communication

Articles

Hand holding black rotary telephone When DevOps Gets Lost in Translation

The waterfall method of developing software is a bunch of translation activities: The design is a translation of the requirements into the language of architecture, the code is another, and a formal test process is a third. And with each translation, there’s the opportunity to introduce error. When your DevOps team is isolated, it creates another handoff, and another point of failure.

Matthew Heusser's picture Matthew Heusser
labels Semantics and the Risk of Labels in Software Testing

All industries have their own jargon practitioners use to communicate. Software testing surely has terminology most testers are familiar with and use to label artifacts frequently involved in their work. The problem becomes when testers hold too tightly to these labels, forgetting that the things they signify are what truly matters. It's important to remain flexible.

Jeremy Carey-Dressler's picture Jeremy Carey-Dressler
man guessing Don’t Guess Your Tests—Strive for Complete Requirements

Many teams struggle with test creation due to miscommunication or a lack of requirements, testers not being present during design phases or discussions, a shortage of time, or incomplete information. But that doesn’t mean you should turn to guesswork. Your tests will suffer in quality and completeness. We must always strive to get the desired requirements.

Nishi Grover's picture Nishi Grover
split picture of young and old men Know Where the Water Is: Communicating across Generations

In the tech industry especially, you have people of many ages who need to work together. Young people are joining all the time with new ideas and ways of doing things, and this can create barriers with established employees who have more experience. Both sides need to think about where the other's coming from and focus on demonstrating value.

Matthew Heusser's picture Matthew Heusser
list with maybe checked What Flaky Tests Can Tell You

Flaky tests pass or fail unexpectedly for reasons that appear random. It can be easy to use flaky tests to discredit automated end-to-end testing, but they also can tell you things—about both the application and your team dynamic. Josh Grant gives some technical and human examples of times flaky tests helped his testing efforts.

Joshua Grant's picture Joshua Grant
Watch timer Time-Tested Practices for a Successful Test Effort

Testing in software development is changing incredibly quickly. Test effort varies across projects, teams, and organizations, each having its unique identity in delivering a quality product. However, certain core testing practices never change and continue to drive successful test efforts. Mukesh Sharma details some that he sees standing the test of time.

Mukesh Sharma's picture Mukesh Sharma
Agile Development Conference West logo ADC West 2015 Keynote: Lean UX: Turn User Experience Design Inside Out

When developing products, features, and enhancements, you have to have your customers’ best interests at heart. “We’re not just creating software,” speaker Jeff Patton said. “We’re changing the world.” You need to better understand the people you’re building things for, and the only way to do that is to spend more time with them.

Beth Romanik's picture Beth Romanik
Security Testing How to Talk about Security Testing without Scaring People

When it came to security testing, Sylvia Killinen noted that her company's most frequent difficulty wasn't the testing itself. Instead, it was the communication that provided problems, in part because of the words used to explain what would be performed. If you take care with how you describe your process, you may get more support while executing tests and repairing systems.

Sylvia Killinen's picture Sylvia Killinen
You are hereCommunication Tips Communication Tips in Software Testing

Communication is crucial when testing software. How the tester explains the testing results can be more important than what those results actually are. But having all kinds of communication tools at hand means you have to select and practice the ones that are most effective for your project. Read on to learn some methods of and opportunities for communication.

László Szegedi's picture László Szegedi
Effective Communication The Power of Language: Effective Communication at Any Level

It’s common to alter your linguistic behaviors depending on whom you are interacting with—a manager versus a coworker, for example. Duncan Nisbet highlights different forms of speech and gives suggestions on which can help you make progress in various work situations.

Duncan Nisbet's picture Duncan Nisbet

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