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Free
Webinars
Six
Lessons in Software Quality
January
6, 2011
Earn 1.5 PDUs for this
course
Ten Critical Lessons in Test
Outsourcing February 3,
2011
Earn 1.5 PDUs for this course
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E-Learning
Courses
Assessing Your Test
Team
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ISTQB Test
Engineering
Foundation
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899
ISTQB Advanced Test
Analyst
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Analyst
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ISTQB Advanced Test
Manager
Earn 31 PDUs for this
course
US$ 999
ISTQB Advanced Level -
FULL
Sale Price US$
2,427
Managing the Testing
Process
US$ 499
Pragmatic Software
Testing
US$ 449
Requirements Engineering
Foundation
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| Earn 18 CDUs for this course US$ 799
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Risk Based Testing
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Software Test
Estimation
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499
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questions (for ISTQB courses) or knowledge-check questions (for other
courses). ISTQB courses are written against the latest ISTQB Foundation
syllabus released in 2010 and Advanced syllabi released in 2007.
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courses (with a facilitator) and custom training packages are also
available.
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purchase today click here!
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E-Learning Course for Free
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without obligation click here to access
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Foundation Level
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February
28-March 3, 2011 Newark, NJ
March
28-31, 2011
Atlanta,
GA
May
2-5, 2011
San
Jose, CA
Advanced Test Manager
Earn 32.5 PDUs for this
course
February
7-11, 2011
Atlanta, GA
April
4-8, 2011
Toronto,
Canada
June
6-10, 2011
Austin,
TX
Advanced
Test Analyst
January 31-February 4, 2011
San Francisco, CA
March 7-11, 2011
Toronto, Canada
May 2-6, 2011
Washington, DC
Advanced Technical
Test Analyst
January
31-February 4, 2011 Austin, TX
March
21-25, 2011
Toronto,
Canada
May
23-27, 2011
Newark,
NJ
Requirements
Engineering Foundation (an IREB and IIBA
course)
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| Earn 18 CDUs for this course
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April 18-20, 2011
Austin, TX
Get more information and
register today! |
Green
Tip
 Wrap gifts in newspaper, fabric, or recycled materials instead of
purchasing wrapping paper to help reduce waste and reuse materials already in
your home. Instead of ribbons and bows, use natural decorations like pine
cones, garland, or dried flowers.
Tip
provided by our partner BeGreen www.BeGreennow.com | |
|
Dear
Reader,
As the year winds down, I want to
send my thanks to all of you who read the newsletters, watched the webinars,
came to our courses, worked with me or other RBCS associates on assessments,
risk based testing jump-starts, and other consulting engagements, or otherwise
participated in the ongoing success of RBCS. The last two years, 2009 and 2010,
have been tough ones economically, but, at RBCS, we feel we've made great
strides in terms of our services, both for-profit (such as our live and
e-learning courses) and not-just-for-profit (such as our website resources and
videos).
To cap the year in this
newsletter, a few quick thoughts to ponder. The featured article concerns
the question of how best to improve your testing processes. How can you
create a test process improvement plan that really connects with business value
and solves actual problems? Can complex activities like software testing,
which provide services to disparate stakeholders on the project and in
the organization, be improved with paint-by-numbers solutions? Find out
more below.
Going mobile?
Android? iPhone? Other mobile device? We've got you covered--and in
many cases with free services. Get better at testing while you're on the
move. Find out how later in this newsletter.
We have the usual news about our
services elsewhere in this newsletter, so you can find out how we can help you
in January 2011 and beyond. We've got webinars, and we've got free
e-learning winners. There's a link to not one but two interviews that you
might find thought-provoking; a lot of readers did, and they commented on the
interviews in the blog. We also have some charitable pajamas,
and--speaking of pajamas--we put the Rexisms to bed.
I hope you enjoy the newsletter
and have a great holiday.
Regards,
Rex
Black, President
|
 
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iTunes! |
 Subscribe to our video channel on YouTube!
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|
Critical
Testing Processes: An Open Source, Business Driven Framework for Improving the
Testing Process
by Rex
Black
When I
wrote my book Critical Testing Processes in the early 2000s, I started
with the premise that some test processes are critical, some are not. I designed
this lightweight framework for test process improvement in order to focus the
test team and test manager on a few test areas that they simply must do
properly. This contrasts with the more expansive and complex models inherent in
TPI and TMM. In addition, the Critical Testing Processes (CTP) framework
eschews the prescriptive elements of TMM and TPI since it does not impose an
arbitrary, staged maturity model.
What's the
problem with prescriptive models? In my consulting work, I have found that
businesses want to make improvements based on the business value of the
improvement and the organizational pain that improvement will alleviate. A
simplistic maturity rating might lead a business to make improvements in parts
of the overall software process or test process that are actually less
problematic or less important than other parts of the process simply because the
model listed them in order.
