Testing Mistakes that might be hard to spot

Testing Mistakes that might be hard to spot

Hundreds of test cases but not understanding the business use case
Unless you test the main use case, your 100s of test cases add no value. Do not go by numbers alone. Ask what those test cases cover. Is there a test case for every variation of test data and hence the inflated number? Even with the variation in test data, is it within the same equivalence class? Ask deeper questions.

Automating everyday but no one uses it
We must be doing good because our automation % is increasing. Do not fall for the trap. Again, ask the question - why are we automating, who is using it, how frequently? 
Check out the costs of automation.

Attributing a missed bug to lack of test case
Many teams add a test case as soon as a bug is missed. If your testing is 100% relying on test cases (which cannot be, even if you claim otherwise), the general tendency is to add a test case as soon as a bug is missed. How about asking the questions:
- Was it expected?
- Was it a known bug?
- Was it a result of the strategy used?
- What else could be missed?
- How will we capture those bugs?
- Why did these bugs come in the first place?
- Was there a possibility of catching them earlier - What would be the trade-off?

We will test everything every time
We can get into this situation if we don't understand the overall application model in depth. Agreed that there might be cases where every case is critical and thoroughly tested every time. Other than that, why not optimize, go through the impact analysis, analyze better?
Have you heard of RCRCRC mnemonic by Karen N Johnson? There are more here: https://www.qualityperspectives.ca/resources/#mnemonics

One dimensional coverage
Quality being multi-dimensional, it makes sense to think on all the perspectives and stakeholders. One shouldn't need a separate nudge to cover performance, security, accessibility, learnability, usability, compatibility and so on along with functionality. 

Incorrect usage of testing techniques
When was the last time you consciously thought about a testing technique while testing? Many are not even aware of testing techniques, forget about using them. Without knowing the techniques, either an incorrect usage or not using them is hard to find. 

How many of the above are you guilty of committing or ignoring?

Leia Mais…

Done with STeP-IN SUMMIT 2016

July 28: Workshop at Bangalore
Some of us were not sure if the workshop would run as scheduled. There was a Karnataka bandh (strike) proposed on July 28th. Later, it was restricted to North Karnataka. We went ahead with the workshop. Some of them were happy with the format of the workshop where I tried to explain a concept followed by an exercise to the participants. Some of them did not like the break in flow. It is hard to please everyone. Also, to note that it is indeed very hard to conduct a hands-on workshop and also explain many concepts in the same day.

While one participant complained that I came late to the workshop, I am sorry for it. I came 30 mins early to the time mentioned to me. I was unaware that the workshop was supposed to start 30 mins earlier than I arrived. I will ensure that this doesn't repeat.

We talked about Modelling, Mind Maps, Bug hunting, Test Ideas, Heuristics, Bug Investigation, Test Reports and Tools. I hope the workshop was useful to most of the audience as evident by the positive feedback I received from the feedback sheets. I learned from Rahul Verma on how to collect  feedback- just give the participants a blank sheet and ask for feedback.

Bangalore: Intense minds at work

July 29: Workshop at Hyderabad
Soon after the workshop at Bangalore, I flew to Hyderabad. The flight was delayed and I reached my hotel at 3am. I did not want to be late this time and was in the meeting room by sharp 9pm. This workshop, I wanted to try a different approach. Half day explanation, half day hands-on exercises.
And guess what, I received feedback that the first half was interesting and some of them felt lost in the second half. By now, you must have guessed how difficult it is to come to an approach that everyone likes. Many liked the session on mind maps and the resources I presented to them for further reading and references. It was heartening to see that participants came from Cochin, Mumbai, Delhi for these workshops. Folks, just call me to your place and avoid the travel :)

Hyderabad: End of workshop, Start of learning

Immediately after the workshop, I reached Bangalore at night. The next morning, I was off for a trip with my wife till Aug 2nd.

Aug 3: Test Automation Contest
For the first time, I participated in a Test Automation contest. Our team from Sahi Pro had the experienced Kshitij Gupta and the ever enthusiastic Pratik Shah. We saw at least five of our customers also participating in the contest and they were using Sahi Pro. The only question we had in our mind was: What if they won and we did not win? What will we say to our CTO?

After some time, we were ready with the answer: "Even in a lookalike competition for Charlie Chaplin, the original Charlie Chaplin came third :) "

First round seemed easy till ten mins to the end of the round where we almost messed up the code and started to panic. Good sense prevailed and we troubleshooted and resolved just in time. Results were announced and we were through to the second round. Only 8 teams out of 32 teams qualified for the second round. In the second round, we had to present our case and be ready for the Q & A.

When we connected our laptop, the HDMI port was not recognized and we presented 7th instead of allotted 3rd. The judges seemed to like our approach and how we used the full capability of Sahi Pro.
We were happy with our efforts.

