Test Publications
Submitted by neill mccarthy on Sun, 01/05/2005 - 20:17.
[textile]Well I am slowly catching up with my reading of the various test publications and journals, things do seem to be changing and we seem at least to be getting at least slicker in the testing world.
Professional Tester, published it's first under new ownership during May.
Now I am not sure why it has been sold on, though I suspect the price was right and the timing was good as Geoff Quentin has sold "QBIT":http://www.qbit-testing.com/ on to "Vizuri":http://www.vizuri.ws and is looking for a steady glide path to his retirement and Tony Wells (the other majority shareholder) is no longer focussing on testing since selling "Mission":http://www.missiontesting.com/ on to Capitia.
I suspect he is looking to take the "centre4":http://www.centre4testing.co.uk brand beyond just testing I suspect, he and Ryan Hannigan have one of the best UK test contract agencies there with Ryan’s understanding and enthusiasm for the market combined with Tony's marketing, networking and business skills.
However this has been a change for the better, it is not that the magazine was bad, in-fact it has always been rather good considering it lives or dies by the articles submitted and it is a publication where unless you are independent (ie lone gun contract) you pay for an article (basically the rule is have an advert to be published). However from its' days of being what was effectively a magazine published with love by experts in testing, it is now a magazine written by professional testers with a professional editing and publishing staff ensuring copy and layout fit with the desired look and feel. So it is now slightly reformatted and printed on less glossy but high quality paper with new typefaces and designs.
It will still live or die by the articles and there are only one or two good ones this time and one I found unintentionally funny in the ironic nature of its content.
The key thing is it feels like the magazine has got legs and will be around to stay once more and with a new focus to Europe in the wider testing market, though still publishing in English and staying pay to say, it does look like it will attract new voices.
I also picked up a copy of STEN, which is the South Korean journal for software quality whilst at the ICS Test, whilst this is actually quite a challenge not speaking Korean, I found it an excellent journal with well written case study and view items, with a good interview with "Rex Black":http://www.rexblackconsulting.com/. The other positive aspect to this was the quality of the graphics and charts in articles, though I do not read Korean and so miss much of the context in the non English articles, these helped me with some of the key messages with the Korean articles.
A new journal is JAST the journal of the association for software testing is coming out later in the year and "Cem Kaner":http://www.kaner.com/ has made a call for "articles":http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org. Though I have yet to see a copy I have high hopes for this as the editorial board and policy is impressive and I suspect it will be one of the most important testing journals in the future and a must read and must write for publication for many serious testing professionals.
Sadly, for me, "Better Software":http://www.stickyminds.com/ has changed and for my own selfish reading pleasures not for the better. There has been a determined change in the editorial policy and positioning of the magazine to make it more of a "quality in software" work. Though like many test professionals I care for and read with interest articles on other aspects I was always proud and enjoyed the test bias this magazine used to carry.
I know the title of the journal is Better Software and I accept there has been no slip in the quality of articles, these still are and always have been excellent in no small part to the skills of the editorial board including "Brian Marick":http://www.testing.com . It does now, to be fair, hold a stronger fidelity to the title as it is about better software rater then just testing. I also accept that to some extent test is coming back to being more closely aligned as part of the overall holistic view of software with the agile movement, but I am not so sure that is as true internationally as it is in the USA. I know in the UK, this view - which I hold, is still strongly a minority sport.
However for me it is much less fun to read, I already subscribe to other journals for Quality and Development including Dr Dobbs and now for me it falls between two stools and is not quite strong enough on either side to fully engage me.
I will keep the digital subscription I suspect and drop the paper one as I am now just dipping in out rather then paying it is much attention as a whole. On the upside "Michael Bolton":http://www.developsense.com/ (no not the singer) is now writing a regular article on some element of testing and applying to a specific context and these have so far proved to be nothing short of excellent. So I may not like the direction but it still maintains high standards.
Final note on test journals, the BCS TESTER which is a periodical aligned with sigist meetings in the UK has moved to electronic publication only. It is worth a read as a train journey magazine (better then the metro for the tube if you are a London based tester) and a good way of keeping up with the event that has a focus over the last couple of years of getting themed speakers, my only criticism is it does not really always align the articles with the next conference and does not always come out in enough time to promote the conference it supports, but a valiant effort and it is one of the best of the interest group journals I have seen, it has won a BCS award, with strong editorial standards and I have yet to read what I would class as an advertorial in there. So worth getting if you have an interest in testing and I suspect it is no longer bound to UK mail addresses.
Finally one already mentioned by Antony Marcano in his test reflections blog is the "Software test and performance magazine":http://www.stpmag.com/ which is proving to be very good and attracting some excellent writers including "Elfriede Dustin":http://www.effectivesoftwaretesting.com . It is available as a pdf for us not based in the USA. It is very good and is concentrating on testing rather then the wider software remit and I have started to favour this over Better Software. Only downside, at 50 odd pages in PDF format it could do with a better reading software for it like zino, but then I guess it would stop being free. I however for one would pay for the improved readability.
