test management

Articles

Have You Used Word’s "Smell-Check" Features? Have You Used Word’s "Smell-Check" Features?

Terry Wiegmann writes about how Microsoft Word's features, like its spelling and grammar checkers, can help one identify agile smells—those signs that something might be wrong. While we may want to minimize documentation and the use of Word, we can mentally use some of Word’s features to sniff out some whiffs of smells.

Terry Wiegmann's picture Terry Wiegmann
Measuring End-User Performance Consider Rendering Times While Measuring End-User Performance

Mukesh Sharma writes that if you want to build an effective performance test strategy involving smart devices, you need to consider rendering times. It’s no longer OK to simply measure the response times on desktop web applications like we did in the past. For mobile, the rendering time can make all the difference between a good and a bad user experience.  

Mukesh Sharma's picture Mukesh Sharma
Quantifying Your Value with Test Metrics Are You Quantifying Your Value with Test Metrics?

On a fairly regular basis, test and QA management have to explain their value and role to their clients. Sanjay Zalavadia writes that in these situations you must choose metrics that provide insight into what you are doing instead of obscuring it. This will help tell your story in a compelling way.

Sanjay Zalavadia's picture Sanjay Zalavadia
The Bugs That Deceived Me The Bugs That Deceived Me

Every time we look at the data, we perform an analysis that helps us make decisions—hopefully the right ones. In this article, Gil Zilberfeld describes a few traps where bug data misled him to make bad decisions. These traps are in the data itself, not the tools, and can lead us in the wrong direction.

Gil Zilberfeld's picture Gil Zilberfeld
2013: A Year of Software Development and Testing in Quotes

In this roundup of noteworthy quotes from industry experts interviewed in 2013, read about what constitutes effective agile methods, the year in testing techniques, and why you shouldn't put too much trust in the latest and greatest tools.

Jonathan Vanian's picture Jonathan Vanian
Don't Ignore the Smoke Tests Don't Ignore the Smoke Tests

Justin Rohrman writes about the benefits of smoke tests. These tests can be simple and concise, and because of that, low cost. Spending a few minutes of your time watching the smoke test run can be a fantastic way to defocus and notice some things about your product that may normally go unnoticed.

Justin Rohrman's picture Justin Rohrman
Automate, and Add Value Testing Services: Isolate, Automate, and Add Value

Understanding what’s going on “behind the scenes” provides us both insights into test design and details on failure, which makes our work more valuable. Testers, who are likely already the subject-matter experts on their applications from a business perspective, become much more powerful assets for their teams when their level of technical knowledge of their application increases through the process of service testing. This is a win-win-win for the tester, the test team, and the project team.

Don Prather's picture Don Prather
Lean Test Documentation Lean Test Documentation

Forcing testers to slog with document creation is a foolish thing to do for any organization, especially those that believe that keeping customers happy is their foremost goal. In this article, Parimala Hariprasad writes that adopting lean test documentation saves lot of time and energy for the tester.

Parimala Hariprasad's picture Parimala Hariprasad
 Chaos, Intuition, and Getting to the Party Early Book Survey: Chaos, Intuition, and Getting to the Party Early

Michael Larsen takes a look at four books that can benefit you in your software development and testing career. From a book on how humans perceive predictability to a novel about DevOps, Larsen's literature roundup will give you an idea of what good reads are out there.

Michael Larsen's picture Michael Larsen
Configuration Flags Configuration Flags: A Love Story

By implementing configuration flags as part of the initial stages of development, engineers imbue all new features with the capability to leverage system-level strategies, such as multivariate testing, beta testing, and “emergency toggles.” In this article, Noah Sussman describes some battle-tested strategies to implement and leverage configuration flags in production.

Noah Sussman's picture Noah Sussman

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