Document Review – 10 Tips & 10 Checks

In testing, as in development in general, we rely on good documentation to help us ensure that we deliver the right product to our end users. These documents may be user stories, requirements, technical designs or any other document that you can rely on to “build It right” and “test it right”. All should all be subject to a critical review.

However, document review is not something most testers are taught and for many, the review will consist of little more than reading the document, pointing out typos and obvious mistakes. They are not aware of the two key elements they should be looking out for which are...

Data Storage: Effects of Growing Digital Capacities

Response to sorting my digital weight – an observation into our growing digital weight & the impacts it may bring to our general lifestyle

This is a response to another article written by Asmita Dixit, which I recommend reading first to get a better understanding of the context to this blog post. You can read it here.

A comparison of digital weight & physical weight i.e. spring cleaning

“Digital Age” as a term is commonly understood by many to reflect how we live our lives now but the implication is quite profound when we compare what was before the digital age. It would be quite comical to call the previous age “the physical age” in contrast to now but maybe the importance isn’t in naming an era of human time but what we gained and what we might lose.

Process Improvement - How Testing can help drive Process Improvement

Are you missing something with your testing? Do you know how testing can help drive process improvement as part of a project?

Ok, stop me if you’ve heard this one before, "...well we’ve always done it that way" or ‘"...well, we’ve always done it like that".

If I had even 10p for every time I’d heard either of those from a client, I’d be typing this on a Caribbean beach with Cindy Crawford bringing me half a lager and a complimentary dish of dry roasted nuts! 

Automation Testing Interview Questions

I was recently asked to help a non-technical Test Manager to draw up a job specification for an Automation Test Engineer with at least one year’s test automation experience. Not too difficult a task as I knew the client fairly well and understood the sort of person they would need but...

The conversation turned to how would this non-technical Test Manager know if the answers given in an interview were: 

• A: right and...
• B: a reflection of the candidate’s true test automation ability

I came up with an approach that I think will work well. More about that in a moment… but first, I will explain about the problem of interview questions.

Kipling, not cakes but 5 W's and H

Do you know the poem that starts?

“I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.”

These six questions can serve you very well when creating user stories. They can be particularly useful if used in a group setting. Even more so if the group has wide representation across the various stakeholder groups. In fact, having input from a mixed group is particularly important if you are looking to get comprehensive user stories that everyone can agree to.

Risk Based Testing - How testing can help you make the right decision

There are massive pressures associated with any IT project:

• Bonuses
• Timelines
• Reputations (individuals & the company)
• Spend already committed
• Risk
• Cost
• Time
• Old systems failing & not fit for purpose
• Cost of maintaining existing systems

International Women's Day - Women in Technology

Introduction

In honour of International Women's Day, we asked some of our team members to share their thoughts on working in the software testing industry. There was a wide range of opinion and we have shared some of this with you below.

Alira Salu - Test Consultant

"My father was a Computer Analyst which inspired me to follow the same career path. Seeing my dad going to the office every day with passion and dedication; as a young girl, it had a great impact on me. My role is perfect for me as I absolutely love problem-solving and get a real sense of joy from being a part of the team, finding solutions to the problems. My best advice for the younger generation would be ‘be kinder to yourself’ as situations get better with time. Generally, I feel we have a good number of women in IT but not as many at the top level so I would like to see that change in the future."

Data Storage Solutions - 'I want to lose my Digital Weight'

In the Christmas of 2021, I did it! I made Google give me the ‘Storage Full’ notification by exceedng 15GB data storage. This inspired my New Year resolution – ‘lose the digital weight’!

How did I gain it?

All of us like to express our thoughts and experiences in the form of blogs, presentations, files, photos, emails and posts on professional as well as social platforms. We also like to create a memory of such occasions and save them for future reference. But when we need to, we create new artefacts in-line with our reflection at the given point and of course, save it again for future reference!

Testing - Past & Present

Recently, I’ve been reflecting upon the evolving software testing role. Here are my reflections, some of which may be present in your organisation.

The Role Definition:

Historically, the role was defined as a ‘Tester’ or a ‘Test Analyst/Software Test Analyst.’ In recent years, it’s changed to ‘Software Engineer.’ The role has evolved along with technology and now requires a degree of programming knowledge. The original remit was fairly set and involved reading, questioning, analysing and lots of manual keying. Current day requires automation skills for data creation, performance testing, use of API automation and generic regression test execution.

Working at Home - 3 State Modes

With the Government’s latest announcement to move to ‘Plan B’ restrictions amid fears of Omicron variant infections, I thought it would be good to talk about my own personal experience of working at home during the pandemic.

I’ve now been working from home since Boris made his initial announcement in March 2020, ordering people to stay at home. At the time, I was working in Manchester as a Test Manager. We had a great test team, good relationships with the clients and frequent social activities in the evenings.