Professional Tester, published it's first under new ownership during May.
Now I am not sure why it has been sold on, though I suspect the price was right and the timing was good as Geoff Quentin has sold "QBIT":http://www.qbit-testing.com/ on to "Vizuri":http://www.vizuri.ws and is looking for a steady glide path to his retirement and Tony Wells (the other majority shareholder) is no longer focussing on testing since selling "Mission":http://www.missiontesting.com/ on to Capitia.
I suspect he is looking to take the "centre4":http://www.centre4testing.co.uk brand beyond just testing I suspect, he and Ryan Hannigan have one of the best UK test contract agencies there with Ryan’s understanding and enthusiasm for the market combined with Tony's marketing, networking and business skills.
However this has been a change for the better, it is not that the magazine was bad, in-fact it has always been rather good considering it lives or dies by the articles submitted and it is a publication where unless you are independent (ie lone gun contract) you pay for an article (basically the rule is have an advert to be published). However from its' days of being what was effectively a magazine published with love by experts in testing, it is now a magazine written by professional testers with a professional editing and publishing staff ensuring copy and layout fit with the desired look and feel. So it is now slightly reformatted and printed on less glossy but high quality paper with new typefaces and designs.
It will still live or die by the articles and there are only one or two good ones this time and one I found unintentionally funny in the ironic nature of its content.
The key thing is it feels like the magazine has got legs and will be around to stay once more and with a new focus to Europe in the wider testing market, though still publishing in English and staying pay to say, it does look like it will attract new voices.
I also picked up a copy of STEN, which is the South Korean journal for software quality whilst at the ICS Test, whilst this is actually quite a challenge not speaking Korean, I found it an excellent journal with well written case study and view items, with a good interview with "Rex Black":http://www.rexblackconsulting.com/. The other positive aspect to this was the quality of the graphics and charts in articles, though I do not read Korean and so miss much of the context in the non English articles, these helped me with some of the key messages with the Korean articles.
A new journal is JAST the journal of the association for software testing is coming out later in the year and "Cem Kaner":http://www.kaner.com/ has made a call for "articles":http://www.associationforsoftwaretesting.org. Though I have yet to see a copy I have high hopes for this as the editorial board and policy is impressive and I suspect it will be one of the most important testing journals in the future and a must read and must write for publication for many serious testing professionals.
Sadly, for me, "Better Software":http://www.stickyminds.com/ has changed and for my own selfish reading pleasures not for the better. There has been a determined change in the editorial policy and positioning of the magazine to make it more of a "quality in software" work. Though like many test professionals I care for and read with interest articles on other aspects I was always proud and enjoyed the test bias this magazine used to carry.
I know the title of the journal is Better Software and I accept there has been no slip in the quality of articles, these still are and always have been excellent in no small part to the skills of the editorial board including "Brian Marick":http://www.testing.com . It does now, to be fair, hold a stronger fidelity to the title as it is about better software rater then just testing. I also accept that to some extent test is coming back to being more closely aligned as part of the overall holistic view of software with the agile movement, but I am not so sure that is as true internationally as it is in the USA. I know in the UK, this view - which I hold, is still strongly a minority sport.
However for me it is much less fun to read, I already subscribe to other journals for Quality and Development including Dr Dobbs and now for me it falls between two stools and is not quite strong enough on either side to fully engage me.
I will keep the digital subscription I suspect and drop the paper one as I am now just dipping in out rather then paying it is much attention as a whole. On the upside "Michael Bolton":http://www.developsense.com/ (no not the singer) is now writing a regular article on some element of testing and applying to a specific context and these have so far proved to be nothing short of excellent. So I may not like the direction but it still maintains high standards.
Final note on test journals, the BCS TESTER which is a periodical aligned with sigist meetings in the UK has moved to electronic publication only. It is worth a read as a train journey magazine (better then the metro for the tube if you are a London based tester) and a good way of keeping up with the event that has a focus over the last couple of years of getting themed speakers, my only criticism is it does not really always align the articles with the next conference and does not always come out in enough time to promote the conference it supports, but a valiant effort and it is one of the best of the interest group journals I have seen, it has won a BCS award, with strong editorial standards and I have yet to read what I would class as an advertorial in there. So worth getting if you have an interest in testing and I suspect it is no longer bound to UK mail addresses.
Finally one already mentioned by Antony Marcano in his test reflections blog is the "Software test and performance magazine":http://www.stpmag.com/ which is proving to be very good and attracting some excellent writers including "Elfriede Dustin":http://www.effectivesoftwaretesting.com . It is available as a pdf for us not based in the USA. It is very good and is concentrating on testing rather then the wider software remit and I have started to favour this over Better Software. Only downside, at 50 odd pages in PDF format it could do with a better reading software for it like zino, but then I guess it would stop being free. I however for one would pay for the improved readability.