We all write code, even in a relatively short project, for quite a long time. It isn't just the first few days/weeks (sometimes months...) of the main writing period, but rather also the additions down the road, the fixes, and the patches. This means that the code gets "dirty" with time, no matter how "clean [...]
It happens. Change is inevitable – and in many cases – initially not welcomed. Parisians abhorred the Eiffel Tower originally. Now it’s a symbolic icon of all that is French. People hated Gmail’s threaded conversations. Now it’s one Gmail’s most popular features. Universal suffrage was a tough sell. Now countries that disenfranchise women are deemed [...]
We’ve touched on this theme a bit in the past – whether or not testers should be involved in the software design process. Our feelings are pretty straightforward (spoiler alert – the answer is “yes” they should be involved). But before we explain why and to what extent, let’s look at some of the pros [...]
Today, I wanted to talk about a topic that affects just about everyone within the software test management world. In fact, it affects a great many professions, both technical and creative. I have writer friends who tell me that with any given document, they can edit it until it’s perfect, come back 24 hours later, [...]
In the quest to create powerful software tools for the market, development firms must rely on a diverse range of different departments. Marketing, sales, accounting, programmers, graphic designers, executive management, HR, and of course, the software testers. Seamlessly weaving in all of this input is not without its challenges. The more teams (and the larger [...]
In an earlier post, we explored the recent Apple map debacle, outlining how better software application testing tools coupled with better “tests” could have helped the tech giant avoid its major embarrassment. But today, I wanted to approach the situation from a slightly different angle. IT is one of the fastest evolving industries on the [...]
In the world of software, quality assurance testing is often regarded as an addendum to the entire development process. As testers, we’re frequently viewed as the busboys who come through and clear the left-over scraps of whatever delicious meals came from the gourmet chefs in the kitchen. This is not a knock on busboys. No [...]
So much of history centers around extraordinary individuals accomplishing extraordinary feats. From Columbus to Gandhi to Steve Jobs, we celebrate individual successes, weaving their victories into our hero folklore. It’s a beautiful narrative – one that holds true in many situations. But are individual pioneers the true forces behind so many of the amazing innovations [...]
We all have a tendency, or a need, to improve things. We want the results to be better, and then better. Sometimes, that extra touch, that extra effort, ends up with a great outcome, but in other cases it turns to be a setback for something that was working fine before. Think of the software [...]
Within the software testing world, there exist a range of different tools, such as automation tools, bug tracking, test management and others. While it is possible to select each tool ‘a la carte’, some of the major releases come as all-or-nothing application lifecycle management (ALM) suites that combine all the potential features into one convenient [...]
