Tips for moving from Agile to Waterfall

Yes, there are people that stop using agile and move to waterfall. Here are some reflections on someone who did just that.

>http://blog.testyredhead.com/2010/12/16/waterfolly-lolly-la-la-la-la-la.aspx?ref=rss

Tips for moving from Waterfall to Agile

http://www.softwaretestpro.com/Item/5014/What-challenges-are-encountered-when-transitioning-from-waterfall-etc-to-agile-environment-and-suggestion-on-how-to-avoid-pitfalls/
This site requires a free registration to access.

Here is a summary of the three issues that come up
- Task Size and Frequency
- Documentation
- Scoping Discussions
The article seems to be a balanced view of the differences with good tips on becoming agile successfully.

Today in Computing History

I've just finished assembling a website for a project I've been working on.

https://sites.google.com/site/todayincomputinghistory/

Here, you can find out what happened on a particular day of the year in the history of computing. There's a google gadget (which can be embedded on your own website), a smartphone app and even a link to an instructable that shows how I did it. I hope you find this project as interesting as I did as I was putting it together!

How does User Experience and Agile interact?

The whole idea of 'User Experience' has always meant a relatively long process to describe the requirements and validate them, meaning there didn't seem to be a good fit in an Agile team. Alas, I find myself re-thinking my ideas when confronted with new information.

Here is an article that describes one project's efforts to integrate UX tasks into an agile project.

http://johnnyholland.org/2010/10/21/beyond-staggered-sprints-how-theladders-com-integrated-ux-into-agile/

New scripting environment for UI testing - Sikuli

The one thing that makes this different from other lightweight scripting tools is that you take screenshots as markers for the UI components to interact with. (Thanks to John Z. for sending this to me)

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/uid/sikuli/

Free StarWest Virtual Access!

I just got an email that the StarWest Virtual conference is available for free! I attended that day online and the presentations were very good. I hope they continue to offer this!

https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=registration.jsp&eventid=239875&sessionid=1&key=7C4552EDC5D391DB815FD6223C1C630A&sourcepage=register

Worse Than Failure

If you aren't a fan of 'The Daily WTF', you should be. They post all our dirty laundry from a software perspective in the hopes that we don't commit the same crimes.

To make this easier, they've created a Visual Studio Plugin that allows you to easily submit code samples that have caused you to exclaim 'WTF?'

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Submit-WTF-Code-Directly-From-Your-IDE.aspx

Microsoft Web Application Configuration Analyzer

Here is a new tool from Microsoft to check the security settings of your production web servers to ensure they are configured with the proper level of security. (Thanks to Bill V. for sending this to me)

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=60585590-57DF-4FC1-8F0C-05A286059406

Stupid DNS tricks - Saving/Loading Data

http://byteworm.com/2010/10/27/free-content-delivery-network-using-dns-cache/

This is one more way to keep data available without using local storage. From a security standpoint, it could be used for a 'scratchpad' during intrusions. Maybe you DNS admins can come up with some way to track this? :)

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Every evening before my son goes to bed, we spend half an hour reading a book. We've read Treasure Island, Percy Jackson, Raggedy Ann and many, many more. Last night, we were 'between books' and we picked up a copy of poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning to see how that would would work out. My son randomly picked the poem below.

The real background to this story is interesting, but see if you see anything familiar.

Here is a preview of some quotes

• 'For where's our blessed " status quo," '
• 'A just Deed in the world ? — call out the rifles !'

TALE OF VILLAFRANCA - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

TOLD IN TUSCANY

First printed in the Athenceum, September 24,1859.

My little son, my Florentine,

Sit down beside my knee,

And I will tell you why the sign

Of joy which flushed our Italy

Has faded since but yesternight;

And why your Florence of delight

Is mourning as you see.

A great man (who was crowned one day)

Imagined a great Deed:

He shaped it out of cloud and clay,

He touched it finely till the seed

Possessed the flower: from heart and brain

He fed it with large thoughts humane,

To help a people's need.

He brought it out into the sun —

They blessed it to his face:

'O great pure Deed, that hast undone

So many bad and base !

O generous Deed, heroic Deed,

Come forth, be perfected, succeed,

Deliver by God's grace.'

Then sovereigns, statesmen, north and south,

Rose up in wrath and fear,

And cried, protesting by one mouth,

' What monster have we here ?

