Resources

Exploratory Testing: Snake Oil, Snake Bite, or Smart Idea?

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This document is used to help determine the amount and quality of testing (or its scope) that is planned for or has been performed on a project. This analysis results in the testing effort being assigned to a particular Testing Level category.

Categorizing the quality and thoroughness of the testing that has been performed is useful when analyzing the metrics for the project. For example if only minimum testing was performed, how come so many person-hours were spent testing? Or if the maximum amount of testing was performed, how come there are so many trouble calls coming into the help desk?

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This is an excerpt from my book, Expert Test Manager, written with James Rommens and Leo van der Aalst. I hope it helps you think more clearly about the test strategies you use.

A test policy contains the mission and objectives of testing along with metrics and goals associated with the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which we achieve those objectives. In short, the policy defines why we test. While it might also include some high-level description of the fundamental test process, in general the test policy does not talk about how we test.

The document that describes how we test is the test strategy. In the test strategy, the test group explains how the test policy will be implemented. This document should be a general description that spans multiple projects. While the test strategy can describe how testing is done for all projects, organizations might choose to have separate documents for various types of projects. For example, an organization might have a sequential lifecycle test strategy, an Agile test strategy, and a maintenance test strategy.

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“Schools of Testing”: Useful Paradigm or Negative Influence? Are there really four different “schools of testing”? Do you have to belong to one? Or are there just different testing strategies, to be selected and blended as appropriate? Has the concept of “schools of testing” promoted clearer thinking about testing, or has this concept actually created a useless schism, sowing conflict and slowing growth of the profession? In this debate, Rex Black argued the negative side of the case, being one of the leading critics of the concept of “schools of testing.” One the other side, you’ll hear one of the originators of the concept, Cem Kaner, argue for its benefits. Love it or hate it, you can hear both sides and make up your own mind.

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For nearly ten years, RBCS has run a highly successful free webinar series.  In 2018, we’re adding the Two Points of View at Two series to our monthly webinar rotation. In each of these sessions, Rex Black will talk with another software luminary about topics of mutual interest, where the two have some different views, and then Rex opens the floor to questions. 

In this inaugural session, Rex is happy to welcome Maaret Pyhäjärvi .  Maaret’s bio describes her as feedback fairy with a day job at F-Secure, where they call her a Lead Quality Engineer. She identifies as empirical technologist, tester and programmer, catalyst for improvement, author and speaker, and community facilitator and conference organizer. You can catch her latest thoughts on her blog at http://visible-quality.blogspot.fi

In this session, Rex and Maaret will discuss tester-developer collaboration and the relationships between testers and developers.  How to approach developers for collaboration? How do testers-developers ratios affect relationships? What about people who move between tester and developer roles? Join Rex and Maaret to hear their thoughts and ask your questions.

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Hiring and managing distributed, international test teams

Phil Lew, President of XBOSoft, an international software testing firm, joins Rex Black to discuss the critical topics of hiring and managing teams of testers who work around the world.  How do distance, culture, and language create challenges, and how have Phil and Rex dealt with those challenges in the past?  You won’t want to miss Phil and Rex’s points of view on these important topics.

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What should testing accomplish and how do we recognize success?  How should we approach testing? What specific activities need to be planned for each release, each project, each iteration?  What risks can affect testing, and how can we manage those risks?  How does lifecycle affect these documents? These are critical questions for testers and test managers, yet often they go unanswered or have answers that aren’t fully thought through.  In this webinar, based on years of experience helping testers and test teams optimize their testing processes, Rex will discuss test policies, strategies and plans.  Join this webinar, illustrated with examples throughout, to learn concepts and ideas that you can apply to your testing processes right away.

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Join Rex and Gary for a joint  presentation on how TMMi can improve your testing and accelerate your business performance since testing is a key contributor to higher profits, customer satisfaction, personnel motivation and a bigger market share.

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You may have heard the saying “The only constant on any project is change.” Yet the prospect of change is rarely welcomed—either personally or professionally. How is it that we still believe that these changes apply to others but not to us? Julie Gardiner says that now is the time to re-evaluate and transform how we test in order to deliver more value to organizations—from a people, processes, and tools perspective. She examines, how we’ve gotten to this stage in terms of our role and what skills are vital for us to be prepared for the next stage.

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TMMi has become the leading model for test process improvement, but how are organizations adopting TMMi and what issues are they addressing? Join us as we welcome guest presenter, Martin Adcock, Managing Director of Experimentus who have been helping organizations to deliver TMMi based solutions for over 14 years, as he explores how organizations have adopted TMMi and are using it to improve their test process and give them a competitive edge.

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