Software testing processes and development methodologies

Digg This!     StumbleUpon     Del.icio.us

RELATED CONTENT Software Testing and Quality Assurance Why do performance testers write new scripts so often? How to create performance testing workload models Fixing Web application performance troubleshooting problems Expert advises on implementation of Selenium IDE for effective software testing When should regression testing occur in an automated test plan? Achieving peak performance in integration testing Getting answers about OpenSTA script problems Defining core software regression tests Breaking in functionality on UI application pages Where to find good methodology guides for software testing Software testing and quality assurance (QA) fundamentals How to deal with iteration issues in Agile Five steps to fostering better software tester and QA results Software Testing: New software testing technologies bring new challenges Testing strategies for complex environments Astronaut's STPCon advice: Teamwork delivers "The Right Stuff" How to make your software tamperproof Software consortium seeks standard quality metrics Demo: Using WebGoat, a free software testing tool Seven steps for a quality change and configuration management program Winning responses to "Why is QA always the bottleneck?" Advice from Scott Barber Performance testing SOA Acceptance testing for websites GUI automated testing projects How to set up a test environment Prioritizing software testing on little time Smoke and sanity testing Automating regression test cases Test plan and test strategy User acceptance testing that satisfies users and requirements Understanding performance, load and stress testing

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary build  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com) code review  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com) conformance testing  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com) error handling  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com) garbage in, garbage out  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com) load testing  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com) NUnit  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com) quality assurance  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com) stress testing  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com) white box  (SearchSoftwareQuality.com)

RELATED RESOURCES 2020software.com, trial software downloads for accounting software, ERP software, CRM software and business software systems Search Bitpipe.com for the latest white papers and business webcasts Whatis.com, the online computer dictionary

There really is no notion of phases in any "agile software development methodology" that I am familiar with. This isn't to say that you may not have run across a development methodology that someone refers to as being agile that uses phases, but generally agile processes are heavy on developer testing, always having a working build of the software, and include very frequent user acceptance testing (UAT), which in an agile environment is more of a feedback loop where end users and stakeholders tell the developers what they would like to see added or changed in subsequent builds.

There are as many differences in testing phases/processes as there are people willing to answer that question times the number of different methodologies they have experience with. The notion of best is almost as vague. The only notion of "best" that I know is the one that happens to work well for your particular team on any given project.

Software testing resources: How to define a test strategy Tools, methods, to test software more efficiently Addressing software quality issues with development models, methodologies

Personally, I tend to prefer projects that are more agile than pre-planned and rigid. I'm sure this is my preference because of the same personality traits that make me grumpy when I'm expected to wake up at a certain time every day, take the same route work every day, or even to make travel arrangements more than a few days in advance. I get bored very quickly when I know what I'm going to be doing too far in advance, and when I'm bored with something, I tend not to do a very good job at it. I do much better work when I am continually reacting to new information. As a tester, I am happiest when my "test plan" involves at the completion of each test asking myself "What test or testing task can I do right now that will add the most value to the project."

I know other extremely talented testers who become very stressed and ineffective in environments where the testing is not pre-planned to a greater or lesser extent. Basically, I don't believe that there is a best. I don't even believe that any one methodology is generally any better than any other methodology. Some methodologies, I do believe, work better for certain teams on certain types of projects, that that is judgment that each team needs to make for itself.