Team Sahi Pro

Team Presentation

                                 
Aug 4: Summit Day 1
Welcome Address: Vivek Mathur kicked off the proceedings with a short speech on what to expect and how to get the most of the conference. It was crisp and noteworthy.

Vivek: Points to keep in mind

Keynote Address 1: Reinvent to Disrupt by Ashok Pamidi
I liked some of the points Ashok emphasized. The six major global technology shifts he mentioned included:
1. Digital technology
2. Cloud Computing
3. Automation and Robotics
4. Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Computing
5. IoT (Internet of Things)
6. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Major Global Technology Shifts

As a software tester, I had a thought: How many of us know something about all of these? Isn't it necessary to know at least something which will help us in a conversation about these topics? And no wonder that we heard most of the talks on these lines - IoT, Machine Learning, Automation, Digital, Cloud Computing.

Next Keynote Address was on Quality Engineer – Leveraging Your Potential/Profession in Digital world by Rashma Samani.
This keynote was also very useful. She shared her experience of testing SetTop Boxes and how testing is part of her life now. She asked us to get rid of few obsessions and also highlight our strengths.

Strengths of Quality Engineers

Next, Dr.Nandakumar Ramakrishnan honored each of the STeP-IN Tech Committee members. My part was reviewing the papers allocated to me and provide comments. Thanks STeP-IN for honoring us.

The next talk was: "Ninja or Samurai? The Art of War and the Future of Testing" by Wolfgang Platz.

Ninja vs Samurai

Though his claim of how exploratory testing cannot provide a comprehensive risk coverage was something I questioned, we could not come to the same point of view within the 5 minutes of Q & A time.

Then, the folks from Intuit shared their journey of how they transformed and inducted Quality in the organization through their talk: "Transformation Journey of Quality Engineering at Intuit". Karthik Krishna and Anandhavalli Krishnaswamy were the presenters. They highlighted how the testers at Intuit wear different hats at different stages of the product cycle. They also talked about they focused on the skills of the testers, how they helped the testers improve before expecting magic from the testers.

Different hats worn by Intuit Testers

Later, I attended the session by Santhosh Tuppad. He engaged the audience pretty well and shared his experiences of how he hacked many systems. He recommended OWASP, browser addons and learning about different tools. He asked us to focus on the mindset first before jumping into security.

Meanwhile, I also met Nikhil Bhandari, Parimala (@curioustester) and other friends once again!

With Krishna, Nikhil and Santhosh

I was a bit tired after non-stop traveling for the last week. So, I went back home. I also had to prepare for my talk the next day. At night, 9.30pm I started my preparations for the talk after conducting a webinar on Sahi Pro. You can also register for the webinar here: www.sahipro.com/webinar By 1am, I had my presentation slides ready.

Aug 5: Summit Day 2
I arrived straight into Rahul Verma's keynote: The Dogmatic Agile – ‘A Critique of Deliberate Blindness of Indian Wannabe Agilists’ and it was really thought provoking.
- Do not follow any process blindly.
- Focus on skills.
- Do not focus on just the extremes. Understand that the solution might lie in between the extremes.

Rahul's Keynote

Next tutorial was by Brijesh Prabhakar: Testing in the Extremes – an Olympics story!
This was an interesting tutorial in terms of how the team tested the application and systems with just 500 testers and 9000 test cases. It was surprising to know that the preparations start the day the previous Olympics ends. And they don't use any fancy models or tools. You had to be present at the tutorial to experience it.

Testing for Olympics

I did not understand much from the VMware presentation. I blame it on my lack of knowledge and not on the presenters. It was time for my talk. My talk was titled: "Automation in Testing — A session of Confessions, Introspection and Secrets".

The slide deck is here: PPT

A pic of my talk

Body language not in my control

Next session was on "Machine Learning in Software Testing" by Milind Kelkar.

He talked about the different Machine Learning Techniques and how they are applied along with the different use cases.

Machine Learning Techniques

 When I asked him on how to get started with Machine Learning, he showed the following slide with Languages for Machine Learning. He referenced Coursera course and Andrew Ng. The next course starts Aug 8. So, enroll soon if you wish to learn more about it.

Languages for Machine Learning

 Then the results for the Test Automation contest was announced along with highlights of each of the 8 presentations by the finalists. Team Sahi Pro came second and we were happy about it. One reason why we thought we missed the first prize was Sahi Pro is so feature rich that it might look that we did not do much in the 3 hours, which is acceptable. It is a testimony to the power of Sahi Pro. :)

Team Sahi Pro - The Runner Up
Sanal Nair (STeP-IN), Ajay, Kshitij, Pratik

That was end of day 2. I skipped the last session to talk to Shrini and Rahul.

