Quality, Not Testing
May 24, 2010 When I am asked to review projects, one of the things that I ask to see is the quality plan. Almost always I am handed a test plan, and usually the project manager is very proud of the fact that they have a well-documented test plan. There seems to be a...
Automated Software Testing: Do Your Metrics Measure Up?
Without the Proper Metrics, All the Automation In the World Won’t Yield Useful Results “When you can measure what you are speaking about, and can express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers,...
Dinner With A Rapid Test Manager
“The first thing I did was to learn what their day was like,” he told me. “Did the test process give them freedom to think? Or was the work of investigation obstructed by a smothering blanket of pre-planned test cases?” We were interrupted briefly by the waiter taking...
Two Views of Agile Unit Testing
Test consultant Rex Black and Scrum Master Bob Galen have been at odds lately about agile methods and their effect on software testing. Black claims to spend much of his time helping clients overcome the new challenges they encounter “when using agile methods,...
Beautiful Testing Satisfies Stakeholders
This article, contributed by STP guest editor Rex Black, is reprinted from “Beautiful Testing: Leading Professionals Reveal How They Improve Software” (O’Reilly, October 2009). The book, edited by Tim Riley and Adam Goucher, is a compilation of essays from 27...
How to Pick A Winning Test Team
Automation Demands Special Skills; Field The Best Players Possible People are at the core of any successful automated software testing program implementation, and hiring competent and qualified people with the matching skill set is critical to the success of AST....
Pre-Deployment Load Testing
Don’t Let Overload Put Your Company’s Name on The Front Page Load testing should be an integral part of any quality process. Unlike functional testing, which ensures that applications perform as expected in terms of functional requirements, load and performance...
Stuck With Two Impossible Choices
When It Comes To Security Auditing, One Size Does Not Fit All One key problem with security code audits is that they tend to cause more problems than they solve. “One size fits all” audit scans tend to overwhelm developers, ultimately leaving the team with a long list...
Engineering Quality Goes Bananas
This is a case study in how we reduced our risks and achieved our test automation objectives in just a few months on a total outlay of $0 for tools. Now, it wasn’t as if we started with zero cost as a target. Often, buying tools is the most cost-effective solution, so we evaluated test automation tools as a potential solution.
Meet the 2008 Rockstars of Testing
This article originally posted November, 2008 Party Time. Excellent. Take a Trip Backstage to Hang With 2008’s Test-Tool Heroes (We’re Not Worthy!) E x-squeeze me! OK, pop quiz: In 2006, did you vote for Mercury Interactive as your starring supplier of testing tools?...