Software Test Optimization

Review of   “…start-estimating-in-complexity-instead-of-hours” by Matias Denda A must read, that simplifies software complexity into bucketed categories rather than a mathematical calculation. It provides real world examples of how to do this in a team environment. Best article I have blogged on in years. 🤪

 ARS Technica article on Mazda radio defect by  JONATHAN M. GITLIN  -  2/9/2022 SummARY: A critical real-time defect in Mazda radios was triggered by a Seattle radio station.  If you were unfortunate enough to have this  2014 to 2017  Mazda radio and live in the Seattle area listening to  94.9 FM , the radio was no longer usable.  Files with no extension were (like .jpg) were the use case that sent the radio into constant reboot condition rendering it useless.  Read the full article at link above.  Yes, I was slow to find this gem.  Please share if you find more like it!

functionality-decomposition-could-hold-the-key-to-faster-effective-regression-testing-heres-how  by  Senthil Kumar  : Simple Structured Test based on Functional Decomposition

Many calendar years of development and testing have gone into one of the most complex vehicle systems ever -  the F-35. This article details how performance and  End User / Operational Testing of F-35  is being performed.

Test Data Management Tools Review  by Duncan Elder published in QA Lead is a solid baseline of market options.  Solutions range from multifunction test solutions to specialized data management (only) solutions.

 Software test data generation tools are a somewhat new and very segmented market. This market analysis available at Market Reports attempts to capture who owns shares of this market.  The full report can be yours for only $3900.

 Where has the last year gone?  It is time again to review yearly trends in software testing!  Decent read: intro to top 6 below; I know the suspense for the others will be overwhelming. Geeks2 top-10-software-testing trends 1. IoT Testing - everything is connected. See #6 2. Codeless Automation - is this finally the year for a major shift?  History says “no”. 3. Blockchain - follow the $$ 👍🏻 4. Big Data - is this finally the year for gold in big data?  Find smart data analytics people yet. 5. Performance Engineering - speed is king 6. Cybersecurity - true #1

Anyone who knows me, knows I have a passion for software testing. Software testing is a diverse field lacking standardization, and software test standardization is a specific area I enjoy.  So when I found this article sharing data on people and skills from applications for a specific software testing position, it was a must read. I highly recommend you spend at least five minutes reading this and thinking about software test standardization:  https://www.kenst.com/2021/03/hiring-a-software-tester-an-analysis/  by Chris Kenst Reviewed by KLOMAR 

Welcome!  To clarify the most significant confusion our viewers face, let me clarify the current KLOMAR focus: KLOMAR can translate your automated software tests (Selenium, RPA, test data, and others) and English language manual software tests into new automation languages or standardized common language English manual tests. KLOMAR does not do language localization or linguistic services. Please let us know how we can assist - even if it is beyond our current focus.

 Review of: devops.com : chaos mindset teaching-your-code-to-cope/   BY  MAX DE LAVENNE  ON  FEBRUARY 2, 2021 This is not a political post 😎 As a software tester, I have always been a chaos tester. Negative tests, stress tests, unexpected states and inputs ... put it all together and you have chaos!  Whether you are a developer, a tester, or a closet hacker, this is a good read worth your time.

 Data science, and understanding ubiquitous data streams, is clearly a hot technology topic.  The foundation of these exercises is having clean factored data (time, location, source, and all relevant attributes).  Often these data streams are in different formats and have different factors, or these rough streams require data mining to capture and catalog. How many of us have received emails and snail mail generated from dirty data sources?  I personally enjoy seeing these errors in my mail pieces and searching for clues in the defects presented. Do you have text and data conversion projects planned in 2021?  Do you have plans to verify and validate clean data?

 REVIEW:  How many developers does it take to test a product? September 28, 2020  by  Wayne Rash OVERVIEW: A collection of feedback from specific and named software organizations on how they form their development teams. Summary Quotes: " While in most cases, for every two to five developers, one tester would be fine..." "many variables come into play, ranging from  the availability of automation tools in testing  to the income reliability of the project, to how much of the testing can be automated" Software Criticality factor - "mission critical applications, including automotive, heavy truck, and mining equipment product development. A single failure could lead to death or disaster." Further thoughts from the reviewer:  We need a way to rate the efficiency and skills of test team.  AKA some warm bodies can reduce the efficiency of a test team.  We need consistency on how we generate test cases and determine coverage.  We need software ...

