Talking about software testing is not easy. It’s not natural! Testing is a “meta” activity. It’s not just a task, but a task that generates new tasks (by finding bugs that should be fixed or finding … [Read more...] about Six Things That Go Wrong With Discussions About Testing
Language
Reinventing Testing: What is Integration Testing? (part 2)
These thoughts have become better because of these specific commenters on part 1: Jeff Nyman, James Huggett, Sean McErlean, Liza Ivinskaia, Jokin Aspiazu, Maxim Mikhailov, Anita Gujarathi, Mike Talks, … [Read more...] about Reinventing Testing: What is Integration Testing? (part 2)
Re-Inventing Testing: What is Integration Testing? (Part 1)
(Thank you, Anne-Marie Charrett, for reviewing my work and helping with this post.) One of the reasons I obsessively coach other testers is that they help me test my own expertise. Here is a … [Read more...] about Re-Inventing Testing: What is Integration Testing? (Part 1)
Exploratory Testing 3.0
[Authors' note: Others have already made the point we make here: that exploratory testing ought to be called testing. In fact, Michael said that about tests in 2009, and James wrote a blog post in … [Read more...] about Exploratory Testing 3.0
History of Definitions of ET
History of the term “Exploratory Testing” as applied to software testing within the Rapid Software Testing methodology space. For a discussion of the some of the social and philosophical issues … [Read more...] about History of Definitions of ET
“Are you listening? Say something!”
[Note: J. Michael Hammond suggests that I note right at the top of this post that the dictionary definition of listen does not restrict the word to the mere noticing of sounds. In the Oxford English … [Read more...] about “Are you listening? Say something!”
A Test is a Performance
Testing is a performance, not an artifact. Artifacts may be produced before, during, or after the act of testing. Whatever they are, they are not tests. They may be test instructions, test results, … [Read more...] about A Test is a Performance
Justifying Real Acceptance Testing
This post is not about the sort of testing people talk about when nearing a release and deciding whether it's done. I have another word for that. I call it "testing," or sometimes final testing or … [Read more...] about Justifying Real Acceptance Testing
To The New Tester
About once a week, I get an email like one of these: Hi James, I’m from Hyderabad, India. I’m working as a Testing Engineer and doing Manual Testing from the Last 1 Year. I want to know what are … [Read more...] about To The New Tester
A Public Service Announcement About Exploratory Testing
[Updated: I revamped and added some more examples to the list.] I got this message from Oliver Vilson, today: Oliver V.: hi James. Just had a chat with Helena_JM. She reminded me something... don't … [Read more...] about A Public Service Announcement About Exploratory Testing