Comments for thoughts from the test eye http://thetesteye.com/blog by rikard edgren, henrik emilsson and martin jansson Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:48:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 Comment on Systems outside the testing radar by Martin Jansson http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/03/systems-outside-testing-radar/comment-page-1/#comment-333 Martin Jansson Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:48:48 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=843#comment-333 If the resource allocator had focus on the overall costs I think it would look differently. The test team could still be clear that they would be able to identify these kinds of errors on all development to lower cost (that is, if they are fixed by development). If the resource allocator had focus on the overall costs I think it would look differently. The test team could still be clear that they would be able to identify these kinds of errors on all development to lower cost (that is, if they are fixed by development).

]]> Comment on Systems outside the testing radar by Saam http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/03/systems-outside-testing-radar/comment-page-1/#comment-332 Saam Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:48:19 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=843#comment-332 Interesting question. We could probably benefit from considering this to a much larger extent than is currently done. But just becasue we are able to find a bug somewhere doesnt automatically mean we benfit from finding it. Interesting question. We could probably benefit from considering this to a much larger extent than is currently done. But just becasue we are able to find a bug somewhere doesnt automatically mean we benfit from finding it.

]]> Comment on Systems outside the testing radar by Henrik Emilsson http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/03/systems-outside-testing-radar/comment-page-1/#comment-331 Henrik Emilsson Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:41:53 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=843#comment-331 Good thoughts and great stories! I guess that if you had a risk-based approach to testing in such projects, it would not be prioritization amongst products/applications. Instead the test areas would have been selected according to the risk that the applications or functions imply which then might be exposed during testing; regardless of application type and size. But it is easy to forget this! It is important to look at testing projects from different angles, not only from a line organization point of view; which is so often the case. Good thoughts and great stories!

I guess that if you had a risk-based approach to testing in such projects, it would not be prioritization amongst products/applications. Instead the test areas would have been selected according to the risk that the applications or functions imply which then might be exposed during testing; regardless of application type and size. But it is easy to forget this!

It is important to look at testing projects from different angles, not only from a line organization point of view; which is so often the case.

]]> Comment on Rage against the machine by Henrik Emilsson http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/03/rage-against-the-machine/comment-page-1/#comment-330 Henrik Emilsson Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:08:26 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=813#comment-330 True is true... :) I guess that I mean that we have come to a situation where people "accept" lousy software even though the correct action would be to just not use it. I.e., many endusers think that there might be an isolated problem visible just for them; that they do something wrong; that it might very well be designed like this; etc. Therefore I believe that someone should raise a voice against companies/applications that ignore the endusers. If people are aware of that the problems could be fixed before they are encountered "live" they might consider to not use the software OR raise their voice and make some complaints. Somehow we should let the companies know that we don't accept this behavior! Endnote: I have chosen not to use Ryanair, but you might still expect something more from a site that is localized in Swedish but cannot interpret swedish characters. I don't know if this is still applicable, but it were in 2007: If you enter Swedish characters in step 1 of the booking wizard you become aware of this problem after you have completed the booking in step 5 (including payment) which cancels the booking due to an "unknown error". This means that you cannot complete a booking if you live on a street, or your name, contains these characters. Which is pretty common... It took some time to figure out what the problem was... Another "feature" is that if you order a ticket for a certain price, you will be notified in step 4 or 5 that this ticket is no longer available, so you need to restart the booking procedure. Amazing! True is true… :)

I guess that I mean that we have come to a situation where people “accept” lousy software even though the correct action would be to just not use it.
I.e., many endusers think that there might be an isolated problem visible just for them; that they do something wrong; that it might very well be designed like this; etc.

Therefore I believe that someone should raise a voice against companies/applications that ignore the endusers. If people are aware of that the problems could be fixed before they are encountered “live” they might consider to not use the software OR raise their voice and make some complaints.
Somehow we should let the companies know that we don’t accept this behavior!

Endnote:
I have chosen not to use Ryanair, but you might still expect something more from a site that is localized in Swedish but cannot interpret swedish characters.
I don’t know if this is still applicable, but it were in 2007:
If you enter Swedish characters in step 1 of the booking wizard you become aware of this problem after you have completed the booking in step 5 (including payment) which cancels the booking due to an “unknown error”. This means that you cannot complete a booking if you live on a street, or your name, contains these characters. Which is pretty common… It took some time to figure out what the problem was…
Another “feature” is that if you order a ticket for a certain price, you will be notified in step 4 or 5 that this ticket is no longer available, so you need to restart the booking procedure. Amazing!

]]> Comment on Rage against the machine by Martin Jansson http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/03/rage-against-the-machine/comment-page-1/#comment-329 Martin Jansson Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:33:05 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=813#comment-329 You can do as Joe suggests or you can discuss it like you do Henrik. Freedom of expression is powerful and collaborating in the raging sharpens the critique (hopefully). If many in the context-driven school just acted the same way with ISTQB, thus just don't get the certificate, we would loose some very interesting debate. You can do as Joe suggests or you can discuss it like you do Henrik. Freedom of expression is powerful and collaborating in the raging sharpens the critique (hopefully).

If many in the context-driven school just acted the same way with ISTQB, thus just don’t get the certificate, we would loose some very interesting debate.

