Tips

Tips

• Mobility testing: Five challenges and how to address them

  Smart phones and other mobility devices continue to grow, as do challenges with mobile testing. This tip addresses each of these challenges with advice on how to best overcome them.  Continue Reading

• Software test professionals: Five tester personality types

  Balancing a test team with diverse skill sets and personalities can help provide a strong team. In this tip, Catherine Powell describes five distinctive tester personality types: the questioner, the fixer, the submarine, the visual aide and the ...  Continue Reading

• Performance testing in the Agile enterprise

  Fitting performance testing into an existing or transitioning Agile enterprise is not easy. In this tip, software performance expert Scott Barber explains the challenges associated with performance testing in Agile environments and describes three ...  Continue Reading

• The whole-team approach to Agile development: Examples and benefits

  Lisa Crispin continues in this second tip in the series by giving real-life examples and benefits gained from practicing the whole-team approach on Agile development teams.  Continue Reading

• Agile development: The whole-team approach

  In this tip, SSQ Agile expert Lisa Crispin explains the concept of the whole-team approach in depth, addressing questions of team structure and mainstream challenges.  Continue Reading

• DevOps: Adding database automation to your continuous delivery strategy

  In this tip, consultant Howard Deiner goes into the rationale and some techniques to ease the pain that a DevOps team must endure to make sure that the code they need to deploy matches up with the database back end that it must work with.  Continue Reading

• Mobile development: Why using an Agile methodology makes sense

  Exploring how mobile apps are different in their nature and use, software consultant Nari Kannan explains seven ways Agile development methodologies aid mobile development.  Continue Reading

• Continuous integration: Quality from the start with automated regression

  Using appropriate automated testing will efficiently bake quality into your code from the start. In this tip, learn how continuous integration is key to enhancing quality throughout the development process.  Continue Reading

• Five benefits of using Lean and Agile development

  We hear a lot of buzz about Agile and Lean, but what are the real benefits? SSQ asks leaders at Ci&T, a services organization that specializes in Agile and Lean, what they believe the five top ways to overcome challenges using Agile and Lean to be.  Continue Reading

• Agile software development: Tips for writing testable user stories

  Testing pressures are always high on Agile projects. In this article we explore some of the ways adding clarity to stories can help make testing easier for all parties involved.  Continue Reading

• Tools and techniques for tracking changes to software requirements

  In this tip, requirements expert Sue Burk explains different techniques and tools that can be used to track changes to the requirement itself as well as changes to the attributes of the requirement.  Continue Reading

• Beyond burndowns: Metrics for enterprise Agile

  Executive management and stakeholders want to know the status of a project and this is traditionally done with metrics. But as our approach to software development changes, so do our measurements. In this tip, find out which metrics consultant ...  Continue Reading

• Regression vs. risk-based testing: Managing complexity

  In this tip, consultant Vasudeva Naidu describes in detail the steps necessary to implement risk-based testing in your organization to ensure your regression test strategy is solid and successful.  Continue Reading

• Cloud computing ushers in a new era for DevOps: NoOps

  The adoption of cloud computing services means changes to the way development and operations work together. Forrester dubs the term NoOps.  Continue Reading

• Cloud testing: The cloud and your testing practice

  How is testing affected when working in the cloud? In this tip, consultant David W. Johnson describes three areas in which the cloud is used in your testing practice: as a testing enabler, for non-functional testing and for functional testing.  Continue Reading

• CIOs and software quality assurance: Five hurdles for QA managers

  Director of QA and instructor John Scarpino has provided tips for overcoming five hurdles associated with CIO expectations.  Continue Reading

• Automated change management in Agile development

  Software consultant Nari Kannan offers a number of ways that change management can be automated in Agile software development.  Continue Reading

• Configuration management: Does your development team have enough?

