I expected our friend Jorge to be excited: He’d been hired for a new construction project. New buildings were few and far between in rural Maine, where we lived, and he was a master builder. It sounded like Jorge would have work for several months. But we saw him a few months later, and he [...]
Making it right, not just making it work 
Quality
Quality
Featured Post
by Esther Schindler | Comments
The Cloud and Older Hardware: Enforced Obsolescence?
One hidden effect of cloud computing being that it's no longer possible to do what we all used to do: Have an older PC running, say, Windows XP and Office 2000, which was perfectly adequate for our needs. Now the auto-refresh of every cloud app forces us to "upgrade" even if it's too much for our poky older hardware. Unless, that is, you pay attention during your QA process.
How to Check Your Web App for Security Vulnerabilities
by Robert Nemet | Comments
The day of release has arrived; everyone is happy. All reported bugs are fixed, all tests passed, and the servers are configured. The application starts its new life on the grid. Users enter their data, new content is being created. New features are added; new users are coming. Success! Then, one sunny day, all hell [...]
How to Improve Communication Between QA and Development
by Lisa Crispin | Comments
A couple months ago, I perused an online article which purported to tell developers what they should learn in order to communicate better with testers. Number one on the list was, “Learn to use the bug tracking system.” After I screamed, I resolved to float some more useful ideas. Programmers know they need to get [...]
Why QA Must Have Its Own Databases
by Cameron Laird | Comments
Starting a software QA cycle? Standard references tell you that you need to control the test plan, hardware, operating system, application, test scripts, and result reports. As widely-accepted as this checklist is, it leaves “data” invisible. That’s a mistake, but one you can correct. Three reasons data emerge from the QA shadows First, let’s be [...]
Responsible Bug Reporting and Triage
by Matt Heusser | Comments
Imagine a software development team using all the latest tools, the fanciest JavaScript code libraries, and the most popular, fanciest process to be found at the XPAgileScrumOneConference. Despite that, the developers can’t reproduce the reported defects, and the team does a poor job prioritizing bug fixes against ongoing development. Season with salt, bring to a [...]
Selling the Test Automation Story: Are We Selling the Right Thing?
by Michael Larsen | Comments
I confess that I may not be the most expert automation engineer, so I probably have my limits with suggesting all the things that you could do to succeed at test automation. But I am an expert in false starts, brief gains, and frustrated miring, so that is a topic I feel I can talk [...]
Improve Software Quality With Requirements-Based Testing
by Eddie Correia | Comments
Faulty requirements can pop up anywhere. For example, imagine you’re reserving a vacation suite. The requirements might include the length of stay, number of beds, kitchen, WiFi, proximity to attractions, and so on. If the booking clerk gets just one of these requirements wrong, the experience could be quite different than what was intended by [...]
Corralling Heroes and Other Testing-Group Miscreants
Is your software testing group a finely oiled machine? No squeaky wheels, nobody burning the midnight oil, projects finished on schedule with no whining about a lack of time or requirements clarity? If Yes ==> goody gumdrops for you ==> stop reading ==> go to kitchen ==> get cup of coffee. If No ==> purchase [...]
Don’t Be Perfect
by Cameron Laird | Comments
You’re a good quality assurance employee: You’re careful, conscientious, practiced in thinking like an end-user, and imaginative in breaking software. But now, a few of the same qualities that made you successful to this point are holding you back in your career. Most severe is that you aim for perfection. When given an application to [...]