 REVIEW:  Konica Minolta settles lawsuit alleging flaws in EHR software for $500,000  by  ELISE REUTER  of MedCityNews "The whistleblower case alleged that an electronic health records company acquired by Konica Minolta cheated on certification tests to hide software issues." Summary: -" In 2015, Konica Minolta acquired Viztek , a North Carolina-based health IT company." -"Viztek allegedly hard-coded its software to pass certification requirements" (a.k.a. doing the Volkswagen) -Not a lot more details here, but another example of the length of deceit people and companies will go to hide defects rather than fix them.

Full ariticle :  Five reasons test automation projects fail  from FierceElectronics.com by Ford Arnett If you are about to embark on a software test automation investment, this is a SHOULD READ, and if you aren't - this is a MUST READ to get you going down the automation path! Summary: " Test automation... has an alarmingly high failure rate. Often, this is due to unrealistic expectations, lack of understanding around automation, or not putting enough focus on value." Key Points: " 1. Forgetting automation software is still software" - manage it like other software development.  Have standards, schedules, set deliverables, version it, test it, and re-use - re-use - re-use (don't reinvent if you can help it). "2. Automating ‘just because’" - prioritize functions to be automated and start with high-value tests with the largest time savings. "3. No organizational support" - set the right expectations with all stakeholders. ...

A worthwhile read to understand where software test $40B USD$ are spent but nothing earth-shattering here (summary segmentation below is most of the story): Software Quality Assurance (SQA) Testing Market Set for Rapid Growth and Trend 2020-2026   by basavraj July 21, 2020 Software Quality Assurance (SQA) Testing Market Segment considering Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by  Test Consulting And Compliance Quality Assurance Testing Application And Software Testing Risk And Compliance Testing Covering OthersMarket segmentation, Market Segment by Consumption Growth Rate and Market Share by  Application: Artificial Intelligence Testing Cybersecurity Testing Blockchain Testing IoT Testing

https://github.com/USDepartmentofLabor/Mobile-Accessibility-Test-Script/blob/master/QA%20Test%20Cases.md These tests are based on  Best Practices by SSB BART Group  and on Level A and Level AA Success Criteria of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, W3C Recommendation, 11 December 2008,  http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/ , as proposed by the U.S. Access Board,  http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/refresh/draft-rule.htm.This  checklist is inclusive of the Technical Standards of Subpart B of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d),  http://section508.gov/index.cfm?fuseAction=stdsdoc . https://code.gov/projects/dol_opa_1_mobile_accessibility_test_script

Kobiton Press Release Summary of Software Test Survey: 55% said automation would improve software quality 76% are currently automating fewer than half of all software tests 85% said they’d like to automate at least a quarter of all test cases eventually 58% said their automation programs are relatively new or at least six months from beginning 26% are struggling with the process of evaluating and choosing the appropriate test automation tools  17% have found it challenging to train and acquire skilled automation engineers 73% are manually running at least 100 tests prior to each software release 51% are releasing software updates daily or weekly

Let's start the conversation with these questions: How would you describe your software test methodology? Agile, structured, ad hoc, custom, or other. Approximately what percentage of your software tests are automated? What are your software test automation tools? Which software test environments are all used? embedded, desktop, web, apps, IOT, other. What test levels are all formally documented in your software test scope: unit/module, build, functional, system (structure rather than test type) Do you have a formal test strategy or process document guiding your test planning? What are your priorities and goals for test improvements? (such as maintainability, new function efficiency, or defect reduction) After baselining your current test state, the next step is digging into a deeper review of a recent test project's test documentation and assets.  Contact KLOMAR to take the next step!

Software testers can use regular expressions ( regex ) for test data generation and test tools.  A useful site for learning, generating code, and checking your regex is Regex101 .