Charisma Testing Rikard Edgren
Why do you prefer a product even if it has equal functionality to a competitor? What is it that makes one product stand out amongst the other? Maybe you have had thoughts about what makes a product feel special? We all know that this happens in some way, but how do you test for the […]
Acting On Answers Rikard Edgren
Asking questions is rightly regarded as important for testers. But I seldom here anything about what we should do with the answers. Not that I believe anyone would ask the question, then not listen to the result, but I think we take for granted that we will understand the answers, and that we can use […]
Using Quality Characteristics Rikard Edgren
More than 3 years have passed since we published the first version of our Software Quality Characteristics. It is quite popular, and it is now translated to 8 languages by testing enthusiasts. But it’s about time to talk a bit more about how to use the list, where there are at least three typical scenarios: […]
Lateral Tester Exercise V: FizzBuzz Rikard Edgren
I am always at the lookout for new testing exercises, since I teach a lot. Today I found a programming exercise at http://imranontech.com/2007/01/24/using-fizzbuzz-to-find-developers-who-grok-coding/ that I thought could be turned into something for testers. Since it doesn’t fit any of my current teaching schemes, I blog about it instead of putting it in the closet. Instructions: […]
Winning or losing in gamified test situations Martin Jansson
Games are not always about winning or losing. Each game can have different objectives. In my early youth I started with role playing games and later on story telling games. At the time, people who knew little about it sometimes asked us, “Who is winning?”. Being 7 years old, I didn’t really know what to […]
ISO 29119 – a benevolent start Rikard Edgren
When I test software I try to start friendly, to see the good things about the system, and to not focus too much on problems, that might not be important for the whole. So I did this for the new ISO 29119 testing standard, where I have read the three parts that were published September […]
Project managers asking the right questions to the testers Martin Jansson
Project managers have a great impact in our daily work and can often affect how we work, thus what is meaningful or not. Background Several years ago I was involved in an organization which was split on several sites in different countries. Project members were not co-located, instead they were split up on different sites. […]
Using gamification to explain and model testing Martin Jansson
In early 2013 I held a 7 week course on setting up a testing organisation that works well in an agile context. My intent was to explain my own approach and model of how testing is conducted, I wanted the students to see that they needed to create their own. For each part of the course […]
Kahneman and Test Strategy Bias Rikard Edgren
Our minds are fantastic, but can be biased and make dubious decisions. As I read Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow, I thought about test strategy and found some interesting stuff, based on mistakes I have seen, and done. Answering An Easier Question “How could we possibly test everything important?” is a very difficult question. It […]
What Is a Good Test Strategy? Rikard Edgren
To me, a test strategy is about “what to test and how” and “ideas that guide testing towards the testing missions“. It is an ongoing process, not necessarily a document, and important for the results of the test effort. A good test strategy should be unique for the situation, but there are som general properties […]