Monthly Archives: August 2011

Trends and innovations in software testing

Thirty years ago, Glenford Myers published the first edition of The Art of Software Testing. Then, many testers use techniques that directly derive from Myers’ work. Here are a few trends and innovations in software test that James Bach is excited about, who recently addressed the question in his keynote at CAST 2011 in Seattle, titled “New Cool Things.”

1. Collapse of the factory

Bach claimed that the classic test approaches do not scale beyond a project team of 12 members. Projects were failing in the 1990s and only gained a temporary reprieve by outsourcing – large teams spent so much time maintaining automation that they had little time to test for new features and new uses of the software. Projects run in this way would fail in increasing numbers, Bach said, therefore, making the factory collapse even as more organizations pile on resources, time and money.

2. Politics in software testing

The nest trend James Bach mentioned was oplitics in software testing, starting with a new ISO standard, which could lead to a law that all testing conform to the standard, and all testers would be required to obtain a government license in order to test.

3. The “intersubjectivity” revolution

This approach keeps human beings in mind and focuses on communication of aspects that are hard to measure. Instead of counting test cases and failures, James suggests that testers give a score, from zero to “three plus,” of the testers confidence on the software.

4. Learning testing

The major innovation in teaching is the use of testing as a learning experience, that one learns testing by doing it, struggling with challenges and thinking instead of memorizing definitions on a screen. Additionally, James suggested that “Test Framing” is increasingly important as a skill, a skill that encompasses the ability to track tests backwards, to explain why a test is performed, what risks it addresses, why the technique was appropriate and how it reduces risk.

5. Test coaching methods

James said, “It’s so easy for a consultant in Europe to write down a maturity model, but it is a whole other thing to trace that idea back to an actual case study, a real situation that is closely analyzed. That takes work.” Moreover, he argued that new methodologies must be tested, that methods should be tried as an experiment.

6. Rapid testing management, tools and books

Bach suggested new heuristics, or rules of thumb, are evolving to explain testing in terms of higher-level abstractions. Even regulated testing is starting to accept rapid approaches. And Bach also suggested five books that list ideas for software testers: Tacit and Explict Knowledge, Dialogue, Skill and Tacit Knowledge, The Shape of Actions, Seeing like a State, and How to Read Wittgenstein. Then Bach discussed cool new tools, including Shmuel Gershon’s Rapid Reporter, Mind Mapping Tools, collaboration tools like Type With Me, using GotoMeeting for collaboration, PDF ReMangler to simplify documentation, or the new free performance test tool Cloud Test Lite.

Source: http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/tip/Trends-and-innovations-in-software-testing?ShortReg=1&mboxConv=searchSoftwareQuality_RegActivate_Submit&

Did you like this? Share it:

Independent software testing with your business

As we know, software testing (also called quality assurance) is very important in a software development lifecycle. The process of running automated as well as manual tests is crucial during a development cycle. The issue during software development is that developers fail to recognize them early enough rather than that bugs and error occur. Supplier companies need to apply cutting edge in peacefulness to be able to deliver high-quality end products to their clients. Testing procedures encompass automated testing, scalability testing, attention testing, platform testing, product testing, unit testing, functional testing, regression testing, performance testing and various others. Finally, whoever carries out the various tests must advise its buyer to operate with various tests beyond the purpose of mere error elimination.

Source: http://www.smalltownsoftware.com/independent-software-testing-should-your-business-engage-with-a-professional-software-testing-company

Did you like this? Share it:

Development of ‘As-a-service’ offerings in software testing

Toady budgets remain tight and enterprises are forced to produce more for less, therefore, application developmetn teams are under tremendous pressure to deliver quality apps in a shorter span of time. Several advantages of the cloud have augmented interest among enterprises to look for “as-a-service” offerings. The ability of the cloud to quickly provision test environments, cost savings, business flexibility, faster time-to-market, reduced maintenance requirements, rapid elasticity, and multi-tenant model is driving the demand for Testing as a Service in the cloud. Moreover, cost reduction is one of the key factors that is driving most enterprises towards testing in the cloud. An effective TaaS solution will help enterprises to meet end-to-end testing requirements and enables them to quickly set up test environments while providing all the benefits of cloud. Meanwhile, the cloud vendor will provide enterprises with access to scalable labs, test management tools, and infrastructure necessary for building a test environment. Therefore, it is essential for enterprises to choose the right testing vendor with in-depth expertise in domain-specific and specialized testing services.

Source: http://www.techjournalsouth.com/2011/08/new-trend-in-software-testing-%E2%80%93-%E2%80%98as-a-service%E2%80%99-offerings/

Did you like this? Share it:

Motherboard testing software

If a straightforward restart of your Computer doesn’t work out the kink, your dilemma might lay below the hood with an outdated or corrupt process driver Motherboard testing software. These Asus motherboard drivers are necessary to your laptop or computer running effectively at all times. Moreover, restrict the interruptions you may perhaps confront Motherboard testing software when doing work adequately. Motherboard testing software is really straightforward to see that if an Asus motherboard driver is out of whack. The most effective bang for your buck is to get driver update software program Motherboard testing software. It can be daily life saving for some people.

Source: http://www.djsingleagain.net/motherboard-testing-software.htm

Did you like this? Share it:

Software Testing and Quality Assurance Certifications

We have discussed software testing certifications before, namely CSTE, CSTP, CTM, and HP QTP Certification. Today we will talk about ISEB & ISTQB, CMST, CASQ, CSQA, and CMSQ here.

