Processes, Best Practises and Open Ended Questions...

Background

Recently I had attended one automation test conference in Pune...Of Course it was sponsored by my employer...;-)
This conference talked a lot about test automation frameworks and associated best practises. It has also one session on test process maturity and test process review measurements.

Initial Thought Process
I was very happy to listen to all these best practises and talks on how test organization can review and improve on its test management processes. But when I started to draw an analogy with the current processes and automation work I was doing...I surprised to see that we are not following any standard guidelines, best practises of automation and still all of our projects are successful to this date. This started triggering lots of questions like why there is an hype in using Best Practises in IT, why there's so much emphasize on test process improvements even though its not being followed nor even suited to most of the projects context...

Discussion and Findings

I started looking out for answers and so talked to different people in the test field just to get an idea of how they have/are implementing/following the standard test guidelines for given automation or implementing test process. Did they really find it useful or they found its outdated and no longer applicable to current testing requirements/projects? I looked for the answers for "why are they using these guidelines?" and got a loud answer saying "These are being standard practises based upon experience of other projects". Few of them followed these blindly even though they were not knowing why should they follow it. Few of them said its compliance for effective test project management so they followed the suite. That was a poor answer!
Few of the folks has not followed the same path. They tweaked the processes as per their requirements and needs and completed the delivery on time. That's smart approach they used. Those are the people who believes in project context and application of processes as per its needs. I am trying to get more details how to do this and will have a post on this soon.

Open Questions:

• How do I know what is best suited practise for my current assignment?
• Whats definition of Best Practises? Does it help me in long run?
• Which process/skills will make my project successful?

Final Thought[Still looking for inputs to complete it...]

Change is the constant keyword which applies to Life and so is to software development and testing. I am not sure how these so called best practises will help us to do better software development as ways to build software's development and testing are changing frequently.

Do you have any better input?

Latest Challenging Stuff....

Oops...Its been while i said i will be back on blogspot and never did it....Reason...its same old story friends...busy in work, work and only work....

Recently i have been consulting on one of the load testing project. Word consulting is more suitable to be used in corporate world but to me its another chance to get more insight into ever challenging field of performance engineering. Every time i look at these latest performance engineering practises like for upcoming web services testing or performance testing of Ajax based projects;i feel the way IT and performance measurements are changing...I will writing detail post on all these experiences later....

To Success in any Performance Testing project one need to have just 3 things ;-)

1. Understand the “Bible for Performance Testing” http://www.codeplex.com/PerfTesting
2. Read Performance Testing Guidelines from http://www.codeplex.com/PerfTestingGuide
3. Master any one tool like Load Runner, Rational PT..Robot, MS-ACT..etc.

Sounds simple right…What are you waiting for then.. Happy performance testing J

Back in Action...Second Inning...

I am back again after so many days and so long time. Yes you read it correctly...I am back again in this blogger world with another inning.

I have been asked many times about this blog's state being inactive and reason for stopping the writings...Well I would only say, life is really busy in corporate IT world. Being working for services based IT industry, it takes lots of balancing act to manage between personal and professional life. One has to always sets some priorities and objectives from long term perspective. Then there are some tangible goals that one wants to set and achieve. Being in QA and getting benefited of structured way of doing things...i decided to keep other activities[including social networking,blogging..etc] on hold for quite a long time.


Last few months were really fantastic in terms of learning new QA things which includes QA Management, QA Consultancy and exposure to small medium companys higher management thought process. Though I have focused very little time in testers/QA's core job of testing in last few months but I have got greater insights into these areas at Management level. This includes Different ways of QA Project execution, Product based QA project planning, Resource Management...etc.


Signing Off

I will be soon start writing about all these experiences in this space. Stay tuned for more updates on DefectSpace....After all its all about QAing life..isn't it?

Quest for latest Testing Knowledge

Now a day’s lots of developments are happening in QA/Software Testing. As a software tester, I always look for the new ideas/education.

Today I came across one very interesting blog of Cem Kaner Updating some core concepts in software testing. This post reminds me of my academic education years. Things like the way we write the academic examinations. We take theory classes and teacher explains us different approaches, theory behind the subject and solutions to the predefined problems. We then answer the examination. Key point to notice here, we answer the exam, the way we have been trained.It seems we are still repeating the same Learn & Apply pattern in Testing/QA field. We get the concepts from Testing Books or organization's defined process(s) and follow the same on testing assignments. I haven't seen a change in these things. They are followed as it is as defined by great testing Guru's like Cem Kamer/James Bach or based on inputs from few experienced testers of your organization.

I am just wondering what new development is going on this area...Any improvement on foundation of software testing.

Signing Off

If you are the one like me, looking for most recent QA/testing happenings, Read the post Updating some core concepts in software testing.

