by admin | Aug 14, 2019 | Agile, Automation, Blog, Manual Testing, Performance Testing, Quality Engineering, Software Testing
Creating Predictive Analytics for Quality Engineering
If you are in the IT profession, you know that metrics are extremely important in helping to make decisions. This is also especially true for Quality Engineering teams. 10-15 years ago, testing was primarily conducted by software quality analysts and test cases were executed manually. Most software testing teams were small, and they would run a limited number of test cases to ensure things worked. Using this approach, it was relatively easy to know if there software was ready for production, and that QA manager could pull the team into a room and determine if the software was ready to be deployed. Those times have drastically changed.
Here are a few reasons why software testing has evolved:
- There is a lot of software testing tools that enable status reporting
- Automation and Performance testing tools are widely utilized
- Applications are more complex and tightly integrated using interfaces across multiple technologies
- There is tremendous pressure to deploy products quickly to market
- Testing applications earlier in the lifecycle (shift left)
- Distributed teams
There is a need based upon this evolution to have software testing metrics in order to make better decisions. This data needs to be consistently captured and analyzed. It is important to create predictive analytics so that you will be able to determine the current state of the quality engineering effort and accurately predict what would happen in production.
Quality is required.
Speed is required.
Resources and time is limited.
Decisions must be made.
Software must be deployed to production.
In order for these things to happen data analytics must be performed. A base set of data is needed. Some of those data elements include:
Sprint Velocity
Planned/Executed test cases
Manual vs Automated tests
Defects
Root Cause Analysis
Defect Leakage
Once this data has been identified, it needs to be captured and segregated. When that information is gathered, you will be able to start and see trends. If you are testing a certain application, you will be able to predict how long it will take to perform testing, how many defects you plan to identify, and most likely how many defects will make it do production. Predictive analytics will evolve over a period of years. Many companies have started using AI/Machine Learning in helping perform this analysis.
This is also a continuous process. It is something that is not done once and completed. Additional metrics and more information will be needed. Those metrics will have to be captured and predictive analytics models will need to be created or modified.
Digital transformation requires that quality engineering teams transform how testing is planned, executed, and measured. The key to digital transformation is a focus on the customer. This requires that the quality engineering teams truly understand the business, and more importantly can accurately predict customer behavior. Issues such as usability, compatibility, performance, and security are extremely crucial. Provided these issues are tested, and the results are acceptable, this will create a really positive customer experience. For example, if a mobile application is slow, the customer is not going to have patience and will quit using it.
Predictive analytics can be used for defects. Here is some helpful information that will improve quality:
- Type of defect
- What phase was the defect identified
- What is the root cause of the issue
- What changes need to be made so that defect will not make it into production
- Is the defect reproducible?
Once this is understood, changes can be made to prevent similar issues from occurring. Using these predictive analytics, overall quality will greatly improve and speed to market will accelerate. It is important to have the right amount of data so that predictive decisions can be made.
by admin | Jul 31, 2019 | Agile, Blog, ISTQB, Testing Certification, Training
ISTQB Agile Tester Certification
If you are an interested in obtaining more information about the ISTQB Agile Tester Certification, you have come to the right place. Most projects today have moved from Waterfall to Agile, so it is important that you have the right information to leverage best practices when testing on an Agile project. Once you understand Agile concepts and how testing should really be done, you can provide some tremendous education to your peers and other agile team members.
The certification for ISTQB Agile Tester Certification is designed for professionals who are working within Agile. It is also for professionals who are planning to start implementing Agile methods in the near future, or are working within companies that plan to do so, The certification provides an advantage for those who would like to know the required Agile activities, roles, methods, and methodologies specific to their role.
The ISTQB Agile Tester Certification qualification is aimed at four main groups of professionals:
1. Professionals who have achieved in-depth testing experience in traditional methods and would like to get an Agile Tester Certificate.
2. Junior professional testers who are just starting in the testing profession, have received the Foundation Level certificate, and would like to know more about the tester’s role in an Agile environment.
3. Professionals who are relatively new to testing and are required to implement test approaches, methods and techniques in their day to day job in Agile projects.
4. Professionals who are experienced in their role (including unit testing) and need more understanding and knowledge about how to perform and manage testing on all levels in Agile projects.
These professionals include people who are in roles such as testers, test analysts, test engineers, test consultants, test managers, user acceptance testers, and software developers. This ISTQB Agile Tester Certification may also be appropriate for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of software testing in the Agile world, such as project managers, quality managers, software development managers, business analysts, IT directors, and management consultants
Prerequisite: You must have the ISTQB CTFL Foundation Level certification
Exam: 1 hour with 40 multiple choice questions
Pass Rate: 65%
Exam Registration: Click here to register for the ISTQB Agile Tester Certification exam.
Exam Cost: $199 USD
Recommended Book: Agile Testing Foundations: An ISTQB Foundation Level Agile Tester guide
Syllabus: In order to pass the exam, you must study the syllabus and understand the material. Click here to download the syllabus.
Sample Exam: It is always a great idea to review the sample exams so that you can get familiar with the types of questions that you will see on the test. The more questions you can review, the more confident and prepared you will be for your exam. Click here for sample questions and click here for sample answers.
Outline: Here is a basic outline of the material you must know in order to successfully pass the ISTQB Agile Tester Certification exam.
Chapter 1: Agile Software Development
The tester should remember the basic concept of Agile software development based on the Agile Manifesto.
The tester should understand the advantages of the whole-team approach and the benefits of early and frequent feedback.
The tester should recall Agile software development approaches.
The tester should be able to write testable user stories in collaboration with developers and business representatives.
The tester should understand how retrospectives can be used as a mechanism for process improvement in Agile projects.
The tester should understand the use and purpose of continuous integration.
The tester should know the differences between iteration and release planning, and how a tester adds value in each of these activities.
Chapter 2: Fundamental Agile Testing Principles, Practices, and Processes
The tester should be able to describe the differences between testing activities in Agile projects and non-Agile projects.
The tester should be able to describe how development and testing activities are integrated in Agile projects.
The tester should be able to describe the role of independent testing in Agile projects.
The tester should be able to describe the tools and techniques used to communicate the status of testing in an Agile project, including test progress and product quality.
The tester should be able to describe the process of evolving tests across multiple iterations and explain why test automation is important to manage regression risk in Agile projects.
The tester should understand the skills (people, domain, and testing) of a tester in an Agile team.
The tester should be able to understand the role of a tester within an Agile team.
Chapter 3: Agile Testing Methods, Techniques, and Tools
The tester should be able to recall the concepts of test-driven development, acceptance testdriven development, and behavior-driven development.
The tester should be able to recall the concepts of the test pyramid.
The tester should be able to summarize the testing quadrants and their relationships with testing levels and testing types.
For a given Agile project, the tester should be able to work as a tester in a Scrum team.
The tester should be able to assess quality risks within an Agile project.
The tester should be able to estimate testing effort based on iteration content and quality risks.
The tester should be able to interpret relevant information to support testing activities.
The tester should be able to explain to business stakeholders how to define testable acceptance criteria.
Given a user story, the tester should be able to write acceptance test-driven development test cases.
For both functional and non-functional behavior, the tester should be able to write test cases using black box test design techniques based on given user stories.
The tester should be able to perform exploratory testing to support the testing of an Agile project.
The tester should be able to recall different tools available to testers according to their purpose and to activities in Agile projects.
I hope this information has been helpful. I wish you the best of luck as you prepare and pass your ISTQB Agile Tester Certification!
by admin | Jul 29, 2019 | Agile, Automation, Blog, Manual Testing, Uncategorized
The world of software quality has changed tremendously over the last 5 years. There are many reasons why this has happened, and it is critical that education serve as the primary strategy to influence change in an organization. Here are a few critical areas where the CIO can gain a better understanding of some of the challenges that impact software quality.
