Software Test & Performance Collaborative

[Members-only] Article Training Day

By Elisabeth Hendrickson, Dale Emery

In an Intro to Agile class, students play a simulation game that yields a critical lesson.

Article Achieving the “Vision” of Software Development...

By Rich Hand

When an organization sets out on the task of developing software for the business there needs to be a common “vision” of what the software will achieve for the organization. This may seem obvious and simplistic, but think about the current software project you are on and ask yourself these questions…

[Members-only] Article Measuring Confidence Along the Dimensions of Test Coverage

By Rex Black

When I talk to senior project and product stakeholders outside of test teams, confidence in the system—especially, confidence that the system will have a sufficient level of quality—is one benefit they want from a test team involved in system and system integration testing. Another key benefit such stakeholders commonly mention is providing timely, credible information about quality, including our level of confidence in system quality.

Reporting their level of confidence in system quality often proves difficult to many testers. Some testers resort to reporting confidence in terms of their gut feel. They may draw smiley faces and frowny faces on a whiteboard next to major functional areas, and say things like, “I’ve got a bad feeling about function XYZ.” When management decides to release the product anyway, the hapless testers either suffer the Curse of Cassandra if function XYZ fails in production, or watch their credibility evaporate if there are no problems with function XYZ in production.
If you’ve been through unpleasant experiences like these a few times, you’re probably looking for a better option…

[Members-only] Article Time to Get Serious About Agile

By Joel Shore

Agile development works and it’s here to stay, says Scott Ambler, practice leader of agile development at IBM’s Rational software division. “If you think it doesn’t work for you or you’ve heard bad things about it, the time has come to rethink your position.”

Article Software Test & QA: In Theory and Practice

By Rich Hand

In keeping with our January theme of celebrating women in testing, this issue of the Test & QA Report features an interview conducted by STP Collaborative’s new director of membership, Rich Hand with Jamie Evans, a software testing veteran with 17 years of experience