  SSQ contributor Matt Heusser, describing techniques such as push-button build, continuous integration and push-button deploy, gives tips to help you decide just how much configuration management is right for your team.  Continue Reading

• The motivation behind continuous integration in embedded software development

  This tip, the first of a two-part series, speaks to the role that continuous integration plays to help you create better releases and reduce the workload in embedded software development.  Continue Reading

• Embedded software quality: To simulate, or emulate? That is the question

  Understanding the differences between simulator and emulator embedded software development tools is critical to effectively using them. This article dives into the issue and provides some suggestions to follow.  Continue Reading

• Agile development for embedded software: The fallacy of one size fits all

  In this tip, Agile consultant Howard Deiner describes how Agile software development can and should be done with the iteration cycles using emulators or virtualized hardware so that the benefits of Agile will still be obtained, regardless of the ...  Continue Reading

• STAREAST: Agile testing and defect tracking

  Defect tracking systems (DTS's) are often used in application lifecycle management (ALM) to keep track of the bugs found during software development. In this tip, Agile expert Lisa Crispin talks about the pros and cons of using a DTS and ...  Continue Reading

• Managing change requests to your application

  In this tip, we look at end user requests, and the process to prioritize the requests for IT, so they know where to focus their work efforts.  Continue Reading

• Application security: Protecting application availability, data confidentiality and integrity

  Network security and application security are both important in keeping your applications safe from hackers. In this tip, security engineer John Overbaugh focuses on application security, which is needed to protect the confidentiality, availability ...  Continue Reading

• Getting on the same page: How testers can help clarify requirements

  Gathering accurate requirements is one of the biggest challenges of software development. There can be a big disconnect between what the users want and the software that gets developed. In this tip, Agile expert Lisa Crispin gives some helpful ...  Continue Reading

• Requirements tips for data-centric projects

  Gathering requirements for data-centric projects presents a challenge. Business users may have trouble articulating the type of data needed to build a proper system and asking for changes late in the game can cause major project delays. In this tip,...  Continue Reading

• The value of visible requirements

  Have you ever been in a situation where the project team is saying they're almost done, but there's no visibility into the status of the requirements? That's what SSQ contributor Chris McMahon was once up against. In this tip he describes the ...  Continue Reading

• Attracting the right Agile software developers

  A lot of software development job candidates will claim to have Agile skills, but are they just throwing around buzzwords? In this tip, consultant Catherine Powell will help you find the qualified candidates who live out the values and practices of ...  Continue Reading

• Seven steps for tracking business requirements throughout a software release

  In traditional software development, it can be easy for the business folks to think that their role is to define the requirements and their involvement is not needed again until UAT. However, in order to ensure requirements are implemented as ...  Continue Reading

• Business requirements: Five steps to exceed business expectations

  Regardless of the methodology being used, it is imperative that the development team and the business collaborate throughout the software development lifecycle. In this tip by software expert Kay Diller, we look at ways to maintain a strong ...  Continue Reading

• Embedded software testing: Five messaging event styles

  In testing embedded systems, timing can often cause trouble. In this tip, consultant Scott Allman describes the five different types of event styles that can occur when two events are executed. A good test plan will cover each of those event styles ...  Continue Reading

• Testing-as-a-Service: Outsourcing your specialized software testing

  Testing-as-a-Service (TaaS) solutions are cropping up in the software industry, allowing clients the ability to take advantage of paying for what they need, when they need it, rather than investing in expensive tool sets and experts. In this tip, ...  Continue Reading

• Manual testing vs. automated testing: A decision point

  Automation in a test environment can be expensive and doesn’t always yield a high return. In fact, a high percentage of automation efforts fail. In this tip, Vasudeva Naidu gives advice on key factors that will lead to success in your automation ...  Continue Reading

• Waterfall vs. Agile development: A case study

  Two projects very similar in scope were executed by the same project team for the same users. The first project used a waterfall methodology and resulted in missed deadlines and failure to deliver user requirements. The second used an Agile ...  Continue Reading

• Is automated testing replacing the software tester?

