Chronicles Of Testing

What factors do you as a designer, as a user experience creator, as a tester, as a coder consider when thinking about the design and while creating it? Here are some questions that can trigger us to think based on few factors listed below and which when considered can help us design better. PLACEMENT Placement is where you place different page elements on a webpage. Where would you place some of the frequently used applications on your device? Why would you place it there? - For ease of access. - For Security - lock or unlock based on what you store in the application. - Group relevant applications, page elements together. ALIGNMENT Alignment is how you place the page elements on the webpage. - Original or Inverted or Tilted Why alignment is important? - to share another perspective - because it is relevant in a context - to connect with your target audience - to target a different set of users DISPLAY - Font - Font size - Font color...

Before we proceed: This is not a measure or an estimate of the testing time and effort. Do you have Testers in your team asking for time to test more than what is allotted as time for testing? Ever wondered why Testers need that time and how it gets utilized? Here is a mind-map I put together to capture where I spent my testing effort and time. Is it effective use of testing time?  Answer for yourself. Testers, take a look at the distribution of testing effort and time across the nodes in this mind-map. Do you consider time spent researching, learning and communicating with right sources of knowledge as testing time?  Give it a good thought and action on where you are spending your testing effort and time.  Remember that attendance at meetings and conferences, a talking assignment, interactions with knowledge sources are not time off from testing but to be considered by us testers as testing time so that when we talk to our team we are assertive w...

In the role of a tester, test lead or test manager we would have experienced the importance of creating a test plan and sharing it with the testers before testing phase begins. In some organization, the test plan is also termed as the test approach document. I still prefer to call it as the test plan in which you can jot down the approach you will take.  Target audience - Those of you, who prepare the test plan. Some learning I have had, when preparing the plan are shared below. Draft the testing strategy not in isolation but with the team. Take inputs from the team - edit, correct, read, review, rectify and share. Do not enforce a strategy, plan, policy, tool on the team. Build teams which can self organize and destruct on a need basis. Define a *culture to fit the needs of a team and not otherwise. *Civilization is what we have. Culture is what we are  - Dr. H. R. Nagendra Software Testing Policy - Strategy - Plan - Metrics - Tips The map b...

The excitement on twitter and on other social mediums by CAST attendees and speakers explaining what is special about CAST this year being held in New York between August 11-13 is worth the buzz. The leads of the same can be followed on twitter with the hashtag #CAST2014 What excites me as a first time CAST attendee and as I look forward to meet my online tester friends, is the list of chosen orators and the interesting testing conversations in the form of this 3 days software testing conference. As I scan through the CAST schedule here: http://cast2014.sched.org/ , I do realize that a data center is required to process, store and distribute the amount of information generated at CAST. And the thought of carrying forward this learning to our respective work places is inspiring. Kudos to all the chosen speakers, the review board for this fantastic line up of awe inspiring speakers, theme and topics selected, the committee chair for organizing this event. A warm welcom...

Mind map on Exploratory Testing a Web Application. The above Mind map summarizes Testing on a Web Application Learnings: Realization about Exploratory Testing Versus Test Case preparation. Writing down test ideas – Relevant and required to capture the missing elements if any. Context is the Queen  Mobile Testing – There is more to it than that meets the eyeball. Web Testing as summarized above in the Mind map. Lessons on Bug Reporting and contextualizing it. Conventional versus My Way of Testing – Every tester has their own Style of testing which needs to be polished. Breaking the bad – Includes breaking one’s own biases and barriers. Being Surprised – Expect to be surprised and not surprised too when you spot a bug on the same page that which you checked and cross checked. Observe, listen, compete, test and report the bug – Pair test and learn with your colleagues. Participate in debriefing sessions. Part...

Traditionally, software testing was the study of requirements, preparation of tests, execution of the identified tests in a controlled environment and presenting the results to the sources who should have access to this information. Then  came the want to universalize, generalize, process, package and sell this traditional approach. The same was sold by company X and bought by company Y. The word spread and companies A, B and C bought it too because company Y’s testimonials were grand. Caution: Be aware of who you talk and listen to in the business world. In the early days of software testing, the limitations set by the traditional approach and the decline of this approach did not go unnoticed. With the lack of awareness, that the traditional approach to software testing is just not sufficient to deliver quality, companies A, B, C and Y stayed back to relish the thriving business and failed to embrace the change that was happening as early as in the 1980’s. This decl...

As developers or even programmers and testers we are also entitled to question the product at every phase of Software Development Life Cycle(SDLC), starting with collating requirements and even after the product's release. Question the product's reach and usage whenever required. Question the need for adding a new feature and aid removing irrelevant features. I was watching this video shared by a friend and infer these lessons relevant to testing from it. Link to the video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfw0KapQ3qw https://www.youtube.com/watchfeature=player_embedded&v=n_1apYo6-Ow Do view the video before proceeding. Observations made with regard to testing (in the context of this video) is summarized below. Here are a few points to ponder: 1) Question the product under test - Not just in terms of targets met, records broken, performance achieved but also relevant in terms of it's usage, test data and technology used, pe...

Here is an image of the mind map (Mind map exported as .png) This version here: Is a screenshot of the mind map by Jing { http://www.techsmith.com/jing.html } Wish I knew few of these pointers on the day one of my testing career - If you ever felt this way, remind yourself it is never too late to learn to think well and to test well. Here is a mind map with aspects to know about software testing, for any aspiring tester on where to begin and the how and where to from here. Each of these points can be extended to include further details.  If you have gone through the mind map and require to know more information, get in touch with any one from the testing world. This post is edited to include the below links. Books to read and authors to be referred.[ http://www.testingcircus.com/testing-books/ ] Blogs to read.[ http://www.huibschoots.nl/downloads/Popular%20blogs%20ALL.pdf ] Twitter - wh...