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How We NOW Test Software at Microsoft Prior Year Content

In December 2008 when How We Test Software at Microsoft was first published, the software community appreciated the insight into many testing activities and processes popular at Microsoft. Six and a half years later, many companies—including Microsoft—have evolved and changed in a variety of ways, and now much of the book is outdated or obsolete. New products, new ideas, and new strategies for releasing software have emerged. Alan Page explores Microsoft’s current approaches to software testing and quality. He digs into new practices, describes changing roles, rants about long-lived ideas kicked to the curb in the past seven years―and might even share a few tidbits not fit for print and wide-scale distribution. To give organizations food for thought and ideas for growth, Alan reveals what’s new in quality approaches, developer to tester ratios, agile practices, tools, tester responsibilities—and lessons he’s learned along the way.

Alan Page
Alan Page, Microsoft

Alan Page is a principal SDET—a fancy name for tester—on the Xbox console team at Microsoft. Edging up on twenty years in software testing, Alan has previously worked on a variety of Microsoft products including Windows, Windows CE, Internet Explorer, and Office Lync. He spent some time as Microsoft’s director of test excellence where he developed and ran technical training programs for testers throughout the company. Alan was the lead author of How We Test Software at Microsoft and contributed chapters on large-scale test automation to Beautiful Testing and Experiences of Test Automation: Case Studies of Software Test Automation. You can follow Alan on his blog or on Twitter @alanpage.

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