A great Deed at this hour of day ?

A great just Deed — and not for pay?

Absurd, — or insincere.'

'And if sincere, the heavier blow

In that case we shall bear,

For where's our blessed " status quo,"

Our holy treaties, where, —

Our rights to sell a race, or buy,

Protect and pillage, occupy,

And civilize despair ?'

Some muttered that the great Deed meant

A great pretext to sin;

And others, the pretext, so lent,

Was heinous (to begin).

Volcanic terms of ' great' and ' just' ?

Admit such tongues of flame, the crust

Of time and law falls in.

A great Deed in this world of ours ?

Unheard of the pretence is:

It threatens plainly the great Powers;

Is fatal in all senses.

A just Deed in the world ? — call out

The rifles ! be not slack about

The national defences.

And many murmured, ' From this source

What red blood must be poured !'

And some rejoined, ' 'T is even worse;

What red tape is ignored !'

All cursed the Doer for an evil

Called here, enlarging on the Devil, —

There, monkeying the Lord I

Some said it could not be explained,

Some, could not be excused;

And others, ' Leave it unrestrained,

Gehenna's self is loosed.'

And all cried, ' Crush it, maim it, gag it!

Set dog-toothed lies to tear it ragged,

Truncated and traduced !'

But He stood sad before the sun

(The peoples felt their fate).

'The world is many, — I am one;

My great Deed was too great.

God's fruit of justice ripens slow:

Men's souls are narrow, let them grow.

My brothers, we must wait.'

The tale is ended, child of mine,

Turned graver at my knee.

They say your eyes, my Florentine,

Are English: it may be.

And yet I've marked as blue a pair

Following the doves across the square

At Venice by the sea.

Ah child I ah child ! I cannot say

A word more. You conceive

The reason now, why just to-day

We see our Florence grieve.

Ah child, look up into the sky !

In this low world, where great Deeds die,

What matter if we live ?

Book Review - Software Engineering Best Practices

Read my latest book review on Sticky Minds

http://www.stickyminds.com/s.asp?F=S1243_Book_4

Free ebook on Computer Security

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=87583728-ef14-4703-a649-0fd34bd19d13&displayLang=en

This book is for end users primarily, but it does give testers ideas for what kinds of security testing to consider for your applications.

Google Code University

I saw a link to this online today. Check it out and build up your coding chops!

http://code.google.com/edu/courses.html


Here is a sampling of the courses offered
Programming Languages Web Programming Web Security Algorithms

Enjoy!

New Email Address

We're going to be using redearthqa@gmail.com . Please update your contacts.

That is all :)

Software Test Automation Workshop - September 14-15

http://www.mysoftwaretesting.com/product_p/okcauto.htm

This 2-day hands-on course focuses on the basics of software test automation and expands on those topics to learn some of the deeper issues of test automation. This course is not specific to any particular tool set but does include hands-on exercises using free and cheap test tools. Bring your own notebook computer!

The main objective of this course is to help you understand the landscape of software test automation and how to make test automation a reality in your organization. You will learn the top challenges of test automation and which approaches are the best ones for your situation, how to establish your own test automation organization, and how to design software with test automation in mind. You will also learn many of the lessons of test automation by performing exercises using sample test automation tools on sample applications.

You will leave the course with your own test automation strategy and plan for implementing it.

GSA discount available. Contact us for information.

This workshop will be held at:

Hampton Inn, Airport South
1905 South Meridian Avenue
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,
USA, 73108-1719
1-405-682-2080

Randy Rice is back in OKC! I hope you are able to make it!

Webinar: Fundamentals of Complete Crash and Hang Memory Dump Analysis (Second Session)

Here is an excellent opportunity to look at analyzing memory dumps by an expert. This is the second session and I'm sorry I missed the first)

Information and Registration for the Webinar

Replica of an early computer

This video shows how the Atanasoff-Berry Computer works. It's an interesting mix of mechanical and electrical components to solve problems.

http://www.wimp.com/importantcomputer/

Coding skills

Here is a list of sites to test your coding skills.

http://sixrevisions.com/resources/10-puzzle-websites-to-sharpen-your-programming-skills/

MD5 checksum is good, but not foolproof

As with anything security-related, if something is touted as tough to crack, that's taken up as a challenge. I recently stumbled on an article that not only gives examples of two sets of data with the same MD5 sum, but a method to exploit that.

http://www.mscs.dal.ca/~selinger/md5collision/

But I already learned that...

