All Questions
52
votes
10answers
2k views
1.5 Million lines of code. 0 tests. Where should we start?
I'm a Java developer by trade. I was 'brought-up' in what you could call best practices. Then I took my current job. I had a choice between the Java/SOA team, and the ERP team. I was told that joining ...
35
votes
4answers
866 views
Is the “Joel Test” appropriate when looking for a QA job?
The "Joel Test" lists 12 items to look for in a software company:
Do you use source control?
Can you make a build in one step?
Do you make daily builds?
Do you have a bug database?
Do you fix bugs ...
33
votes
12answers
2k views
What kind of testing should a developer do before passing a build to the QA team?
As a developer my knowledge of best QA practices, etc., are limited to know just enough to get me by writing unit tests, etc.
From a tester's point of view, what testing procedures should the ...
32
votes
12answers
3k views
What are some tools for testing Mobile web apps?
I'm thinking along the lines of a Firebug for the iPhone/iPad/Android/BB that can truly give more insight on the markup/scripts.
Even when testing on the simulator/device, it's hard to truly simulate ...
27
votes
11answers
931 views
Should programmers run automated tests written by QA?
Perhaps programmers have their own unit tests, perhaps as the result of doing Test-Driven Development. They run these tests very often; perhaps every few minutes, but at least a few times each day.
...
27
votes
11answers
4k views
How should you interview for QA positions?
Joel has his "The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0)", but that's really for programmers.
How should you go about interviewing testers?
We ask programmers to program on a whiteboard; how ...
26
votes
13answers
7k views
What's the difference between “testing” and “quality assurance”?
Is there a difference between "testing" and "quality assurance"? If so, what are the main goals of each process? What are the critical differences?
25
votes
10answers
1k views
What are key properties of great QA team member?
Provided you are ready to hire your first (or next) QA team member, what are the key properties of a person you will pay attention to?
25
votes
12answers
676 views
Building “slow to break” regression tests
I need to build a lot of regression tests for our product at work and I plan on using Selenium. I am concerned about building tests that will become quickly outdated and broken based on the fast pace ...
23
votes
9answers
717 views
Who is ultimately responsible for issues that are found after software is released?
in the context of a good practice in context on how to perform a no blame post mortem review, with a view to process improvement.
If a major issue is found in an application after it has been ...
22
votes
16answers
3k views
Do ISTQB/ISEB Testing Certificates prove someone can test?
I have passed the foundation level exam, and to be honest, i'm pretty sure that anyone could pass that exam with a couple of days of studying. My question is are they certificates really of value to ...
22
votes
11answers
615 views
Blogs to follow to further learning [closed]
I've tried my best to keep this question non-subjective so am not asking which blogs are definitively "the BEST" but instead am using the opportunity to just try to broaden my scope of reading around ...
21
votes
6answers
758 views
What goes in your definition of done (DoD) ?
In agile projects, we use the definition of done to ascertain when to consider a user story to be ready for acceptance (implemented and tested). In the project's DoD we have things like following ...
18
votes
8answers
1k views
How do you prepare yourself for a testing position?
I'm a developer. Right now we don't have much in my firm in the way of testers. Whether I do it here, or go to a different firm, I'm very interested in becoming a full time tester. How would I prepare ...
17
votes
7answers
660 views
What is meant by “Automated tests don't find new bugs”?
As I understand it, this sentence means that automated tests don't find new bugs in existing code (though they might catch a new bug in new code that breaks old code). Is this correct? Or is this ...
17
votes
7answers
639 views
Developers have code kata to practice skills. What test equivalents are there?
Deliberate practice is key to developing mastery of a skill. If you want to practice your programming skills, there are a wealth of resources like code kata.
What are the equivalents for test design?
...
16
votes
10answers
4k views
When writing manual test cases and scripts, how much detail is too much detail when documenting the steps?
One of the things that I try to balance when writing out test scripts for manual testing is trusting that the person executing the test (which may not always be me) is reasonably competent to know how ...
16
votes
7answers
1k views
Suggested books to start on software testing
I'm trying to learn more about software testing, so I want to know what are the suggested books on this topic
16
votes
9answers
1k views
Should we reject QA candidates based on basic reasoning and math tests?
Short version:
When hiring experienced QA people, do you want someone who has good technical skills, or do you want someone who has good aptitude skills? My boss says that if the guy can't solve ...
16
votes
11answers
2k views
Are code reviews considered part of QA?
I was having a discussion with a fellow developer and we were talking about QA practices. I was thinking that code review would be a QA practice because you're not making anything, but rather are ...
16
votes
10answers
777 views
How does a tester's perspective toward software differ from a developer's?
Just as there are developers who are orders of magnitude more productive and creative than other developers, so are there testers who are similarly outstanding. We all have our opinions about what ...
16
votes
3answers
523 views
Are Selenium functional tests reliable enough to be worthwhile?
I'm finding that regardless of how solid my tests scripts are, I still have tests that fail (falsely), even though they worked just fine before. I'm not talking about if markup changes (although that ...
16
votes
4answers
708 views
Developing Unit Tests While Refactoring Legacy Code?
I have a big code library that I need to refactor in order for it to fit more nicely together (one big problem is there aren't clear enough boundaries between each component). Since there will be ...
16
votes
8answers
2k views
Recommend a Good QA Book
What books are people reading that you would recommend.
I've just finished up "Beautiful Testing" (which I would highly recommend) and need to pick up another book.
I'm looking for something fairly ...
16
votes
12answers
815 views
If you could only give one book to a tester to teach them about testing, what would it be?
One of the things that I used to do a few yeas ago was that whenever an employee started we would give them a personal copy of Steve McConnell's Rapid Development, as well as a copy of Microsoft ...
