test techniques
Articles
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Using Decision Tables for Clear, Well-Designed Testing Decision tables are used to test the interactions between combinations of conditions. They provide a clear method to verify testing of all pertinent combinations to ensure that all possible conditions, relationships, and constraints are handled by the software under test. If you need to make sure your test cases cover all outcomes in a scenario, read on to learn how to use decision tables. |
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A Better Way of Reporting Performance Test Results Reporting the results of functional tests is relatively simple because these tests have a clear pass or fail outcome. Reporting the results of performance testing is much more nuanced, and there are many ways of displaying these values—but Michael Stahl felt none of these ways was particularly effective. He proposes a reporting method that makes performance test results easy to read at a glance. |
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Testing a Software Rewrite Suppose we’re looking at a system rewrite where the stakeholders have none of the original engineering documentation. (This isn't surprising; documentation becomes obsolete—or even misleading—as the system changes, and corresponding docs don't get updated.) What can we do? Here are some tactics to use—and risks to anticipate—when testing a system rewrite. |
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Using Equivalence Partitioning and Boundary Value Analysis in Black Box Testing Equivalence partitioning and boundary value analysis are two specification-based techniques that are useful in black box testing. This article defines each of these techniques and describes, with examples, how you can use them together to create better test cases. You can save time and reduce the number of test cases required to effectively test inputs, outputs, and values. |
Better Software Magazine Articles
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Using Agile and DevOps to Achieve Quality by Design When software nears completion, it is the wrong time to focus on quality. Product delivery improves if you invest in a plan, validate in small increments, and focus on continuous testing. |
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QA Is More Than Being a Tester QA testers often take on more of a role than just testing software code. When the team needs help, QA should lend a hand in assisting with business analysis, customer communication, user experience, and user advocacy. |
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Supporting Continuous Testing with Automation Create tests that can be used in a continuous testing environment, build the right number of tests, and don’t fall victim to the mistaken belief that everything can be automated. |
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The Unspoken Truth about IoT Test Automation The internet of things (IoT) continues to proliferate as connected smart devices become critical for individuals and businesses. Even with test automation, performing comprehensive testing can be quite a challenge. |
Interviews
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Testing Your Metal: An Interview with Paul Grizzaffi
Video
Paul Grizzaffi, principal automation architect at Magenic, discusses his keynote presentation, which focuses on changing your perspective to add value and determining where you are spending your time so you can evaluate what can be automated. |
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Achieving a Balance between Manual and Automated Testing: An Interview with Jim Holmes
Video
Jim Holmes, executive consultant at Pillar Technology, discusses tools and methods to effectively communicate with management your goals for balancing manual with automated testing. |
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Why Manual Testers Shouldn't Fear Automation: An Interview with Chris Loder
Video
In this interview, Chris Loder, automation architect at InGenius Software, addresses the misconception that the goal of automation is to replace manual testers. |
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Yes before No and Building a Culture of Innovation: An Interview with Hilary Weaver-Robb
Video
In this interview, Hilary Weaver-Robb, a software quality architect at Quicken Loans, explains how you can create a company culture that encourages trying new things—even if they fail. She discusses the importance of learning, changing roles as you grow, and testing RESTful web services. |
Conference Presentations
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Evolution—Not Revolution: Transforming Your Testing
Slideshow
You may have heard the saying “The only constant on any project is change.” Yet the prospect of change is rarely welcomed—either personally or professionally. How is it that we still believe that these changes apply to others but not to us? Julie Gardiner says that now is the time to re-evaluate and transform how we do testing in order to deliver more value to organizations—from a people, processes, and tools perspective. Join Julie as she shares current experiences of transformations and lessons learned within different organizations. She discusses an automation framework that ended up being thrown away, revamping processes, and tools and techniques to transform your testing. This thought-provoking session will give you the courage and ideas for how you can add even more value to your company. |
Julie Gardiner
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Reduce Wait Time with Simulation + Test Data Management
Slideshow
Data has become the most significant roadblock that testers face today. In fact, up to 60% of a tester’s time is spent waiting for data. Chris Colosimo shows that many factors contribute to this wait time, including internal requirements from the test data management team to pull data in the proper form, wait times for sanitized or “test-safe” data, or, most importantly, building data sets that do not exist. Compounding these challenges is the inherit complexity of today’s data. You have to be a DBA to even begin to understand the structure and relationships needed to support your testing. There has to be a better way! Learn how to solve these challenges by providing a self-service method where users can model and repurpose their data on demand. Discover how to use a test data assistant automation to capture, model, and generate data for efficient use in API tests and virtual services. |
Chris Colosimo
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Engineering for Compatibility
Slideshow
Modern software development has brought us an incredibly powerful tool: continuous integration and deployment. However, taking advantage of this new system isn’t always straightforward. With powerful new tools come powerful new ways of making mistakes that can take your product down in a heartbeat. Melissa Benua has years of experience making CI and CD work for her, with lots of insights—both good and not so good. Come and learn from her as she shares key tips and tricks for coding and testing for both forward and backward compatibility in software releases. Useful for both traditional testers as well as combined engineers, Melissa provides technical and actionable advice to enable your team to make the right trade-offs and the right time investments, allowing your product to release to your customers safely and successfully. |
Melissa Benua
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Why "Why...?" Can Be the Most Important Question for QA to Ask
Slideshow
To test a product, there are so many questions to ask, and so little time in which to ask them. More often than not, we get caught up in the who, what, when, and how, but Jane Jeffers from Riot Games explains that “why…?” questions can be the most important ones to ask when it comes to QA work. When missing the whys, we can wind up only focusing on specific details like who needs to do the work or when our deadlines are, and subsequently lose the bigger picture of why a project matters, and why we do what we do. Learn some of the key ways that you can ask why for product, for process, and for people, and how the answers you get will help you with everything from how to devise your overall test strategy to how you communicate with your teammates to get them thinking about quality.
[video:https://youtu.be/Bm_rtOmpIqg width:300 height:200 align:right] |
Jane Jeffers
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