Resources

[This short article is adapted from Rex Black and Jamie Mitchell’s soon-to-be-released second edition of Advanced Software Testing: Volume 3, a book for ISTQB Advanced Technical Test Analyst candidates and other technically oriented testers.]

Technical test analysts have a role in defining, applying, and maintaining design and code review checklists.  Why are checklists important? For one thing, checklists also serve to ensure that the same level and type of scrutiny is brought to each author’s work. There can be a tendency of review participants to defer to a senior person, and thus that person’s work, when in fact everyone is fallible and we all make mistakes. Conversely, a less-senior or more-insecure person might feel threatened by the review.  Regardless of the individual author and his or her skills, there is nothing personal about locating potential problems and improvements for their work from a checklist. The checklists serve as a valuable leveling and depersonalizing tool, both factually and psychologically.

More importantly, though, checklists serve as a repository of best practices—and worst practices—that can help the participants of a review remember important points during the review.  The checklist frees the participants from the worry, “What if I forget some critical issue or mistake we’ve made in the past?” Instead, the checklist gives general patterns and anti-patterns to the participants, allowing them to ask instead, “How could this particular item on the checklist be an important consideration for this work product that we’re reviewing?”

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Some people use the terms “verification” and “validation” interchangeably, but there are significant differences between them. Some people disparage verification, or deny that it’s even involved in testing. However, you can’t adequately build confidence and reduce risk in the software you test without using the proper mix of both. In this webinar, Rex will clarify the meaning of these two terms, give examples, and explain why both are essential to proper software testing.

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You know that testing and quality is important, right? Okay, prove it. Exactly how much money do you think testing saves? Yes, that’s right saves. Testing is often thought of as a regrettable cost center, something that must be funded to avoid some dimly-understood “bad stuff that could happen.” In fact, software testing and other quality assurance activities save money. Typically, every dollar spent on testing saves eight dollars in the long run. In this One Key Idea session, Rex will demonstrate the use of cost of quality, a technique known for over 50 years, using a real world case study and a spreadsheet you can download and use that same day. Testers, know your value!

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