Testers and Developers, Can We Please Get Along?

May 20, 2013 by 6 Comments
enemies

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend the StarEAST conference in Orlando. As in past years, it was inspiring to see so many qualified testers and QA managers all under the same roof. Speaker sessions were relevant, humorous and interesting, and from the list of topics, it's evident that junior and veteran testers alike have started to adopt trends like Agile testing and automation without ignoring things like exploratory testing, test management and planning. I would even go so far as to say many attendees were far beyond … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Development, Software Quality, Testing

How Collaborator’s Eclipse Plug-In Makes Your Life Easier

May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
collaborator-eclipse1

Ask any Eclipse developer and they will tell you that they prefer to do all of their work in Eclipse, rather than toggling between multiple systems. This is especially true for code reviews. So it makes perfect sense that we created an Eclipse plug-in for Collaborator, which gives you the ability to bring the whole review experience inside your Eclipse environment. Think about how much time and aggravation you could save by collaborating with co-workers in Eclipse. For example, imagine seeing something in the review that raises questions … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Code Review, Collaborator, Development, Software Quality

From Aristotle to Descartes – A Brief History of Quality

May 8, 2013 by 1 Comment
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In the famous book Peopleware, Tom de Marco and Timothy Lister name “Cult of quality” as the top item in their list of the six things needed to build effective software development teams. Cult of quality seems to strike a deep chord in us as human beings. Again and again I have experienced how energizing such an attitude can be. The idea of something being better than something else comes natural to us. At the same time, we quickly become uncomfortable when "quality" gets brought up. "Quality? Isn't that subjective? A feeling? How do you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: SoapUI, Software Quality, What is Quality

How Quality Impacts Your Bottom Line

April 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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In this guest post, Jamie Turner, CEO of 60SecondMarketer.com, talks about a number of businesses that have focused their attention on quality and provides metrics to show how beneficial this decision was for each company. If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’re interested in the concept of quality. In fact, quality control may be one of the more important aspects of your job. Whether you’re reviewing code documents or need to create automated functional tests, you recognize that when you focus your attention on … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Automated Testing, Code Review, Quality, Software Quality

Quality is as Important in Marketing as it is in Software Development

April 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Marketing sign

In this guest post, Jamie Turner, CEO of 60SecondMarketer.com, explains why quality, strategy and execution are all just as important in the marketing world as they are in software development. If you’ve been hanging around SmartBear long enough, you know we’re very focused on the issue of quality. After all, we’ve created an entire company around the concept, so you could say we’re a bit obsessed with it. But if you read through our blog and analyze the content on our website, you’d think that our focus on quality is isolated … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Development, Process, Software Quality

Your Code May Work, But It Still Might Suck

March 29, 2013 by 8 Comments
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Why one of Steve Jobs's guiding principles should also be yours. And also: What you can learn about code quality from Doom’s source code. In his revealing biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Issacson told of Jobs's fastidiousness when it came to product details, even the stuff people would not see. Jobs demanded the unseen features be as finished and polished as the visible. Look at the chip layout on an old Apple II motherboard, laid out in perfect, neat order. The original Mac case had the designers’ signatures inscribed inside, even though … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile Software Development, Documentation, Process, programming, Software Quality

Should Programming Classes be Covering Software Testing, Too?

March 27, 2013 by 3 Comments
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You might have noticed the recent publicity blitz on behalf of code.org. Or, you might be living under a rock. Code.org was formed earlier this year with the goal of providing young people with mentorship and education in the computer science industry. There are a number of organizations like code.org – Girls Who Code, coderdojo.com, and codecademy.com, just to name a few - and their goal is admirable. Software has become a necessity, rather than a luxury. Software powers everything from our banks to our schools, from … [Read more...]

Filed Under: programming, Software Quality, Testing

What is Quality – Continuous Improvement

March 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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We talk a lot about the importance of quality products. But what does the word "quality" really mean? Is it a subjective or objective trait? And how can anyone strive to achieve high quality without first understanding what that term actually entails? Over the next few weeks, we invite you to join us as we explore the meaning of the word "quality," and try to understand the role it plays in our everyday lives. In this post, Michael Giller gives his take on what the word "quality" means to him as a sales engineer at … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Process, Quality, Software Quality, What is Quality

What Makes Beautiful Software?

March 22, 2013 by 3 Comments
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My family got hit by the flu a couple of weeks ago. We crept into our beds, nibbling aspirins and squinting at the bleak winter sun and our hungry cat from beneath our blankets. To pass the time, I signed up for an audible.com account and got a teaser of Hemingway’s “A farewell to arms,” which I feverishly started listening to. The beauty of the book strikes me – intricate, harsh, poetic – and after 30 minutes, I started thinking, “can software be like this?” Can it have the same traits of beauty? Remember, I had a fever, but … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Development, Process, Software Quality, Testing

7 Habits of Highly Effective APIs

March 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
know_your_users

I recently presented this slide deck at the API Strategy & Practice Conference in New York, and because everyone at the conference was abuzz about making their APIs as effective as possible, I thought it would be valuable for a larger audience on the SmartBear blog. With APIs moving to center-stage for many businesses and technology teams today, it is becoming increasingly important to know what really matters when implementing your API strategy. Of course, there are some obvious aspects of your API that appeal to both the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: API Testing, APIs, LoadUI, Process, SoapUI, Software Quality