Holding a QA-Focused Retrospective to Build Better Software
Is quality assurance important to your product? How about to your brand? If the answer is yes—and I hope it is—then perhaps it’s time to think about offering your QAs the spotlight at the retrospective table.
What’s the definition of a retrospective? A retrospective is …
Exploratory Testing in an Agile Environment
If automated testing is the backbone of agile testing, then exploratory testing is the heart. Like any ‘good heart’, agile exploratory testing seeks to understand the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of a user experience (UX) through empathy. To be successful, both developers and testers must explore …
E-Commerce Website Testing: Tips to Transform Your Process
E-Commerce connects buyers and sellers through Internet web sites. As opposed to informational sites, e-commerce systems are designed to directly interact with customers who are looking for quick access to product/service information with equally rapid and accurate purchase options. Notice the emphasis on rapid interaction.
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Creating Better Software Through Design Thinking
If you haven’t heard of design thinking yet, odds are you will soon. Where business is concerned, design thinking is no longer something done just by the creatives of an organization. And, it does not simply mean ‘build pixel perfect wireframes’. Design thinking is a …
API Testing: Advice, Pointers, Insights
API is code engineer shorthand for ‘Application Programming Interface’ and the name describes its function nicely. An API is an interface to an application that is used by programmers rather than directly by users. API usage is through precisely crafted middleware code that accesses various …
Exploratory Testing vs. Scripted Testing: A Battle of Testing Heavyweights
Let’s talk about the benefits of exploratory testing vs scripted testing, and the ‘ad hoc’ debate. In the context of software testing it’s interesting to parse the 16th century Latin roots of this modern idiom. Today, the phrase ad hoc is often synonymous with sloppy …
Defect Management is a Powerful Ally in the Fight to Produce Quality Software
A bug is typically considered to be the result of a coding error where a defect is used as a broad term covering any deviation from the system’s business requirements. These terms tend to be used interchangeably and both indicate faults that need to be …
Want Mobile Users? Usability Testing Is a Must.
A few apps get downloaded thousands of times, while others languish in their respective stores. Apps (or mobile sites) may flop because the content is blah, but the more likely — and avoidable — reason for limited daily active users (DAU) is a sub-par user …
Big Data Testing: The Future is Now, Test Accordingly
The name says it all: “Big Data.” The automation of a myriad of information handling services, especially in the last decade, has facilitated the collection of truly massive amounts of data. This information contains hugely valuable information but, by its very volume, it requires new …
The Software Bug that Destroyed a Brand
2017 was the year bugs ate our computers. While we pondered the implications of machine learning, multiple software bug incidents reminded us that software programs are only as good as the people who code them. And, computers only do the things we define for them. …
Performance Testing: 4 Powerful Insider Tips
The terms ‘Performance Testing’ and ‘Load Testing’ are commonly confused. Load tests examine the overall system’s abilities to service user activity for large numbers of users up to, and exceeding, usage expectations. Its point is to verify that, when the expected customer base begins logging …
Mobile App Testing Challenges Rise with Higher User Expectations
We can all agree that ‘everyone is on their phone all the time’, but what does this actually look like? And, how does it impact your mobile application testing strategy?
Let’s take a look at the numbers:
• As of August 2017, there are over …