testing

Has your team been on the search for a fully automated acceptance test? Before you set out on that adventure, check out some of the accomplishments and perils behind the quest for complete automation, as explained by Jeff Patton in this week's column. Fully automated acceptance tests may seem like the solution to many problems, but you should know that it comes with a few problems of its own.

Dion Johnson use the martial arts metaphor four common issues with automated tests and how test automation specialiasts can "train" their scripts to identify, capture, and handle these problems. In this week's column, Dion talks about how to make develop test automation scripts that handles dynamic paths within an application—which he call "strikes."

Testing processes and practices are well defined and generally understood for internally developed applications, but what about those that are licensed from third parties? Granted, the vendor has responsibility for testing its own products, but the possibility of the software failing still exists and can be costly, even devastating; blaming others offers little consolation. If you rely on a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) application, where does your trust in the vendor end?

Who likes working on troubled projects? Fiona Charles does. In this column, find out why Fiona sometimes seeks out such projects and how she maintains the right frame of mind to allow her to solve problems creatively and devise tactical solutions to project issues. More importantly, you, too, can learn how to enjoy troubled projects and develop your project skills.