NVP Software Solutions

Tag: #qualityassurance

  • Out of Ideas

    Out of Ideas

    What happens if you are out of ideas of what or how to improve?

    Not surprisingly this has been considered by some of the pioneers of Quality Assurance. They understood that there was a limit to the number of ideas a person could generate.  The recommendation was to change the composition of the group coming up with the solutions while retaining continuity. One recommendation was to change everyone except the group note-taker.  There is nothing to prevent people coming back in a few years with new solutions to new problems (or suggesting them to the new group once they have had a chance to recharge).  Giving a break can work wonders for creativity.

  • National Software Testing and Quality Engineering Conference 

    National Software Testing and Quality Engineering Conference 

    The National Software Testing and Quality Engineering Conference is scheduled to take place on May 26, 2026, at the Delta Marriott in Downtown Toronto– 75 Lower Simcoe St, Toronto, ON M5J 3A6, Canada

    This conference is specifically designed for experts in software testing, quality assurance, and quality engineering, and it aims to provide a thrilling new gathering tailored to their needs.

    The field is currently experiencing a revolution with the introduction of AI, making this an ideal moment for professionals to take charge and stay ahead of the curve.

    By attending this one-day event in May, participants will have the opportunity to network with industry pioneers who are shaping the future, as well as leverage the power of AI through interactive workshops.


    Further information at: https://nationalsoftwaretestingconference.com/about/

  • AI as a Force Multiplier for QE Leaders | 12th Toronto Meetup

  • TestFormation 2026

    Join us again for TestFormation 2026 – now even bigger and better than ever!

    This year’s theme, “Elevating quality in the age of intelligent autonomy: driving trust, transparency, and governance in AI-powered testing“, promises transformative insights through world-class keynotes, panels, and sessions.

    Keynotes:

    • Badal Bhushan (Distinguished Engineer, Walmart): “Testing Tryst in Autonomous AI Systems” – IC³T for agentic AI authority risks
    • Sheena Yap Chan (WSJ bestselling author): “Visible Confidence in AI-Powered QA” – Ethical leadership frameworks
    • Anu Thothathri (Cognizant QE Leader): “From Testing to Trust” – Modern QE for enterprise AI trust
    • Rogerio Castillo (Caliche Energy Solutions Founder): “Testing in the Age of AI” – TMMi for AI-era quality

    Featured Panel (10 AM):
    “Engineering Leadership in the Age of AI-Driven Quality” moderated by Dr. Amanda Fetch (AI Advisor), featuring:

    • Tejas Pandit (MeshDefend.ai Co-Founder/CEO): Builds AI-native systems; ex-Dell global teams
    • Wendy Lally (Engineering Director): Hands-on leader in AI, supercomputing, platform engineering; ex-Intel/Dell
    • Himanshu Pathak (Meta QA Automation Lead): Transforms manual QA with GenAI

    Other sessions cover:
    Autonomous AI agent validation, TMMi cloud security maturity, AI-driven governance controls, data governance clarity, GenAI automation frameworks, model-based testing, agentic QA ecosystems, AI testing maturity models, Zero Trust, safe GenAI guardrails, and tool-enabled AI agents.

    Key Benefits:

    • Free, virtual, global access on March 12
    • Full session recordings available to all registrants – never miss a session!
    • Network via channels + win speaking slots next year, webinars, or newsletter articles!

    Presented by TMMi America Foundation.

    Register now (limited spots!):
    https://tmmiamerica2024.zohobackstage.com/TestFormation2026

  • Test Automation Summit

  • A vision without the ability to execute is probably a hallucination

    A vision without the ability to execute is probably a hallucination

    This quote is interesting and would probably be disputed by many people. They would say that a Vision is something you want to do and whether or not it can be executed has no impact on its validity (or whether it is a hallucination).  While the quote is not new, the applicability to today’s world with the concerns expressed about AI Hallucinations provides it with a fresh applicability.

    Over the years we have encountered a lot of Visions for Software Testing and Quality Assurance.  Unfortunately, many of them do not get realised.  Budget is often stated as the main culprit despite the fact that almost all Visions relate to doing tasks better and cheaper.  Quality Assurance Visions are even worse.  Saying that we want to make Process Improvements without some concrete actions to back it up (not part of the Vision directly but certainly related) does not go very far.  But with no Vision at all, no improvement will ever occur and the same processes and same errors will recur for every project or initiative.

    Make 2026 the time you realise your Visions for Software Testing and Quality Assurance.

    Software Testing solves your problems for today and yesterday. Quality Assurance makes your Vision reality.

  • You can only predict things after they occur

    You can only predict things after they occur

    “You can only predict things after they occur” This quote was attributed to Eugene Ionescu in the source I had.

    There are several related quotes:

    “Those who have knowledge don’t predict” and its corollary “Those who predict, don’t have knowledge.”

    Or lastly: “The best way to predict the future is to create it” (Peter Drucker).

    Maybe we could use these quotes the next time someone says how long testing is going to take.  The interesting part is when you push back and say: “How long did it take last time?” or “How much bigger (in whatever the favourite measure is) is this project compared to the last one?”.  Neither of those questions elicit much useful information or a response at all so the analogous method using internal numbers is unavailable.

    If you have no previous statistics from the organisation, there are lots of statistics available online or you can use one of the Estimation Methodologies (PERT, Planning Poker, WBS, Function Point Analysis or Test Point Analysis).  They provide a good starting point but must be adjusted for the particular situation. 

    One of the major aspects of Quality Assurance is to gather up statistics on what occurred last time and use that to predict the future. While no one can get 100% accuracy, it certainly helps to know what occurred in the past.  Adjust for the situation at hand and go forward.

    Software Testing solves problems for yesterday and today.

    Quality Assurance solves your problems coming tomorrow!

  • Don’t fix issues later; fix them now!

    Don’t fix issues later; fix them now!

    “Don’t fix issues later; fix them now ” or “Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today”. This seems so obvious but try doing it in a project when the schedule and budget are under pressure.  If this is restricted to Software Testing then issue classification and prioritisation can help to clarify which issues are worth fixing and which can be safely left for a future release. 

    However, if the issue relates to a process used in the project, then not only does the issue potentially impact the schedule and budget at the time it is discovered, but it will impact the project each time that process is repeated.  Fixing it now will not only save the current project time and money; it will save the coming projects a lot more assuming it is documented and the fix is implemented.  Some processes we have seen add time and budget to a project include the following:

    1. Failure to classify defects and move them to the relevant group allowed one person to repeatedly reclassify defects and change priorities until the software vendor bogged down in multiple half completed code changes.
    2. Moving ahead with documentation that had not been fully reviewed and approved lead to more changes and a huge recoding effort.  In particular, adding an approval step to every piece of documentation in a system meant opening every function to code an extra step.
    3. Failure to agree on defect metrics lead to inconsistent counts and hours wasted reconciling expectations between the vendor and client.

    Fixing any of these would have saved millions of dollars and years of time on the project.

    Software Quality Assurance solves problems for yesterday, today and tomorrow.