Jayshree, Parimala, Vani, Sunil and Ajay

It was a great experience at STeP-IN SUMMIT. Most of my tweets have the hashtag #STePINSUMMIT16. Thanks to the organizers. And it is time for me to move on to the next challenge - The BugAThon :) 

Leia Mais…

Software Testing, Some myths and the Path forward...

This blog post is about a topic close to my heart - Software Testing
It is going to be a long post highlighting few key points/myths and what I think about them.

Feel free to comment and we can discuss. Ok, let's start.

Case 1: Testing process
Scenario 1: 
You are supposed to test a feature. You receive a requirement document and there is a formal review process. You write test cases based on your understanding of the feature. Add a layer of review process. Start testing executing the test cases. File bugs. Measure how many test cases are executed per day per tester. Write a test case for every bug discovered, if they are found outside the test cases. Reject any new feature addition as it was not planned in your scope. You assure the quality of the product and tell when the product is ready for release.

Scenario 2:
You are suppose to test a feature. You figure out who is the decision maker, the stakeholders involved and try to understand your role. You seek help, remove traps to get access to the product, interact with the programmers and prepare a light-weight document (checklist/mindmap or on a simple sheet of paper ) which acts as a reference. Based on your interactions with people and products, you update your document. You test the product, file bugs, ask questions, seek help/tips from experts and inform the stakeholders about the status of the product and project.

I will let you pick the scenario you like.
If you are more familiar or in favor of Scenario 1, we will have lots to discuss.

Case 2: Manual Testing vs Automation Testing
Have you heard of the word 'Sapience'? Do you use just your hands while testing? Do you think? What happens in your brain when you test? Think for a minute. Yes, THINK.
I feel that the very notion of classifying testing as manual vs automated is wrong. Michael and James have come up with an excellent blog post here highlighting the difference between testing and checking.
Here is the diagram from their post.

 Also, check out this blog post by Michael - http://www.developsense.com/blog/2013/02/manual-and-automated-testing/

These two posts talk about Testing and Checking:
 http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/358
 http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/856

What is testing then?
Before reading more on what testing is, do check out the slides from BBST Foundations which describe what a computer program is. The same folks who would define a computer program as a set of instructions would define testing as a process to find bugs or assure quality of the product and testers as the gatekeepers of quality.

 

Check out an excellent video on the talk between devil and angel of software testing:

Testing is an intellectual activity. If you can think well, you can test well. Every test is a question to the product, sometimes to the project stakeholder. Check out the lessons #16 and #19

Testing is not about test cases or documentation or tools. These were designed to help you test better, support testing. Instead, what do we see testers focusing on?

Learning new tools, writing better user stories, automating tasks and dreaming of days when testing would be fully automated!!!

Pick any resume and check the Skills section: 7 out of 10 would mention some or the other tool names.
Quick Learning is a skill. Tool is a tool. A fool with a tool is still a fool (maybe, a dangerous fool).

So, what am I proposing?

Focus on skills like Observation, Thinking (Critical, Lateral, Forward/Backward, Parallel, Technical), Reasoning, Preparation, Programming basics, Collaboration, Framing, Reporting, Bug Hunting, Social Skills, Knowledge about Psychology, understand and apply oracles and heuristics, quick learning and many more skills. I suggest two books - Lessons Learned in Software Testing (Cem Kaner, James Bach, Bret Pettichord) and Testing Computer Software (Cem Kaner, Jack Falk, Hung Q Nguyen)

Practice your testing skills at Weekend Testing

Read the blogs everyday from this feed - Ministry of Testing

Watch the videos from BBST courses - Videos

Build your test ideas repository -

Test Heuristics Cheat Sheet,
Mnemonics,
YANDY list
300 common software errors

77 Test Idea Triggers

Pick your topic of interest and become a specialist in that. The Ministry of Testing resources page can help you get started. Resources

Case 3: Automation is the future

If you have been hearing of new tools, new languages every week and wondering which one to learn, here is a simple tip:

Your job is safe if you have the skills. There is no single tool which can replace a working human brain. If tools can replace humans, we would have been jobless long back. If you think automation is the future, I am sorry. You are missing a very key element here - EMOTIONS. Check out the ppt file here - Emotions And Test Oracles by Michael Bolton.

Google for TDD and check how many links highlight why it does not work.

If you think that testers need to learn coding, I am not against it completely. My only question is: How often have we asked programmers to learn testing?

If you think that TDD is the future, remind yourself again that they are good for programmers and do not replace/negate the role of a tester. Read the first comment on this post: http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/638

Here is the bumper post: FDA highlighting exploratory approach. 

And if you still think that tools can test mobile applications and there will be no need for testers, I will assume that you have no idea about this excellent keynote by Jonathan Kohl.

And I leave you with this final post: Testers: Get out of Quality Assurance Business by Michael Bolton. 

