Why Is Automated Security Testing Necessary?

IT teams and testers have been challenged by automated testing for decades now.  It seems to me that many organisations haven’t really cracked the nut yet with regards to functional automation and many (too many) automated testing efforts fail to meet their objectives, budget and stakeholders’ expectations. Expectations seem to be lower for load and performance testing. I’m not sure if this is because it’s perceived to be more difficult or the risk is perceived to be lower or both. Either way I don’t think that’s true, but that’s for another post. There isn’t much conversation happening yet about automated security testing - yet. I find this strange considering 47% of companies surveyed for this year’s World Quality Report said that enhancing security is part of their IT Strategy. The number of security breaches is increasing – the 2018 Cyber Security Breaches Survey shows 43% of businesses in the UK experienced a security breach in the past year.

Human-Robot Collaboration in the Workplace

We’ve all seen sci-fi movies where robots take over the world, that is until Will Smith (or similar) steps in at the eleventh hour and saves the day. But like a lot of movies made, they do have a good knack of portraying what the future might hold, whether that’ll be a home robot for doing the daily chores to an all singing all dancing fully autonomous home.

From ALongBit to AShortBit: Enhancing Test Efficiency in DevOps

Even today, in the modern world of DevOps, I see this all too often in automated test code for regression tests:

A How-To Guide For Test Planning

Test planning, it’s that task testers are often asked to perform at short notice and frequently without enough information. It’s something that sounds like it should be easy, but all too often turns into something more challenging. As testers, we also find that we sometimes become accountable based on a test plan that was formed in a hurry without enough information to begin with. Is there anything we can do to avoid this?

Emerging Tech and Quality Assurance: Key Trends for 2019

As another year starts, we can look ahead to what will be trending in 2019. We all know that ankle gracing trousers, wearing brogues without socks, growing a hipster beard (again) and heading to Greggs for a vegan sausage roll will all make the headlines, but with tech trends it’s a little different. A few years ago, we predicted Multi-Cloud (now commonly called Connected Cloud), Big Data (Data Analytics), AR and Cyber Security would be prominent, which to be fair they are still front runners for making the top five, but the way in which they are adopted and implemented has somewhat changed due to other factors that complicate but enhance the IT landscape.

Introduction to User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

If we were to visit the town where I grew up, I could take you to any place in that town without having to use Sat Nav. I wouldn’t even have to glance at Google Maps to find my way.

You can probably say the same about where you grew up. However, if you hop in my car and we go to a city I’ve never been to before, then I’m going to need some help. Sat Nav, Google Maps, directions, post code…and still, there’s a chance I’ll make a wrong turn along the way.

What Are the Core Components of Usability Testing?

It goes without saying that all apps whether they be native, web or hybrid must make a great first impression on the end user when it comes to their functionality and usability. In the real world however, extensive testing and the usability of the app is often overlooked. Not only does this lead to apps that don’t really satisfy the needs of the target audience but sometimes means the app isn’t able to fulfil its purpose.

Introduction to Performance and Load Testing

Whether a system is to be used internally by your work force or externally by your customers, it’s stability and performance directly correlates with your success.

Research shows a clear relationship between website load speed and response times with customer conversions. The faster a page loads the more likely customers will be to do business on your site. Conversely, customers are less likely to buy your products and engage with your brand, the slower your website responds to their actions. Obviously, for internal applications, your workforce will be more productive and effective if the tools they use in their day to day activity are responsive and quick.

Best Practices for Each Testing Phase

Testing can be thought of as the backbone of every software development project. It’s not hard to see why testing has a place in each part of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Employing a poor testing methodology will potentially lead to the production of an unstable system and most likely, one that will cost you more money and time to put right.

Understanding Requirement Specifications

In Scrum, quality is defined as “The ability of the completed product or deliverables to meet the Acceptance Criteria and achieve the business value expected by the customer”. 

So how can we assure quality so that delivered products meet this definition? Sometimes, testing and quality assurance are used interchangeably so just to be clear, for this blog, by quality assurance I don’t just mean testing. Testing can be part of the QA process but for now I’d like to define quality assurance as a consistent (or at least regular) set of checks that are applied throughout the application lifecycle. There are 2 main parts to it: