NVP Software Solutions

Tag: Process Improvement

  • Manual Testing

    This year is the n’th time we have heard about the demise of Manual testing and the n+1’st time it has not occurred.To paraphrase Mark Twain “Rumours of the death of Manual Testing have been greatly exaggerated”.

    Why does this keep coming up year after year:

    1. We keep inventing new items that are not amenable to being automated.
    2. New startups have neither the time or the budget to worry about automating testing. Their emphasis is on getting the product out the door and into the hands of their customers.
    3. Some organisations have a great deal invested in an old automated tool. They are not maintaining the existing scripts or adding new but no one is willing to throw them out.
    4. Some testing tools have not lived up to their promises and people are unwilling to try again with a new test tool.
    5. Most project managers do not have budget for automation of testing and since they do not benefit from it (the next project benefits) they see little reason to add it to their project.
    6. If it becomes a corporate or central responsibility to automate, then the question of funding it becomes awkward. Who is responsible for the cost fo the tool and the automation effort? How is that cost amortized and apportioned?
    7. It appears cheaper to get Manual Testers.

    So will this change in the 2020? It seems unlikely in view of the above unless we consider the following:

    1. Calculate the real cost of repeatedly executing the same testcases manually.
    2. Calculate the real benefit of implementation of automation over multiple projects and years.
    3. See whether the automation will pay for itself using the above two figures.
    4. Find an automation tool that suits your situation. There are many good ones around; you just need to find the appropriate one. Talk to us about a well tested methodology for test tool acquisition.

    Photo by Hunter Haley on Unsplash

  • Register this week for the November TASSQ Event

    Register for TASSQ

       

    If you are in the Greater Toronto Area or Kitchener-Waterloo you might want to consider this event to network with other QA people or learn some of the new ideas in QA.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is antenna-502680-unsplash-1024x683.jpg

    NVP Software Solutions will be participating in the following software testing and quality assurance event happening this November in Ontario, Canada. The event is located in Toronto in two weeks. Check out the relevant website for more information and to register. This is a great opportunity to connect with other software testing and quality assurance professionals. We hope to see you there!


    Photo by Antenna on Unsplash




    CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY TRENDS AND ITS IMPACT TO THE CANADIAN MARKET

     November 26, 2019 6:00 p.m.  The Albany Club – 91 King Street East, Toronto, Ontario

    Presenter:  Carlos Chalico

  • RCA – Why – Part 2

    Three weeks ago we asked why we would bother with Root Cause Analysis. We asked some questions and provided some answers. However that analysis concentrated on a single defect and the use of Root Cause Analysis in that case. The power of Root Cause Analysis really applies when we can solve a whole class of defects.

    There is a good chance that a problem that occurs in one place in the code has been repeated elsewhere. Errors have a tendency to be repeated! This came up recently when we were asked to look into a fix that had been implemented 20 years ago. It seemed to be unravelling. This is what is sometimes called a latent defect (one out in production code that suddenly appears). Suffice to say it was the same fix throughout the code and that Root Cause Analysis at the time it originally occurred would have been very helpful. It would have stopped the expensive and time consuming fix required recently. Root cause analysis would have paid for itself multiple times over.

    So the next time you have an error, take a look at it and see if you can put something down in the defect description indicating where it might have originated. Some classification will go a long way to describing where we need to concentrate more resources.

    October is Quality Month. Sign up for our newsletter, to see some things about Quality Month or request a copy if you are too late for this month.

    Photo by JJ Ying on Unsplash

  • Register this week for the October events at TASSQ and KWSQA

    Last chance to register for TASSQ and KWSQA

       

    NVP is at StarCanada Wednesday and Thursday this week. Stop at our booth for your free stress relieving bug.

       

    If you are in the Greater Toronto Area or Kitchener-Waterloo you might want to consider these events to network with other QA people or learn some of the new ideas in QA.

    This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is antenna-502680-unsplash-1024x683.jpg

    NVP Software Solutions will be participating in the following software testing and quality assurance events happening this September in Ontario, Canada. The events are located in Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo in the coming weeks. Check out the relevant websites for more information and to register. This is a great opportunity to connect with other software testing and quality assurance professionals. We hope to see you there!


    Photo by Antenna on Unsplash




    THE POWER OF DESIGN SPRINTS FOR PRODUCT TEAM

     October 29, 2019 6:00 p.m.  The Albany Club – 91 King Street East, Toronto, Ontario

    Presenters:  Leah Oliveira and Carlos Oliveira

    Reality Driven Testing

     October 30, 2019 11:30 a.m.   University of Waterloo

    Presenters:  Rob Sabourin 

  • Trend Analysis on Defects – Part 2

    Last week we discussed some prerequisites for Trend Analysis on defects. We are only discussing defects here but there are many other project metrics that could be analysed.

    Assuming that the prerequisites from the previous blog have been satisfied, what can we determine.