Leia Mais…

Testing Timeline: What is your %

Do you test software? Do you test every day? Do you get paid for it?
If you answered yes to any of the two questions, I have one more question for you :)

What percentage of office time do you actually test (interact with the software)?

The answer to 'Testing includes...' might differ from one person to another. I don't want to get into that discussion right now. I am more concerned when people spend very little time interacting with the product and complain of bugs being found by the customer. Consider the following three scenarios:

Scenario 1:
A feature has been revamped and will be released to market soon. A tester who has never worked on the feature is called to test the revamp. The tester could:

• Understand the existing feature
• Understand the revamp
• Analyze the XYZ specification
• Write test cases
• Test the feature and file bugs
• Test the system

Scenario 2:

Your team reaches office at 9am and is available till 6pm.

The total time spent testing the product on an average is 3 hrs. Rest of the time is spent on the following:

• Attending meetings
• Updating KnowledgeBase pages
• Plan for next release
• Taking interviews
• Document the learning

Scenario 3:

Here is a tester who refuses to follow the rules. She never attends any meeting unless her inputs are a must-have. If she wants to learn anything, she knows the right person who can help her. She is very good at networking and has lots of friends in the whole company. She has one bad habit though, as her colleagues mention. No - not the one about rules, when she is given a feature to test, she spends most of the time interacting with the feature. Her activities can be summed up as follows: 

• Understand the mission quickly
• Highlight the traps and risks
• Test the feature, system
• Use information from different sources as a heuristic
• Get help from those who can help her

What is your take on 'How much should you INTERACT with the feature/product/system?'

If you are smart enough, I would expect your answer to start with

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

'It Depends...' and continue the discussion. At the same time, I am open for new answers.

Leia Mais…

Let us support "State of Testing Survey 2013"

I support. Do you?
Website Link
Please click on the above link and extend your support.

Leia Mais…

(Free) Hands-On Training on Software Testing

Course Overview

Update: The seats have been filled and registrations have closed. Thanks.
This time, I am conducting this course in collaboration with STeP-IN Forum and the target audience is testers with experience between 0 - 3 years.

Schedule:
Date: August 1st to August 30th (excluding weekends)
Time: 06.00 am to 07.30 am IST
Link to Register for the course: http://stepinforum.org/software-testing-training

Course Overview:
As highlighted in the mind map, this training will focus on the following topics:

Basics of Software Testing
We will start with understanding the basic terms like bug - issue - quality - defect. We will definitely NOT go through V-Model, Waterfall and many other such terms which is slowly losing out its importance in today's testing world.

Test Ideas
This session will focus on how to generate test ideas, learn from different sources to test any product. We will also know that software testing is not only about testing Functionality.

Bug Hunting
There is no fun without bugs. So, how do we find them? How is bug investigation different from bug hunting? How to find Sev 1 bugs?

Tools
We will definitely be using many tools in our sessions. We will also focus on how to scout for resources and tools in particular.

Test Reporting
Once a tester completes the test execution, (s)he should be able to provide a professional test report. We will create different reports and get feedback from the group.

Generic
Does your learning stop after a course or workshop? How can one learn about software testing every day? We will go through few important areas for self-learning.
=====================================================================
Link to Register for the course: http://stepinforum.org/software-testing-training

Leia Mais…

STeP-In: Done. Next Generation Testing Conference: In Progress

The STeP-IN conference started on 18th June and the closing ceremony was on 21st. I received the Best Speaker award for my hands on tutorial on "Mindmaps: A powerful testing tool to aid testing thought process"

After STeP-IN, its time for World Conference on Next Generation Testing by Unicom.

I am excited to be part of this conference for multiple reasons.

This is the first time, I am conducting a paid workshop on Exploratory Testing. Details about the workshop are here (Click on the Agenda tab). This is a one-day workshop and you can register here. The speaker list is impressive. I have known many of the speakers for quite a few years now.

I take this opportunity to let you know of three reasons why one should attend this conference:

Reason 1: The Experience & Knowledge
If you have never attended any conference till date and you are working in software testing industry, I would say that its too late. You need to experience the conference atmosphere. Better late than never. Get started. Once you attend, you will know about different contexts other than the one at your office. You would also know that you can present in next conference too.

Reason 2: Build your Network
It is good to know that others share your passion or have interests just like your team. The problems faced by your team are already solved by some other teams. You may never know whom your company might hire in next three months or which domain interests you after six months. The bigger your network, higher your chances.

Reason 3: Good Investment
When I started my career in software testing, I paid one-fourth of my salary for a half day workshop. Friends called me crazy but the investment paid off big time. My perspective on software testing changed. And today, I have reached a state where I would conduct a paid workshop. Do not wait for your employer to pay for your learning. Invest in self-learning and reap the benefits soon.

I will be available at Le Méridien from 10th to 12th July. See you there.

