Treating symptoms instead of the root cause of symptoms is a mistake that dates back millennia (just ask Socrates). The current-day workplace is no different. In Johanna Rothman's column, we get a glimpse at what happens when a company doesn't value its people.

Quite often in the world of software engineering, testers and Quality Assurance (QA) managers find themselves to be the "last hired" and the "first fired." In some IT shops, QA does not exist at all. In spite of this, recent years have brought major breakthroughs in the areas of software testing and quality assurance.

When testers are left with a mess on their hands, what should they do? When this column appeared during StickyMinds' first month, October 2000, it provoked several reader comments. In it, Bret Pettichord asks the question: "Is it the tester's fate to 'work the clean up crew?'"

What do we mean by "Web Application"? There is an incredible range of sophistication in web applications from a simple company web site with "brochure ware" to sites like Yahoo or Amazon with complex search engines and order fulfillment. One way to look at the web application architecture is to take the model of a traditional business transaction application and to replace the user front end by the web site. A Customer acquires goods and/or services from your company, in exchange for money. There are mechanisms in place to facilitate that transaction between client and company. Instead of a sales rep, a clerk, a cashier, or such person, you have a browser pointing at a web site. The company is never closed! Customers can serve themselves.