    1. The trend in the number of defects in each project (after normalization by some project size measurement).
    2. The trend in the number of defects in each Priority and Severity level (again after normalization).
    3. The phase or process that consistently generates the most defects.
    4. Any weak or defect prone supplier processes.
    5. Any product weaknesses that cause consistent customer complaints.

    Once we have the information listed above, we are in a strong position to fix any weak areas and correct any issues that may be costing us customers or internal funds. This is process improvement devoted to making sure that our internal processes are the best possible and we are generating the best possible product. There is more to trend analysis than we are mentioning here, but there are entire books and conferences devoted to this topic. We have only touched the surface of one item we can measure, address and improve.

    October is Quality Month. Sign up for our newsletter, coming out next week, to see some things about Quality Month.

    Photo by Stephan Henning on Unsplash

  • Trend analysis on Defects – Part 1

    One of the items that is missed frequently in most organisations is Trend Analysis on Defects. This is the trend over time and over multiple projects. We are looking for whether things are improving or not as the case may be, over time. There are a number of prerequisites which we will discuss today prior to returning to this topic in a couple of weeks with further information.

    Prerequisites

    1. A consistent method of classifying defects with regard to Priority and Severity. I include definitions and standards for Priority and Severity either in the Test Strategy for an organisation or in every test plan for every project. Note that without this in place; it is impossible to do any trend analysis.
    2. A commitment to fairly recording defects in every phase of the project no matter what methodology you use. Otherwise it is possible to make certain phases look better than others by ignoring or failing to record the defects.
    3. A commitment from management to the years it will take to obtain sufficient statistics for trends to be meaningful.
    4. A commitment to and an understanding of the methodology used to reconcile projects that of different size and that are built in different ways. A very large project built in-house cannot be directly compared to a small project where the software was purchased.
    5. An understanding of the statistical processes that will be used to generate the trends. It is far too easy to draw the wrong conclusion
    If any of these prerequisites are not in place before anything starts, you are embarking on an expensive failure!

    Photo by Stephan Henning on Unsplash

  • Review of the Year – Automation

    Review of the Year – Automation
    Automation of software testing is something that seems to be on the minds of many Quality Assurance Managers and Test Leads. It has been a popular topic for many years.

    Currently we get requests for particular tools and knowledge of their attributes in particular environments; these are usually serviceable. Current status seems to be a separate tool for every need and environment and sometimes every organisation. Based on past experience, in a few years, someone will consolidate all the disparate technologies under one umbrella tool. Then the cycle will start again with people inventing new tools for specific niches and products.

    We also receive requests for people to “automate our testing” with no decision on the tool attached. This is a completely different question and requires some discussion to occur before the attempt to automate even starts. We need to know the what; when and Why the company wants to automate their testing. The thing we want to avoid are the actions below.

    1. Purchase Automated Test Tool.
    2. Install Tool.
    3. Wait for successful automation to save all the cost of the tool and cost of manual testing.
    4. Become disillusioned.
    5. Go to 1; Repeat ad infinitum.

    This has occurred over and over in different organisations. A lot of money gets used up with no progress and eventually the organisation gives up on the cycle and continues manual testing (see last week’s blog).

    Our best recommendations are as follows:

    Look up where you are on the technology maturity level with your current technology.

    Decide what you need (criteria are available) in terms of automation and what you are capable of handling based on maturity level.

    Then do a Plan to implement your automation. Never assume it will just occur. It won’t.

    Want to discuss how to automate effectively? Contact us.

  • Review of the Year – Manual Testing

    Review of the Year – Manual Testing

    Manual Testing is something that seems to be on the minds of many Quality Assurance Managers and Test Leads. Usually they want out of the Manual Testing and view Automated Testing (Blog planned for next week) as the saviour of their budget and time constraints.

    However, judging by the vacant positions we get requests to fill, there is still no shortage of Manual Testing positions at least in our area. There are still a lot of requests for Manual Testers with business knowledge preferred and new software and startups still start with manual testing. We get requests for Automated Testing with specific tools usually requested and will discuss this next week.

    The part that seems to be missing from many of the requests and the subsequent position is any discussion of the How; What; Why; When; and If; of the manual testing.

    There seems to be limited thought given to How the testing is to be done apart from some vague request to build testcases and execute them.

    Little consideration is given to What to test and Why beyond the statement: “We need to test the software”.

    When and If are not such an issue: Yesterday and definitely are the one word answers to those questions.

    These answers certainly provide freedom for the tester to do what they want but that may not always align with all the stakeholder’s wishes and may be 180 degrees off in some cases.

    This leads to a poor ROI and a large waste of time and money.

    There will continue to be a market for manual testers for new changes and new applications that are not yet mainstream. We expect automation to take over many of the repetitive tasks (as has always been the case) The only open question at this stage might be what AI will do to the industry. That we cannot predict.

    Want to discuss the effectiveness of your Manual Testing further? Contact us.