Testing and Quality Assurance

Testing and Quality Assurance

Test and QA Stories
Developers discussing a software product's quality 2 Ways Developers Can Contribute to Better TestingTesters need to find important information about product quality and present it in a way that can be acted upon. As the people building the software, developers are in a great position to observe the product. By monitoring the test environment and conducting unit testing, they can help inform about product quality.
Red apple fitting in with green apples Making Testing Work within Your SprintsA common problem for Scrum teams is having a good understanding of what work is complete by the end of the sprint. Teams often end with a few items coded but not fully tested, but since the goal of a sprint is to have a deliverable increment of work, skipping tests isn’t a good idea. Here's how you can fit them in.
Left arrow painted on a wall 5 Ways to Shift Performance Testing LeftPerformance testing is often a barrier to accelerating software delivery. Because you need a production-like environment, performance testing often waits until the entire application is complete. But you shouldn't wait until then to get started. You can begin testing earlier to reduce rework and address issues sooner.
Train track going through the woods Get Your Defect-Tracking Database Back on TrackWhen defects are ignored or mismanaged, it can compromise the integrity of the defect-tracking database. When this happens, defects could go unfixed, or code fixes may not be verified by the production release. Before you can resolve a compromised defect-tracking database, you need to know how to recognize one.
Tree on a green landscape How DevOps Has Changed the Landscape of TestingThe focus on automation and “continuous everything,” from integration, deployment, and now all the buzz about continuous testing, makes the daily activities of a tester in DevOps challenging. Testers may be used to controlling quality—or thinking they do—but they need to pivot to assuring their teams focus on quality.
Developer looking at blank computer screen Testing When There Are No TestersMore and more companies are shifting toward having their developers responsible for product quality. But how do you conduct good testing when there are no testers? The key is to optimize efforts. Here are some of the fundamentals of testing that your developers should understand, as well as some skills they'll need.
Tester teaching developers about quality practices Testers as DisciplinariansAs testers, are we disciplinarians? We shouldn't fall into the trap of controlling quality or becoming quality police. Instead, we should be true facilitators of quality, enabling the product team to own it in their own right at every stage. Isn’t this what teachers do, too, in the learning process? What is our role?
Broken ceramic plate Overcoming Test-Driven DamageSome say test-driven development may work well initially, but as soon as we start to refactor our code, it breaks old tests and requires us to write new ones. This is not the fault of TDD; it’s the way we’re using it. TDD remains a valuable way to verify code as we write it, so we need to repair our test-driven damage.