  As automation becomes more popular in software development, testers are wondering if their skills are becoming obsolete. Managers may question how to staff their organizations. In this tip, senior test architect David W. Johnson describes the ...  Continue Reading

• A case study in the use of automation

  Employers are looking for testers with automation skills, but what exactly does that mean? Agile expert and co-author of Agile Testing Lisa Crispin describes real-life examples of the use of tools to automate test scripts. Crispin describes how her ...  Continue Reading

• Testing the user interface: Automated and exploratory testing

  Should user interface (UI) testing be automated or exploratory? In this tip, SSQ contributor Chris McMahon answers that both automated and exploratory testing can be used for UI testing, and what is most effective is using them together. McMahon ...  Continue Reading

• Test automation: When, how and how much

  Test automation has often been touted as an important part of an organization's quality strategy. However, it's not a silver bullet. In this tip, consultant David Johnson describes important considerations in determining when to invest in test ...  Continue Reading

• Agile ALM tools: How they differ from traditional lifecycle management tools

  Software consultant Nari Kannan describes the differences between agile application lifecycle management (ALM) tools and traditional lifecycle management software. Agile ALM tools are more tightly integrated, easier to use, supportive to distributed...  Continue Reading

• Specialized testing for your enterprise application

  In this tip, Judith Myerson describes examples of five types of testing for your enterprise applications: cloud testing, user acceptance testing, modular testing, agile testing and incremental testing. Myerson gives a brief overview of each type of ...  Continue Reading

• Agile testing on large-scale projects

  What are key factors to success in agile testing efforts on large-scale projects? Consultant David Johnson suggests they are experience, your agile approach, the size and complexity of your non-agile code base and the long-term ownership of the ...  Continue Reading

• Changing the cursor in WPF

  Expert Walt Ritscher discusses how in Windows Presentation Foundation you can set the mouse pointer for any element using the Cursor property.  Continue Reading

• Eight steps for a successful software release

  Have you done everything to prepare for a successful software release? Software project manager Kay Diller describes eight things you can do to ensure your deployment will go smoothly. From creating your team to being prepared with a back-out plan, ...  Continue Reading

• Understanding application lifecycle management's complex identity

  Application lifecycle management seems to take a cue from a "Scooby Doo" villain. Once you think you know what it is, it pulls off its mask and reveals itself as something else. Is ALM a development process? A project management tool? A bunch of ...  Continue Reading

• Agile methodology techniques: Unit test, automation and test-driven development

  Yvette Francino explains the basics of unit test, automation and test-driven development. Test-driven development (TDD) is a form of unit testing, originating from the agile methodology XP. The tests are written and executed using short iterations, ...  Continue Reading

• CMMI for development: An overview of a process improvement model

  SEI has released CMMI for Development, v1.3 in October, 2010. This tip provides an overview of the Capability Maturity Model for Integration, explaining some of the basic terminology, including process areas, components and levels of this popular ...  Continue Reading

• Security ALM: Testing throughout the software application lifecycle

  One of the most important aspects of software development today is writing secure software. Yet, for most IT organizations, security testing is introduced too late in the cycle to be of any help. Security expert John Overbaugh shares his experiences...  Continue Reading

• Pair programming: Two people, one computer

  Pair programming, the technique where two programmers use one computer to develop software code, is a practice which has been shown to improve software quality when done well. In this tip, SSQ site editor explores the pros and cons of pair ...  Continue Reading

• Applying lean concepts to software testing

  If we're going to use a factory analogy for software development, shouldn't we at least study the techniques modern factories use? In this tip, software quality expert Matt Heusser describes concepts used first for lean manufacturing, which are now ...  Continue Reading

• Scaling Agile software development: Challenges and solutions

  Software consultant Nari Kannan describes how agile practices and work can be scaled appropriately for success in large organizations. Using lean thinking, reduction of waste, and appropriately organizing work and people, agile can be successfully ...  Continue Reading

• Hacking For Dummies: Hacking Methodologies, Chapter 4

  Kevin Beaver teaches the steps for successful ethical hacking, gleaning information about your organization from the Internet, scanning your network and how to look for vulnerabilities. Tools and techniques for ethical hacking are described ...  Continue Reading

• What is a test case? What is a requirement?

  After exploring the definition of a test case by surveying test experts, authors and students, consultant Robin Goldsmith learns that interpretations remain ambiguous and varied. Similarly, the level of detail thought to be needed to define ...  Continue Reading

• Automating software development: The Big Red Button

  Seasoned tester Chris McMahon talks about using automation in all phases and aspects of the software development cycle. Continuous integration, test environments, test data, regression testing, performance testing and deployment are candidates for ...  Continue Reading

• The distinction between functional versus performance requirements

  Senior test architect David Johnson describes the distinction between functional and performance requirements and the benefits from keeping these two test efforts separate. Examining differences in test investment, test ROI and risk, Johnson makes ...  Continue Reading

• Daily Scrum meetings: Must we really stand up?

  Often called the daily stand-up, must everyone at the Daily Scrum meeting literally stand? Which rules are inflexible? How are the rules enforced? Find out the objectives of the Daily Scrum and how agile teams are operating to meet these objectives.  Continue Reading

• Inadequate requirements and what to do about them

  Software requirements are often subjective and poorly written resulting in inadequate requirements documentation. In this tip, QA Director John Scarpino describes some of the reasons behind poor requirements and ways that this can be addressed.  Continue Reading

• The secrets to getting started in your software testing career

  The way to advance in your career includes learning, experience and networking. Software test expert Kevin Beaver gives advice on best ways to further your career. By doing what you love and staying current with continuous learning, you will become ...  Continue Reading

• Draw a bounding rectangle during selection

  The bounding rectangle's purpose is to provide feedback to the designer during the selection process. It's a convenient way to show what is currently selected before applying the next operation.  Continue Reading

• Success factors for distributed teams

  Distributed agile expert Lisa Crispin describes the structure, management-style and level of acceptance required in order for distributed agile teams to find success.  Continue Reading

• Strategies for minimizing regression defects

  Regression defects, those unexpected defects that result from a fix of another defect, are often the most challenging to find and fix. Expert John Overbaugh describes why these defects are so challenging and offers up techniques, such as automation...  Continue Reading

• Choosing the right defect tracking system for your organization

  Does your software organization need a purpose-built defect tracking system but you don't know where to turn? Expert John Overbaugh explains what criteria should determine the proper defect tracking tool selection for your organization.  Continue Reading

• Software testers beware: Finding and fixing defects

  Software testers are responsible for performing two tasks: finding application defects and preventing bugs. Testers can become victims of their own work ethic and skills causing mistakes. Expert Chris McMahon explains ways testers can avoid these ...  Continue Reading

• Effective bug reporting techniques

  If you've ever had a terrible bug come back "unable to reproduce" or "not worth fixing," you know the pain of writing bug reports. This tutorial covers the basics of effective reporting and provides a few advanced tricks to make the reproduction, ...  Continue Reading

• Agile software testing strategies for managers

  How will agile testing methods be determined? What are the best testing tools? Learn what agile project managers need to know to assure high quality in their tests.  Continue Reading

• Panning and zooming in WPF

  Adding panning and zooming to your application is a little more work but it's a nice feature to add to your application. Learn how to show an image to the user in Windows Presentation Foundation.  Continue Reading

• Tutorial: Introducing Selenium IDE, an open source automation testing tool

  Selenium, an open source automation testing tool, offers an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) plug-in that unifies the tool with desirable Web browser-based test features. Using Selenium IDE provides easy-to-use record and play back features,...  Continue Reading

• How Agile estimation works

  Without a strong background in development best practices, agile or not, your estimation tactics will likely be futile. According to experts an understanding of TDD, continuous integration and strong code review skills will aid estimation efforts ...  Continue Reading