Requirements
Primarily due to Agile, the robust requirements that used to be a cornerstone of the waterfall methology have been thrown in the trash. While there are some organizations that continue to document and provide best practices gathering requirements, most organizations feel this is outdated and no longer necessary. The lack of proper documentation and requirements have a direct correlation on software quality. Here are some specific reasons
- Without proper documentation a developer will code software based upon their understanding. This often will result in buggy code and requires rework after production, which will be very expensive to fix.
- Without proper documentation a tester will write test cases based upon their understanding. This often will result in test cases that have to be written again and will result in the tester missing defects that will go into production.
- Without proper documentation, the test automation engineer, will build automation test cases which will have to be changed once the manual test case changes, and will miss defects that go into production.
- Without proper documentation, the production support developer will fix problems in production and will break other production code, because they didn’t get an accurate picture from the developer that originally built the code.
These are a few examples, but you should start understanding why requirements are critical.
Agile
Agile has changed the approach on how software is delivered into production. It has some tremendous benefits, and done properly, it can greatly increase productivity within an organization. It is quick, lean, and provides fantastic feedback from the business. CIO’s love it because it provides rapid return on investment.
There are some challenges from a software quality perspective that need to be incorporated and education needs to happen across all levels of an organization. Unless you are deeply entrenched on an agile team, you will probably make a ton of assumptions that are incorrect. Within an agile team, everyone has a responsibility for software quality. Here are some areas that will have a direct impact on software quality:
- Agile Stories must be well written. It is not enough to throw out tasks without enough detail.
- Agile Planning is critical. There is some real misunderstanding about agile as it relates to planning. The more planning and organizing that can be done, the better the team will respond and be able to pack more work within a given sprint.
- Documentation is needed. This is another area which is often misunderstood. Providing documentation allows the team to understand details and more effectively code and test the desired solution.
- Developers must still test. This is important. Just because the agile team has a tester, doesn’t mean that a developer doesn’t have to test.
- All testing can be automated. Well, perhaps it could. But it might not make sense, especially if the code isn’t stable and will need to change over sprints. ROI, is still important within agile, so just because you can automate a test, doesn’t mean that you should. This is the most misunderstood item that CIO’s need software quality education.
Defects
CIO’s often ask why there are so many defects found in production. Well, that is a fairly complicated question. In order to answer that, a full analysis will need to be done on the defects to gain a better understanding. Many years ago, when I began a new job, the same question was asked. In order to come up with the correct answer, the CIO brought in an outside company to perform a software testing assessment. While I was fairly new, it wasn’t uncommon for this to occur. In fact, I welcomed the opportunity, because I already had a hypothesis as to why this was happening. Typically this is primarily due to little or very poor requirements. The company came in and did the assessment and found that there were 38% of defects that were making it into production. That is a really high percentage, most companies will average around 5%. Over a period of time, we started to tackle the problem, and after 1 year of work, we were able to reduce the production defect leakage to 5%. This was a tremendous accomplishment and required a team effort from project managers,business analysts, developers, and testers to make this happen.
Software Quality Metrics
CIO’s are very metrics driven. They use data everyday to make better decisions. While there is usually some form of metrics around software quality, it usually does not make it into the CIO’s hand for one reason or another. I believe software quality metrics will tell a story, and provide great insight to those that are willing to look and interpret the data. Several years ago, my team and I started to perform analysis on what data was important and which metrics would help us make decisions. Once we agreed on what those metrics would be, we started to gather that information release over release. We started to see trends that would help us test more thoroughly those areas which where problematic. That resulted in bringing production defects down. We also, built a web based dashboard, that would allow the CIO and anyone else in the company to see how testing was progressing. Using this dashboard, we could determine if we were going to meet our testing timelines, and see what outstanding defects were holding up production deployments. This was a true game changer for the organization.
