Context-driven testing
The short and the long of IT: two videotaped presentations
Submitted by Erik Petersen on Tue, 14/10/2008 - 11:40. context-driven testing | design & development | development methodology | functional testing | test automationSince the middle of the year, I’ve presented and facilitated about 12 hours of sessions at 2 traditional and 3 open space conferences, plus a Googleplex visit. Two presentations are now on video, both filmed on the other side of the world from my usual location of Melbourne, Australia.
A lightning talk (at the functional tools workshop held before Agile 08 in Toronto, Canada) called Shades of Green discusses how the “green” passing tests of functional automation may not be as green as they seem. Note the static pose to stay within camera range, compensated for by the wildly waving arm. And yes, the audience was not limited to a leg and a foot.
An order of magnitude longer at around 50 minutes, a Google Tech Talk (filmed at the San Francisco Googleplex) called 80:20 Rules! Building Software Smarter looks at formal and informal ways to get significant improvements in creating software, including various puzzles and questions for viewers. I had looked at some tech talks by other people I know, and they had been watched around 1000 times over a year or so. It looks like I may hit that mark only a few days after the video was posted which is great. I hope my talk inspires people to build their software smarter. Can I turn “shades of green” into a similar talk? Probably not!
Latest Column -- Software Testers are not helpless
Submitted by sbarber on Sun, 05/10/2008 - 06:20. context-driven testing | functional testing | metaphors | people issues | perspectivesMy latest column...
During a coffee break at a class the other week, I overheard the following comment from one student to another:
Tester: "This stinks! All of my automated test scripts are broken and I can't seem to get the tool to work now that the developers have enabled Secure Sockets Layer. I'm going to have to work through the weekend."
I know that it's generally considered rude to eavesdrop, and ruder still to comment on a conversation you weren't invited to, but I figured that since I was teaching the class I'd be forgiven. Besides, I simply couldn't help myself.
Read the rest of the column.
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- Scott Barber
- President & Chief Technologist, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
- Executive Director, Association for Software Testing
- Co-Author, Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications
- "If you can see it in your mind...
- you will find it in your life."
Lessons learned from building a house.
Submitted by Ainars Galvans on Wed, 17/09/2008 - 14:37. context-driven testing | metaphorsLatest Column -- Avoid "Center of the Universe Syndrome"
Submitted by sbarber on Tue, 19/08/2008 - 06:03. context-driven testing | general software testing | metaphors | perspectivesMy latest column cautioning testers not to think they are the center of the development team's universe http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/tip/0,289483,sid92_gci1325828,00.html.
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- Scott Barber
- President & Chief Technologist, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
- Executive Director, Association for Software Testing
- Co-Author, Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications
- "If you can see it in your mind...
- you will find it in your life."
5 Questions with Scott Barber by a Braidy Tester
Submitted by sbarber on Wed, 06/08/2008 - 07:29. context-driven testing | general software testing | industry recognition | other online resources | performance testing | perspectivesI recently had the honor of being interviewed by Michael Hunter, a Braidy Tester, for Dr. Dobbs Portal. Check it out: 5 Questions with Scott Barber.
- --
- Scott Barber
- President & Chief Technologist, PerfTestPlus, Inc.
- Executive Director, Association for Software Testing
- Co-Author, Performance Testing Guidance for Web Applications
- "If you can see it in your mind...
- you will find it in your life."
Latest Column -- Inspired by taking AST's Bug Advocacy Class
Submitted by sbarber on Fri, 04/07/2008 - 05:54. bug tracking/incident management | context-driven testing | functional testing | heuristics | other online resources | perspectives | project management | test managementSoftware testing is improved by good bug reporting
I recently completed (successfully, I might add) the second of the Association for Software Testing's all online, free to members Black Box Software Testing course. Each of these courses is four weeks in length. I've been involved with this program since years before it became a program, and I am an instructor for the first course in the series, called Foundations. For this course, called Bug Advocacy, I was a student.
Testing Lessons From Civil Engineering
Submitted by sbarber on Sat, 21/06/2008 - 07:13. context-driven testing | development methodology | events | functional testing | general software testing | heuristics | patterns | perspectives | test analysisBelow is the paper I submitted as a prologue to an experience report, discussion, and (hopefully) additional research that I'm presenting for the first time during:
Registration for CAST 2008 now open!
Submitted by sbarber on Fri, 16/05/2008 - 04:48. context-driven testing | events | functional testing | general software testing | industry recognition | other online resources | perspectives | test management
The 3rd Annual Conference of the Association of Software Testing (CAST) 2008
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 14-16, 2008
Beyond the Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Software Testing
Keynote Presentations by Gerald M. Weinberg,
Cem Kaner, Robert Sabourin, and Brian Fisher
Tutorials by Gerald M. Weinberg, Scott Barber, Hung Nguyen, and Julian Harty
The Association for Software Testing is pleased to announce its third annual conference (CAST 2008), to be held July 14-16. The meeting will be held in Toronto, Canada, a city which features enormous diversity in culture, businesses, educational institutions, and the arts. Toronto is the perfect location for a conference on this year’s theme: "Beyond the Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Software Testing".
You can view the most recent brochure here, and you can see the conference program here.


