What do structural engineers, fact-checkers, and anesthesiologists have in common? According to researcher and author, David Zweig: When people in these professions underperform, the consequences are catastrophic When they do their jobs perfectly, these professionals remain invisible In his new book, Invisibles: The Power of Anonymous Work in an Age of Relentless Self-Promotion, Zweig defines [...]
As software testers, we routinely make educated “guesses” about: What bugs exist Why they occur How to fix them This type of work adds tremendous value to the software development cycle. But there exists another strain of guesswork – one that adds zero value. In fact, it often results in excessive lag times and escalating [...]
15 years ago, software testing was almost the exclusive domain of desktops and laptops. Now, it has become an umbrella term that applies to a range of platforms from PCs and browsers to smartphones, tablets, and even wearable technology. Despite this proliferation of new devices and interfaces, are the fundamental building blocks of software testing [...]
There exists a funny irony in the software testing world. As quality assurance professionals, we routinely spend months testing products for clients, but we generally dislike testing the platforms we use to run these tests. The reason is simple. Finding the right test management solution carries a host of startup and switching costs, including: Researching [...]
At Testuff, we regularly survey our customers every year to find out what bug trackers they use when testing and developing software. In previous years, we noticed some interesting trends. For example: More than 25% of users don't rely on any official bug tracker. To be fair, some of these respondents use email or paper [...]
Several months ago, we published an article about choosing software testing methodologies. Which approach yields the best results (i.e. the most critical defects, the highest quality reports, the most critical fixes that require the greatest attention, a faster cycle, etc.)? The article received quite a lot of attention. And one reader followed up with a [...]
Software testing is a serious profession that becomes more demanding and more important every day. But many within the field don't regard their own contributions with the respect they deserve. They view themselves as support staff and fact-checkers who needn’t bother investing in the requisite resources for continued growth. Ironically, many of these same individuals [...]
We are frequently asked about the best methodology to use with Testuff test management suite, or if is it good to use this or that methodology. Without getting too much into what a methodology is (compared with a process, a workflow, technique, class, type, etc.) we always answer that Testuff is flexible enough to enable [...]
The other day, I heard a story about a biology student who was preparing for an in-class experiment. She was so engrossed in the steps that she inadvertently turned a few of the flasks upside down. Basic common sense would have saved this student a lot of time. But because she was so focused on [...]
For much of its 70-year history, the software development world has taken many of its cues from traditional manufacturing. In the very early days, for example, software testers and developers adopted serial workflows in which teams set sequential milestones and forwarded completed tasks down the chain – not unlike an assembly line factory. For a [...]
