Update on May 20 Tornado

Hi Folks,

Thanks to everyone who has contacted me concerning the tornadoes here today. Thankfully, we were spared, barely.

I was at a client in OKC to attend at 2:00 meeting, which was canceled. It was looking stormy, so I decided to head home. About when I arrived home, the tornado sirens started to sound.

As the tornado approached, I was on the back porch watching it come directly toward us. Just like May 3rd, 1999 all over again. So, I hustled Janet and our two pugs into the car and drove north. We don't have a storm shelter (I think we will soon). The tornado took a turn toward the east, so no damage at our place. But, the loss of life and damage is terrible, especially the children at the school.

(This is a short video I shot from our car. You can see the tornado moving from the right of the screen to the left behind the Homeland store.)

Both our sons and families are fine, although had Ryan (our oldest) and his family not moved 6 years ago, they would have been wiped out and our oldest grandson would have been at the school where the 7 children died.

I don't what it is about Moore. It's like a tornado magnet. It's just really bad here right now. Your prayers are needed.

The people here are tough and resilient. We will rebuild and go on, but the loss of life is the worst part. 51 lives lost as of this writing.

Thanks,

Randy

Update: May 21

Here are some more pictures:

This is the path of the tornado:

Here is what I was looking at on radar on my iPad when I decided it was time to bug out:

Here is a pretty dramatic picture after the first tornado. This is a second lowering. This didn't form into a tornado:

Help With a Survey on Software Test Profesionals

I am working on an article about software testing as a profession. This is a controversial topic to some people and I would like to get your thoughts.

I have created a very short (10-question) survey that will help me write this article. It will only allow 50 respondents, but I would like to invite anyone to participate at:

http://freeonlinesurveys.com/s.asp?sid=prgud68m40uqzws270184
I will share the results and also let you know when the article is out.

Thanks for your help!

Randy

Thoughts on the ISTQB Open Letter

Since it is hard to elaborate a response in 140 characters, I am blogging this. First, full disclosure, I am on the board of directors of the ASTQB and I am a training provider of ISTQB certification courses, as well as over 60 other courses I have written. (I make a small percentage of my income from ISTQB training.) I was also a founding author of the CSTE test certification from QAI. This is from my own perspective and does not represent the views of the ISTQB or ASTQB.

Second, I really believe as testers we have the right and responsibility to ask questions. So my issue is not with the asking of questions. We can still be friends.

I tweeted yesterday that "The open letter to the ISTQB is meaningless." Here's why.

1. The letter fails to distinguish between the ISTQB and the country examination boards (such as the ASTQB, Canadian Testing Board, UKTB, etc.) that write and administer the exams. Therefore, the ISTQB does not write exam questions. To get the answers to the questions about the validity of questions and coefficients, you would have to write such a request to each individual country exam board. The ISTQB may provide a high-level response, but it can't answer the detailed questions posed because it simply doesn't have the information.

2. There are Non-disclosure Agreements in place to protect the intellectual property of each country board and the ISTQB in general. One of the challenges with any exam (ITIL, PMP, etc.) is to keep the contents of the exam confidential as to prevent questions from being passed around. There is a sample exam available on the ASTQB website that gives a flavor of the questions being asked. Kryterion would not release results because they also have confidentiality restrictions.

3. "Have there ever been any problems with the validity of the exams?" This is like asking, "Are you still beating your wife?" Everything has shortcomings. The reason the ASTQB invested in independent exam reviews and measurement was to make the exam as valid as possible.

I agree that the questions on the exam must be a valid reflection of the learning objectives in the syllabus.  As a training provider, I don't know what is on the exam. There is a firm line of separation. I focus on the methods and application as opposed to the brain cram approach.

That's it for now. Gotta get back to the test lab.

Thanks,

Randy

ISTQB Foundation Level Training Coming to Atlanta - June 5 - 7, 2013

We don't conduct many public courses, but are going to host an event in June in Atlanta. If you have been thinking about getting certified in software testing, here's your chance!

The instructor will be Dr. Tauhida Parveen, an authorized ISTQB trainer and author of two testing books. (And a great trainer!)



For more information and to register, click here:
https://www.mysoftwaretesting.com/ISTQB_Foundation_Level_Course_in_Software_Testing_p/ctflpub.htm

We hope to see you there!

