I have had some problems with the notion of Risk-Based Testing. I mean, aren’t all testing based on risk in some sense, making the term redundant? When using risk techniques, you come up with a list of areas to investigate first or most. But what about those items that are extremely rare, but with very […]
It is a natural instinct for a tester to break down product information to elements that can be used in testing. It can be elaborations on a requirement, or insights from talking to a customer, or feature slogans from a web site et.al. Michael Bolton (and James Bach) calls this factoring – “Factoring is the […]
I’m re-reading deBono’s excellent Lateral Thinking. Here is a Generate Alternatives exercise for software testers; try to think of as many different alternatives as possible. There is no right answer, the focus is to train yourself in re-structuring information. And at the same time come up with many different ideas that might generate fruitful thoughts. […]
That applications have focus on the right place is essential to a good user experience. You have to trust that pressing Del on keyboard will have the intended effect. Problems with this is very common, at least on Windows, and especially in applications with dialogs and panels and stuff of different types. Addressing symptoms agressively […]
When testing software, the very best inspiration and reality check comes from the software itself. It helps you test beyond requirements, and investigate what the software really is capable, and incapable, of. These are my best practices for exploratory testing. 1. understand what’s important – we can’t test everything, and we can’t find all bugs. […]
Some years ago I read about Soap Opera testing too hastily, and started using it at work being convinced that it meant the following: A soap opera test involves normal operations, but a large amount of them, for a long time. As in the TV shows, they go on, and on, and on, and on, […]
It is often said, with right, that you need to consider a lot more than the explicit requirements in order to be able to test a product well. Often a few examples are included, e.g. something about the customer needs, or the necessity of reading the code, or knowing the technology the software operates in, […]
Many testers feel underrated; they don’t think they get the respect they deserve. There are more reasons for this than suggested solutions. One proposed solution is to define the profession more thoroughly, to get standards and certifications that can guarantee more than the bare minimum of test quality. I am confident this isn’t the “good” […]
I think quality criteria/factors/attributes/characteristics are extremely powerful. It helps you think in different ways, and makes it easy to get a broader coverage of your test ideas. See Software Quality Models and Philosophies for McCall, Boehm, FURPS, Dromey, ISO 9126 models, or CRUSSPIC STMPL for a version without focus on measurability. The granularity of this […]
I have written a small article for The Testing Planet about Testing & Creativity. (update: web article here) It contains the potato from this blog, but also some new content on “cheating”. Feel free to add comments here! I think creativity still is too little recognized as an important aspect of our work. We should […]