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

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: 38 studios, agile software development, comments, craftsmanship, documentation, games, guidelines, 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: code.org, developers, programming, Software Quality, software testing, 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: processes, Quality, quality life cycle, sales engineer, Software Quality, tips, What is Quality

7 Habits of Highly Effective APIs

March 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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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 quality, API testing, APIs, LoadUI, processes, SoapUI, Software Quality

Quality Lessons from Beyond: The Mars Rover Curiosity’s Ability to Cope

March 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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Think you’ve got it bad because your data centers are located in another country, forcing you to do all your troubleshooting remotely? Try having to troubleshoot on another planet! While the world waited impatiently for the Mars Rover “Curiosity” to come back out of safe mode, I found myself sympathizing with their troubleshooting team as they struggled to find the source and resolution of multiple issues plaguing the poor robot. Sympathizing  - and also marveling - at how cleverly the system is constructed to handle situations like … [Read more...]

Filed Under: bugs, development, NASA, processes, Quality, Software Quality

Chocolate, Sex and the Occasional Martini (oh, and Software Development too)

March 18, 2013 by 1 Comment
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After my latest slideshare contribution about sex and APIs, the SmartBear team challenged me to take it up a notch. I’m always up for a challenge, so let’s talk about sins. Let’s face it, most of us have a secret sin… and that’s okay, as long as no one gets hurt by them. But some of those sins have more negative consequences than others and it’s important to know the difference. Your decision about how to address those sins (or not) has to be made based on how much risk you can absorb. Nice lecture, Lorinda. So what does that have … [Read more...]

Filed Under: APIs, best practices, performance, processes, Software Quality, third-party APIs

5 Software Cartoons to Get You Through Friday

March 15, 2013 by 1 Comment
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Welcome to Friday: That time of the week when even those of us who love our jobs can struggle to stay enthused. It's nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, there's research that shows that taking some time off on Friday afternoons may increase overall productivity. Well, I won't encourage you to take the whole afternoon off, but I'm hoping these cartoons will at least relieve a bit of stress and help you finish up your week on a strong note. So go ahead: Grab some coffee, put your feet up, and take a few minutes to relax before you get back to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: cartoons, latency, mobile, Software Quality

What is Quality and Why it Matters

March 14, 2013 by 2 Comments
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At SmartBear, we talk a lot about the importance of quality products. But what does the word "quality" really mean? Is it a subjective 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, Jamie Turner, CEO of 60SecondMarketer.com, emphasizes the importance of quality action plan … [Read more...]

Filed Under: execution, QA, Quality, quality assurance, Software Quality, What is Quality