28
TL; DR
Your question embeds some false assumptions about the linear nature of testing within an agile process. A mature agile team with cross-functional skill sets treats development and testing as intertwined activities rather than as sequential ones.
You should strive to integrate development and testing so that they are not fundamentally separate work ...
12
One approach I have seen work is to initially stub the backend functionality before doing the detailed development work.
These are the steps the team takes:
The backend developer defines an API that the frontend will use for the feature
The backend developer builds a very simple stub that allows the frontend developer to make API calls and get back ...
8
The simplest answer to this will likely be the answer you least like. Don't...
In the last fifteen or so years we have seen an ever increasing level of transparency in the work place. This crosses all industries, all job levels and all work styles. Agile hasn't gained the traction it has because it is the best methods of development ever. Agile has been ...
8
They could be doing a number of things. What they should be doing depends on your organization's Scrum/XP maturity but here are some common items:
QA work - yes devs can QA, whether thats writing new automated tests, upping existing test coverage or reducing test complexity, doing manual testing, or performance/load testing, devs can and should QA. The ...
7
First: Document Your Process
We don't do shopping questions here on PMSE, but we're all about process. The correct way to comparison shop for any tool is to document your actual work-flows and project processes, and then find a tool that supports what you are actually doing.
Write down how your team does things right now. If your project is just forming, ...
7
In Team Foundation Server 2013, there are 3 templates available for team project by default
Microsoft Visual Studio Scrum 2013
MSF for Agile Software Development 2013
MSF for CMMI Process Improvement 2013
All of them agile enough to accommodate your needs, but I think the first two are more convenient.
The Scrum template is designed to support the Scrum ...
6
It might be how you're suggesting these changes.
It probably has nothing to do with your position (QA), per se, but more to do with the fact that some new guy is coming in, telling everyone that what they're doing is all wrong (despite not having been around long enough to understand why it's done that way).
In addition, you could even be seen as a threat, ...
6
TL;DR
The original question was tagged Scrum, so my answer will focus on how Scrum expects routine and non-routine changes to be managed. In brief, Scrum embraces change, but encourages the Product Owner to plan refinements for future iterations whenever possible.
By treating refinements as new work, the framework encourages ongoing collaboration between the ...
5
The answers to those questions depend heavily on your company/institution/hierarchy. I think we can only respond in the context of PMI (although I'd love to hear from a PRINCE practitioner or other non-PMI organization).
Work performed as a project coordinator almost certainly qualifies as job experience towards PMP certification (I'm only hedging because ...
5
I would be wary about giving an absolute answer to this because the meaning of a job title can vary hugely from organisation to organisation and sector to sector. In my own sector - digital/software development - I would say that Project Coordinators normally report in to Project Managers who may, in turn, report in to Programme Managers.
In my experience ...
5
I disagree with Deer Hunter almost completely.
The SWOT analysis is a simple and very powerful tool and is an input to so many other pieces of business analyses: product selection, vendor selection, project selection, outsourcing, and insourcing to name a few. It is done at the organization level, and then decomposed at the division level, business unit ...
5
The word analysis in SWOT is wildly exaggerated. What you feel is most likely correct: "I really get the feeling that we are going through this process because someone read in a management book that it's a good thing to do"
However, back on topic. Yes, Strengths and Weaknesses are static and mostly internal (unless your team is particularly favored/...
5
There are really two ways to handle this. One is more intentional than the other.
And a bigger reason for it that might get mgmt behind it.
The first is do a "lessons learned" after each project. What went right, what went wrong, what could we do better, what new risks did we identify, etc. During this time one of the things you can review is the idea of '...
5
I think the reason you've not found much written is that when you get down to the cores of agile, the difference in projects is not all that pronounced. What you want from a project is what really drives the type of implementation, not what you are creating.
Predictable Schedule, Flexible Scope- Use Scrum
Volatile scope, short delivery windows- Use Kanban
...
5
I don't believe it is possible to sort by status changed date. However, given that your requirement is "to have a list of the JIRA tickets that are not moving from one lane to another so that I can intervene on those tickets", you can find all tickets that have not moved in X days. For example:
(status = "In Progress" AND status changed to "In Progress" ...
