News
Managing your Production Support – The Three Ps
~ by Randy Wagner People, Process, and Procedure Running Production Support teams in an agile environment across multiple streams and lines of business can be challenging. How do we deliver quality functionality on time and consistently with so many plates spinning? It really comes down to three things: People, Process, and Procedure. The three Ps.…
Read MoreRight Sizing Production Support
~ by Randy Wagner Production support, production maintenance, whatever you call it, is usually the least sexy team. It gets squeezed the hardest, is given the highest expectations for turnaround time, and still has to manage work from every functional direction. But despite all the demands, it must deliver quality as economically as possible. So…
Read MoreRevisiting Process
~ by Randy Wagner We did not arrive at our current processes by chance. Whatever the process—whether it is how we use the agile methodology for our project, defect management, or any of the other major and minor processes we follow on a daily basis—it is a result of best practice, team experience, and management…
Read MoreTug of War
~ by Randy Wagner Which is More Important—Efficiency or Predictability? It depends. All of us make decisions in our work, regardless of our role in projects or our level in our careers. We endeavor to do the best we can, over-deliver on our promises, and manage our workloads. Some work can be done individually; other…
Read MoreThe Quality of Quality Assurance
~ by Randy Wagner How to Think about QA to Promote Success Some concepts are perceived in black and white – binary terms. Justice, for example, denotes that a wrong has been righted. What about the quality aspects of justice? Was the punishment severe enough? Was the process fair to both parties along the way?…
Read MoreQuestionable Leadership
~ by Randy Wagner Why the Ability to Ask Penetrating Questions Matters As we move from newbie to experienced in our careers, we’ve all been in a meeting where we are busy explaining something to management, only to have them ask some incisive question that completely alters the discussion and outcome. While there is obviously a…
Read MoreA Light in the Room
~ by Randy Wagner One of the Challenging Aspects of the Software Development Lifecycle is Keeping Everyone on the Same Page BAs write requirements, Developers design and code, QAs write tests, and the Product Owner (PO) gives the final blessing or requests rework, hopefully to complete within the sprint. That’s an agile process but it…
Read MoreRobb Creary Joins CastleBay Companies as Director, Canadian Operations
CastleBay Companies (CastleBay) is pleased to announce the addition of Robb Creary as Director of Canadian operations based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. “Robb brings a wealth of expertise in the Guidewire cloud space, as well as deep roots in the Canadian property and casualty marketplace; two areas which we have targeted for growth in 2024,”…
Read MoreWhen Data and Feel Collide
~ by Randy Wagner How to Spot Problems When Metrics Fail to Accurately Represent Reality Much of the work we do is reduced to metrics. Test cases completed, defect counts, and accepted stories drive the numbers. We measure velocity and plan accordingly. We gauge health accordingly. But then there are times when the numbers just…
Read MoreLocked and Hopeful
~ by Randy Wagner Three Things Every Consultant Needs to Deliver Value Consulting is an interesting mix of traits. On one hand, you need to have a decent bag of tricks but on the other, you may just need enough courage to fake it until you make it — with a ton of hard work…
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