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Risk Analysis Basics Have you ever had a challenging time trying to get a manager or coworker to recognize a potentially project-stalling issue? Risk is inherent when creating something valuable and complex (like software), but sometimes it's hard to analyze and explain in a productive way. Here Johanna Rothman shares her method for addressing risks.
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Software Test Plan Template IEEE 829-1998 Format (template) This Software Test Plan template is based on the IEEE 829-1998 test standard specification and additional information added from various sources—actual test plans, instructor experience, student comments, etc.
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Master Software Test Plan IEEE 829-1998 Format (template) This Master Software Test Plan template is based on the IEEE 829-1998 test standard specification and additional information added from various sources—actual test plans, instructor experience, student comments, etc.
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Measuring Performance Against Management Deliverables Prompted by a comment from our sticky-minded audience, this week Johanna shares some ways test managers can assess their performance against specific management deliverables likely to be high on an organization's priority list.
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Across the Great Divide Many bemoan the strained relationship between testers and developers. But while we can't force testers and developers to see eye to eye on everything, we can reduce some of the tension by making simple changes in the way we communicate. Learn some great tips and tricks in this article.
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Testing Justification Checklist (Template) This checklist summarizes the steps for securing an investment in testing. The process is neither sequential, nor automatic. That's part of the point. This is essentially a mechanism for securing investment (resources and commitment) to produce some value for the organization.
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A Test Manager's Output: What Is That? Are you a project manager or test manager who feels like you're in constant motion? While your team works on products, your week is likely filled with meetings, conference calls, email, analysis, and consultation. But when your efforts have more to do with team performance and avoiding disasters than a tangible product, how can you measure what you've done in a concrete way?
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What's in a Name? Everything. Quality Assurance Manager. Senior Developer. Test Manager. Think you know what those titles mean? Are they mutually exclusive? If not, where do they overlap? Which one "owns" Quality? An important step in perfecting the software development process is negotiating and understanding the responsibilities of every team member. In this column, Elisabeth Hendrickson talks about unwrapping the responsibilities beneath the job titles.
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Snaring Black Widows in Ladybug Clothing The mood in the meeting was grim. All eyes were trained on Doris, the head of customer support. Doris surveyed the room as she spoke..."We have a problem in the field with the new release. Sixty-three users reported unrecoverable errors this week—a record high. An additional 152 people reported crashes, but the software recovered after reboot. This morning, I talked to an irate user who said he'd uninstalled our software after it crashed on him five times in a row. He wanted us to give him a full refund plus expenses. In short, the users are really angry. What do I tell them? When will we have a fix?"
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When Helping Doesn't Help The term "codependency" was coined to describe an unhealthy coping pattern--one that focuses much on compensating for another party's shortcomings or weaknesses. This week's column asks the question, "Are you involved in codependent relationships with your software developers and project managers?" If so, you may be causing long-term harm in your effort to "do the right thing" for the project at hand.
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