Notes from Today's Webinar - Test Data Strategies for ICD-10 Testing

Here are the notes from today's webinar on test data strategies for ICD-10 testing.

Download slides in PDF format.

In this session, Dexter Oliver, Randy Rice and Dr. Tauhida Parveen outlined the importance of test data in ICD-10 testing, and some ways that the test data challenge can be addressed. Getting the right test data is one of the most challenging aspects of any type of testing, but ICD-10 poses unique challenges, such as:

• Which diagnosis codes will need to be included?
• Which business conditions will need to be supported?
• How much data will be needed?
• Where will the data be obtained?
• How will resources be allocated to create test data and perform testing? 

The video will be posted shortly.

Thanks,

Randy

Addressing Test Data Concerns in Your ICD-10 Test Planning

 Thursday, January 31st, 2:00 P.M EST

In this session, Dexter Oliver, Randy Rice and Dr. Tauhida Parveen will outline the importance of test data in ICD-10 testing, and some ways that the test data challenge can be addressed. Getting the right test data is one of the most challenging aspects of any type of testing, but ICD-10 poses unique challenges, such as:

• Which diagnosis codes will need to be included?
• Which business conditions will need to be supported?
• How much data will be needed?
• Where will the data be obtained?
• How will resources be allocated to create test data and perform testing?

We invite you to join Dexter, Randy and Tauhida in this free and informative session to get the right test data in the most efficient ways.

Register Here:

http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=E952DD84834D31

Rolling Up The Year

Hi Friends,

Something I learned from one of my mentors, Jim Rohn, is to reflect at the end of a period of time and think about:

What went well?
What could have been better?
What can we build on?
What can we be thankful for?
What have we learned?

Mr. Rohn talked about the impact this would have over years and even a lifetime. I am convinced this is a big part of gaining true wisdom.

Prolific leadership author and coach, John Maxwell, says he does this on a weekly basis sitting in his hot tub. For me, I tend to reflect more on an annual basis (not in a hot tub).

In my "Becoming an Influential Test Team Leader" tutorial, we discuss this as one of the 15 ways you can add value to your team without spending a lot of money. This really is "low hanging fruit," but we tend to miss it. Even individually, as a leader, this is a good time to think back over the year and roll the lessons into major themes to remember and value.

I would caution you about being too hard on yourself. Sometimes, hard introspection is needed, but we have enough negativity coming our way from the external. Imagine what a coach might be telling you. Not the coach that was always berating you, but the one that you may have found encouraging, yet holding a hard line of accountability.

I don't know how many things you will have on your list. By the way, this is a good time to journal them. (You don't keep a journal? Fix that in 2013!) I typically have about ten to twelve things that stick out over the year. It is interesting to go back several years to see if I really am learning from my personal retrospectives.

In many ways, life and work is a test. So think of this as your annual "test summary report." I hope things went well for you this year. I hope in the areas they didn't go so well, that you find 2013 to be a better year. Inasmuch as things depend on you, I hope you gain the skills and knowledge to excel. In the areas that are circumstance-driven, I hope you will find peace and endurance. I'm pulling for you!

Randy

Cheap Pizza and Software Testing

Yes, pizza and software testing have a relationship, and not in the way you might expect. Of course, pizza is the fuel of any test lab (One of my friends said there were visible rings in one of the test lab tables where pizzas were often set!).

However, my mind is going a different direction.

In our neighborhood, we have several pizza places, some small mom and pop places, some large chains, some franchises. You probably have the same mix in your area. They have varying levels of quality. In fact, the "big name" is the worst by far. The smallest place was the best by far. The word "was" is because they closed this week, which really disappointed me.

What has happened over the years is that the price point for a "large" one topping pizza has reached $5. Anything over that is seen as "too much". Quality isn't a factor, only speed and price. So a race to the bottom has ensued.

Really, at $5 a pie, that's in the frozen pizza range!

I see the same thing in software development and testing. How much is "expensive" for an iPad app? $1.99?  $5.99?  $19.99?

How much is a bug worth? $1, $5, $5,000, $40 Million (If you are Nasdaq!)

How much are testers worth? (What if they really knew your business and were the glue that holds a project together?)

How much is a good developer worth? (What if they were crazy good, not "kings and queens of their domain" and your products were amazing?)