CTP is a
non-prescriptive process model. It describes the important software processes
and what should happen in them, but it doesn't put them in any order of
improvement. This makes CTP a very flexible model. It allows you to identify and
deal with specific challenges to your test processes. It identifies various
attributes of good processes, both quantitative and qualitative. It allows you
to use business value and organizational pain to select the order and importance
of improvements. It is also adaptable to all software development lifecycle
models.
Visit our articles
page to view this article in its entirety. |
|
RBCS Videos Have
Gone Mobile!
We have provided a resource of articles,
templates and slides on our library page for
years. In 2010, we introduced our digital library, where
users can access video presentations from seminars and conferences
and even complete video presentations of our free
Webinars.
We are pleased to announce that
our digital library has become even more accessible with the release of our
mobile video library page for smartphones. If you are away from your
PC and missed the most recent Webinar or you want to view an
installment of the Risk Based Testing series, go to http://m.rbcs-us.com and you will
have our digital resources at your
fingertips!
|
uTEST
Interviews Rex Black
Rex Black was recently
interviewed by uTEST. Find out his opinion on the supply and demand of
tester skill sets; the benefits of risk-based testing; QA around the world; the
greatest tech movie of all-time; his "real" name and more! How does he
respond to the question, "In 100 words or less,
what's the difference between agile and Agile? In your view, is agile really the
best way to improve the development process? Or is it just hype?" Click here to see
the first part of this informative interview and click here for the
second part. |
|
Some
Final "Rexisms"
Some of you may have heard Rex's sayings over the
years. Several years ago we decided to coin them "Rexisms" and publish some
of them for your reading pleasure. Over time they have been commented
on and even imitated. So, for the last time, here are some
to ponder. Rex will, of course, continue to share his wittiness, but for
now, we are putting them away and shelving them for a later date.
Here's a last set of Rexisms to help you plan, prepare, perform, and perfect
your testing activities, compiled from over a quarter-century of software and
systems engineering experience.
- While it's useful for testers to have broad interests, remember
that there is a fine line between a Renaissance man (or woman) and a
dilettante.
- As the
aphorism says, what gets measured gets managed. Since quality is probably
one of the more poorly-measured elements of a software project, process, and
product, perhaps that's why software quality is so horrible?
- One
question a test manager should ask herself (or himself) every day: How did
my team and I deliver value to one or more project stakeholders today??
To
hear more from Rex on regular basis, visit our Blog
Page.
|
Congratulations Free E-Learning
Course Winner!
Congratulations to Omar Reyes
and Lahiru Waduge, the winners of free e-learning courses in November and
December, respectively. Simply by attending our free Webinars, Omar and
Lahiru were automatically entered into a drawing to win their choice of an
e-learning course.*
Once a month, Rex Black presents a
90 minute Webinar, not once, but twice, to make sure it's convenient for all our
clients and colleagues all around the world. So just sign up for
the 1:00 to 2:30 PM CST
session or the 8:30 to 10:00 PM CST
session of the next Free Webinar on January 6, Six Lessons in Software Quality
and--who knows--you might be the lucky winner of some valuable, free
training. Either way, you're sure to learn something.
* Selection applies to our
"Green Delivery Courses." Exam voucher is not included for individuals
choosing certification courses. Being Green Delivery courses, they
have no carbon footprint, which means no hardcopy materials or textbooks need be
sent. Everything is bundled in the e-learning
course.
|
|
| earn
1.5 PDUs |
January 6, 2011
Free Webinar
Six Lessons in Software Quality: From Start to
Finish
As we all know, quality does not
happen by accident. And it certainly doesn't happen by trying to test
out bugs at the end of the lifecycle. So, how can we manage quality
from start to finish? If we start with a focus on good requirements
on the first day of the project, how will that affect the system testing at the
end of the project? In this talk, Rex Black
will talk about lessons he's learned in over 25 years of software engineering,
across the entire software
lifecycle. |
RBCS Donates
Pajamas to the Great Bedtime Story Pajama Drive
In
December RBCS donated pajamas to the Great Bedtime Story Pajama
Drive sponsored by Scholastic Book
Clubs. The pajamas were sent to the Pajama
Program. The Pajama Program is a nonprofit organization
that provides pajamas and books to children who live in group homes, shelters,
foster care, and orphanages. A book for each recipient is
matched by Scholastic with every pair of the close to 100 pairs of pajamas
donated by RBCS. |
|
How
to Contact RBCS?
As a reminder, there are several
ways to get in touch with RBCS, Inc. for general inquiries. If we are
not available to answer your phone call or email immediately, we are committed
to responding to you within 48 hours but, usually, we will reply within the
day!
phone: +1 (830) 438-4830
| | |
