INTRO: We all have different attitudes and policies toward finding and fixing defects. The choice about whether and when to fix defects depends upon many factors, one of the least understood being the actual cost of fixing a defect. In this week’s column, testing expert Johanna Rothman shares a formula for calculating the system test […]
© 2002 Johanna Rothman. This article was originally publised in STQE Magazine, March/April 2002. How to know if your software is ready to release For any project, the big question is “Is the software ready to release yet?” Or more specifically, “When is the development and testing part of the project done?” You can’t know if you’re
by Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published in Software Development Magazine, February 2002. Sometimes, multitasking runs amok. If you’re suffocating under piles of paperwork or controlling your staff’s every action, you need help: Learn to delegate duties and regain your focus as a manager. Once you’ve made the transition from engineer to technical lead,
© 2002 Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published on Stickyminds.com, January 2002, as a companion piece to “Release Criteria: Is this Software Done?” Summary: How do you know when software is ready to release? This article discusses one piece of knowing when the software is ready to release–knowing what a successful release would look
©2002 Johanna Rothman You’re a project manager who’s just been assigned the biggest project of your life. You’ve planned the project work with your project team. You’ve gathered the project plan and the project schedule, for your upcoming meeting with the Operations Committee, OC, to explain how you’re going to manage the project and when
© 2001 Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published in STQE, Volume 2, Number 5, September/October 2001. “Test is always at the end of the schedule. We never test for as long as we need to. We get whipped around by whatever the developers do. It just isn’t fair.” “We don’t have enough testers.” “My management
Introduction Any project where people bring different assumptions about working norms (either in product development or team behavior) is a multicultural project. Even when all project participants are from one country, the project manager (PM) may still have to deal with multiple cultures and those cultures’ expectations and behaviors. Some of the team differences are
by Johanna Rothman. Originally published in Cutter’s e-Project Advisor, February 8, 2001. Gotta release it now? Gotta put in just that one more feature? Gotta do something else? The more gottas you have, the less agile your project is. E-project management is about the ability to adapt quickly to changing conditions. So, how can you
by Karl E. Wiegers, (Process Impact) and Johanna Rothman. [This paper was originally published in Software Development, February 2001. It is reprinted (with modifications) with permission from Software Development magazine.] Pat, a vice-president in an Internet start-up company, was proud of her team’s previous product release but concerned about why it had shipped a few weeks
by Johanna Rothman. This article was originally published in October 2000, on catapulse.com During software projects, you can hear widely different attitudes toward fixing defects, depending upon priorities and motivations: “We’ll fix that when we have time. In the meantime, just keep developing! How can you possibly tell how much it will cost to fix