|
Welcome to RBCS, Inc.
Dear
Reader,
Can it really be that 2012
is already half over, and that summer is upon us? It's been a busy year so
far at RBCS, and we're looking forward to the rest of 2012 to be the
same.
This newsletter starts
with some information on our complimentary webinar series. This month
marks our third anniversary of the webinars, and interest continues to
grow. We have our schedule in place for the rest of the year now, and I
think you'll find it interesting.
What will we think of
next? How about a slew of e-books? We have a special section in our
store for e-books now. You'll find many of the expected titles there,
e-book versions of our popular paper books. But you'll also find some
special e-book only versions. These are compact, value-oriented books that
can help you beef up your testing and quality. More information
below.
Back in March, I was in
Wellington,
New Zealand. Why? Well, in addition to being in a beautiful country
with spectacular wine, I was there to attend the ISTQB General Assembly meeting.
While there, I gave an interview on testing in general, and the value of
the ISTQB program specifically. We've got a link to that short interview
below.
Do you have confidence in
the products you are testing? Why? Why not? Can you measure
confidence? Can you communicate about confidence to others? You can
find a quick article on this latest topic in this newsletter.
Finally, like what
I've got to say? Don't like it? Want to discuss it? Send an
e-mail to info@rbcs-us.com, with the keyword "BLOG" in the subject line, and let me know your
thoughts. As time allows, I'll get to these e-mails, and we can discuss
your ideas and mine. Time has been a bit tight lately, but summer might
prove a good time to catch up on the blog. I hope you'll
join me there.
Regards,
Rex Black,
President
|
|
|
Complimentary
Webinars
Did you
miss the complimentary April 3 webinar, "Test Strategies from
Around the World"? Check out what you missed!
Webinar attendees are automatically entered into a drawing
to win their choice of one of our green e-learning courses. Visit our
training
page to see the
complete webinar schedule, or just look on this email, sign up for a webinar,
show up at whichever webinar session is most convenient, and--who knows--you
might be the lucky winner of some valuable free training. Either way,
you're sure to learn something.
Congratulations,
Atul Patil, an attendee of the April 3, 2012 Webinar, for
being selected as the winner of an e-learning course!
|
|
Measuring
Confidence along the Dimensions of Test Coverage
When I talk to senior project and product stakeholders
outside of test teams, confidence in the system-especially, confidence that it
will have a sufficient level of quality-is one benefit they want from a test
team involved in system and system integration testing. Another key
benefit such stakeholders commonly mention is providing timely, credible
information about quality, including our level of confidence in system quality.
Reporting their level of
confidence in system quality often proves difficult to many testers. Some
testers resort to reporting confidence in terms of their gut feel. Next to
major functional areas, they draw smiley faces and frowny faces on a whiteboard,
and say things like, "I've got a bad feeling about function XYZ." When
management decides to release the product anyway, the hapless testers either
suffer the Curse of Cassandra if function XYZ fails in production, or watch
their credibility evaporate if there are no problems with function XYZ in
production.
If you've been through
those unpleasant experiences a few times, you're probably looking for a better
option. In the next 500 words, you'll find that better option. That
option is using multi-dimensional coverage metrics as a way to establish and
measure confidence. While not every coverage dimension applies to all
systems, you should consider the following:
- Risk coverage: One or more tests (depending on the level of risk) for each
quality risk item identified during quality risk analysis. You can only
have confidence that the residual level of quality risk is acceptable if you
test the risks. The percentage of risks with passing tests measures the residual
level of risk.
- Requirements coverage: One or more tests for each requirements specification
element. You can only have confidence that the system will "conform to
requirements as specified" (to use Crosby's definition of quality) if you test
the requirements. The percentage of requirements with passing tests measures the
extent to which the system conforms.
- Design coverage: One or more tests for each design specification element.
You can only have confidence that the design is effective if you test the
design. The percentage of design elements with passing tests measures design
effectivity.
- Environment coverage: Appropriate environment-sensitive tests run in each
supported environment. You can only have confidence that the system is "fit for
use" (to use Juran's definition of quality) if you test the supported
environments. The percentage of environments with passing tests measures
environment support.
