I’ve spent a day testing a scheduler using a semi-automated technique. It’s a task that is cognitively demanding. It requires creating sophisticated test data, loading it into a scheduler, then identifying if the output is as anticipated. Sound’s interesting right? It is. There are lots of different scenarios to test and lots of different dates […]
In Australia, the black stump is a metaphor or the edge of civilization., an imaginary beyond which point at the country was considered remote. There’s a whole lot of value of testing what we know. It helps create a mental model of what the system does. We can start making sense of what the system is […]
We know quality is ‘value to some person’, so it stands to reason that risk is also subjective. If we use risk as a factor to determine what to test, then how you test, what you test and your testing strategy will evolve and change. Is it though? Think of testing within your organisation as […]
Those reflections make me realize that my actions and thoughts were more complicated than I could realize afterward, which encouraged me to keep reviewing what I did and exploring how I thought. By doing that, I better understood the purpose behind those activities, and I am being able to sense the essence of what a good testing could be.
Exploratory Testing takes software testing skill. It also requires the tester be courageous. Let me explain. Exploratory testing is an approach, not a technique. Exploratory Testing is simultaneous learning, design and execution. What information we learn about a product, helps dictate our tests providing us with information that we can share with people around us. […]
Some of my testers have become embedded on a newly formed agile team. Its been a roller coaster ride for sure. Lots of fun, thrills and a few scary points in time where I thought for certain we were not going to make it, or we were heading in the wrong direction. From a testing […]
Anyone who has introduced change into a corporate environment will empathize with his situation. You know the decision to break away from the past is the right one, you run eagerly and embrace change, only to find half way through the journey, your path to success becomes blocked.
I’ve been working with my test team for a while now moving from a process driven approach to a more of an Exploratory one.
Ideas and discussions from the day merge and meld into a boiling cauldron of fizzling synapse and bubbling endorphins and, as much as I try to breath deeply relax and let it all go, I know deep down its all pointless.
The last three months I’ve worked specifically with the goal of my testers taking responsibility for their work. I’m a strong believer that each person is responsible for their own lives. I try to live by it and I expect others to do the same. Its one of the reasons why I endorse and believe […]
Most of when I test I’m thoroughly engaged and involved and enjoying the moment. Then there are those “other” times. Typically for me they happen in the afternoon. My sugar levels get low, I get tired, and I stop testing well. But darn it, there’s so much testing to do! How can I and my […]