Better Software Magazine Articles

Crash Course in Proficient Presenting

Ben has to make a presentation at the next all-hands meeting. It'll be his very first presentation, and just thinking about it has sent him into a panic. Fortunately, he has the support of an experienced speaker and coach who offers advice and encouragement to help him become a proficient, panic-free presenter.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
GUT Instinct

Whether or not a unit test is considered good is not simply about what it tests: It is also very much about "how" it tests. Is the test readable and maintainable? Does it define the expected behavior or merely assume it? To be sustainable, the style of a unit test is just as important as the style of any other code. Perhaps a little surprisingly, the most commonly favored test partitioning style does not meet these expectations.

Kevlin Henney's picture Kevlin Henney
Understanding Software Performance Testing Part 1

Most people don't fully understand the complexities and scope of a software performance test. Too often performance testing is assessed in the same manner as functional testing and, as a result, fails miserably. In this four-part series we will examine what it takes to properly plan, analyze, design, and implement a basic performance test. This is not a discussion of advanced performance techniques or analytical methods; these are the basic problems that must be addressed in software performance testing.

Dale Perry's picture Dale Perry
Off the Trails

A focused approach toward testing a product is important, but sometimes we discover information that we didn't anticipate at all. One of the key skills in testing is dynamically managing our focus; sharpening it sometimes and widening it at other times. If we vary our approaches, we might find something surprising and broaden our coverage.

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton
Taming the Headless Beast: A Proven Strategy for Testing Web Services

The benefits of Web services are becoming widely demonstrated and accepted. However, these benefits are not without their own challenges. How can you enter data and verify the response of a system without a GUI? Are you ready to tame this headless beast?

David Fern's picture David Fern
Risk-based Testing in Action

Risk-based testing allows project teams to focus their limited test efforts on the areas of the product that really matter, based on the likelihood of bugs in those areas and the impact of bugs should they exist. By using risk priority to sequence test cases and allocate test effort, test teams can also increase their chances of finding bugs in priority order and allow for risk-based test triage if necessary.

Rex Black
Lucky and Smart

Charles Darwin was certainly a great scientist, but his career and his discoveries were also strongly influenced by serendipity and luck. What could this great explorer and scientist teach us about testing?

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton
Lessons Learned in Close Quarters Combat

Few would think that the tactics employed by military and law-enforcement Special Forces to breach buildings under siege bears any relation to software project teams. After a number of weekends training with ex-military and ex-law-enforcement Special Forces—just for fun—Antony Marcano draws a surprising parallel between the dynamics of modern Special Forces "room-clearing" methods and the dynamics of modern software development teams.

Antony Marcano's picture Antony Marcano
Cover or Discover?

Excellent testing isn't just about covering the "map"–it's also about exploring the territory, which is the process by which we discover things that the map doesn't cover.

Michael Bolton's picture Michael Bolton
The One-Hour Regression Test

If a customer asked you to demonstrate to him, within an hour, that your newest software is ready for use, what tests would you run? Are these the same tests that you are now performing in your first hour of regression testing? They should be.

Steven Woody's picture Steven Woody

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