Pizza has become a commodity and unfortunately so has software development, testing and training.

How much is a really good pizza worth to you? I'll bet it's more than $5. How much would you pay in a place like Rome, or with a good friend or loved one?

Cheap pizza, like cheap testing gives a false sense of value. Cheap doesn't necessarily mean bad. However, cheap is often bad.  Value is good outcomes for a reasonable cost.

By the way, I would have gladly paid much more to keep my favorite place open. At this point, I must confess that I am part of the problem whenever I buy things on price over value. It fuels the problem.

As testers and software people, we need to provide value to a market that wants cheap and quick. When we stretch things too thin, we provide little value and even negative value at times.

Now...I know you all will suggest great places for pizza that is not cheap. Feel free. I travel a lot and keep a list. I just need a good place close to me!

I wish you all a very blessed Christmas and a very prosperous and healthy 2013!

Randy

Free Webinar - Three Success Factors Critical to Determining Your ICD-10 Testing Strategy

Thursday, December 20, 2012
2:00 EST - 3:00 EST

Presented by Dexter Oliver of Integritas Solutions and Randy Rice, of Rice Consulting Services, Inc.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has mandated that everyone covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) use the ICD-10 coding standard by October 1, 2014.

This mandate will impact all entities that report and pay claims. This includes hospitals, clinics, insurance companies and physicians. Furthermore, service providers such as medical coding services and other vendors, such as software companies will also be greatly impacted.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services predicts that claim errors will rise to between 6% and 10% of all claims, up from an annual 3% under ICD-9. There are many technical challenges with the ICD-10 conversion because of the breadth and depth of how the classification codes are used in both clinical and business processes throughout the healthcare ecosystem. HIM Managers must partner with their IT organizations to implement solutions as well as develop testing strategies to mitigate the major financial and operational risks associated with this transformation.

In this FREE webinar, you will learn three critical steps to help develop a testing strategy that will help organizations achieve compliance cost effectively.

Register at: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=E951DB80854A30

Book Review – How Google Tests Software

By James A. Whittaker, Jason Arbon, Jeff Carollo

Published Mar 23, 2012 by Addison-Wesley Professional.
Copyright 2012, Dimensions: 7" x 9-1/4", Pages: 320
Edition: 1st
ISBN-10: 0-321-80302-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-321-80302-3

Click to see on Amazon.com

The main question you may be asking is “Why do I care how Google tests software if I’m not a start-up or a development company?” Great question!

While your situation will likely not be the same as Google’s, there is a lot to be learned in how they do things in development and testing. That’s because they seem to have the secret formula in getting features to market quickly and with good quality.

Not only did this book give me ideas about how to make testing software more productive, it can give anyone a perspective of software testing not found anyplace else. Most other books address testing from the perspective of “Here’s how testing should be performed.” This book comes from the angle of “Here’s how we do testing.” There is a big difference.

It is tempting to skip the preface and introduction when reading a book. However, these provide critical context and a good summation of what you can expect to take away from the book.

You will see several perspectives of testing at Google:

First, there is the historical perspective of how Google matured both as a company and test organization.

Second, you will read how James Whittaker, an already accomplished and notable testing guru, joined Google and had to do innovative things of value to carry his weight there.

Third, you will read perspectives by the co-authors and their interviews with developers, testers and managers at Google about their roles and responsibilities.

Finally, the authors outline in complete detail both how Google tests, and why they do things they way they do. Some key takeaways for me were:

·      Using tours as a basis for exploratory testing,
·      The concept of writing a 10-minute test plan,
·      The value of crowdsourcing for testing,
·      Getting maximum value from early testing from test engineers who are developers at their core (People always want to get better testing earlier in projects. This book explains how to do that!),
·      Seeing Google's testing framework in action.

I can highly recommend this book to people who are looking for new ideas to revamp testing processes and organizations.

CTE-XL 3.1.3 - A Big Disappointment

For those of you who have attended my classes and tutorials, you know I have been a big fan of CTE-XL to create test cases with classification trees. This tool has been provided in a free version and pro version by Berner-Mattner in Germany.

