Better Software Magazine Articles

Virtual Realities: Best Practices and Common Pitfalls of Adopting Virtual Lab Automation

Virtual Lab Automation (VLA) is a ground-breaking technology that promises quantifiable benefits for application development and test organizations, including faster lab deployment, less manual setup work, greater resource flexibility and utilization, and easier reproduction of defects. In this article, Skytap's Ian Knox discusses the best practices and common pitfalls associated with adopting a VLA solution. In addition, he outlines the steps to evaluate a virtualization solution for your test organization and provides further resources to help you get started.

Ian Knox's picture Ian Knox
Six Thinking Hats for Testers

Fresh ideas can provoke us into discovering great insights: Six thinking hats did just that for Julian Harty, who then applied them to software testing with great success. He, and tens of others, has found the thinking hats easy to use, practical, and very productive. Read on to find out how you can apply them to your work.

Julian Harty
A Map by Any Other Name

A mapping illustrates a relationship between two things. In testing, a map might look like a road map, but it might also look like a list, a chart, a table, or a pile of stories. We can use any of these to help us think about test coverage.

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton
The Tester Who Came In from the Cold

Traditionally, relationships between testing and coding teams often bordered on frosty. But the wall has started to come down, especially in organizations that have embraced agile principles, values, and practices.

Lisa Crispin's picture Lisa Crispin
Got You Covered

Excellent testing starts by questioning the mission. So, the first step when we are seeking to evaluate or enhance the quality of our test coverage is to determine for whom or what we're determining coverage.

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton
Testing Around the World

These days outsourcing is a pretty familiar concept in this industry. Has globalization hit your company yet? Naomi Mitsumori has been involved in sending testing work offshore, and she has six suggestions that can help you successfully manage the transition.

Naomi Mitsumori
Proving Our Worth

Testers exist to provide others with valuable information. But can you prove that your work contributes enough to justify the cost of testing? Lee Copeland seeks to end the anti-tester antagonism found in many organizations, which he says comes from a basic misunderstanding of the real purpose of testing.

Lee Copeland's picture Lee Copeland
Help Wanted: Hiring a Software Tester With an Agile Attitude

What can you do to ensure you hire a tester with an agile attitude? Lisa Crispin explains the approach her team used to find a new tester with both the right skills and the right attitude.

Lisa Crispin's picture Lisa Crispin
Where in the World?—Is Your Test Strategy Multicultural?

Good software travels far and wide, and for rapid testers that means one of their goals is to discover risks associated with the product's operating differently with respect to some distinct locale. That's why Michael Bolton says "localizability" is preferred "internationalization," because the new target market may not be in a different country at all.

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton
Support for Testing, Testing for Support

Where supportability and testability fit in the Quality Criteria dimension of the Heuristic Test Strategy Model.

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton

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