Educating CIO’s on sofware quality will take time. CIO’s want to have high quality software, they often don’t understand how to get there. They don’t want their business partners to suffer through using software that doesn’t work properly. It is important as a quality champion, you spend time with your CIO and provide software quality education, so that you can avoid having significant issues in production. Software quality can be done effectively and efficiently within an organization.
by admin | Jun 19, 2019 | Agile, Blog, Manual Testing, Quality Engineering
Build Strong Edge Test Cases
If you are a software engineer, there is a lot of effort in software testing. With management demanding more and more quality, there is a strong push to create efficient test cases which prevent defects occurring in production. In my 15+ years of software testing, I have found that most organizations do a very good job in covering your happy path scenarios. I have however found that creation of negative test cases and development of edge test cases are very limited. The main reason for this is that there is often very little time but more importantly, a lack of creativity to build these scenarios.
Creating strong edge test cases requires a very creative mind. Sure, you need to be able to understand how the system works, but you also need to think outside the box and ask the hard questions in your test case workflows. If you only go by a rigid set of requirements and never deviate outside of that you aren’t going to find any edge scenarios. Building strong edge test cases requires solid application knowledge. For example, it is important to know what will happen when the same user tries to access the same information and perform an update on it. Will the record get locked? Which person will update the record? These are the types of questions that have to be answered. Here are some additional potential edge scenarios:
- Have a user login and disable the user to see what happens
- Have two users try to update the same record
- Disable the connection between the application and database
- Have the same user try to login from two different computers
There are many more possibilities when building edge scenarios. Over a period of time, you can begin to identify these edge test cases a lot easier, and you will begin to see tendencies which will cause these conditions. Chances are pretty great that if the application will allow you to do something, your business user is going to try it. These edge scenarios are also the ones that the development team is not typically going to think about, so they often will not program for it, and it will really require some thinking on their part. These edge test cases will often stir up a lot of controversy, because these are often things that are not spelled out in the requirements. Some of them will usually result in some significant frustration from a business perspective because it can cause a lot of uncertainty and could impact downstream processes because it wasn’t identified.
Edge test case can also typically be negative scenarios. They could be automated, but they may not be the best candidates, because they are often complex in nature. These are the types of things that requires deep thinking and creativity. The testers that are the most creative, will always strive to get to the edge of coverage and push beyond in order to prevent business users from finding defects. The good thing about edge testing is that you can perform these types of test in waterfall, agile or other SDLC cycles.
by admin | May 7, 2019 | Agile, Automation, Blog, Quality Engineering
If you would like to learn how to 5 step install robot framework ride using PIP I can provide a simple process and get it installed quickly. You have probably already installed Python, and most people use pip to make it super easy. I have outlined the 5 steps below to install robot framework ride using pip.
RIDE is a lightweight and intuitive editor for Robot Framework test data. If you would like to learn more information about the RIDE framework click here.
5 Step Install Robot Framework Ride using PIP
Step 1: Find Install location
Go to the location where you have installed Python.
Step 2: Copy the path of the folder location.
Step 3: Type cmd to open the command line
Step 4: Type cd and paste the path of the directory.
Step 5: Type pip install robotframework -ride and press Enter
That is it. The 5 Step Install Robot Framework Ride using PIP.
by admin | May 7, 2019 | Agile, Automation, Blog, Quality Engineering
If you would like to learn how to install pywin32 using pip I can provide a simple 5 step process and get it installed quickly. You have probably already installed Python, and most people use pip to make it super easy. I have outlined the 5 steps below to install pywin32 using pip.
If you have not configured Selenium with Eclipse click here.
Python extensions for Microsoft Windows Provides access to much of the Win32 API, the ability to create and use COM objects, and the Pythonwin environment. If you want to learn more about the benefits of pywin32 click here.
5 Step Install PYWIN32 using PIP
Step 1: Find Install location
Go to the location where you have installed Python.
Step 2: Copy the path of the folder location.
Step 3: Type cmd to open the command line
Step 4: Type cd and paste the path of the directory.
Step 5: Type pip install -U pywin32 and press Enter
That is it. The 5 Step Install PYWIN32 using PIP has been installed successfully using PIP.