• Chartering exploratory test efforts in Agile

  Charters outline specific test routes taken when exploratory testing an application. Each charter identifies what is being tested and which system is being subjected to the test. Many agile teams have adopted this method of exploring applications ...  Continue Reading

• Problem pyramid discovering REAL software requirements

  Using the problem pyramid model developed by expert consultant Robin Goldsmith can help make requirements gathering a focused and effective process. By using Goldsmith's model REAL business requirement goal setting is made simpler and results can be...  Continue Reading

• Handling handoffs the Agile development way

  Professional software tester Chris McMahon describes his company's struggle to speed up the testing processes of its C- and COBOL-based system, and how it accomplished this task using techniques that would later fall in line with the Agile Manifesto...  Continue Reading

• Tutorial: Installing and running Selenium-RC in Perl

  Used in conjunction with Selenium's online tutorials, this tip will provide additional guidance on how to start out with Selenium RC in Perl regardless of your platform or server. Once you have Selenium set up, this tip explains how to create and ...  Continue Reading

• Why hybrid waterfall/agile process lessens distributed software development problems

  Software development methodologists have broken into two camps, one in support of waterfall and the other in favor of agile. While both methodologies differ drastically, a combination of the two (the hybrid waterfall/agile model) fills in many of ...  Continue Reading

• ITIL Change Management: How change management fits in an ITIL methodology

  Documentation in the IT Information Library (ITIL) outlines how change management processes should service teams that are adapting source code, but these guidelines aren't always straightforward. In this tip, learn how to use ITIL processes to ...  Continue Reading

• The importance of critical thinking in software test

  Even though there are numerous definitions for the term "software testing," there is common ground. Testers need to use critical thinking skills when diving into the testing of a software application. In this tip, expert Chris McMahon explains ways ...  Continue Reading

• Reliably estimating the requirements effort - Part 2

  In this second part of a two-part article describing techniques to estimate the requirements effort, bottom-up estimates and requirements definition tasks are described. Accurately estimating the requirements effort will help ensure overall project ...  Continue Reading

• Reliably estimating the software requirements effort

  Differences in how business analysts and project managers define "requirements estimation" frustrate the software requirements elicitation process. No matter what methodology is in use, without adequately defining requirements, software projects are...  Continue Reading

• Performance test metrics

  How fast is your performance testing system? In this article, explore different means for gathering and interpreting these performance metrics, including common graphs and terminology.  Continue Reading

• Ten quick attacks for Web-based software

  An expert tester offers his insight on common Web-based application flaws and intuitive ways to handle their repair. In this tip learn how to identify weaknesses before going live.  Continue Reading

• Working with Keyboard input in WPF

  Learn more about working with Keyboard input in Windows Presentation Foundation with this tip about Keyboard classes.  Continue Reading

• Understanding Default values for Dependency Properties

  Understanding Windows Presentation Foundation Dependency Properties is a bit confusing when first learning WPF. Learn how to tap into the power of Dependency Properties.  Continue Reading

• Introducing Selenesse, the modern bridge between Fitnesse and Selenium

  Learn how two testers scaled back pre-existing test frameworks and made hybrid automation tools to drive user interface testing forward for the company 42lines. Chris McMahon and Marisa Seal, both experts in the software testing field, worked with ...  Continue Reading

• Six tours for exploratory testing the business district of your application

  Exploratory testing is sometimes thought to be "directionless testing", but James Whitaker's new book suggests that exploratory testing, is more structured than it is credited for. Exploratory testing is filled with numerous tours or testing ...  Continue Reading

• Network security: Analyze your hosts and ports with nmap, Nessus, and netcat

  Application expert explains security testing tool options like nmap, Nessus and netcat to keep your software safe and secure. According to Chris McMahon some of the key areas to focus on when using open source tools are your ports, IP address and ...  Continue Reading

• A software expert's heuristic for regression testing

  Often, regression testing is what stands between a product in a test lab versus a product in the hands of our users – so we don't want to take longer than we need – but we don't want to haphazardly release a product before its ready.  Continue Reading

