Testing and Quality Assurance
Testing and Quality Assurance
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Understanding the Mix of Traits That Could Make You More Successful Most of us look at optimism and pessimism as purely black or white: Optimism is always good, and pessimism is always bad. A new angle adds another dimension, where you identify as either credulous or skeptical. Could knowing "your pair" help you better achieve your work objectives? |
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My Love/Hate Relationship with Dev and Test ToolsAfter you make investment decisions for homegrown, open source, or commercial tools that yield little or even negative return, those "learning experiences" reinforce the old saying—"A fool with a tool is still a fool." Here are some things to keep in mind as you reach for that next cool tool. | 
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The Importance of Tool Independence in Test AutomationCommand-driven testing has proven to be a good way to implement pattern tool independence. The main advantage is that you just have to develop the commands in the script language of the tool. To change tools, you only have to rewrite the keyword commands in the script language of the new tool. | 
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Creating Testable Requirements and Acceptance CriteriaTestable requirements, or acceptance criteria, are the communication of an expectation between its originator and potential stakeholders. Many testers struggle with this starting point. But once you succeed, you know the processes that can build and test a system implementing “good” requirements. | 
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Doing Our Part to Contain Point-of-Sale Data TheftIt’s easy for us as software developers and testers to dismiss intrusions on point-of-sale systems as the fault of network security professionals or inadequate network defenses. The reality is that there is a lot we should be doing as well on the software side to prevent these kinds of attacks. | 
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Estimate Effort Based on Past PerformanceHow often have you estimated how long it would take to complete a task, only to be off by a whole week? That's because we assume we will begin the task immediately and have a forty-hour week to work on it. There's a better way: prediction based on performance. Just find a batch size for your work. | 
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How Testers Can Communicate More Effectively As testers, our role has been described as similar to car headlights. Although we illuminate the project and provide advance warning of risks, we’re definitely not in the driver’s seat. For this reason, communication skills are critical to our profession. Read on to become an effective communicator. |
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Growing into Leadership in Software Testing When considering leadership in testing, before leading others, try leading yourself. Don’t do typical “leader” stuff. Instead, look at what you do as a professional. How polished are your technical skills? How about your communication and interpersonal skills? What do you do to make yourself better? |
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