[Members-only] Article Agile Projects: 6 Ways to Avoid the ‘Mini-Waterfall’
Don’t let one iteration cascade into the next. Follow these suggestions to streamline your testing.
[Members-only] Article The Politics of Testing: Making Conflict Count
One of the 6 Industry Pros Sharing Their Unique Perspectives on How to Survive — and Thrive — In Today’s Challenging Industry
[Members-only] Article Measuring Confidence Along the Dimensions of Test Coverage
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 Don't Leave Security for Last
At the peak of the dot-com boom, my firm consulted extensively for large organizations concerned about the risks of Internet-based applications. My experience with one client in particular—we’ll call it Company X to protect its identity—remains the most palpable argument for integrating security throughout the software lifecycle.
[Members-only] Article Training Day
In an Intro to Agile class, students play a simulation game that yields a critical lesson.
Recent Articles
Achieving the “Vision” of Software Development...
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…
STP Collaborative Launches Professional Development Division
STP Collaborative is pleased to announce the formation of its STP Professional Development division and to introduce Abbie Caracostas, director of training and professional development.
Of Security, Finance and Other Practical Matters
As guest editor for this issue of STP, I was asked to select the theme and to recommend authors. My theme can be summarized as “topics that intrigue me this month,” which (I claim) is more an enlightened than a haphazard assortment. I am proud to bring you some of the best new thinking in software security, financial software testing, practical experiences in performance testing, and testing centers of excellence.
Previous Training
[Members-only] Changing the Way We Test By Managing Change
The Business Case for Dynamic SQA and Test Management
Featuring Forrester Analyst Margo Visitacion and MKS’s Ryan Lloyd
[Members-only] STP’s eSeminar: “The Great Agile Debate”
Two of the industry’s leaders debate the pros and cons of working in an agile environment. Become a standard or premium member to have access to this 90 min. debate.