Exploratory testing best practices should be accommodated for and communicated upfront, with early stakeholder buy in in order to ensure you get the most from your efforts.

Just as debt can be good and bad in everyday life (such as a home mortgage), debt in the engineering world can also be good and bad. This applies to quality engineering as well—with good and bad test debt. As testers, how do we create a balance and stay at the right test-debt quotient?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is an ongoing trend today. However, the picture is not all rosy—even for the insiders who are heavily invested in this space. They are being cautiously optimistic about the potential it holds and the potential adverse impact if the threshold is exceeded.

In the current dynamics of product development and confirming quality in the agile world, the definition (both narrow and broad), significance, and scope of integration testing have increased manifold. Rajini Padmanaban highlights the changing facets of integration testing that teams need to make note of.

The software testing trends that are being predicted for the new year are all over the place. Rajini Padmanban looks at the predicted trends for software testing while also examining what she is already seeing as the common requests and needs in the field.

The need for creativity and innovation is felt in the world of software testing more than ever before given how dynamic and fast-paced it has become. With so many changing technologies and a multitude of people to interact with, a tester’s job calls for newer and better ways of accomplishing tasks.

Digital campaigns are everywhere today—every discipline, every service provider, and even mom-and-pop stores are exploring and investing in their digital presence. Rajini Padmanaban examines the technology investments being made by non-tech companies and the role that testers can play in influencing quality.

The idea behind naive innovation is that a person with the right mindset and passion for a certain area is a great candidate for innovation, even without having the same subject matter expertise as a domain expert. Rajini Padmanaban looks at naive innovation in software testing.

With all of the changes happening in the testing world and what is expected in order to succeed, one of the things that is needed is a change in mindset. Today’s testers need to be able to think outside traditional system requirements and instead focus on end user expectations and market acceptance.

While it is important to have distinction between testing efforts to maintain specialization and core subject matter expertise, having overlap in test efforts—testing in conjunction—is becoming a common practice.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has made it on many of the trends lists for the year. Given that security issues can make or break market acceptance for IoT solutions, security testing as a quality attribute is expected to gain a lot of prominence in app development again this year.

A culture that is carefully built and nurtured in an organization is key to its long term success. While there is no right or wrong answer to which culture should be fostered, a culture that is open and dynamic goes a long way in connecting with employees and fostering a rapport with them.

Sustaining market leadership in today’s dynamic environment is no easy feat. While it has the benefits of attracting top talent, allowing better access to funds, enabling greater geographical reach, and the ability to influence the market, there are definite downsides to being the market leader.

Undoubtedly, cloud computing has been one of the largest paradigm changes the technology industry has seen during the last decade. Players both big and small are making investments to gain market share, and news items related to cloud computing are increasingly omnipresent.

Non-compete agreements in the tech industry are very common; however, studies show that only 24 percent of the workforce actually know trade secrets that need to be protected through non-compete agreements. Rajini Padmanaban looks at non-compete agreements and the reasons to reform them.

Even though mobile app development numbers are sky-rocketing, statistics indicate that only a very small percentage of apps actually make it big—with the average shelf life of a mobile app being thirty days. Are there things that can be done at the app ideation stage to improve the shelf life?

The industry is increasingly emphasizing the need for a longer shelf life for applications, which was under thirty days just a few years back. Why is this number low, and what can we learn from applications that fail to survive in the marketplace, let alone thrive?

Thanksgiving sales are now not only a Black Friday or a Cyber Monday event but also something that runs during most of November. With such huge volumes of sales happening within a short period of time, the availability and performance of applications is one parameter that is closely tracked.

With the NFL season in full swing, the fervor in sports technology has only strengthened, and this season will serve as a live trial bed for several new apps to make their entry into the market. Rajini Padmanaban examines the increased use of technology by players, coaches, leagues, and end users.

On one hand, testers have to keep their heads down while working to meet tight schedules. But on the other, technology is advancing at a rapid pace, and testers have to ensure they are not lagging in their skills. Testers need to constantly strike a balance between these demands to stay challenged.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term that's been a part of computer classes for over a decade, but it was merely theory then. The practice of AI is becoming more mainstream today and is certainly the next big thing to watch in the coming years—especially when its applications can benefit users.