• Integrating soapUI into your unit testing practice

  Using SoapUI testing tools is one of the easiest ways to ensure a high-level of application quality and security, thanks to this indepth expert tutorial. In this tip learn the cause and effect of user interface testing, documented in informative ...  Continue Reading

• Using Fist of Five, Planning Poker to reach Agile team consensus

  In these tips, consensus-building tools such as Fist of Five and Planning Poker are introduced. Even when these tools are used, the team must decide how they are going to handle a stale-mate condition and move forward on decisions.  Continue Reading

• Why use POST vs. GET to keep applications secure

  Although POST and GET HTTP requests essentially perform the same command on a Web server, a security expert says there are inherent dangers in using one over the other. Learn why one type of processing request provides more security for your Web ...  Continue Reading

• Nine ways to evaluate automated software testing tools

  Evaluate automated software testing tools more thoroughly with these tips for analyzing cost, support, total cost of ownership, usability and more. This tip suggests questions to ask about each attribute of a tool and a vendor's support for it.  Continue Reading

• Manipulating Business Intelligence to solve dense data warehouse testing issues

  Before diving into a Business Intelligence, data project, development must construct a test strategy. The test strategy must intuitively predict potential software problems. In order to do this, testers and developers need to have insight into what ...  Continue Reading

• Testing data fields in business Intelligence projects

  A software expert explains project requirements for a business intelligence data warehouse. Often, BI development depends on multiple data sources and consistent vendor IDs. A solid understanding of where data is derived from as well as facilitating...  Continue Reading

• Testing SMS texting applications: Key steps and considerations

  A software testing expert describes approaches to testing SMS texting applications. She looks at how SMS testing changes perceptions of everyday texting, and explains key steps in the SMS testing process.  Continue Reading

• Testing Web services' performance with soapUI

  Learn how to write load tests, TestCases and run them with soapUI in this expert tutorial. SoapUI is great for tracking test criteria statistics and locating problem areas are.  Continue Reading

• Use the WPF blur effect to focus attention in your UI

  With WPF 3.5 SP1 Microsoft has rewritten the effects framework and dramatically improved their performance at the same time. Learn how to use the Blur effect to make your UI more effective.  Continue Reading

• Tips for debugging your JMeter tests

  Learn how to interpret and debug JMeter HTTP proxy tests in this software testing expert tip. Mike Kelly describes the entire JMeter testing process in this series that explains running a JMeter test, interpreting results and debugging application ...  Continue Reading

• Exploratory testing: Tips and techniques for perfecting software quality

  Exploratory testing is widely used and also often misunderstood. This tutorial offers tips on the best ways to manage exploratory testing and how to use the results for superior software quality. You'll also learn how to choose the best testers in ...  Continue Reading

• Web server weaknesses you don't want to overlook

  When tackling Web application security, focus on weak logins, outdated servers and unnecessary HTTP to put many Web security concerns to rest.  Continue Reading

• How to evaluate, choose software requirements tools

  Learn how to choose the right requirements tool for your organization with a series of steps that consider process, users and tasks. Some basic questions at the beginning of the tool selection process can lead to a well-informed decision. This tip ...  Continue Reading

• Running your first load test with JMeter

  In this tip, we take a look at running your first load test with JMeter, a load testing tool that supports a variety of technologies like HTTP/HTTPS, SOAP, JDBC, LDAP, JMS. These are all commonly used by teams looking to introduce load on a server, ...  Continue Reading

• Recording and running software load tests with JMeter

  Recording JMeter load tests can simplify the creation of Samplers needed for your test plans. This tip explains how to record JMeter test results and analyze the data generated.  Continue Reading

• Free Web proxy security tools software testers should get to know

  Learn how to choose and use free Web proxy tools like BurpProxy, Paros Proxy and WebScarab to boost rich Internet applications' security. Screen shots and directions show ways to use tools for application security in this tip by security expert ...  Continue Reading