Hiring an external freelance tester is one of those options in today’s workforce landscape that some see as a necessary evil, others as a great benefit, but that nearly every software QA team eventually faces: Sometimes you need a few extra hands on deck for a short term. Other times, you want access to outside [...]
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 [...]
We frequently survey our users to better understand what tools they use and why. And we’ve noticed an interesting trend unfold. Software testing teams increasingly prefer using premium (i.e. “paid”) bug trackers in favor of open source solutions, email, or no bug tracker at all. And this trend seems to be accelerating. Back in [...]
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 [...]
The open source (OS) revolution has been hugely successful – from Linux to Mozilla to WordPress. Even the world’s favorite encyclopedia, Wikipedia, falls under this broad "open" umbrella. And it’s not difficult to understand their popularity: They’re infinitely expandable, with add-ons and plug-ins. They’re supported by huge, enthusiastic communities. They benefit from tremendous security [...]
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 – [...]
