Be Indispensable: Cross-Train like a Testing Athlete Stretching your skills and preparing for organizational and work-related change is vital for any QA tester. Your best approach is to work on complementing your skills and competencies. Bonnie Bailey

Using Agile and DevOps to Achieve Quality by Design When software nears completion, it is the wrong time to focus on quality. Product delivery improves if you invest in a plan, validate in small increments, and focus on continuous testing. Michael Sowers

QA Is More Than Being a Tester QA testers often take on more of a role than just testing software code. When the team needs help, QA should lend a hand in assisting with business analysis, customer communication, user experience, and user advocacy. Amanda Perkins

Supporting Continuous Testing with Automation Create tests that can be used in a continuous testing environment, build the right number of tests, and don’t fall victim to the mistaken belief that everything can be automated. Bas Dijkstra

All Customers Are Not Created Equal Software developers may not think they have much to do with customers, but it is wise to consider the customer in all you do, from collecting requirements to design and implementation. Regina Evans

Great Big Agile: An OS for Agile Leaders Following agile ceremonies may make an organization feel good, but that’s only a start. “Great big agile” requires leadership at all levels to focus on self-organization and empowerment as a universal framework. Jeff Dalton

The Unspoken Truth about IoT Test Automation The internet of things (IoT) continues to proliferate as connected smart devices become critical for individuals and businesses. Even with test automation, performing comprehensive testing can be quite a challenge. Rama Anem

Building a Test Automation Strategy QA departments always feel the pressure to start testing quickly, even if the ever-changing software being tested isn’t ready. A bought-in test automation strategy can keep a project on track. Justin Rohrman

Scrum: Back to Basics So you think you know Scrum? Using the whimsical notion of farm animals and light-hearted visuals, take a refreshing review of the entire Scrum lifecycle as an intuitive set of roles, responsibilities, and handoffs. Particular attention is placed on what the ScrumMaster and product owner are expected to do at each handoff. Brian M. Rabon