Leia Mais…

Release of two more books

We have a competition at office - a quarterly one. You are free to work on any idea for 24 hours. No meetings, no work, no deadlines. At the end of the day (which is usually a Friday), you get ready to present your idea and its implementation before the judges.

Book 1: Mobile Testing: Ready Reckoner
So, in the event held few days ago, I and my friend Sundaresan Krishnaswami wrote a book on Mobile Testing. We admire Jonathan Kohl's book 'Tap into Mobile Applications' a lot and have learnt a lot from the book. We needed a ready reckoner - a very short book and we created it based on our readings, testing experiences, competition experiences and feedback from other testers.

Each page is designed in such a way that an idea is explained with the help of a screenshot. We have also added the learning and resources link if necessary. As a tester or a mobile enthusiast, you can open any page and apply the idea immediately.
You can print the entire book and have it as a pocket calendar. The book size fits the pocket.

Book 2: UI and UX Testing: Ready Reckoner

This book is also in the ready reckoner format. A screenshot followed by explanation of the idea. Fits into pocket, go-to book before any testing competition or a quick reference when you run out of ideas.

Download from bit.ly/booksaj

Leia Mais…

Free Online Course on "Software Testing Skills"

                                   

Course (Five sections): *

1. Building a Feature Map

3. Information gathering through Application Tours

4. Effective bug hunting, investigation and reporting

5. Preparing a Test Report

Schedule:

Every monday, wednesday and friday starting from April 30th till May 30th

Cost:

It costs only your time. There is NO FEES.

Time: 

10 pm IST to 11.15 pm IST (4.30 pm GMT to  5.45 pm GMT)

For other time zones, http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/gmt-converter/

The sessions are over Skype chat only. No calls.

Interested?

Email me (ajay184f@gmail.com) with the subject: "AjApr2012" and provide your Skype ID in the body of the email.

Please hurry as I don't want the class strength to be a big number.

More details once you confirm your interest.

Image Credits: http://www.sabrfc.com/coaches-corner.php?FREE-Introductory-Coaching-Course-for-Women-2

Leia Mais…

Release of my ebook: "What If... : 50+ tips to win testing contests"

October 16th, I released my first ebook titled - 'What If...'. It is a collection of tips on software testing. Thanks to everyone for your wishes, more than fifty copies were sold.

This sunday - Nov 20th, I am releasing my second ebook titled -

"What If... : 50+ tips to win testing contests"

Contents page

What is this book about?
This book is a collection of tips which might help any tester competing in a testing contest. Testers are under tremendous time pressure and the competition is tough. Skilled testers have a better chance of winning the contests. After participating in a number of testing contests, I realized that it is easy to win any contest if you dedicate some time and demonstrate the right skills. In this book, I have tried to highlight few points which will improve your chances of winning the testing contest.

As seen in the image above, initial chapters focus on test environment, test planning. Then the focus shifts to bugs - finding important bugs, bug reporting and finally learning from the testing contests.

Just like my first book - "What If...", the tips are short and to the point. Focus is on ready-to-use tips. Hope you enjoy reading the book and win many more contests.

Download from bit.ly/booksaj

Special Thanks to
Praveen Singh - Director of www.99tests.com for founding 99tests. It is an excellent platform to participate in testing contests and learn from other testers. I learn from every contest at 99tests.

Friends who helped me review the book:
It is a tough task to review any book. Alek, Bernice and Elena helped me by reviewing the entire book. Thanks to them, I am able to release the book on time.

Hope this book helps you win at 99tests and many other testing contests.

Leia Mais…

Release of my ebook: "What If..."

Today is a special day. It is my mother's birthday.
To celebrate the birthday, I released an ebook :)
  

About the book:

This ebook is a small collection of my experiences in software testing. In 2006, I started my career as an Associate QA Engineer. Straight after my college, I dived into this job with a lot of energy. The entire corporate world was new to me. I was not aware of the term ‘Software Testing’. After three weeks of training sessions, my first task was to execute the test cases. As you read these words, I have completed five official years of testing software. When I logged my first bug, I thought – ‘What if’ this bug was found after release? Years passed, many products were released, and I gained a lot of varied experiences.  

I made a few embarrassing mistakes too. There were few instances where I wished that someone had warned me beforehand. So, I started preparing a book of tips targeted at software testers. Special care has been taken to keep each of the 22 chapters short and to the point. Emphasis is on ready-to-use tips which would give you instant results. I do believe that there is no single best practice which would suit every context. Being a student of context driven testing community, I agree that there are good practices in context, but there are no best practices. This book is heavily influenced by my experiences with industry experts, reading books, testing software, talking to customers, end-users, support team, testers, programmers and their managers. Do let me know if you have a topic in mind which I have not covered. 

