The Latest
Mission Critical: Visualize, Personalize, Humanize[magazine] Connect with an expert to learn how to work smarter and discover new ways to uncover more defects. In this issue, Michael Bolton takes a close look at one of the key skills of Rapid Testing: critical thinking. |
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Lights, Camera, Automate Software Builds and Deployments![magazine] Picture this: a robust and scalable software build and deployment process minus the chaos. Follow these guidelines and best practices for building and deploying multiple applications in an integrated environment, and you might just find your happy ending. |
Franz Garsombke
July 18, 2005 |
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Openness, Trust, and Healthy Paranoia[article] Trust must be earned in any relationship; it is not automatic nor can it be assumed. You only learn how much you can trust someone over a period of time. The same principle rings true in project management. In this week's column, Peter Clark shares a valuable lesson for project managers and other management professionals, demonstrating that a healthy level of paranoia must precede openness. If openness is premature, one's trust could prove to be unfounded in the end. |
Peter Clark
July 15, 2005 |
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What's on Your Not-to-Do List?[article] Drawing up a to-do list sounds like a logical starting point when you want to prioritize your workload. But if you have an extra-long list of tasks, the list you should start with is the not-to-do list. Doing so forces you to take an extra hard look at what you're doing and if you should be doing it. Learn more about Johanna Rothman's not-to-do list, how it helps you stay focused on the most important tasks, and how it inevitably helps you maintain your value to the organization. |
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Paving Cow Paths[article] In the IT world, "paving cow paths" means automating a business process as is, without thinking too much about whether or not that process is effective or efficient. Often business process automation initiatives require figuring out entirely new ways of doing business processes–impossible prior to automation (for example, work flow automation and digital image processing)–defining more effective and efficient process highways. In this week's column, Jim Highsmith warns that when we pave the cow paths and ignore the highways, we do a disservice to our customers. |
Jim Highsmith
June 21, 2005 |
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Free Time is Not Free[article] Unpaid overtime has negative personal and business consequences. Although regarded as free time by many organizations, there is a true business cost to not estimating or counting overtime hours, whether paid or not. Ed Weller presents the argument that those who do not count free time in their planning and tracking will make poor decisions and often invest in the wrong projects. |
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Web Services API Testing[presentation] Traditionally, test engineers have had some type of a visual user interface for testing client/server and Web applications. |
Papa Acquah, LexisNexis
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Peanuts and Crackerjacks: What Baseball Taught Me about Metrics[presentation] Because people can easily relate to a familiar paradigm, analogies are an excellent way to communicate complex data. |
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Face-off: Stuctured Testing vs. Exploratory Testing and Error Guessing[presentation] Exploratory testing and error guessing are valuable functional testing techniques. Like all other methods, though, they have limitations partly because they are based on the knowledge, experience, and intuition of the test engineer. |
William Rollison, Microsoft Corporation
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Developing an Error-Based Testing Strategy[presentation] For more complete testing, you need to find and simulate possible error conditions in a system. Many methods throw exceptions when an error occurs. |
Chris Shelley, Dell, Inc.
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Manage Your Testing with SCRUM[presentation] Used successfully in hundreds of agile and iterative development projects, SCRUM is a software project management approach that employs fixed cycle time "sprints" and daily "scrums." SCRUM emphasizes self-directing teams and the role of a "Sc |
Robert Galen, Thomson/Dialog
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"Risk" Is a Tester's Favorite Four-Letter Word[presentation] Good project managers speak the language of risk. Their understanding of risk guides important decisions. Testers can contribute to an organization’s decision-making ability by speaking that same language. |
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Achieving Meaningful Metrics from Your Test Automation Tools[presentation] In addition to the efficiency improvements you expect from automated testing tools, you can-and should-expect them to provide valuable metrics to help manage your testing effort. |
Jack Frank, Mosaic Inc
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Inside the Explorer's Notebook[presentation] Exploratory testing is more than just thinking of clever test ideas and executing them on a whim. |
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Strive for Quality in System Testing: A Top 10 List[presentation] Finding non-functional, system level problems before a system is delivered-and early enough to allow for low cost corrections-is a perennial testing issue. |
Jerry Cobry, IBM Corporation
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