and equipment financing, according to an 8-K filed 10 days ago. The Cisco funding still needs approval from the SEC.
With a downturn in telecommunications spending and network operators running into financial trouble, equipment manufacturers may see vast research and development efforts result in slow initial sales of new systems capable of sending Internet traffic at fast speeds--40 gigabits per second. A molasses-like market for the new gear could be significant for an industry that rode a huge wave of interest in optical technology in 2000, but has borne the brunt of a resulting slowdown.
At one time or another, IT folks often have to dive into the Windows registry to find information or add, change, or remove system settings. RegEdit is the standard tool for this, but it's slow and prone to error. PC Magazine's Registry Detective is a read-only search tool for the registry. It allows you to search only certain branches, display all of the results at one time, so you can you can choose the particular one of interest, and then automatically launch RegEdit at that location. Plus, it's search speeds are significantly faster than RegEdit.
Copying (or moving) files in Windows can be a difficult and tedious chore at times because you must locate the source file and then scroll in Windows Explorer (or File Manager) for the target directory. FileTargets is a handy shell extension (right mouse menu) that allows you to add your most frequently used targets for copy or move operations so all you do is right-click on the source file or directory and select the target directory from the context menu. [Note: Although the program is completely free, an installation password is required. See the web site for the necessary password.]
Spell Checker for Edit Boxes (SCEB) is a stand-alone spell checker that allows you to check spelling in most any window on your system, just like in MS Word. It runs in the background and activated via a hot-key (<Ctrl>+<Alt>+<F12> by default). It's really useful for checking spelling in problem reports in Remedy before submitting them. Likewise, you can check spelling in almost any other application, including Notepad.
MS Excel's data validation features can help you to create an Excel worksheet form that allows a user to only enter specific, pre-defined items. To do so:
The cell can now be copied to use the same rules on multiple rows of your worksheet.
For more information about this topic
see http://www.techrepublic.com/article.jhtml?id=r00320000427jed10.htm.
Who isn't
a fan of the yellow sticky notes? (Did you know that they were created
out of a failure to develop a new
tape adhesive? Now, that's
serendipity.) MS Outlook has a virtual sticky notes feature called
(what else?!) Notes. These notes work just like the familiar physical
sticky notes: Just enter the desired information and click on the "X"
button to save the note. You can sort or search the notes and the notes
even have time- and date-stamps. In addition, like the rest of Outlook,
hyperlinks are active hot spots in notes.
When you're
scheduling a meeting in Outlook, sometimes it's nice to know what meeting
one of your attendees has a conflict with or is adjacent to your meeting
(so they don't have run from one building to another!). To quickly
get this information without opening everyone's calendar, in the meeting
notice planner, select the Attendee Availability tab and select Show
attendee availability. Then simply right-click on the blue or purple
block for the appropriate time for the specific attendee to have Outlook
display the location and subject of the particular meeting. This is
also very helpful for finding out who might be using a desired conference
room.
Having to open the Format Cells dialog every time to change numeric formatting is tedious and time-consuming. Here are a few keyboard shortcuts for common formats.
Description
Shortcut
Format values as numbers with commas and two decimal places
<Shift>+<Ctrl>+!
Format values as percentages with no decimal places
<Shift>+<Ctrl>+%
Format a selection as a time value
<Shift>+<Ctrl>+@
Format a selection as a date value
<Shift>+<Ctrl>+#
Format a previously formatted range as General (reset formatting)
<Shift>+<Ctrl>+~
This site explains a self-descriptive personality profiling known as "Geek Code". Basically, it allows you to succinctly describe your computer knowledge and other personal characteristics.