How to buy the book:

1. Browse to http://www.jumadi.in/book/ajay-balamurugadas-9080000000000.html

2. Buy the book. You may need to create an account [Less than a minute!]

3. Take a screenshot from the payment history page and email to ajay184f@gmail.com. I will immediately email you the book.

NOTE: Anyone with a valid credit card can buy this book even if you live outside India.

Jumadi.in accepts credit cards, debit cards, net banking.

How can I buy your books?
1. Please transfer INR 125 to the following bank account.

Account Details:

AJAY BALAMURUGADAS

Account No: 00531610015960

Bank: HDFC Bank 

IFSC Code: HDFC0000053

If you are using Paypal, please transfer USD 2.5 to ajay184f@gmail.com

2. Once I receive the money, I will email you the book.
Any questions, feel free to email me at ajay184f@gmail.com

Do I get any discount?
Buy both books at INR 285 or USD 6.0

Second book: http://enjoytesting.blogspot.com/2011/11/release-of-my-ebook-what-if-50-tips-to.html

What this book is NOT:

This book is not THE book on software testing. If you want to know in detail about any topic, this is not the right book. In fact, I have recommended other books in my book. 

What do other testers say about this book?

Bernice

I recommend Ajay’s e-book “What If’” for anyone who is new to software testing as it provides many valuable tips in how to approach testing situations from a tester’s real-life experience.  This e-book is also valuable to more experience testers who may learn about new tools and techniques such as mind-maps and alternative ways of sharpening testing skills such as competitions and weekend testing.  This e-book is not only packed with tips but also many useful links for further learning opportunities such as books, training                                                         courses, articles, and much more!

Bernice Niel Ruhland

Software Testing Manager for a privately owned software development company

Alek

Ajay writes I wished that someone had warned me beforehand. I can't agree more I wish someone gave me the book of tips about software testing on the beginning of my career or at least taught me to use "what if" question more often. If you aim at skills improvement in software testing and you want to find out the ways you can do this, I strongly recommend this book.

Aleksander Lipski

http://aleetesting.blogspot.com/

Huib

With this ebook Ajay helps the testing community with some great checklists in a FAQ-style. "What if" helps junior testers to get up to speed in testing more easy but it is also quite useful for experienced testers. In this short and to-the-point ebook, he covers some important topics for software testers who want to learn! A quick win is in there for everyone!

Huib Schoots

http://www.huibschoots.nl/wordpress/

Elena

I wish I had this quick reference book when I first started testing. It would have saved me from a lot of growing pains. It is an easy read and a tremendous resource of useful information and tips that any testing professional can benefit from.

Elena Houser

http://trancecyberiantester.blogspot.com/

At this moment, I need to thank a few people.
My special thanks to 

My parents, my sisters and my grandparents.
They make sure there is no disturbance to me. They take care of my needs, stay awake even when I return home late and save money for me to spend on improving my skills.

My friends.
I have learnt so much from each of the interactions with testers online. Thanks to each of my friends who have constantly exchanged ideas and helped me learn new things. Thanks to Eveline for patiently listening to me every time I talk. Special thanks to three friends - Narendra, Vinay and Praveen for being the '3 Idiots' in my life.

My office colleagues.
They have always helped me whenever I wanted to test a different software. It is a cool experience to test different software and thanks to my colleagues and managers who have always helped me.

My friends who reviewed my book.
From the moment I started writing the first chapter till the last moment, Shruti always encouraged me, constantly reviewed the book and provided the comments. She is a good friend of mine who does not hesitate to critique and help me.

Thanks to Miagi-Do school members who have spent their valuable time to review my book. Special thanks to Alek, Huib, Elena and Jeroen.

My sincere thanks to Satish from Jumadi.in for listing my book and helping me launch in time for my mother's birthday.

Hope you like the book :)

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CAST 2011 - First Impressions

Preparation for CAST 2011 blog post is here.
Continued here...

Aug 07th  09:00 pm US time: 
I finally reached Seattle after a long flight journey. I was tired. I wanted to go to Courtyard Marriott hotel and on inquiring, I found that it would cost close to 200 USD for a cab. I wanted to board Shuttle Express as per Lanette Creamer. And the cost was just 26 USD. After a journey close to 1 hr, I reached the hotel.
At the hotel lobby, I found Matt Heusser, Lynn McKee and Nancy Kelln. I was sharing the room with Michael Larsen. When I went to the room, he was awake even though it was close to 10:30 pm US time.

Aug 08th  - Friends meet!
Michael & me went down to the hotel lobby and we met Markus Gaertner, Michael Bolton, Matthew Heusser and few other testers ready to walk to the Lynnwood Convention Center. After close to five minutes of walking, we reached the hall. We were at the registration desk of CAST 2011. I saw Jon Bach talking with  a tester. The moment had arrived. I shook hands with Jon and proceeded to the registration desk. I collected the T shirt, conference kit from Dawn Haynes and saw Sajjadul Hakim busy with his laptop.