I was re-reading a technical book the other day and was starting to get annoyed at having to re-learn some things I had learned previously, but have since forgotten. Then I began to ponder the idea of why we forget. There are some people that have a photographic memory and never forget, but they are rare. Consider for a moment what life could be like if you never forgot anything. Suppose that every time you got into a car, you could remember the horror of the car accident you had ten years ago. Maybe you would be flooded with the pain of being lost every time you went to that same grocery store you were lost in when you were five. It may be so severe, you would need to find a different place to shop. So forgetting is not such a bad thing, but it can be inconvenient at times. So like Monk says "It's a gift.. and a curse".

Don't beat yourself up if you have to 'sharpen the saw' (a la Steven Covey) and re-learn things. Take the opportunity to re-think the information and hopefully gain from the experience.

Memory Dump Analysis Book

Dmitry Vostokov has released a book on Safari Online books called "Memory Dump Analysis Anthology, Volume 1"

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780955832802

Those of you with ACM (and possibly IEEE) memberships may already have access to this online.

How to be a programmer - One person's perspective

http://samizdat.mines.edu/howto/HowToBeAProgrammer.html

I ran across this the other day. It's old, but it does describe some skills that are not often discussed.

More ways to learn about computer security

I ran across "Damn Vulnerable Linux" as an environment to understand security vulnerabilities. It's offered through a company that provides training and certification for computer security.

I haven't tried to download or use the image yet, though I hope to soon.

http://www.damnvulnerablelinux.org/

Test your code online!

I've seen this posted elsewhere and it's worth a look! While this is not a full test, but you can validate your C# code online or you can download Pex and use it locally.

Interesting debugging technique for windows

I've been reading "Windows Internals, Fifth Edition" and ran across an interesting way to debug not only windows drivers, but any user application.

If you have a MSDN license, you can get what's called the 'checked build'. This is a build with debug messages enabled and optimizations turned off. It's most useful for debugging device drivers, but it can help replicate timing issues with the kernel since the timing will be different than for the retail version. Rather than having to install each component from the checked build, you can limit it to a couple files files. The instructions below show how to install and set up your system to have a boot option for this.

Obtain the checked build
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff549603(v=VS.85).aspx

Install minimal comonents from the checked build
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff547196(VS.85).aspx

Especially if you are tracking down timing issues, this may expose the issues more clearly.

Barriers to Automation

I've seen several attempts at automation from several companies. Many getting started and then dropping off and eventually rendered unusable. Keeping in mind the definition of insanity being "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results", it may be time to look at why these have failed.

Here are some of the scenarios that have come to mind based on what I've seen:

• Someone takes the inititative to create a set of tests, but other priorities take them away and the tests become obsolete, making them nearly useless.


• We bring in a contractor to build tests, but when the contract is over, there is nobody given the responsibility and the time to keep them up.


• We start some UI automation testing and find that the scripts are fragile, making upkeep difficult and ultimately are left to become obsolete.

This is not to say that we don't have some successes with automation:

• There are many experiences of using throw-away scripts to perform some focused and repetative task.


• There are internal tools built to assist with generating data.
  
• Development teams have their own scripts / applications for performing installation/configuration/cleanup tasks.

The trick is to see the pattern with the successes and failures.

Successful attempts at automation seem to have these common qualities. They typically are either grassroots efforts where time is found to work on them or they are given priority by management to spend on them. Grassroots efforts typically have modest upkeep costs and time can be found for upkeep. Management-directed efforts have had continued priority set for them since they require much more upkeep. Grassroots projects are typically used heavily by internal staff and Management priorities are typically used outside the development teams (including other internal teams as well as customers). Your experiences may differ from these as these are based on my own observations.

Unsuccessful attempts at automation appear to have these in common. There was no call to maintain the time needed to maintain these scripts either from the grassroots level or from management. The scripts were succeptible to changes in code, operating system, 3rd party components such as browsers, Java, .NET, Application Server Versions, etc.

So how do we take advantage of the things that make these efforts successful and mitigate the things that make them unsuccessful?