- Use case, user profile, and/or user story coverage: Proper test cases for
each use case, user profile, and/or user story. Again, you can only have
confidence that the system is "fit for use" if you test the way the user will
use the system. The percentage of use cases, user profiles, and/or user stories
with passing tests measures user readiness.
To read this complete article and
to see the complete series, visit our articles page today!
|
|
What's
New in the RBCS Store, RBCS Testing Resources Marketplace?
If
we had an actual physical storefront and not our virtual store, there would
barely be room to move! We have been adding products every week. Our
two categories that have grown the most since the last newsletter are our
e-books department and our virtual boot camp department.
Just
last week we added two e-books to our E-book category! All of our e-books
are available in Epub or Kindle format.
 |
| Improving the Testing
Process | |
 |
| Testing
Metrics | |
Our
virtual boot camp lineup is also growing! Boot camps combine a one day
virtual classroom immersion in the Foundation or Advanced syllabus with two
weeks of our world-recognized, self-paced, ASTQB-accredited e-learning. We
recently added two virtual boot camps to our virtual boot camp
category.
 |
| ISTQB Virtual Advanced Test Analyst Boot
Camp | |
 |
| ISTQB Virtual Advanced Test Manager Boot
Camp | | |
People
are Talking about RBCS
"I attended
the ISTQB foundation boot camp last Tuesday (March 20th) and found it very
helpful. As usual, Rex was able to clearly articulate the complex concepts
and nuances in the ISTQB syllabus to a level that was easy to
understand.
The session
seemed to go by quick, even though it was several hours long. The pace was
perfect, and the QA format (via chat) was a good way of preventing unnecessary
interruptions by participants."
Greg
Collina
UPS
|
|
Interview with
Rex Black
Recently,
Rex Black was interviewed with Tom McCoy of the ANZTB.
| |
| |
|
Complimentary Webinars
Earn 1.5 PDUs for
this course
June 18 & 19,
2012
Earn 1.5 PDUs for this course
July
3, 2012
Advanced Software
Testing: Reviews
Earn 1.5 PDUs for this course
August 7, 2012
Agile Testing Challenges:
Four Years Later
Earn 1.5 PDUs for this course
September 20, 2012
|
|
E-Learning Courses
Earn 22.5 PDUs for this course
US$ 899
ISTQB Test Engineering
Foundation en Español
Gana 22.5 PDU al término de este
curso
US$ 899
ISTQB Test
Engineering Foundation Level E-Learning,
ISTQB????????????? 
???????22.5 PDUs
US$
899
ISTQB Advanced Test
Analyst
US$ 999
US$
999
ISTQB Advanced Test
Manager
Earn 32.5 PDUs for this
course
US$ 999
US$ 2,697
Requirements Engineering
Foundation
(an IREB,
IIBA and IBAQB exam preparation course)
Earn 18 CDUs for this course
US$ 799
Managing the Testing
Process
US$
499
Assessing Your Test
Team
US$ 499
Pragmatic Software
Testing
US$
449
Risk Based
Testing
US$
449
US$
499
|
|
Certification
Public Courses
Test Engineering
Foundation Level
Earn 22.5 PDUs for this course
June 11-14, 2012
Toronto, Canada
August 20-23, 2012
Atlanta, GA
October 15-18,
2012 Tampa, FL
November 12-15,
2012
Austin, TX
December 10-13,
2012
Toronto, Canada
Advanced Test
Manager
Earn 32.5
PDUs for this course
June
25-29, 2012
Phoenix, AZ
September 10-14,
2012
Costa Mesa, CA
October 29 - November 2, 2012
Toronto, Canada
June 4-8, 2012
San Francisco, CA
September 24-28, 2012 Toronto,
Canada
October 22-26, 2012 McLean,
VA
July
9-13, 2012
Irvine, CA
September 24-28, 2012 Newark, NJ
(an
IREB, IIBA and IBAQB exam preparation course)
Earn 18 CDUs for this course
TBD
|
Green
Tip
Growing
your own organic vegetables isn't just good for you, it's also good for the
environment. Most conventional produce is grown hundreds or even thousands of
miles away and requires significant energy to ship to you. Plus, you avoid
consuming pesticides typically used to grow non-organic produce.
| |