I saw James Bach, Anne-Marie Charrett, Adam Yuret, Lanette Creamer, Carsten Feilberg, Simon Schrijver, Fiona Charles and Pete Walen. I was so happy. As Jon Bach said: "It felt like a big party". All the online friends I had were in the same hall as me. The day started with Jon, James welcoming everyone and Michael Bolton's keynote. There were no slides as there was some problem with the laptop/projector combination. I remembered my dream :)

Michael Bolton's Keynote
A keynote without any slides. Michael once again highlighted the CBC show - Ideas and the 24 part series of "How to think about Science"
Notable quotes were:

• Decisions about quality are political and emotional.
• Shake the constraints. Refuse to accept the apparent constraints.
• Testers know that things can be different.

What if there is no time to find all bugs?

We find the important bugs.

What if there is no time for that?

We would conduct a Risk-Analysis.

What if its wrong?

We also take an approach which considers non-risky areas. We will learn from mistakes.

Do we accept failures? No, we accept reality!

We testers discover how the product actually works. We do not confirm that it works.

Acceptance of the reality is maturity. We need to remain skeptical [Rejection of certainty]
Michael also highlighted that testing should focus on human values. The document by Dr. Cem Kaner can be found here. Testing as social science provides partial answers which might be useful.

Michael recommended the study of Philosophy, Epistemology, measurements. Testers should be able to tell both the testing story and product story. We need to be beware of bogus metrics. Also, testers need to be aware of Safety language. There is a difference between "It seems" and "This is". It is important to recognize the difference between observation & inference. "The vs A" problem was also discussed. "The terrible problem" sounds so different from "A terrible problem". Heuristics play an important role in a tester's life. We need to learn & unlearn rapidly. Every minute of the keynote was filled with great learning moments!

Troubleshooting Skills by Chris Blain
After the keynote, there were few RED cards flashing across the hall. There were K cards being used to facilitate the discussion. My cards were numbered 186. After the keynote, it was time for some fruits and the track sessions. I attended the 'Troubleshooting skills' session by Chris Blain. I did not attend Markus' session as I had already seen it at EuroSTAR 2010. Troubleshooting skills are important specially when you do bug advocacy. Chris Blain pointed that as testers, we should not take anyone's words for granted. We should work on improving our skills by learning a range of systems. Systems thinking, modeling, thinking from different perspectives and asking lots of questions to gain information might help troubleshoot better.

Multiple tools like the Process Explorer, Visual Studio, WinDBG, Registry Viewer, DTrace, WireShark, Fiddler, ChainSaw, Log Parsers were highlighted. Some interesting stories like the accidental shaking of a wire causing static electricity and a bug was narrated. When I asked about the books, he highlighted the 'Advanced Windows Debugging' by John Robbins. Chris asked us to be aware of the cultural differences too in troubleshooting.

Weekend Testing presentation by me
After lunch, I presented about Weekend Testing As I had dreamed, there was no laptop and I had to borrow James Bach's laptop. Though I logged in to dropbox and clicked on download against the presentation, it failed to download. I soon realized that creating a rule made the download possible. All set, I entered the room. There were close to 15 members in the audience. I was happy to have James Bach, Michael Bolton, Jon Bach, Michael Hunter and Michael Larsen along with Elena Houser in the audience. Every time I present about Weekend Testing, some titbits which were never shared before come to light. After close to 40 minutes, many questions were asked. One of the question was what is required to participate in the session. I told that as long as a tester has passion, skype and knows english, he can participate!

Jon Bach highlighted how weekend testers tested eBay and helped him gain more information to his questions.      He facilitated few sessions with missions on eBay and those were really useful sessions to the weekend testers. Michael Larsen, Co-Founder of Weekend Testers Americas highlighted how weekend testing was a different experience from a facilitator's perspective. Jon, James, Michael liked my presentation style. I was happy to present at CAST :)

Presenting a Compelling Testing Story by Benjamin Kelly
Ben started with a video of a movie and how a junior finally convinced his senior to agree to his views.
"Give compelling reason to take specific action" was the lesson.
He narrated his story where he and his team presented a 15 page report to the senior management. Whenever the management asked if there was any problem, he replied that nothing more than what was present in the report. The Green flags of the project slowly turned to Red. When management was shocked, Ben was even more shocked. The reports were never read! Ben realized that he had used a wrong medium and a wrong format to present the report. The manager was not willing to spend so much time reading the 15 page report.

People do not respect your testing if they don't like your test reporting. As testers, we need to present the test reports in formats which is appreciated by the stakeholders. He highlighted the different ways how we format information - verbal, written & visual. Ben started with Modeling. Asking questions helps gather information and understand what stakeholders want.
Questions like - What would describe project success, what should happen to achieve project success, what might look like failure, what are the most important aspects of the project to each stakeholder help bring every stakeholder to a single page.