Auutomation has to be something that is used regularly. Whether it's an expectation of your development process or a commitment made to have time spent on upkeep during a project, it can't be an afterthought.

The benefits of automation must be valued both at the grassroots level and by management. I see that in both cases, I generally see agreement that automation is helpful, but I think there may be different ideas on what that looks like. Having this be very visible and openly discussed will contribute to it's long-term success.

Environment and code changes that affect scripting should be mitigated. Managing unit tests over time is a difficult process when the library of unit tests becomes large. Not only do they take time to run, they need to be managed and 'sunset' just as we would do for any other piece of code. There needs to be a lifecycle for these tests that address 1)When they should be built 2)How long they should be maintained 3)When they should be removed from use. UI tests are much more succeptible to these environmental changes. For example, different operating systems render web pages as well as applications differently, making some UI tests suitable for cross-platform execution difficult or impractical. Using 3rd-party UI components require customized tools to use for automation, often at additional cost. These additional tools are not absolutely required, but they do help with not only automating the tests, but also in validating the results. These UI tests also need to have a lifecycle with the same requirements as for Unit Tests. While UI tests are helpful, there needs to be more scrutiny applied to what tests get automated and in what environment(s).

Now what?

"It depends". Much of what needs to happen must be based on your circumstances. What is the will internally to make changes? How far does this will go to ensure that these changes are implemented for the long-term? What resources are available to impelement these? What training is needed? Once you start to answer these, the answers will become more clear.

Book Review - Little Brother

Well, it's not a book review in the truest sense. I've just gotten about a third of the way through "Little Brother" (free download) and I just had to post a review. You can read a summary from the website for the book.

Essentially, this is a fictional account based in many topics related to security (physical, computer, privacy, etc.) and a series of events that affect these. A seventeen year old boy and his friends are caught up in a terrorist plot by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. What follows is a drastic shift in what various governments and other groups consider 'acceptable levels of monitoring' and what it means to those being monitored and those doing the monitoring.

What strikes me most is the main character's internal monologue on the effectiveness of different security measures. In some cases, they just make everyone feel more secure, but do little to address true risks. In other cases, the data gathered starts to be misused, prompting the question "Who is watching the watchers?".

This book is an easy and excellent read. It's entertaining and thought provoking. You may even learn a thing or two. I certainly am. The book can be purchased and it can also be downloaded in several electronic formats for free.

Analyzing dumps

Likely someone at your company is doing this. From a QA perspective, it can shed quite a bit of light into some of the odd behaviors that is seen sometimes. This blog may be a good reference on understanding the details.

http://www.dumpanalysis.org/blog/

Automate Changes to web.config files for unit testing ASP.NET Web Services

We're starting to automate unit tests with our build process and I was told about some new features in VS2010 to help us out. Thanks to John Z. for pointing this out. With Visual Studio 2010, you can manage both the developer and release versions of web.config files and even publish different database versions.

Here is the main link on Microsoft's website for these features. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd394698(v=VS.100).aspx

Specifically, Here is the link to creating a transform for the web.config file. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd465318(v=VS.100).aspx

Also, you can specify a database by following the informaiton here. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd465343(v=VS.100).aspx

Here is a summary of a blogger that has discussed these deployment options. http://vishaljoshi.blogspot.com/2009/09/overview-post-for-web-deployment-in-vs.html

Summer Hiatus for Meetings

We'll be putting the Red Earth QA monthly meetings on Hiatus for the summer and pick back up again in the fall.

Better Software in 60 Seconds, #1

Here is an early sample of a project I'm working on. It's very rough, but this should give you an idea of what I'm trying to do. All feedback is welcome!

Open Source Load Testing Tool

Recently, a friend asked if I would be interested in learning about Erlang, a functional programming language, for a project he was thinking about. Essentially, it's a language that lives on concurrency and recursive algorithms. Then it seemed obvious that it would be a great platform for performance testing.

And a quick search resulted in finding Tsung (http://tsung.erlang-projects.org/). It supports HTTP, WebDAV, SOAP, PostgreSQL, MySQL, LDAP and XMPP/Jabber. Give it a try and see if you find it useful.

