Process
Articles
Tinkerable Software In what ways should software be like a house? In a recent issue of STQE magazine, Technical Editor Brian Marick's musings about the concept of "tinkerable software" generated some interesting discussion about the very nature of software design. This week's column runs a portion of that piece so that our Sticky-minded readers can sink their thoughts into the concept. |
Brian Marick
April 23, 2002 |
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Driving Forces for Success Uncertainty and risk weigh in the decision to outsource, or not to outsource. In this article, Jay Boyle provides useful information and tips for knowing when to outsource and making the right decision when selecting an outsource vendor. |
Jay Boyle
March 26, 2002 |
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Bug Counts vs. Test Coverage Occasionally, we encounter projects where bug counts simply aren't as high as we expect. Perhaps the product under test is in its second or third release cycle, or maybe the development team invested an inordinate amount of time in unit testing. Whatever the reason, low bug counts can be a cause of concern because they can indicate that pieces of functionality (which potentially contain bugs) are being missed. When low bug counts are encountered, management may begin to wonder about the quality of testing. This article covers techniques for dealing with low bug counts, and methods for reassuring management that coverage is being achieved. |
Andrew Lance
March 21, 2002 |
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V & V Lifecycle Methodologies This paper introduces a new notion called Verification & Validation (V&V) Lifecycle Methodologies, examining what V&V is, and expanding its scope to the entire software lifecycle (much beyond traditional methods of software testing). V&V is recast in a much more holistic definition and approach, based on a rapidly maturing V&V discipline, solid empirical data, and recent innovations in metrics-based software quality and reliability management and engineering. |
David Rico
March 7, 2002 |
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Categorizing Defects by Eliminating "Severity" and "Priority" With all of the advancements in defect tracking systems within the past few years, companies are still using the same ambiguous, canned fields known as Severity and Priority to categorize their defects. Let's examine a better way to assign importance to a defect. |
Brian Beaver
February 8, 2002 |
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Improving Projects by Communicating What's Below the Surface Technical people often feel uncomfortable sharing their personal feelings toward a project. But there are recognized levels of information beneath the surface of what we hear and see. Here, Eileen Strider explains that even without plumbing the depths of your co-workers' souls, you can conduct a little subsurface exploration to benefit the team and the project. |
Eileen Strider
January 28, 2002 |
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Calculating the Economics of Software Inspections Without return on investment (ROI) calculations for the software inspections process, you cannot know the true benefit of those inspections. In this article, Ed Weller makes some assumptions about the cost of inspections and tries to estimate the savings from reduced test cost. He also provides a spreadsheet for doing "what-if" analysis of different savings based on inspection effectiveness, and how much defect removal in test might cost. |
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Don't Forget the Losses Starting a new way of doing things implies ending the old. People may accept that as obvious, but they often forget that endings bring with them losses. Using an example about adopting software inspections, Lee Copeland urges organizations to acknowledge the losses people experience when they leave the familiar behind. |
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Avoiding the Script Cemetery It's frightening how many companies are on their second, third, or even greater attempt to automate their testing—each time junking months or years of effort and work product. Here, test automation advisor Linda Hayes shows the way to avoid having to bury your automation project. |
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Becoming a Testing Expert Achieving expertise as a tester is a progressive journey. It helps to have a vision to guide your efforts. James Bach, a well-known name in software testing, shares his vision of expertise and provides a testing challenge for those aspiring toward expert status. |