Software Test & Performance Collaborative

[Members-only] Article Testing Centers of Excellence: The Big Picture

By Ross Collard

Following our February case studies on testing centers of excellence, we explore TCOEs’ pluses and pitfalls to help you assess their potential for your organization.

[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 Testing Centers of Excellence

By Harish Narayan

CA is using its global test facilities to raise the bar on product quality and time to market.

[Members-only] Article Testing Centers of Excellence

By Harish Narayan

CA is using its global test facilities to raise the bar on product quality and time to market.

[Members-only] Article Beautiful Testing Satisfies Stakeholders

By Rex Black

This article, contributed by STP guest editor Rex Black, is reprinted from “Beautiful Testing: Leading Professionals Reveal How They Improve Software”_ (O’Reilly, October 2009). The book, edited by Tim Riley and Adam Goucher, is a compilation of essays from 27 world-renowned testing and development experts based on their experiences in the field (all author royalties from sales of the book go to the Nothing But Nets anti-malaria campaign). Here, Black shares his insights into design and implementation of tests that pay off for stakeholders, both immediately and long-term.