Google's Website Has Vulnerabilities (and they want it that way)

I ran across http://jarlsberg.appspot.com/ the other day. It's a site that Google has assembled to teach anyone how to find vulnerabilities. It's set up so that you can walk through a live site and see exactly what kinds of things to look for, how they behave and how to fix them.

Why not get a few QA nerds (like yourself) together and work through these labs?

On-line demos for Unified TestPro manual and automation testing tool (please RSVP)

Presentations will be as follows:

Manual tool demo; 9am and 11am CDT, April 21st, or 11am CDT April 23rd
Automation tool demo; 9am and 11am CDT April 22nd, or 3pm CDT April 23rd.

GoToMeeting or GoToWebinar format.

This will be an RSVP event. Information will be provided upon RSVP.
James Wright jwright@okc.sdtcorp.com
General Manager, Test Service Operations
Software Development Technologies
405-232-6000 x.11
405-232-6008 Fax
580-641-1360 Cell

Online Demo of Unified TestPro, Friday, April 23rd

SDT's Enterprise proven, Keyword Driven, Software Test Design and Automation solution, Unified TestPro, will be demonstrated on-line Friday, April 23rd. The UTP manual product will be demonstrated at 9am CDT, while the automation product will be demonstrated at 11am CDT. This is an RSVP event. For more information, please contact James Wright at jwright@sdtcorp.com

International Symposium on Functional Programming (in Norman)

The Symposium on Trends in Functional Programming will begin its second decade at the University of Oklahoma, May 17-19, 2010, on the campus in Norman.

Additional details can be found at http://www.cs.ou.edu/tfp2010/

For local residents, contact Rex Page page@ou.edu for a special $50 reduced rate fee that includes the lectures, breaks, presentations, and the local proceedings, but does not include lunches or the excursion and banquet. Locals can also attend the excursion and banquet for and additional $75. The general entrance fee is $300 otherwise, so this is a great deal!

Last year's topics included:

• What is F# and Why Should I Learn It?

• Hands-on exercises in functional programming using C++ (with discussions about LINQ for C#)

• Implementing unit of measurement types in Visual Studio 2008

• Software Testing with QuickCheck

• Analysis of F# programs

• Formal validation methods

My Article on Software Quality History

Here is the first of three in a series of stories about the history of software quality.

http://blog.softwaretestingclub.com/2010/04/grace-hopper-had-a-sense-of-humor-part-1-by-robert-watkins/

Test Coverage Technique

Here is an excellent article on using Mind Map software to describe test coverage.

http://testconsultant.blogspot.com/2010/04/ewt12-mind-mapping-and-testing.html

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of NTFS Alternate Data Streams

The Good

When NTFS was introduced for the Windows NT platform, one of the features that was added was 'alternate data streams' (ADS). This was specifically added to allow for a similar concept of 'forks' for Mac users to allow them to maintain their 'data fork' and 'resource fork' for files and use NTFS as a network data share.

A file stream is essentially metadata added to a file that doesn't interfere with the contents of the file. One way to see this data is to look at the 'Summary' tab of a file.

But as you can see, the comments section in particular can be quite lengthy. Note that not all file streams appear here, others may be included. Also, the space used by the file streams is not used when calculating the file size, so adding more data to the ADS does not change the size reported by the OS.

This method is also used in other ways. Icon files are associated with the URL shortcut files for IE as a file stream and the blocking of downloaded files from execution is handled through ADS. Microsoft provides a tool to let you find files that have streams attached to them. You can read about it here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897440.aspx

The Bad and The Ugly
This method can be used to make both text and binary files difficult to find. It's even possible to use the command shell to make an executable file (such as notepad) an ADS for a pre-existing executable (such as the calculator application), rename the executable and run it! This sample screenshot shows what happens when notepad.exe is added as an ADS called 'runtime.exe' to the calc.exe file and is executed. In this case, the notepad executable is being run from the runtime.exe ADS for the calc.exe.

Fortunately, you see the shenanigans when looking at the task manager. Also, all of these activities require someone with sufficient permissions. This means, that your system would already have to be compromised for this to happen.

Also, this information is only accessible on NTFS file systems and is not included when sending files over the network (unless it's to / from an NTFS file share).

Hopefully, this will shed some light into the inner-workings of the file system and explain some behavior you may have seen.

