EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2010 presentation on "Presentation Title" by "Speaker Name". See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/

1. 1
Traditional Testing R.I.P.
Alternative Testing
Do We Have to Test Like We Always Have?
by Julian Harty
14 Nov 2010
2
Today's climate
We live in an era where quality has
been replaced by speed - people are
trained to expect little to none, and
are perfectly happy getting it.
In such world, testing for quality
must redefine itself and find a new
purpose.
Goranka Bjedov (Google)

2. 3
Cost of “doing the right thing”
“the cost of "doing it right" is far
higher than the cost of only responding
when someone does find a problem”
John Viega: CTO McAfee: The myths of security
4
Business Reality...
Police, private security experts and
internet service providers said on
Wednesday they had shut down the
Mariposa botnet, one of the largest
networks of hacked personal computers
discovered.
It had siphoned off financial and
other information from inside half of
the largest 1,000 US companies.
March 3rd, 2010
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f6960e5a-2711-11df-b84e-00144feabdc0.html

3. 5
Are Testers impotent?
 Why didn't any of the testers
find the security flaw(s)?
 What can we do to improve our
testing competences?
6
Why test at all?
 Testing slows projects down
 It can mislead, or divert
attention from other, more
important work
 Most testing is futile!
 What's the risk of failure?

4. 7
Some impacts of “testing”
 Incorrect diagnosis
 Incorrect changes
 Irrelevant bugs
 Still unfixed bugs
(what we know could hurt us...)
8
Testers as second-class citizens
“Anyone can test”
 Therefore, one tester is as good
as another, and no/little better
than 'anyone'
 Therefore, testers are nothing
special...

5. 9
Speed is the competitive
advantage
Faster, iterative, releases
Testing for
Productivity vs Quality
10
What do you actually do?
(when you think you're testing...)

6. 11
Checking vs. Testing
Checking Is Confirmation
Testing Is Exploration and Learning
Checks Are Machine-Decidable; Tests
Require Sapience
http://www.developsense.com/blog/category/testing-vs-checking/
12
Some outputs of testing
 Data
 Error logs
Can we get these from other sources?

8. 15
Use Canaries
 What are they good for?
16
Canaries
 What are they good for?
 We expect some to die
R.I.P.
Cheep
(2010)

9. 17
Automate the Checking
 When practical, create automated
'tests' that check:
 Results
 Data
 Logs
 The state of the software
18
Good uses of automated tests?
 T.D.D.
RED
REFACTOR GREEN
 Continuous Builds
 Regression Tests
 Security Tests

10. 19
Contributory Success Factors
(for 'not' testing)
 Quality and Speed of feedback
 Perception of failure
 Time to address and fix issues
 Risk and cost of failure
 The Art of Customer Relationships
20
What about the Testers?
 “Traditional Testing” is waning
 Change brings Opportunity
 We can choose to apply our skills
to more valuable & rewarding work

11. 21
Now what?
What can we do with all the
redundant testers?
22
Strengths of Testers
 Recognizing there may be alternatives
 Produces answers sooner
 Reduce doubt / Increase confidence
 Advocate for: bugs, users, developers, software
 Be Trusted Advisors
 Debunk mysteries & superstitions
 Test for productivity (better, faster, cheaper)
 Test for quality (of the end product)
 Be disruptive; yet likeable :)

12. 23
Test to provide answers sooner
 A good reason to test is to
provide answers sooner
 We need to decide:
 What the aims are
 What to measure, and how
 How to run the test (environment)
 Then we need to: run the tests,
analyze the results, & present
our assessment clearly
See: Gordon Bragg & Design of Experiments
24
Testing as a Leadership skill
 Probe
 Experiment
 Execute
 Decide
 Move on...

13. 25
What now?
 Rethink what you do
 Consider:
 The value you offer
 The value you deliver
 Your competencies
 How you work
 Who you work for
 Be willing to give up any
“kindergarten testing”
26
Facets of Software Testing
Software
design
10
8
6
4
2
0
Testing
techniques
Test automation
Industry
knowledge
Ability to apply
Product
knowledge
stuff
People skills

14. 27
Improving in your current role
Sapient Testing:Engage your brain
when testing software
http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/99
http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/358
 Trinity Testing
http://julianharty-softwaretesting.blogspot.com
 Use automation appropriately
28
Honing our Testing Skills
 Beta Testing for other software
“Be a better tester, be a Beta tester”
(Alan Richardson)
 Work for a crowd-sourcing company
 Mob4hire
 uTest
 Learn from others
 Pairing
 Exercises

15. 29
Possible new roles?
 Technical Due Diligence
 Disruptive Agent of Change
 Chief Engineer
 Spy?
30
Read on...
 Gordon M. Bragg: Principles of Experimentation and Measurement
ISBN 0-13-701169-5
 Lloyd Roden: Trusted Advisors
http://www.stickyminds.com/s.asp?F=S7849_CP_2
 Alan Richardson: Be a better tester, be a Beta tester
http://www.compendiumdev.co.uk/eurostar2003/default.php
 Julian Harty: Trinity Testing
http://julianharty-softwaretesting.blogspot.com
 Dr Stuart Reid + Julian Harty
Non Functional Testing (NFT) http://www.commercetest.com/
P.T.M.M. http://julianharty-softwaretesting.blogspot.com
 Tom Van Vleck: Three Questions About Each Bug You Find
http://www.multicians.org/thvv/threeq.html

16. 31
Q & A
Now?
Later?
julianharty@gmail.com