Software Quality

Testers and Developers, Can We Please Get Along?

May 20, 2013 by Ole Lensmar 4 Comments

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 Lorinda Brandon Leave a Comment

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

So, I Heard You Guys Like Software Comics

May 17, 2013 by Ben Austin Leave a Comment

We don't exactly have Scott Adams on staff to draw witty satires about office shinanigans, but we always enjoy putting out a few good software comics at the end of a grueling week. Whether it's about the downside of a classic buzzword (Agile anyone?) or the never-ending battle between the QA and development team, it's good to post something a little more light hearted every once in a while. Yes, we realize that we too are guilty of over using some of those buzzwords, and no, the relationship between our development and QA teams isn't … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile, cartoons, QA

Automated Testing is Not Agile Testing

May 14, 2013 by Ole Lensmar 2 Comments

I’ve touched on this subject in the past, but this time I want to dive right into a response to the following quote from a recently released study on Agile testing: "Because the ultimate goal of Agile testing is to automate more effectively…" Although taken slightly out of context, the message conveyed by this statement (and the study as a whole) is quite clear: The holy grail of Agile testing is test automation. As much as I respect the authors of this report, I have to disagree with that premise. Test automation can surely play an … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile, Test Automation, TestComplete, Testing

From Aristotle to Descartes – A Brief History of Quality

May 8, 2013 by Peter Antman 1 Comment

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

All About HTML5

April 24, 2013 by Molly Holzschlag 3 Comments

You’ve read plenty about HTML5 <audio> and HTML5 <video>. But there’s a third media option to explore: HTML <canvas>. Molly Holzschlag explains what it does, and what developers and designers should watch out for. While much ado has been made about HTML5 media, most of that has had to do with audio and video. Whether it’s been issues related to compression patents or managing backward compatibility in an ever-forward moving Web, the greater conversation has been around HTML5 <audio> and <video>. Along with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: APIs, JavaScript, Video

Remember when Software Testing was Considered an Artform?

April 22, 2013 by Ole Lensmar 7 Comments

Over the last few months I’ve had the opportunity to attend a number of extremely interesting and mind-expanding conferences focusing on emerging (and somewhat disruptive) technologies and companies: APIs, mobile, cloud, big data – the works. They talk repeatedly about continuous integration, Agile methodologies, user groups and continuous deployment – but testing? Nope. Why is that? First, I'd like to elaborate a bit on what I mean (and don’t mean) by "testing." I don’t mean unit tests. I'm not talking about recorded and automated … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile, Agile development, art, Automated Testing, Quality Assurance, Testing

Software Community Rallies to Support Boston

April 16, 2013 by Meg Cater 4 Comments

For more than a century, the Boston Marathon has been an enduring symbol of triumphant joy for millions of runners, family members and spectators from around the world. However, the marathon took on new symbolism for all of us here in Boston yesterday, bringing with it a new challenge to overcome heartbreak despite the incomprehensible nature of such an attack. Many of us at SmartBear were personally impacted by this tragedy, and our hearts go out to our fellow Bostonians, especially those who lost loved ones or suffered life-changing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Apps, Development, Software Development, Technology

How Quality Impacts Your Bottom Line

April 11, 2013 by Jamie Turner Leave a Comment

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

Maintaining Quality Assurance in an Era of Hyper-Development

April 9, 2013 by Ole Lensmar 2 Comments

Release cycles are getting shorter, from months to weeks to days and even hours, allowing companies to be more competitive than ever - or at least to think they are. To a large extent, the adoption of both Agile and DevOps practices is making this possible. Agile is bridging the gap between business and development, and DevOps is enabling development to push new features into production continuously and reliably. What implications does this have for QA? Is it possible to maintain an acceptable level of quality and a solid approach to testing … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Agile, Automated Testing, DevOps, Process, QA, Quality Assurance, Testing