Aging Principles

Within any software development team, testing involves investigation and analysis to identify product risks. Testers also provide information to stakeholders about the quality and complexity of testing so confidence levels are well understood. Depending on the methodology used, the success of a release may be largely based on the effectiveness of the test role.

In traditional methodologies, testers mainly contribute to delivery at the end of the process. If the testing phase only begins after analysis, design and implementation phases have been carried out, adapting to change becomes more difficult. Major issues found during this phase are usually so embedded, they are too risky to rework. If budgets and time pressures are a factor, it is always testing that suffers. Producing a high standard of testing becomes more and more challenging, and the blame culture starts to set in.

How to Get Started with Regression Testing

Regression testing is something that sounds so simple, so logical and an activity that should be obvious to what it entails. Yet time and time again, it is something that can cause problems for projects and software delivery. Usually in the time it takes to run the tests, inappropriate tests being used for regression or the very fact that there may be no regression suite to even execute.

Understanding Both Requirements

A functional requirement defines a function that a system or system component must be able to perform. Probably the easiest way to explain ‘non-functional’ requirements is that they specify all the remaining requirements not covered by the functional requirements. Non-functional requirements specify the system’s ‘quality characteristics’ or ‘quality attributes’. Requirements also known as quality. Two products could have the same functions but their attributes can make them entirely different products. A Rolls Royce has more or less the same functionality as a Lada but many different attributes!

The Agile Manifesto 

The agile manifesto states that you should value working software over comprehensive documentation, but as we all know, this does not mean no documentation. If you’re following an Agile approach for your programme of work or project then we would always recommend considering and documenting your Agile Test Strategy. Here are three things to consider when creating yours.

Understanding Test Automation In DevOps

Ever heard the expression ‘More speed, less haste’? Acting too quickly and without due diligence, focus and attention to detail will result in avoidable mistakes and thus require even more time to complete the task satisfactorily.

What if Entry Criteria for Load and Performance Testing are not met?

A little while ago I wrote a blog called ‘What are the entry criteria for Load Testing?’.

For this blog, I’d like to focus on what to do if the entrance criterion of “Non-functional requirements (NFRs) are defined and signed off” has not been met. Also, what can be done if they have been defined but are simply not good enough to properly test in a meaningful way?

Reviewing and Updating the Regression Testing Checklist

Even with the best will in the world, we all forget to do something at some point in time. Whether that be something trivial like putting out the bins to forgetting to pick up the kids after school…Yep, that has happened…

Having a checklist (or to-do list) saves you from missing something out. A checklist, simply put, is a standardised list of activities for a repetitive task. It helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task or series of tasks.

 Follow The Recipe Or Freestyle It?

For all those budding chefs out there, the question will always be, do you follow a recipe for your meal or do you make it up as you go along? Now, creative and seasoned chefs will throw in the ingredients to produce delightful food, however for us less talented would-be-cooks, our results will be vastly different, and that’s the point. To get predicable results you’ll need to follow a process (recipe) to gain the greatest chance of success - just like adopting an automation test framework.

Monitoring and Identifying Performance Bottlenecks

Lack of Appetite to Test
The most debilitating and possibly biggest challenge I face when it comes to load testing is the lack of appetite to load and performance test from the senior project stakeholders.

Take The Driving Seat

Before you can begin to improve software testing in your organisation, you need to refresh yourself as to why testing is so important. It’s very easy to take things for granted; take your car for example, you get in, start it up and drive. You never think it’s not going to start or breakdown. There was a time though when cars were poorly made, forever breaking down and a real source of disappointment. Now, cars are largely fault free thanks to advanced engineering and software design and of course very thorough testing. There are millions of lines of code in each modern vehicle, and each line of code has been tested many, many times under many conditions to ensure a fault free drive. Some cars, as I write this article are achieving Level 3 Car autonomy - drivers are still necessary in level 3 cars, but are able to completely shift "safety-critical functions" to the vehicle, under certain traffic or environmental conditions.