Tag Archives: planing

How to Decompose a Release Plan – User Story Mapping

A while back my team overcommitted themselves on a technical debt Sprint. It became apparent we did not have a decent model to expose those pesky “unknown – unknowns”. No matter how much talking and diagramming and more talking we did, we … Continue reading

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A Balanced Approach to Software Testing

In his reconstruction speech given to Congress on April 11, 1865, Abraham Lincoln warned the nation that creating inflexible plans will, “…become a new entanglement”. The quality assurance manager can draw a number of lessons from the broader context  of … Continue reading

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Quality Assurance Planning – Part Five (A Final Word – Nothing trumps experience)

You will become better at planning your test cycles the more often you execute them. There is no substitute for experience. A plan is basically a prioritized list of tasks assigned to a resource. A plan is like a noun. … Continue reading

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Quality Assurance Planning – Part Four (Selecting the Appropriate Test Type)

Here is how I break-down quality assurance types and what questions I ask to determine which should be included in the test cycle: Development (Have the coding architectural errors been identified and resolved? This can only done as a white … Continue reading

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Quality Assurance Planning – Part Three (Acceptance Testing)

Now that the system has been tested by the developer during their unit tests, the load test is complete and the quality assurance team has successfully executed their standard and new test cases, we are ready for our restaurant’s “Pre-Opening … Continue reading

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Quality Assurance Planning – Part Two (Integration & System Testing)

Integration testing is the most extensive level and the one which requires the largest portion of the test plan. At this point you should plan for a full regression test as well as functional testing to insure new features work … Continue reading

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Quality Assurance Planning – Part One (Unit Testing)

Unit testing should be done by the developer and include two tests. The first of these is to walk through each line of his code to insure it works correctly. This is a normal part of the development process, however … Continue reading

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Quality Assurance Planning – Introduction

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” Dwight D. Eisenhower — These words apply to everything that is important; both personally and in business. Software testing is no exception. If you don’t formulate your plan then you have nothing. Continue reading

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Architectures for Good Software Testing – Part Five (Production Environment)

The Production environment must be considered “sacred”. If the previous processes have been conducted thoughtfully and with a huge amount of dedication and hard work, the application that finds its home in production should make work easier for the end … Continue reading

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Architectures for Good Software Testing – Part Four (Staging Environment)

The Staging Environment serves as a place to hold tested applications until deployment schedules are established. It is possible some customers will not want a certain release. It is also possible that customers cannot accommodate a release as soon as … Continue reading

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Architectures for Good Software Testing – Part Three (Quality Assurance Environment)

My father-in-law was a well known Slovenian metal sculptor. He would heat, pound, weld, pound, re-heat and re-pound his scrap mettle until it became an amazing work of art. I see quality assurance in much the same light. The QA … Continue reading

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Architectures for Good Software Testing – Part Two (Development Environment)

One of the most important issues with development environments is “gold plating”. To put it simply, this is when the developer tries new technologies, or approaches to make his job more interesting or challenging. If the enterprise does not allow … Continue reading

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Architectures for Good Software Testing – Part One (Finding a Home)

Deploying a solution to an unsuitable environment is like dumping a newly purchased gold fish in a bowl that is several times colder than the temperature in its take home bag. The chances of our new shiny pet surviving are extremely poor. Continue reading

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Architectures for Good Software Testing – Introduction

Through out history architecture and engineering has created masterful physical assets such as bridges, houses and office complexes. Some constructions such as the Barnenez (France), Sechin Bajo (Peru), Mehrgarh (Pakistan) and Pyramid of Djoser (Egypt) have lasted for thousands of … Continue reading

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