Practical Software Test Automation Course - Oklahoma City, May 13 & 14, 2010

We are fortunate to have Randy Rice local to our area and are happy to announce that we are helping to sponsor his Practical Software Test Automation Course. Registration and course information can be found here.

https://www.mysoftwaretesting.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=OKCAUTO

Even if you are not in the Oklahoma City area, this course is sure to be useful to anyone getting started with (or trying to recover from) their automation efforts.

On his site, you will find online training as well. Have a look around and see if other courses meet your needs as well.

Understanding Computers from 'first principles'

While researching information on computer security, I ran across the Security Now! podcasts( http://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm ).

Among the podcasts is a series of discussions that provides insight into how computers work at a fundamental (and somewhat technical) level.

Here are the podcasts that I found particularly interesting:

Basic Architecture of computers from the 1950s

http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-233-lq.mp3

Machine Language

http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-235-lq.mp3

Pointers

http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-237-lq.mp3

Stacks, Registers and Recursion

http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-239-lq.mp3

Hardware Interrupts

http://media.grc.com/sn/sn-241-lq.mp3

These are the low-bandwith MP3s, there are high bandwidth versions as well as notes and supplimentary materials provided as well.

Meeting Announcement- Evening Meeting 4:30pm-6pm Thursday, March 25th

NEWS
- We're moving to evenings to accommodate your busy work schedule!

Time and Location
We will be meeting at the FIS/Metavante offices at 1200 Sovereign Row. The meeting is from 4:30pm to 6pm.

Free parking is available!

Topic

Robert Watkins will discuss how FIS approached performance testing for one commercial server product and the process to provide performance testing utilities to customers.

Directions

• From I-40, take Meridian South
• Turn Left at Will Rogers Parkway
• Turn Left at Sovereign Row
• The FIS/Metavante offices are on the right just before the curve in the road.

Sound Familiar?

I just started with xtranormal's tool for creating movies. Here's my first try.

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6209807/

Charles Babbage's connection to the Luddites

Charles Babbage is well known for his Difference Engine and lesser known for his Analytical Engine. When Luigi Menabrea (future prime minister of Italy and engineer) translated his notes of Babbage's lectures into French, Babbage asked a long-time freind, Ada Lovelace to translate those notes to English. That was in 1842. Ada's father was Lord Byron, the poet and Parlimentarian. In 1815, one of his first speeches to the House of Lords was in defense of the Luddites.

The Rule of 1000 Decisions (as a tie into myth-busters)

A couple 'prior-lives' ago, I worked with a CIO at a mid-sized bank who gave me quite a bit of encouragement and opportunity. There were several things I remember from working with him.

The first was his success criteria for the project to bring in the bank's website in-house. 'Just make it suck less'. I believe we did that in spades. The basic design was functional enough to last about five years before they out grew that architecture. Quite a feat for a site that was developed in 2001.

The second was his 'Rule of 1000 Decisions'. Essentially, this rule start with the premise that everyone makes mistakes and generally, everyone makes more good decisions than bad decisions. The caveat is that those who don't may not last long. Supposing that for every 1000 decisions you make, you have 900 good decisions, 50 bad decisions and 50 great decisions. If you start to avoid making decisions to avoid the bad ones, you are missing out on more good and great decisions that you could be making. The point is that you need to keep making decisions and accept the fallout as well as the praise for those decisions.

The tie into myth busters is this discussion on the importance of failures, even massive failures.

Who Says Writing Documentation is Dry?

Here is a great story about how not all computer documentation is dull reading (or writing).

Enjoy!

http://www.ironicsans.com/2010/02/they_dont_make_computer_manual.html

Free Seminar on User Stories, March 2nd.

The link to sign up is http://app.en25.com/e/es.aspx?s=1156&e=13096&elq=e6632e0b731a40f2b08b0e622e3b26b9

Here's an excerpt from the description

"Do you want more practical agile training on planning your iterations? Are your teams trying to get into flow but struggle to get answers to tactical questions on user stories? Join agile coach Ken Clyne as he shares successful tactics for writing value-focused stories; sizing, splitting, tasking, and accepting user stories; and strategies for working across teams from iteration to iteration. He also explains the differences between stories and tasks, how to update the backlog, ways to chart and track story point burn-up, write acceptance criteria, and understand when a story is done."

Follow Us On Twitter!

We're making our entries here available through Twitter! Follow us and get updates from our blog.