Unexpected End of Good Project

Yes...You guessed it right, I am talking about CW project assignment which was closed down last month.Despite shown good QA results and working hard for the client,one fine day we came to know about the project closure news.
Closure news was in air for sometime and I also got to sense the same from the situation.I was still in hope of QA work to be continued seeing the QA work load and challenges to release OXXXS on time.But unfortunately it didn't work.

Time to Introspect
Unexpected end of this project has triggered array of questions to everyone.As a Analyst I tried to look into the situation and tried to find out what went wrong and where did it failed to shape up the already built relationship.Whether its we (the Offshore team) who didn't perform well or Its Client who failed to take advantage of such a good QA team.Regarding performance of the team so far we never received of any negative comment/feedback from the client.So does it mean Client has failed to take advantage of QA team.
I think it may be due to different and non standard SDLC/work modules they follows.It may be the failure of typical Offshore Development Module(ODC) which didn't work for either parties.Though client claims they follows Agile methodology but in reality they don't.
One of my good QA friend says..."it only takes one man with a vision" and to add to it.."It takes good amount of skilled resources to achieve that vision".
I still remember the starting days with this assignment where everyone on board were new to the system.Initially we started implementing testing process which was missing in Client's QA department.We documented each and every feature of the System Under Testing as a part of learning process.Our first assignment was huge success wherein we worked long hours,put up lots of hard work in to the product's testing.

Lessons learnt
Requirements can change at any given time as and when needed by Business. We learnt to write the smart test cases which were came handy for regression testing.
The greatest thing we learnt from this project assignment is Planning is very important.Planning should be integral part of each and every stage of SDLC irrespective of SDLC modules one follows.Sadly this is never been realized by the client.We also learnt working independently and at the same time ensuring to meet projects common goal of Quality product.

Signing Off
It was such a wonderful experience working with different personalities(Advertising Guru's), Knowing great product idea's and also the knowing US working culture partially though not completly. May be this kind of experience will be useful for my own startup.

It was really sad moment for all of us who worked on this asignment. It was also very difficult for me to explain resources about the reasons behind project closure.Thanks to Management who supports us now and during the project tenure as well.

Thanking all those who worked and help to make it a BIG success.


Special thanks to those who actually didn't work at all or little worked and still able to influence the Client Management's decision.

PS: I am unable to write all the things like strategy used for the client or its product in detail due to information security policy.If you have any query regarding solutions and would like to know more, email me.

My Experience of taking ISEB Exam

Last week I received results of ISEB/ISTQB foundation certificate in Software Testing. I passed the exam with flying colours As i am having experience in sofware testing with CMMI Level 5 company, I thought passing the ISEB/ISTQB exam won't be difficult. But I was wrong. When I took the refresh course and looked at the sample questions then I realized it requires both practial and theoritical knowledge to give the right answers for complex questions.

How did It Started

Acquiring professional qualification in software testing was on the pages since I started working as a Quality Assurance Engineer. I gave serious thought to get one such qualitifcation when my manager set up the goal of getting one certification during mid appraisal meeting. I was looking for the basic level testing qualitification and chose to appear for ISEB exam of BCS UK.

Choosing between Public Exam & Course Provider

Though ISEB offers the examiniation through Prometric centers as Public examination, I decided to go with training of 3 days duration. I thought of refreshing the basics of software testing,learning testing as per BCS->ISEB & ISTQB standards.(Note:-There's difference in methodology followed by european and american board of testing like CSTE)

During Training

Training was of great help to understand all the concepts followed in software testing. I was under impression that as I am working for CMMI Level 5 company and following most of the QA Process(s) so I am practicing most of the testing methodologies. During the course duration I realized that there are still few area(s) which we don't practice and needs to be implemented as a part of organizational testing process.

Overall it was a good training which started my thinking process. I was able to map my experience with therory easily. So that's the another reason getting good score in ISEB exam. ;-)

My thoughts on Certifications

Issue of certified professions and its necessicity in software industry is always a debatable point. Some expert says knowledge is important and some says Certification is required. I was also of opinion as Certification is optional and only experience & knowledge is required. But It all changed after taking ISEB/ISTQB exam.

Certified Professional means candidate has/can demonstate solid undertstanding of underlying technology/area. It can also be used as entry crieteria or measurement of Canditate's eligibilty for senior postions.

Certifications examination offers great help to professional to understand and do the job effectvelty in the related technology/area. The only important thing is that, certification body needs to take care of course contents. Course contents should always be up to date with latest trends in the industry and technology/area.

Signing Off

I had a great learning experience with ISEB/ISTQB Foundation certificate in Software Testing. Its helping me to perform my tasks effectively. I would like you all QA/Software Tester's to take any certification exam and Feel the difference.