]]> Comment on Rage against the machine by Henrik Emilsson http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/03/rage-against-the-machine/comment-page-1/#comment-328 Henrik Emilsson Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:02:49 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=813#comment-328 You are right. That killed the debate... :-) You are right.
That killed the debate… :-)

]]> Comment on Rage against the machine by Joe Strazzere http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/03/rage-against-the-machine/comment-page-1/#comment-327 Joe Strazzere Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:45:18 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=813#comment-327 "But what can I do as a frustrated enduser?" You can rage all you want, and create all the complaint sites you want. But the most effective way is to vote with your wallet. If you don't like a site - don't use it. If it's a paid site, stop paying for it. If it's a free site, stop using it and go elsewhere. “But what can I do as a frustrated enduser?”

You can rage all you want, and create all the complaint sites you want. But the most effective way is to vote with your wallet.

If you don’t like a site – don’t use it. If it’s a paid site, stop paying for it. If it’s a free site, stop using it and go elsewhere.

]]> Comment on Vancouver 2010 Biathlon Software by Rikard Edgren http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/02/vancouver-2010-biathlon-software/comment-page-1/#comment-326 Rikard Edgren Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:42:16 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=837#comment-326 Atos is not responible for this. The graphics on TV are made by OBSV (Olympic Broadcasting Services Vancouver), which are managed by IOC (olymipc committee): In Norwegian web magazine queries, more than 80% said the graphics were poor. The digits is a more general problem than biathlon; for cross-country I went very close to the TV to see that Swediah relay team had 8 seconds lead, and a friend did the same to see if the hockey game was 1-0 or 1-1 (adds a bit of excitement!?) Atos is not responible for this.
The graphics on TV are made by OBSV (Olympic Broadcasting Services Vancouver), which are managed by IOC (olymipc committee):
In Norwegian web magazine queries, more than 80% said the graphics were poor.
The digits is a more general problem than biathlon; for cross-country I went very close to the TV to see that Swediah relay team had 8 seconds lead, and a friend did the same to see if the hockey game was 1-0 or 1-1 (adds a bit of excitement!?)

]]> Comment on Vancouver 2010 Biathlon Software by Rikard Edgren http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/02/vancouver-2010-biathlon-software/comment-page-1/#comment-325 Rikard Edgren Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:00:25 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=837#comment-325 Atos does the whole logistics for Olymics, so the TV transmissions is only a very, very small part of their undertaking. Maybe the TV viewer experience wasn't deemed a priority area of the more than 100,000 test hours that was spent. In the biathlon relay, the athletes have 3 "extra-shots", and if you saw them on TV yesterday, you could see that it was a color difference, but extremely small. That the shots of Swedens ACO weren't displayed until alll shots were fired might not be the software's fault. At the start of biathlon ladies mass start the Swedish commentaries lost their computers where they could see all details for intermediate times. You can also take a look at the upcoming cross-country mass starts. When intermediate times are displayed, there is a "good-looking" delay and scrolling for each athlete's time. This means that the time to display the names takes longer than the actual time difference, and the result is that you can only see the names for the first athletes (in biathlon mass start there were 13 in a leading group, but the TV users only got to see 9 names.) There are a lot of software "bugs" around us in our daily life, but in the 2010 biathlon they were more apparent than usual. My guess of the root cause is that Usablity Requirements are extremely difficult (impossible?) to capture, and the implementation and testing in the biathlon case were driven too much by the requirements. Atos does the whole logistics for Olymics, so the TV transmissions is only a very, very small part of their undertaking. Maybe the TV viewer experience wasn’t deemed a priority area of the more than 100,000 test hours that was spent.
In the biathlon relay, the athletes have 3 “extra-shots”, and if you saw them on TV yesterday, you could see that it was a color difference, but extremely small.
That the shots of Swedens ACO weren’t displayed until alll shots were fired might not be the software’s fault.
At the start of biathlon ladies mass start the Swedish commentaries lost their computers where they could see all details for intermediate times.
You can also take a look at the upcoming cross-country mass starts. When intermediate times are displayed, there is a “good-looking” delay and scrolling for each athlete’s time. This means that the time to display the names takes longer than the actual time difference, and the result is that you can only see the names for the first athletes (in biathlon mass start there were 13 in a leading group, but the TV users only got to see 9 names.)

There are a lot of software “bugs” around us in our daily life, but in the 2010 biathlon they were more apparent than usual.
My guess of the root cause is that Usablity Requirements are extremely difficult (impossible?) to capture, and the implementation and testing in the biathlon case were driven too much by the requirements.

]]> Comment on Vancouver 2010 Biathlon Software by Markus http://thetesteye.com/blog/2010/02/vancouver-2010-biathlon-software/comment-page-1/#comment-324 Markus Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:01:02 +0000 http://thetesteye.com/blog/?p=837#comment-324 Yeah, I saw that presentation, too, Anna. I actually cannot remember seeing any strange results on Olympic TV transmissions before so I was very surprised when reading Rikard's post. Most of the times you can argue that the live environment is different to the test env, but here this is exactly not the case - if the team hasn't changed the habbits of using the same equipment in test and live. Yeah, I saw that presentation, too, Anna.

I actually cannot remember seeing any strange results on Olympic TV transmissions before so I was very surprised when reading Rikard’s post.

Most of the times you can argue that the live environment is different to the test env, but here this is exactly not the case – if the team hasn’t changed the habbits of using the same equipment in test and live.

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