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TRANSLATING TESTER-SPEAK INTO PLAIN ENGLISH

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Simple Explanations for 8 Testing Buzzwords

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Is the website going to be ready for Black Friday?

Well, we’re in the middle of crowdsourcing tests for

likely user scenarios. Sanity checks have gone well but we haven’t run a full automated regression yet. Plus, Jimmy is going through some exploratory

work now.

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!??!?!

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What just happened? HAS SOMEONE

ELSE’S TESTING LINGO EVER MADE YOU FEEL THIS WAY?

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If not…

Maybe you make people feel like this!

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TECH IS FILLED WITH BUZZWORDS

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YOU RUN INTO TECHNICAL JARGON EVERYWHERE YOU GO

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INDUSTRIES HAVE BUZZWORDS

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COMPANIES HAVE BUZZWORDS

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EVEN PEOPLE ON THE SAME DEV TEAM HAVE THEIR OWN BUZZWORDS

Dev  QA

Ops

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Crowdsource Cloud

Provisioning  Pluggable architecture

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TESTING BUZZWORDS

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WHEN YOU ARE READY TO RELEASE…

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ALL YOU WANT TO KNOW IS…

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WILL IT WORK?

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AND CAN YOU TRUST THE ANSWER YOU’RE TOLD?

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BUT WHAT DOES ALL *THIS* MEAN?

Testing as a Servi

ce

Smoke Testing

Crowdsourced Testing

Continuous Integration

Test Automation

Sanity Check

Exploratory Testing

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WE’RE ABOUT TO BREAK IT DOWN FOR YOU

Testing as a Servi

ce

Smoke Testing

Crowdsourced Testing

Continuous Integration

Test Automation

Exploratory Testing

Sanity Check

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CROWDSOURCED TESTING

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1. CROWDSOURCED TESTING

It’s like Kickstarter… but for testing

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1. CROWDSOURCED TESTING

Some hold a load-testing party

Others ask fellow testers to “attack” your server en masse.

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1. CROWDSOURCED TESTING

It’s not terribly predictable, and doesn’t scale very far, but for the right cases it can be extremely effective.

It’s also a great way to get a community aware of what you are building.

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TESTING AS A SERVICE

a.k.a. TaaSa.k.a. On-Demand Testing

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2. TESTING AS A SERVICE

Outsourced testing services, where a 3rd party takes your script and executes a bunch of testing on your behalf.

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2. TESTING AS A SERVICE

Suitable for:

•  Unique environments•  Short-term bursts of specialized activity•  3rd-party verification (security, audits)

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2. TESTING AS A SERVICE

TaaS providers may operate with heavy automation in a well-equipped lab, or they

may be crowdtesting experts.

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SMOKE TESTING

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3. SMOKE TESTING

Back in the day… this was pretty literal.

Today, smoke testing is a cursory, preliminary system check. A gatekeeper.

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3. SMOKE TESTING

Smoke testing checks the basics:

•  Does it start?•  Does it run?•  Can a user log in?•  Can a user execute a transaction?•  Can the administrator view the dashboard?

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3. SMOKE TESTING

Because when you kick off a long series of tests and go home for the night, you

don’t want the system to crash 5 minutes after you leave.

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SANITY CHECK

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4. SANITY CHECK

This is similar to a smoke test, but different.

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4. SANITY CHECK

Smoke tests•  Ensure the software is stable•  Test core functionality•  Are automated and repeated

Sanity checks•  Validate new features or fixed bugs•  Check that changes are actually there•  Are ad-hoc and unscripted

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4. SANITY CHECK

Sanity checks make sure you are testing what you think you are testing.

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REGRESSION TESTING

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5. REGRESSION TESTING

Don’t get confused: this is not stats class.

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5. REGRESSION TESTING

Did we create more bugs than we fixed?

Does everything that worked yesterday still

work today?

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“5. REGRESSION TESTING

When I think about regression testing, I think about any testing that involves the reuse of tests (manual or automated) or test ideas (regression charters for example — a regression test does not necessarily need to be the exact same test) to manage the risks of change. This could include testing for bug fixes, testing to make sure a bug fix didn’t break something else.

Mike Kelly http://michaeldkelly.com

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TEST AUTOMATION

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Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.

Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

6. TEST AUTOMATION

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QA used to be all about manual testing & finding bugs.

Today, modern QA organizations are coders, who make computers do this work for them.

Test automation improves scale, quality, efficiency – you name it!

6. TEST AUTOMATION

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Many people think test automation is limited to functional testing. Not true.

More and more, test automation applies to many other areas like load & performance testing – automatically validating that software behaves well under load and stress.

6. TEST AUTOMATION

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CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

a.k.a. “CI”

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7. CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

This is one of the most profound changes to the software development

process to happen in past decade.

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7. CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

CI relies heavily on automated testing. Every time code is checked in, a large test suite is run to make sure nothing is broken.

CI ensures a consistent level of high quality software, avoiding large disruptions that break builds for days at a time.

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7. CONTINUOUS INTEGRATION

CI is a change to the organization that requires a high degree of:– Collaboration– Communication– Transparency– Automation– Teamwork

That’s why strong teams love it!

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EXPLORATORY TESTING

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8. EXPLORATORY TESTING

Coined by Cem Kaner in 1983, but still not well-understood.

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8. EXPLORATORY TESTING

Many people think it’s ad-hoc testing, but actually it’s an approach that is concisely described as simultaneous learning.

While methodically test a product, the tester learns how it behaves, and identifies its strengths and weaknesses.

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“8. EXPLORATORY TESTING

A style of software testing that emphasizes the personal freedom and responsibility of the individual tester to continually optimize the quality of his or her work by treating test-related learning, test design, test execution, and test result interpretation as mutually supportive activities that run parallel throughout the project.

Cem Kaner

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THAT WASN’T SO BAD. WAS IT?

Testing as a Servi

ce

Smoke Testing

Crowdsourced Testing

Continuous Integration

Test Automation

Sanity Check

Exploratory Testing

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Wow! Thanks!

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http://www.neotys.com/webcast/Performance-Testing-Horror-Stories.html

PERFORMANCE TESTING

Horror Stories

SEE THE FULL WEBINAR

TALES FROM THE SCRIPT

As the former manager of a load and performance team, Brad Stoner retells a number of haunting stories from his days in the field that carry insightful lessons learned about load and performance testing.

Watch this webinar and learn how to prevent problems from coming back to haunt you!