In the IT world, we often hear about product lifecycles and what it takes to envision, develop, and maintain a product over its lifecycle. More specifically, we hear about its subsets, such as the software testing lifecycle. But one thing that we don’t often hear about is the technology lifecycle.

Many mistakenly believe frameworks are applicable only to test automation because they provide easy test implementation, enhanced productivity for testers, and empower dependable quality for the product. However, accessibility also is a rich ground for frameworks to be built and leveraged. Read on.

The Consumer Electronics Show happens early in January every year and is a key event that in some ways defines the industry for the year ahead. This year was no exception, and a look at some of the stand-out products in the show indicates which consumer technologies will dominate the market.

The are a lot of myths and misconceptions when it comes to hiring workers with disabilities. The reality is when teams include members with disabilities, benefits abound, including improved product accessibilty for consumers and a more diverse, empathetic workforce.

Women in IT and why there is a gender gap in terms of positions filled and pay given has been widely discussed through the years. The industry has become very cognizant of these issues lately, and attempts are being made to encourage women to take a more active role in software programming.

An innovation is considered truly successful if we cannot imagine a life without it, and the world of digitization is a testimony to this statement. While there is excitement about what is coming in digitization, the debate about whether it is good or bad continues. Is it time for a digital detox?

The importance and usage of regression testing have grown in the past decade with the increased adoption of agile development methodologies. Rajini Padmanaban looks at the value of regression testing, how it has become a target for test automation, and how it fits into the agile world.

Understanding a trade’s jargon and using it effectively can go a long way in helping an individual connect with professional activities and people. Unfortunately, jargon can soon become overrated or obsolete, so as professionals we need to stay current with the latest jargon in our field.

People management is a critical piece in your soft skills portfolio, helping you grow in an organization regardless of domain, discipline, experience, or seniority. One area that is often neglected is peer management—also known as managing across.

It was recently noted that Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, is the most respected CEO in Silicon Valley—despite his not actually living there. Rajini Padmanaban examines why Jeff Bezos keeps winning such accolades and what others can learn from him and apply in their professional lives.

Online social connections are at an all-time high. While there are clear positives from all of these interactions, end users always have concerns about whether too much information is being extracted from them and whether the data is being appropriately shared and used. Is privacy over?

While the leading e-reading players—who started off with a monopoly—still continue to have their large share of the market, other players are slowly and steadily entering the space making it a domain closely watched by the device and software makers, content providers, and end users.

The extent to which corporate training and learning programs are beneficial is often questionable. An effective push-pull mechanism between employer and employee is what is needed to weave in time for learning and training despite everyone’s busy schedule.

Vlogging is increasingly catching the software development industry's attention, and the scope for growth is still large. Rajini Padmanaban looks at the areas that are relevant when testing videos—including functional, compatibility, and accessibility.

Kanban promotes better visibility of everyone’s progress and enables them to play catch-up. Since the test group has dependencies on other teams, such as design or development, they are the ones who might have to catch pace. Due to its inherent features, kanban helps push quality upstream.

Patents typically fall into a patent lifecycle and are successful when mapped to a commercialization plan. The role of testing in obtaining patent approval and commercialization is key. Rajini Bharath explores the role of testing in patent lifecycles, and the value testers can bring to the process.

Mergers and acquisitions are interesting to keep track of, especially when it comes to how merged and acquired brands perform a few years down the line. Rajini Bharath looks at what happens internally from a quality standpoint to prepare for a transition to an acquired brand.

It is a well-accepted fact that bringing end-user focus into a product is very important to its overall success. Testers have always been viewed as end-user advocates in product teams. What is becoming more important is to engage end-users in the product development cycle in every possible way.

The focus of the software testing discipline has undergone radical changes in the last decade. Rajini Bharath examines the factors affecting software testers today, what the future holds for software testers, and how they can smoothly and successfully ride this wave of role evolution.