Dale Perry

Member for

11 years 11 months

With more than thirty years of experience in information technology, Dale Perry has been a programmer/analyst, database administrator, project manager, development manager, tester, and test manager. Dale's project experience includes large-systems development and conversions, distributed systems, and online applications, both client/server and Web based. He has been a professional instructor for more than fifteen years and has presented at numerous industry conferences on development and testing. With Software Quality Engineering for eleven years, Dale has specialized in training and consulting on testing, inspections and reviews, and other testing and quality-related topics.

Company

SQE Training (a Techwell company)

Job Function

Consulting

Job Title

Consultant

Industry

Consutling and training on testing

Interests

Performance Testing

Process Improvement

Quality Assurance

Country

United States

Dale Perry

Dale Perry has 38 years experience in information technology. He has been a programmer/analyst, database administrator, project manager, development manager, tester, and test manager. He has also been a professional instructor for over 24 years and has presented at numerous industry conferences on development and testing. With Software Quality Engineering for eighteen years, Dale has specialized in training and consulting on testing, test techniques and methods, inspections and reviews, and other testing and quality related topics.

All Articles by Dale Perry

All Stories by Dale Perry

	Managing the Risks of Cloud StorageWhen managing and storing information, the cloud is a reasonable place to do that, but you need to realize that, as with a personal computer or any other device, it needs to have a backup (or more than one, for important things). Luckily, there are several ways to make local backup copies of critical data.
	Pushing System Performance with Stress TestingIn performance testing, the term “stress” can have several possible meanings and can represent several different types of stress. Dale Perry details some common methods of stress testing when testing system performance. The key is knowing which stress tests make sense in your situation.
	The Basis of Test-Driven Development: Writing Effective Test CasesToo often, test-driven development still initially focuses on coding aspects, not testing. The first step in a test-driven approach has to be writing effective tests. It's not enough to simply ensure good coverage; effective tests should also confirm that decisions made in the code work correctly.
	Test Automation—A Non-Expert’s Perspective Looking at automating test execution, there are two distinct areas of focus—testing at the technical level (component and technical integration) and testing at the functional level (system or acceptance). Dale Perry offers his view on each's requirements, focus, and the issues that can arise.
	The Twelve Days of TestingOn the first day of testing, the dev team gave to me a bug in the software code. This variation on the classic Christmas carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas" contains items a software tester will know all too well!
	How Performance Testing Stands ApartPerformance testing is fundamentally different from other types of tests, especially functional testing. Performance testing does not utilize test cases as we typically see them. Dale Perry details how to create a successful performance test, including designing an operational profile and load-based tests.
	The Advantages of Utilizing Formal Test Design TechniquesWhen it comes to test design, some people believe in the use of formal test design techniques, while others believe that those same techniques cause rigid thinking and limit creativity. Dale Perry says why formal techniques have value as a basis for formal analysis as well as for creative thinking.
	Performance Testing: A Team SportPutting together a good performance test team is essential to success. Many of the issues related to performance can be identified early through static methods, or performance engineering. If the key technical players are continuously involved in the testing process, conflicts can be avoided later.
	Successful Performance Testing Begins at RequirementsDiscovering performance issues in early builds allows more time to correct the design. By including critical performance-related features and elements earlier, we can take advantage of the incremental nature of the development process to avoid creating engineering in potential performance issues.
	Stop Making the Same Mistakes We keep changing the names of the development processes we use, but we do not fix the fundamental error they all suffer from: the failure to set a date and control the scope of the project—including proper estimation of testing efforts. Customers and IT must work together to truly be successful.