1. ISEB & ISTQB

ISEB, short for The Information systems Examinations Board, certification is the step taken forward by a chartered institute for IT called BCS, to support the career of IT professionals in IT field. It is available in foundation, practitioner and advanced level to cater the needs of each IT testing aspirant. ISEB and ISTQB are similar certifications. The only diffience is that ISEB is UK specific whereas ISTQB is international certification.

2. CMST

CMST, standing for Certified Manager of Software Testing, is meant to establish the competencies of testing professional in software industry at the interantional level.

3. CASQ

CASQ, short for Certified Associate in Software Quality, is focused on quality assurance skills and principles at the fundamental level of understanding. It provides the rapid carrer progression at a potentially affordable cost.

4. CSQA

CSQA (Certified Software Quality Analyst) certification is an intermediate level exam, considered as the atandard in best practices and principles of software quality assurance in IT industry.

5. CMSQ

CMSQ (Certified Manager of Software Quality) certification is an international level assessment for the skills in software quality assurance leaders and managers. It is the advanced level certification in software quality field.

Source: http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/software-testing-and-quality-assurance-certifications-part-2/

Did you like this? Share it:

Software testing product review: Gurock TestRail 2.1

The test-management phase of an application’s development life cycle is often relegated to a shared spreadsheet or some other home-grown solution. Gurock Software has a web-based software testing solution, which can scale from a small team to a large. As is known that Gurock’s TestRail is based on PHP rather than ASP.NET, therefore, you must first use the Microsoft Web Platform Installer to configure dependencies for PHP, SQL Server or MySQL, and FastCGI instead of installing the web application on a Windows-based server by running a setup.exe file. Next, you retrieve and install several PHP prerequisites. Moreover, you manually add these extensions to the PHP.ini configuration file.

Source: http://www.devproconnections.com/article/software-testing/software-testing-testrail-129039

Did you like this? Share it:

Tips for writing a killer software testing QA resume

As we know, the resume is very important while looking for jobs. It’s an opportunity to advertise yourself and demonstrate that you are the best person for the available position. Here we’ll talk about how to write a masterpiece of software testing resume that will turn into an interview call. Let’s learn some tips:

1. Keep CV brief but comprehensive in expression

2. Single spelling error is sufficient to reject your resume. Spell chect for twice.

3. CV should be easily readable

4. Make a clear job objective

5. Highlight relevant skills

6. Do not put fake experience or skills

7. Focus on what employer’s perspective.

8. Always think from employer’s perspective.

9. Avoid table structure. Use tables to mention your qualification and skills only.

10. Do not write resume more than 3 pages unless you are applying for team lead or managerial positions.

11. Do not add irrelevant personal details.

12. No need to write ‘Curriculum Vitae’ or ‘Resume’ word at the top of your resume.

13. Do not use word ‘I’ while describing project responsibilities.

14. Make sure you write your name, email address and phone number on top of the resume.

15. While writing education always start with recent education first.

16. Write qualification details with columns – Education/Qualification, School/College, Year, Percentage/Grade, Class

17. Write relevant skills and on-job-accomplishments on first page of your resume and work experience, educational details on second page.

Additionally, you need to write an effective software testing job cover letter before applying for software testing jobs.

Source: http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/how-to-write-a-killer-software-testing-qa-resume-that-will-turn-into-an-interview-call/

Did you like this? Share it:

Brief Introduction of the book “A Software Testing Primer”

Here we will mainly introduce the book “A Software Testing Primer” by Nick Jenkins. Thus, you will get basic idea of manual and automation testing. Fisrtly, let’s have a glance of what this book is covering:

1. What is the need of software testing?

2. Different software defelopment models

3. Testing in the software development life cycle

4. How to develop testing mindset?

5. Regression VS. Retesting

6. White box VS. Black box testing

7. Verification and validation

8. Alpha and beta testing

9. Unit, Integration and System testing

10. Acceptance testing

11. Automation testing – Basics

12. Testing the design

13. Usability testing

14. Performance testing

15. Test planning

16. Test estimation

17. Test cases and elements of test cases

18. Test tracking, Test planning and Test plan review

19. How to manage defects and defect reports?

20. Test metrics for testers

21. Product release control

All points above nicely introduce software testing. Moreover, Regression and Retesting difference, Alpha and beta testing and other points that many testers confuse, the author also has good explainations to them.

Source: http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/software-testing-book-download/

Did you like this? Share it:

Ways to keep motivation alive in software testers

Eric Jacobson, a software tester used the comcept that reward testers for finding good quality bugs and keep some weekly or monthly competitions such as ‘Bug of the week’ to reward them, which will help to build a successful QA team, to keep motivation alive in his testing team. The way quality bugs will be the main focus of software testers rather than running behind the quantity. And awarding testers for their good work is a good way to keep the spirit alive in testers to find new and quality bugs.

Source: http://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/how-to-keep-motivation-alive-in-software-testers/

Did you like this? Share it:

India – the next stop for Independent Software Testing

Today software is everywhere and has been a vital part of almost everyone’s life. So maintaining quality in today’s workd is a must. You need to focus on what you are building and whether it is right. The past independent software testing now needs more expertise in specific domains of it. The current market for global testing is around $15B, and it is estimated to reach around $25B by 2013. Indian software testing industry has wooed the western software industry by providing quality assurance at less cost. A recent research shows that Software Testing industry is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth of 11% over the period of 2010 – 2014. Moreover, it could go over 50% for the offshore testing companies over the next few years. This is the time for such Independent Software testing companies to increase manpower and use it accordingly with latest technologies and help India in becoming the world’s No.1 software testing market.

Source: http://www.212articles.com/india-the-next-stop-for-independent-software-testing/

Did you like this? Share it: