Software Development
Understanding the Challenges of Legacy Code Legacy code presents multiple challenges for teams adopting Scrum practices. Often written years ago without tests or documentation, legacy codebases hamper developer productivity, increase defect rates, and slow the delivery of new features. Before integrating legacy code into sprints, teams must thoroughly assess its current quality and documentation levels…
Benefits of Integration Integrating source control systems like Git, SVN, and Mercurial with issue tracking systems like Jira, Bugzilla, and Redmine provides multiple advantages for software teams. Key benefits include: Improved traceability and awareness of code changes related to bugs and tasks Automatic linking of commits to tickets for easier auditing and reporting Reduced manual…
Defining Software Regressions A software regression is a software bug that surfaces after changes or updates have been made to an application. Regressions manifest as defects or unexpected behaviors that were not present prior to the updates. There are several types of regressions: Functional regressions: Core application features no longer work as intended after changes….
The Problem of Regression Testing Regression testing refers to the practice of re-running functional and non-functional test suites every time an application change is made to ensure that existing functionality has not been unintentionally impacted. For large and complex applications with extensive test suites, the cost of re-running full regression test suites starts to hinder…
Defining User Stories for Testability Well-defined user stories are essential for streamlined testing. Effective user stories should focus on specific user goals and needs. They should break down requirements into small, testable units that lend themselves to developing clear acceptance criteria and test cases. Characteristics of Well-Defined User Stories Focused on primary user goals and…
The Collaboration Challenge A lack of alignment between development and testing teams can lead to project delays, software quality issues, and strained working relationships. Examining the root causes behind this misalignment is key to bridging the collaboration gap. Poor communication channels between developers and testers often lead to friction during the software development lifecycle. Without…
The Business Costs of Technical Debt Technical debt refers to the implied costs that accumulate over time as software products are built and maintained. As developers take shortcuts or delay certain engineering best practices in order to meet business demands and ship new features, issues can compound in the codebase leading to slowdowns, bugs, and…
The Perils of Legacy Code Legacy code refers to older software systems that have accumulated over time. As requirements change and new features get added, legacy code tends to decay, accumulating technical debt. The lack of automated tests and outdated architectures make these systems brittle, risky, and difficult to maintain. Some of the key perils…
The Perils of Accrued Technical Debt As software projects grow in scope and complexity over time, development teams often need to make expedient choices to meet pressing deadlines, which can result in lower quality code, incomplete implementations, and technical shortcuts that compromise system architecture. These issues accumulate into “technical debt” – engineering work that needs…
Understanding Kanban Fundamentals Defining kanban and key principles Kanban is a workflow management method that aims to create efficient and predictable processes by visualizing work, limiting work-in-progress (WIP), and maximizing flow. The key principles of kanban include: Visualization – Mapping out the workflow on a kanban board to see bottlenecks Limits on WIP – Setting…