Author Archive

Black Box vs. White Box Henrik Emilsson 7 Comments

I have heard and seen the difference between Black Box Software Testing and White Box Software Testing being described as “whether or not you have knowledge about the code”; and that Gray Box Software Testing is a mix of the two. But is it really about how much of the code you see? I rather […]

The Scripted and Exploratory Testing Continuum Henrik Emilsson 7 Comments

I have been using the Scripted – Exploratory Testing Continuum (For one source of this, see page 56 in http://www.ryber.se/wp-content/EssentialTestDesign.pdf ) in classes to explain how scripted testing and exploratory testing intertwines; and to explain that most of our testing is somewhere in the middle of the continuum. But I have also had some issues with this […]

Funcacles or unactivated oracles? Henrik Emilsson 2 Comments

Last week I took the Rapid Test Management (RTM) class in Gothenburg with James Bach. As always, he is such an inspiration and really makes you engage and think. Thanks for that James! In one part of the class we were factoring an application: Factoring: Dimensions of Interest Factoring is the process of analyzing an […]

Bug Magnets are thinking as criminals Henrik Emilsson 8 Comments

I know of some testers who are pointed out by others to be Bug Magnets; people recognized for their ability to somehow draw bugs to them. Bug Magnets can be found in many workplaces and I bet that you know of someone that falls under this description. I have been appointed a Bug Magnet by […]

The automotive industry is not the role model Henrik Emilsson 5 Comments

This began as an answer to Rikard’s post http://thetesteye.com/blog/2011/06/a-word-of-caution/ where the discussion on “traditional testing” came up. I often hear comparisons with our “industry” and the Automotive industry. In that context, you could say that “traditional testing” corresponds to the methods and practices that are applied in line production of large car companies. And the […]

Observation and interpretation by proxies Henrik Emilsson 3 Comments

If you haven’t done it before, have a look at the Software Quality Characteristics that we published last year: TheTestEye – Software Quality Characteristics You can probably imagine ways of testing for all of these quality characteristics yourself, and you might even come up with good oracles that can assist you in the interpretation of the […]

Emerging Topics at CAST 2011 Henrik Emilsson No Comments

Even if most of the program is set, there is still a chance for you to talk at CAST 2011. Matt Heusser and Pete Walen is running the Emerging Topics session: If you would like to speak at CAST 2011, you still have the option of proposing a twenty-minute emerging topics session. (Emerging topics are anything […]

The Helpful Model Henrik Emilsson 3 Comments

Here is neat story I told to Michael Bolton, Martin Jansson and Markus Gärtner when we were exploring the Metro in Copenhagen, during the coldest days the city had experienced since they started measure the temperature. I promised to blog about it… Let me begin with some background information. A couple of years ago I […]

Scripted Testing: Filling out templates Henrik Emilsson 5 Comments

I saw an interesting interview with Rob Sabourin today http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZRXdaN7gkY  (Thanks for the tip, Jon Bach!) One thing he says in this video is: “… There are a lot of template junkies out there. [Testers are]  filling out templates and not actually testing. That frustrates testers…” Hey, isn’t this the same thing that happens in strictly scripted testing […]

The Crashing Paper Airplane Heuristic Henrik Emilsson 2 Comments

I thought of this the other day when rethinking a situation that was described in the experience report from Petter Mattson on “Swedish Workshop on Exploratory Testing” (SWET1). Let’s say that you have 100 Paper Airplane builders in your team. They all follow scripted instructions on how to fold a paper in order to create […]