As a society, we tend to focus on the biggest winners – i.e. those who defy all the odds and manage to overcome unbelievable obstacles. This tendency is especially pronounced in sports, with champions and home runs dominating the headlines. But what about all the guys who make it to the Top 100 without [...]
On the back of our company T-shirts are the words “Software Testing Can Be Fun.” We always thought it was not just a cool slogan, but it is also something we believe in. A few days ago, someone asked me - after seeing it - if we really believe that software testing can actually be [...]
In the past, we’ve talked about what constitutes an effective software testing team. These earlier posts explain the ideal mix of traits, experience levels, and thinking styles you want to have moving forward. But they don’t explain how to actually build your team from the ground up. In other words, how can you best [...]
Why the Global War on Terrorism Needs Software Testers We used to live in an analog world where you could: Repair broken toasters with a simple screwdriver. Tinker with cars using a few garage tools. But those days are quickly fading. In fact, they’re all but over. Now everything is digital, powered by software, satellites, [...]
I used to work for a company which had a few groups of testers, each of them used on a separate mission on a need-basis. You would see a project manager go about asking “where’s my testing group?", trying to figure which of the groups was assigned for his project. There were arguments of course [...]
Improper diagnoses are bad for business. This is most apparent in healthcare where "false positives" result in hundreds of billions in wasted dollars every year. Worse still are the complications that emerge when real problems go untreated. Patients become sicker and sometimes die because physicians fail to address the true reasons why those individuals [...]
This seems like a silly question. Obviously, developers need to make sure their builds are stable before sending them on to the testing team. So yes, developers must at least taste test their applications. But what we’re really asking is whether developers should conduct rigorous testing, complete with defect reporting, debugging, and methodology selection – [...]
The division of labor couldn’t be clearer: Quality assurance professionals are supposed to test and report bugs. Software developers are supposed to build and fix code. Getting a product ready for launch might require hundreds (or thousands) of back-and-forth exchanges to fix all defects. However, that’s how the industry is set up. But what [...]
When Edward de Bono published 6 Thinking Hats in 1985, he was speaking primarily to the business community. Over the past 3 decades, however, de Bono's revolutionary approach to project management has spilled into countless other disciplines - including software testing. We’ve spent the last several months outlining the importance of de Bono’s approach [...]
Effective software testing is more than just an art or science. The successful tester must call on a range of disciplines to develop quality products. This success becomes amplified when all team members wear different hats and assume various responsibilities – at least according to Edward de Bono, author of the 1985 classic, Six Thinking [...]