5
TL;DR
The canonically-correct solution is to put someone with business analysis skills onto the Scrum Team in a Developer role, and then cross-train the whole Scrum Team. Cross-pollination of skills enhances the capabilities of the Scrum Team and the Developers, and builds T-shaped people.
Including someone skilled in business analysis on the Scrum Team also ...
4
Yes, architecture is vital and Yes to your entire - and very well stated - second paragraph, it changes the relationships and the role.
From the agile manifesto's 12 principles:
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
When a software architect tries to pull rank or maintain status over a good agile team, ...
4
Before going into a system that offers the segregation between a task and an issue, would like to make sure the users are very comfortable with the terminology and, more specifically, when using one or another.
As you pointed, systems usually use the same nomenclature for identifying something outstanding. I believe that's mostly because users don't care ...
4
Bluntly the relationship between the project coordinator function and that of project manager is similar to that between a secretary. The secretary has an excellent grasp on the day to day activities of the task, but has never taken responsibility for delivery.
This does not mean that the project coordinator cannot make the step to being a project manager, ...
4
TL;DR
Do you think it is worth to put up such a title formalism in place?
No. A title is rarely a unique identifier across bugs, nor is it likely to communicate enough on its own to justify the constraints.
Titles Should Be Meaningful
While I agree that titles should be meaningful, it is very difficult to create a short formalism that could be ...
4
When I moved into my current team we were in this situation, however I had the benefit of coming in as Application Development Manager. You will face challenges without the authority to make decisions, but a lot of what I suggest below doesn't have to be driven from the top down. To be honest, everything I proposed I asked the team, and got their buy in ...
4
Short answer
Don't formalize. Communicate more often.
Long answer
I think this situation calls for better expectation management / communication. Make explicit what you need from the customer and when, and make explicit when they can expect something back and what.
"emergency" fixes needed overnight
If you mean that the moment the customer finds bugs, ...
4
This question raises a big question to me - is this actually a project in itself, or something that will be altered as part of other projects? If the latter, it may not need anything around it other than source control.
Removing the TFS element from this question, Kanban is an agile methodology without time boxing that could be applied. These situations ...
4
I would suggest taking a look at MS kanban 1.0 template. Which is more of a continuous delivery process instead of iteration based approach.
4
Focus on quality and estimates
You identified four problems. Of those, I would view the following two as your main issues (long hours and missed deadlines are likely resulting from these):
Quality of your code is dropping: When the quality is bad, you end up doing a lot of unplanned work. This results in long hours and missed deadlines not to forget the ...
4
The contract type is another factor to consider. A firm-fixed price (FFP) contract can provide you the opacity which is your stated desire. The specification is set in the statement of work or statement of objectives. The product is evaluated for acceptance against the specification. To cut against opacity, the buyer can require "key person" clause requiring ...
4
"Typically for a team of 3 to 4 developers, there would be 1 QA resource"
That's your problem there. There are three roles in Scrum, Product Owner, Scrum Master and Development Team Member. Your Development team is meant to be a multifunctional team working towards the same goals. It's fine to have people with different skills (in QA, in development), but ...
4
This is based on personal experience, so if it differs from your own, feel free to jump in.
Development - refers to the primary implementation of new projects. Once an initial development project is complete, and the clients/stakeholders have accepted it, then you will typically move into a new phase--either maintenance or enhancement.
Maintenance - refers ...
4
Anybody in the team can make suggestions for how the team can perform better, also new team members with a QA background. There are, however, two things working against getting your ideas accepted.
Change is hard. If ideas are not backed with authority (either formal or informal), then the team often finds it easier to dismiss the new idea than to make the ...
4
I would recommend you guys hire an Agile Coach or Scrum Master, at least for a six months period. One of the four parts of the agile manifesto is Individuals and interactions over processes and tools so answering your question, there isn't a right or wrong way of doing thing but a way that the whole team agree on following.
Just to get the ball rolling, let'...
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