Meta modeling - model of model was also highlighted. As testers, we need to compare our meta models to the models of the stakeholders. What is different, what they don't know and learn what they tell you?
Once we learn about the different models, Ben moved to Reporting part!

The two types - Push Reporting & Pull Reporting was described. Mike Kelly's MCOASTER heuristic was also recommended for effective test reporting.
Pull reporting is when someone asks you for a report. If you are not comfortable, ask for time, Ask for clarification if it helps. There is no point in giving a wrong report without understanding the exact questions.
Push Reporting is when you provide information. The most important aspect is that the audience is briefed. Ben suggests that you as a tester take time to ensure that your audience is briefed. Examples are bug reports, critical bug discovery and risk report.

Prepare, know the purpose, have the story, know the model of audience, understand the difference between your model & the audience's model. Also, pay attention to the audience's model of you. Speak the language of the audience!

The next blog post is about the CAST 2011 tester competition.

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Preparation for CAST 2011

Dec 2010: I was happy when James Bach asked me on Skype if I was interested to be present at CAST 2011. I asked for 1-2 days time and accepted the invitation. I got a speaking slot and Weekend Testing was the topic James wanted me to present on.

I started saving money for this trip. Though the conference fees was waived off, I had to cover the travel, accommodation costs. I knew that it is worth spending 2500 USD for CAST 2011. My mother and few friends thought that I was crazy.

June 2011: I applied for VISA and there were no dates available for VISA interview at Chennai. I had to wait for few more days. The date slots opened and I selected the first date available - July 13th. I had to be in US by Aug 07th and the visa interview was scheduled on July 13th. All the forms were filled & submitted.

July 13th 2011: Visa interview
Few questions were asked about the conference, my company, why my company i snot sponsoring, why am I spending so much, when will I return and so on. Then why did I go to Vietnam & Germany were also asked. I was granted visa. I was very happy. Finally, I could meet the Bach brothers and my first hero - Matthew Heusser.

Aug first week:
I polished the slides, added/deleted few slides and sent the dropbox link of my presentation to James & Jon.

Aug 05th dream:
I had the dream that just before my presentation, the slides were corrupted. James, Cem told me that such things happen and asked me to download again. I accessed dropbox website and found a totally new GUI. Quickly, thanks to some exploration - I found the slides and downloaded them. In between James asked if I really needed the slides for my presentation. I replied with a big NO. I woke up smiling.

Aug 05th 2011 will be a special day. Reason: I got the award: "The Bach Brothers Legion of Testing Merit" http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/591

Aug 07th Flight
The flight was at 04:00 am IST from Bangalore to Dubai. I left home at 12:05 am on Aug 07th and reached airport by 1 am IST. Very sleepy, getting ready for the long flight journey.

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Dropbox: I love you

Being a tester, I like to test many applications. This exercise also helps me in choosing a product for the weekendtesting sessions. Over the last two years, I might have installed more than a hundred applications. I would download, install, test, retain it if I like it or uninstall after few days.

There are some applications/tools which have taken a permanent place in my toolkit. Today's post is about one such application and it is Dropbox.

What is Dropbox and how is it useful?
It is a free web based file hosting service. Once you install Dropbox on any computer and save files in the Dropbox folders, they automatically are backed up on Dropbox website. If you want to access the same files on some other machine, install Dropbox on that machine. If the Dropbox service is running on both the machines, any files you modify on one computer gets automatically synced and saved on both the computers and on the website too. You no longer have to copy folders/files from one computer to another. Let Dropbox do its job and you concentrate on the files.

Usefulness:

• Backup feature: Every file you edit is saved on the Dropbox website too. 
• Online availability: Forget your test machine, personal machine and all the different machines you use to test. Be assured that your files are always available online.
• Freedom from emails, USBs, CDs: Are you in the habit of emailing yourself copies of the document every time you edit and switch to a different computer? Do you carry a device with the data everywhere you go? Dropbox solves it. 
• Sharing feature: Do you share files with your friends a lot? You don't want to spend on the upload/download charges and make it a simple process to share? According to me, Dropbox solves it in a matter of few clicks.
• Accidental Deletion: Did you delete the files by mistake and work on them from scratch? Dropbox saves even the deleted files and you can RECOVER them easily!
• Free upto 8GB space! When you install, you get 2GB free space and when you refer friends (share link) and they install, you get 250MB/referral. 

What are you waiting for? 

Click on the link http://db.tt/xcAYzF1 , install Dropbox and enjoy the benefits! 

Post your questions about Dropbox as comments to this post and I will answer them for you. 

If you are someone like me who can't live without Dropbox, feel free to share this post or comment on how Dropbox helps you. 

Image Credits: https://www.dropbox.com/tour#4

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