Leveraging Time-Travel Techniques in Testing

I am often asked what are the biggest mistakes that companies, projects or testing teams make in execution. Well, aside from hiring me to do the testing in the first place, there is one area that does keep cropping up as being missed… thinking about and testing beyond the initial or obvious journey.

There are many labels attached to this – one of the best I’ve heard though is 3-dimensional testing. So, what do we mean by that?

Introduction to Software Quality Challenges

This week's blog comes from our guest writer, Renee Mineart. 

I am often (far too often if you ask me) heard saying to my colleagues the phrase, ‘should is my favourite IT word’. 

I normally say this right after someone in development or on a technical team says to me, ‘we’re going to apply this patch and everything should be fine. The customers should not experience any issues.’ or when saying ‘once we’ve installed this new software, the users will just need to reboot and everything should work better than before.’

Developing a Software Test Plan & The Impact of it 

Within every organisation there are a number of documents that have a hieratical order. When it comes to testing deliverables, you would expect to find the test policy document at the top of the tree; this document is only a couple of pages long but does at executive level spell out the quality needs of the organisation and gives the vision of what is expected of every project. This document is owned by the CIO or IT Director and should be mandated to ensure every programme and project works to the same expected standards every time.

Introduction to Test Automation in Software Testing

As we rapidly approach the new spring season with vigour, there is never a better time to revisit areas in our work/home lives and look at applying a fresh approach to make improvements.

The same can be said for software testing and exploring fresh ways of being innovative in the use of processes, tools and methodologies applied. The new financial year can bring new opportunities to invest in improvement initiatives and the spring season can often give rise to renewed energy, open mindsets, renewed commitment to try and apply new strategies and look to reduce none value-add activities.

Strategies for Meeting Stakeholder Expectations

“Expectations were like fine pottery. The harder you held them, the more likely they were to crack.” -  Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings.

Sometimes, as a Tester I feel as if I am the only one with a grip on reality!

• Delivery into test is late but still the Project Manager expects us to do the same level of testing in less time.
• The system is not meeting the customer expectations but still the Product Owner wants to ship.
• The Developers are rejecting every defect we raise and somehow it’s our fault that the code is buggy. 

Why do you test so late?

Common problems I’ve seen during my career (if that’s what you could call this collection of happy accidents), are situations where a project's timelines are placed in jeopardy because testing takes longer than expected; or the scope expands after the requirements are signed off, usually after testing starts.

Now, there may be situations where this is a genuine occurrence. Requirements change, possibly regulations change. Availability of resource may change.

The Impact of App Access on User Experience

I have an app on my phone that I am required to use as part of a medication I take for preventing migraines, something I unfortunately get a lot of. This app tracks my migraines, the medicines I take, triggers, side effects, etc. It also sends a regular report to the Neurologist at my hospital so they can monitor the effectiveness of the medication. Sounds pretty cool, right?!

What Are the Best Practices for Managing Conflict?

Yes, this really happened! I was working on a huge government project, and along with the Chief Acceptance Officer for the program, I was visiting a supplier to sign off the acceptance of their data centre.

The plan was that:

• The supplier would present the evidence of testing.
• I would confirm that I had checked it all and that it was good to go.
• The Acceptance Officer would sign off on the report.
• The supplier would get a cheque for £20 million in the post!

The Essential Qualities of an Effective Software Test Consultant

Being involved with the selection days for our prospective SDET Graduates got me thinking about what people expect a career in testing to be and how they can be effective in this space. So, if you are considering moving into testing, what makes an effective Software Test Consultant? Good question! Wish I knew - I might have been one! 

Seriously though, that's not an easy question to answer. Every situation is different. Every client or project throws up different challenges. Testing is so broad with so many disciplines and aspects to it. However, if you are considering a career in it, some fundamentals hold true across the board. We'll try to cover some of them here...

From Graduate to SDET: What You Need to Know

Following on from Tony Simm's recent blog on the challenges of finding technical testers with technical skills, we have asked one of our Graduate SDET Consultants, Joseph Batchelor, to share his experience on this topic. 

Introduction to Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET)

"One area where we are seeing large growth at the moment is that of DevOps and SDET Software Development Engineer, particularly with larger organisations and government departments. Driving this demand is the desire to breakdown the barrier between software development & IT operations and blend them together so as to build cheaper, quicker and more valuable solutions. DevOps is still a fairly new phenomenon and this means that there's not a whole load of staff out there with significant experience. That can lead to difficulties with recruiting." - Tony Simms