In the most recent version of CTE-XL, 3.1.3, the vendor has made virtually every feature except drawing a tree (which you can do with many other free tools) a "professional" option. The pro version is 1,250 Euros per node-locked user, plus VAT. So, the free version is worth what you pay for it. Is the pro version worth the cost? Probably, if you are going to use it a lot and don't plan to deploy it to a lot of users. My issue is, why bother with a "free vs. pro" option if the free version gives little idea of the concept of the tool, which is test generation?

So, it was good while it lasted. For those of you with prior versions installed, stay with them.

Just as an example, here is a tree created in an awesome, free tool called yEd:

You can't generate test cases with yEd, but you can't do that anymore with CTE-XL, either. At least with yEd you can also create flowcharts, UML models and many others.

http://www.yworks.com/en/index.html

In the meantime, I am looking for a good developer and others who would like to join in an effort to develop a similar tool to stay in the Free category of test case generation tools. If interested just comment below.

Thanks!

Randy

Join Us in Supporting Relief Efforts for the Northeast

In Oklahoma, we have experienced the devastating impact of natural disasters, especially tornadoes. Each time we have had a major disaster, people from the Northeast were here to help us. Members of the NYPD and NYFD were here to help after the Murrah Building bombing. Also, the Red Cross and Salvation Army were here for months afterwards in these disasters.

Now it's our turn to return the help.

We are making an initial donation, but ask you to join with us either directly at:

http://blog.salvationarmyusa.org/category/eds/

or by enrolling in an online e-learning course. We are donating 10% each week for all e-learning enrollments. Please understand this is not a sales ploy. It's just our way of helping by sharing what we earn.

http://www.mysoftwaretesting.com/

Thanks!

Randy

Self-Assessments from Becoming an Influential Test Team Leader Tutorial at StarWest 2012

Hi Folks,

I promised the people in my Tuesday tutorial at StarWest 2012 the Word versions of the two self-assessments: One on the people issues in testing and the other on building core competencies in testing. Here they are!

People self-assessment
Core competency self-assessment

Feel free to modify for your own purposes. Thanks to everyone who attended my tutorial. It was a great time!

How to Wow Customers Even When You are Closed

Here I am in Cuchara, Colo, sitting on a boardwalk in 72 degrees and light rain (elevation 8,600 feet above sea level), outside a great little coffee shop, Brewed Awakenings.

Don't you love catchy names?

Unfortunately, almost every store in the village, including the coffee shop is closed because the Summer season is over. The owner of the shop (at least I think she is the owner  :-)  ) walked by a few minutes ago, unlocked the door to go in and I heard her say to someone, "I just need to get the cinnamon rolls."  (They have AWESOME ones.)

Me being vocal self, said "Sure, I'll take one," and just laughed. A few minutes later, out she comes with one on a paper plate. Keep in mind, the shop is closed!

I said, "Please let me pay you." She said, "Oh, just come back in sometime."

Isn't that great?  I'll be back tomorrow morning for sure!

So, I'll just finish my awesome cinnamon roll and wish everyone a great weekend.

Software Defect of the Week - Nasdaq Crash

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/20/facebook-ipo-nasdaq_n_1531869.html

This one makes me go, "Hmmm."

The quote that got my attention was, "Greifeld [Nasdaq Chief Executive Robert Greifeld] also said extensive testing that was performed ahead of the deal failed to spot this problem."

I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard or said that.

In other reports, Greifeld alluded to coding problems.


"Nasdaq’s systems fell into a “loop” that prevented the second-largest U.S. stock venue operator from opening the shares on schedule following the $16 billion deal, he [Geeifeld] said."

http://www.moneynews.com/FinanceNews/Nasdaq-CEO-Facebook-shares/2012/05/21/id/439717

Just a few thoughts:

1.  This is a good example of the public impact of a software defect.

2.  The CEO took the heat, publicly (I shudder to think of what was going on in the testing group), which shows that when the stuff really hits the fan it is senior management that talks to the reporters.

3.  Life went on, but the public perception of the Nasdaq trading system has been eroded, at least for a while.

4.  I'll bet that the performance test team gets all the test resources they request. (If things are really that simple.) 

 

I guess the part that troubles me is if the general public is so accustomed to software failure that it's not seen as anything more than a "hiccup" or "glitch."

I would like to hear your thoughts on this.

How to Be a Software Testing Rock Star

It was great to make this presentation to the Utah QA User Group!  Thanks to everyone who was there.

