A DAY in the Life of a Software Tester
Monday 8:20am I get in to the office a little early, before everyone else. I will have some time to settle in before things get crazy. I’ll have some quiet time to plan and organize my schedule for the day before the mad rush at the coffee machine. The masses...
The Se7en Deadly Sins in Software Testing
Lack of “Lust for finding Defects” – Lust could be an objectionable vice in the Bible, but in the “Bible of Software Testing”, lust is a good thing; lust for finding defects that is. Have a craving, appetite, or great desire towards finding...
Automation Testing versus Manual Testing Guidelines
I met with my team’s automation experts a few weeks back to get their input on when to automate and when to manually test. The general rule of thumb has always been to use common sense. If you’re only going to run the test one or two times or the test is...
The Embedded Software Development Process
What is embedded software? Embedded software is sometimes known as firmware. Specifically, we design, code, and test software that is permanently or semi-permanently stored on the microprocessor or sometimes stored in some other nonvolatile memory location but is almost never stored on a hard drive or CD/ DVD. In colloquial terms, we say the software is “burned” onto the chip.
Stealth Deployment
This is a rework of a cartoon I drew in December 2006 based on a story that happened almost exactly like the cartoon demonstrates. I was “CC”-ied an Email which the head developer at that time answered to Engineering team. He forced them to deploy a piece...
Testers Behaving Badly
Every software tester has a story about how they have been misunderstood or mistreated by co-workers or colleagues, or managers that don’t understand the work they do or its importance. Those things sometimes happen, but it’s a two-way street. There are...
Ask the Tester: Michael Bolton
No, not the singer. No, not the guy from Office Space; and he is not related to any UN ambassador. Instead, Michael Bolton is a consulting software tester based in Toronto, Canada. After working as a programmer, trainer, and technical support manager, Michael worked...
Six Sigma Control in Software Development
What is the purpose of adding ‘Control’ to our list of tasks? One major reason lies in the tendency of processes to lapse back into previous and undesirable behaviors. Our ‘Improve’ phase options may make for better software or better software development, but it is entirely possible that the new approach hasn’t taken root with our developers. By adding some reasonable measures to control regression to the past, we can help see to it that our new approach has a chance to become institutionalized in our organizations, be they large or small or somewhere in between.
A Brief History of Software Testing
When STP announced the call for nominations for the Software Testing Luminary award, it got me thinking about how software testing came to be a role separate and distinct from software programming with unique and identifiable skills and responsibilities. It also got...The Automated Testing Handbook
The Automated Testing Handbook Introduction The risk of software failure has never been greater. The estimated annual economic impact ranges from $60 billion for poor testing to $100 billion in lost revenues and increased costs. Unfortunately, market pressure for the...