16
votes
10answers
586 views
How does a tester decide how much debugging/investigation to do before handing an issue over to development?
A common question from the testers I mentor is "When do I stop investigating on an issue, log a defect with everything I've found/determined so far, and hand it over to dev?" I have yet to come up ...
15
votes
6answers
487 views
How do you tell a programmer they're not testing their own code enough?
Suppose you're working with bright programmer, but every time you test the code you find a serious, obvious bugs. Things the programmer could have noticed if they did their own testing before checking ...
15
votes
14answers
4k views
What programming languages are good for novice testers to learn?
I'm looking for a programming language to recommend to a friend considering teaching herself software testing. I have a friend who is interested in learning software testing, and I believe strongly ...
15
votes
10answers
519 views
How do you test for everything that could go wrong?
Okay, so I know we can't test every scenario possible, it's just not possible. But I want to get any ideas for making tests more comprehensive and getting the QA team to find problems before the code ...
15
votes
9answers
3k views
Page Objects design issues
I have started using the Selenium 2 /Webdriver web automation framework a couple of weeks ago and I'm generally pleased, but I find myself unsure about how to best design my Page Objects. The ...
14
votes
7answers
813 views
Has automated UI regression testing helped you in finding critical defects in system?
I have heard a lot of "abuse" about automated testing, especially UI bases automated tests. As UI is very fragile and prone to change (especially in agile shops).
Personally my automated tests have ...
14
votes
7answers
336 views
How to obtain “fresh mind” results?
I noticed that when you start on a project with a beginner mind (for that particular product) you have a fresh approach and start noticing a lot of bugs.
After a while and some experience with that ...
14
votes
11answers
7k views
Under what circumstances is Sikuli better for test automation than Selenium or Watir?
The Sikuli website says:
Sikuli is a visual technology to automate and test graphical user
interfaces (GUI) using images (screenshots).
Under what circumstances is Sikuli a better technology ...
14
votes
9answers
338 views
Security testing resources
Can anyone recommend any good security testing resources? Although I have a basic security skillset, I'd like to improve this. Some of the training I've seen online however seems kind of sketchy. ...
14
votes
7answers
1k views
Does automating your manual tests give you good automated tests?
I notice that the tag wiki for the "automated testing" tag contains the following sentence: "Commonly, test automation involves automating a manual process already in place that uses a formalized ...
14
votes
2answers
384 views
Systematic approaches to selection of test data
I've used Phadke's design of experiments approach to select parameter values for testing (software) systems.
In a nutshell, the approach uses minimum, typical and maximum values of test (method) ...
13
votes
13answers
882 views
Capture screen during exploratory testing
While doing exploratory testing it would be nice to be able to record the screen (in a non-intrusive way), so if a defect is found the steps to reproduce it can be easily reviewed.
Are there any good ...
13
votes
4answers
459 views
What additional benefits does an QA /Developer engineer bring to a project
I have noticed in the last few years that employers are now looking for QA/Developers (QA engineers that have been skilled developers).
I would like to know what others believe are the actually ...
13
votes
10answers
540 views
What benefit does having developer experience or background have on the effectiveness of a tester?
One thing that I've benefited from in my testing career is that I do have some knowledge of software development coding methods and concepts. While I probably could not code my way out of a paper bag ...
13
votes
3answers
170 views
Reporting Intermittent Bugs
I am an entry level tester and been experiencing new things about testing everyday which is great. So I am thinking, how do I deal with an intermittent bug since its most likely that developers wont ...
13
votes
8answers
937 views
How do you calculate your return on investment on automated tests?
I've been looking at calculating the ROI on automated test on a project that I've been working on. However, I'm a little stuck when it comes to determining a good method for this. Simply counting the ...
13
votes
8answers
974 views
Testing an application under continuous development
Ill try and set the scene for you all as best as I can.
I have been working as the sole Tester on a suite of 13 related applications which is the end result of 5 separate developers work. Basically ...
13
votes
5answers
378 views
Should I unit test small projects?
I develop small projects, and the testing is usually a functional test when I verify if the service is working as I were the user. Is this ok with small projects of 2-3 people? How do you think unit ...
13
votes
6answers
542 views
Software testing and QA podcasts
In a similar vein to the question blogs to follow to further learning, I would like to ask if there are any noteworthy testing podcasts? Searching in iTunes domes up pretty empty on the topic.
I know ...
13
votes
7answers
408 views
Are your UI automated tests dependent or ordered?
While writing UI automated tests, I've come across situations where test dependency looked like a must. For example, say I have two tests, where the second is dependent on the success of the first. I ...
12
votes
10answers
1k views
Can every test be done by automation?
Can every test be done by automation?
Or is there anything that cannot be done by automation?
12
votes
11answers
1k views
Best guidelines for bug reporting?
Nothing can ruin your day like a poorly-written bug report.
I've seen several sets of guidelines for bug reporting in different organizations. In your opinion, what guidelines/steps are most ...
12
votes
6answers
409 views
Bug hunts and possible alternatives?
Recently, our QA department has been running bug hunts. Once a sprint all the teams do 10 min demos then they spend the whole day submitting bugs for a feature getting ready for release. They've been ...
12
votes
11answers
391 views
Typical software & tools short-list for *manual* QA specialist (tester) working environment
For QA workstations preparation (Windows-based PCs) our IT department uses typical batch deployment tools. I'm not at all interested in the details of such process, but IT guys ask me:
What ...
12
votes
6answers
859 views
What factors should affect the ratio of QA/Test staff vs. App Developers
I've worked in a variety of environments with differing ratios of QA / SDET personnel vs. developers focused on building and maintaining application features.
Is there such a thing as a "right" ...