Here are the slides in PDF:

http://www.softwaretestingtrainingonline.com/cc/public_pdf/How%20to%20Be%20a%20Testing%20Rock%20Star2.pdf

Here is the recorded session:

https://www.fuzemeeting.com/replay_meeting/4402ce5c/2379285


Enjoy!


Randy

Software Defects of the Week

This has been one of crazy weeks, but I have to write about these two incidents. I'm one of those people who, like a bug collector, love to study these problems to learn from them for future prevention.

The first one happened right here in my home city of Oklahoma City. We have this awesome NBA team, The Thunder, that is in the playoffs.

When the tickets went on sale online, some people in Oklahoma City were not allowed to buy a ticket. They received an error message to the effect they didn't live in Oklahoma, Kansas or Arkansas. OK....Turns out, there is a business rule that said priority for tickets go to people who live in the area. Fine. But, these people live in OKC. What happened was that the front office used a file from the U.S. Postal Service to validate the zip codes from customers. I mean, who better to know which zip codes are valid, right? However, there were a few zip codes missing.

This brings up an interesting and common testing problem. How does one find such a defect? In this case, it's a conundrum.

You could say, use equivalence partitioning and test each zip code as a class. But, how do you identify all the zip codes? Especially, if the postal service info is incomplete to begin with! Plus, that would take a long time to do manually. Automation could do the job quickly, but you need a secondary source to compare the correct codes.

My solution would be to either 1) do an automated test using the known customer zip codes (like from a mailing list), or 2) do a manual test that samples from the customer list. This still would not assure the defect would have been found.

In the end, the team did the right thing and sold the affected people seats at a discounted price, once they learned of the problem. Now, perhaps, hopefully, this can be a test case for the future!

The second issue occurred in Auburn, California. Here's the account according to NPR:

"Traffic jams in California - well, they're nothing new. But one recent tie-up on Interstate 80 was noteworthy since it was caused by a computer glitch. The Placer County court accidentally summoned 1,200 people to jury duty on the same morning. Taking their duty seriously, residents tried to be on time at 8:00 a.m. and were in a line of traffic with other would-be jurors. The court apologized but said a real jury summons could be coming soon."

"We apologize profusely," court executive officer Geoff Brandt said of the error.

My take: I'm skeptical. Sounds like there could be some human error involved! I mean, if I input the wrong selection criteria in for the summons, I wouldn't want to take the blame either.

I doubt we will hear of the root cause, but it would be interesting to know.

Keep taking those backups!

Mac Test Automation Tool

I had a brain freeze today during my live online interview with James Lyndsay. D'oh! The cheap Mac test automation tool that slipped my mind at the time is called "Fake". It's $29 USD and found at www.fakeapp.com.

Risk Assessment Slides from Star East 2012 Tutorial

Thanks to everyone who attended my tutorial at StarEast 2012 on Becoming an Influential Test Team Leader. In that session, I briefly discussed my risk assessment method. Here are the slides, plus the flipchart notes for the challenges of testing (yes, all of them!) we listed. For those not there, you will see in the fourth picture, the "human" or "both" (technical and human), were the big winners.

























This is the chart for short-term, mid-term and long-term goals.

Software QA Ranks #3 in the Robert Half Technology Salary Guide

I normally don't get excited about being #3, and sharing the honor as well. But after years of being almost ignored on salary surveys, QA and Business Analysts hit it big in the Robert Half 2012 Technology Salary Guide. Thanks to Hubert Lee (The Dashboard Spy) for publicizing this!

According to the study, QA and Business Analysts are #3 in the "Top 5 Tech Professionals Businesses Want Now" category:

"With more dollars available to IT projects, managers are focusing on quality control and assembling more accurate project requirements. Quality assurance professionals can relieve developers so they can focus on coding, while business analysts can help build trust among stakeholders and serve as go-betweens for technology and business."

You can download the report here:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/DBM/M3/2011/Downloads/RHT_SalaryGuide_2012.pdf

Want to get into QA or Business Analysis? Check out these courses:

http://riceconsulting.com/home/index.php/Table/Basic-Training-Courses/

Or, if you want to get certified in testing, we have the training for you!

http://riceconsulting.com/home/index.php/Table/ISTQB-Training-for-Software-Tester-Certification/

Add value to your company by getting the knowledge to support better project results!