@redearthqa

My Review of "Modeling Software Behavior"

A few weeks ago, I read "Modeling Software Behavior" by Paul Jorgensen for StickyMinds.com.

If you haven't been there, it's an excellent resource for not only book reviews :) , but also lots of other information on tools and techniques. This is produced by the same company that puts on The Star Conferences.


http://www.stickyminds.com/s.asp?F=S1203_BOOK_4

New Meeting Location for February.

We will be meeting at the FIS/Metavante offices at 1200 Sovereign Row. The meeting is still from 4:30pm to 6pm.

Directions

• From I-40, take Meridian South
• Turn Left at Will Rogers Parkway
• Turn Left at Sovereign Row
• The FIS/Metavante offices are on the right just before the curve in the road.

Free parking is available!

Meeting Announcement- Evening Meeting 4:30pm-6pm Thursday, February 18th

NEWS
- We're moving to evenings to accommodate your busy work schedule!

Time and Location

The Red Earth QA's meeting will be held on the 3rd floor of 100 N. Broadway from 4:30pm -6pm on Thursday, February 18th. Look for the signs to direct you to the correct room.

Topic

We will be discussing 'Test Plan - Best Practices - Bring a Sample'

Randy Rice of Rice Consulting has agreed to lead the discussion!

Directions

• You can park in Main Street Parking on Main or you can find street parking.
• From I-40, take the Robinson Exit. Go North on Robinson to Main. Right on Main. You can either go to Main Street Parking or continue to Santa Fe Parking. You will see 100 N Broadway on your left across Broadway. The building says 'Chase' at the top.

Was your last project successful?

I was thinking about how the same project can be rejected or approved depending on who you ask. This flowchart is the result, enjoy.

Online UI Mockup Tool

A small company called Balsamiq is making an online version of their product to create screen mockups available.

http://www.balsamiq.com/demos/mockups/Mockups.html

It pops up a dialog every 5 min or so to suggest using a paid version. Even if you don't get licenses for this, it may be useful for small projects.

Details of the features are here:
http://www.balsamiq.com/products/mockups

Agile Technique Proposed in 1968

I ran across an article, "Iterative Multi-Level Modeling - A Methodology for Computer System Design" from 1968 that essentially talks about the benefits of an agile approach to system design.

"The paper presents a method of modelling a computer system design as it evolves, so that evaluation can be made an integral part of the design process. The paper introduces the concept of concurrent existence, within a single model, of several representations of the system being modelled, at differing levels of abstraction. Thus important design decisions are expressed directly in terms of appropriately abstract quantities, facilitating understanding, validation, and modification of the system design. The paper includes brief details of an experimental implementation of the modelling technique and of the use of the technique to model both hardware and software components of a multi-processing system."

One sign you've found somone that cares about your process

In light of our meeting this week, I thought I'd post a comic from a few years ago. Enjoy!

Meeting Announcement- EVENING MEETING! 4:30PM-6PM, Thursday, January 28th

NEWS
- We're moving to evenings to accommodate your busy work schedule!

Time and Location

The Red Earth QA's meeting will be held on the 3rd floor of 100 N. Broadway from 11:30am-1pm on Thursday, December 17th. Look for the signs to direct you to the correct room.

Topic

Compare Test Plans!
Bring your test plan template and compare with other companies.

Directions

• You can park in Main Street Parking on Main or you can find street parking.
• From I-40, take the Robinson Exit. Go North on Robinson to Main. Right on Main. You can either go to Main Street Parking or continue to Santa Fe Parking. You will see 100 N Broadway on your left across Broadway. The building says 'Chase' at the top.

Wired Magazine - "Software Flaws Let Christmas Bomber Get Through"

Wired is running a story about some results of the investigation into the Christmas bomber. It appears that sub-standard software contributed to the problems.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/obama-software-flaws-let-christmas-bomber-get-through/

Project Management, 60s style

Here is a link to a book on project management from 1970. It's a second edition of the original published in 1964.

What I originally found amazing is that it's a fairly sophisticated view of project management. The first chapter is particularly enlightening since it discusses the inspirations for the methods detailed in the book. Basically, there was research from as far back as 1896 on streamlining production processes that are being applied to research in the late 1950s that culminated in the findings described in this book.