Software Test Professionals Community Articles
Articles written by the STP community of professionals.
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 start...
You’re a New QA Manager! What’s next?
Congratulations! You've just joined a company as the new QA Manager and you're eager to dive right in and be successful. What will be your first steps besides familiarizing yourself with the applications under test? Our recommendation is to thoroughly review the...
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 defects is something that...
Getting started with web automation: A Java approach to Selenium
My plan is to start with small steps, so we will begin using Selenium IDE to record scripts and export them to Java. From this post on, we will then start adding more libraries to the mix, deal with more complex scenarios and maybe even run the tests from a continuous...
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 really...
Manager’s Toolkit: Building a Testing Organization
I was recently approached about starting a testing organization for a company in the Midwest. The task is a large initiative, and one that not many people get an opportunity to partake in. Most managers are asked to re-organize, maintain, or grow a previously existing...
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 of code...
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 times as...
Test Automation and Coding – Parallel Life Cycles
In the traditional approach test automation comes into play gradually upon the product maturing during its development. The automated tests are added during the subsequent development process phases, first as regression cases, once manual unit and functional tests are...