Personal Improvement

Tutorials

TB SOLD OUT! Critical Thinking for Software Testers

Michael Bolton, DevelopSense

Tue, 04/09/2013 - 8:30am

Critical thinking is the kind of thinking that specifically looks for problems and mistakes. Regular people don't do a lot of it. However, if you want to be a great tester, you need to be a great critical thinker, too. Critically thinking testers save projects from dangerous assumptions and ultimately from disasters. The good news is that critical thinking is not just innate intelligence or a talent—it's a learnable and improvable skill you can master.

TH Exploratory Testing Is Now in Session

Jon Bach, eBay, Inc.

Tue, 04/09/2013 - 1:00pm

The nature of exploration, coupled with the ability of testers to rapidly apply their skills and experience, make exploratory testing a widely used test approach—especially when time is short. Unfortunately, exploratory testing often is dismissed by project managers who assume that it is not reproducible, measurable, or accountable. If you have these concerns, you may find a solution in a technique called session-based test management (SBTM), developed by Jon Bach and his brother James to specifically address these issues.

Concurrent Sessions

W2 The Role of Emotion in Testing

Michael Bolton, DevelopSense

Wed, 04/10/2013 - 10:30am

Software testing is a highly technical, logical, rational effort. There's no place for squishy emotional stuff here. Not among professional testers. Or is there? Because of commitment, risk, schedule, and money, emotions can run high in software development and testing. It is easy to become frustrated, confused, or bored; angry, impatient, and overwhelmed. However, Michael Bolton says that, if we choose to be aware of our emotions and are open to them, feelings can be a powerful source of information for testers, alerting us to problems in the product and in our approaches to our work.

W6 Concurrent Testing Games: Developers and Testers Working Together

Nate Oster, CodeSquads, LLC

Wed, 04/10/2013 - 12:45pm

The best software development teams find ways for programmers and testers to work closely together. These teams recognize that programmers and testers each bring their own unique strengths and perspectives to the project. However, working in agile teams requires us to unlearn many of the patterns that traditional development taught us.