There is no doubt the tester role will continue to evolve in 2017, and you’ll need to adapt your skills accordingly. To help you along your journey, we’ve gathered 2016’s most popular StickyMinds articles and interviews to help you start the new year with fresh ideas and inspiration.
10. Selenium: The Open Source, the Myth, the Legend
Many people wonder what it means that Selenium is open source, and further, what the community element of that paradigm brings to the table. This article addresses some of the common misconceptions about that situation, as well as details some of the benefits of the community behind a product like Selenium. By Brian Van Stone
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9. Using Mind Maps to Create Comprehensive Test Plans in Your ALM
Mind maps work well for planning the test strategy and monitoring project status. Mind-mapping software makes all this easy, and the visual presentation keeps everyone in the loop. Ritinder Kaur shows how mind maps can communicate ideas clearly and help you execute them exactly to create a comprehensive test plan. By Ritinder Kaur
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8. 4 Things to Remember to Ensure Good Test Coverage
When it comes to testing, there are so many areas that it's difficult to feel sure you covered everything. It can be helpful to use a mnemonic or other memory aid to remind you of your main points to hit. Terry Wiegmann recommends adding the acronym NEBS—for Normal, Error, Boundary, and Special test conditions—to your toolkit. By Terry Wiegmann
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7. Dear Software Development Manager: A Letter from Your Testers
More and more, testers are being added to programming teams. We testers think that's great, and we're happy to be here. But we also have some concerns based on our interactions with development teams in the past. To make the transition easier, here's a letter pointing out some things you should know when managing testers on your development team. By Marcus Blankenship
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6. A Valentine for Testers
Great testers are hard to find, so if you work with some, you want to keep them! As with any long-lasting relationship, sustaining it requires continuous effort, but it's very rewarding. Here’s how coworkers, clients, and managers can show testers some love this Valentine’s Day—and maybe be loved in return, too. By Sofía Palamarchuk
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5. Heresy! Automation Does Not Require Test Cases
Traditionally, automated scripts are derived from existing test cases. But if we divorce the notion of “automation” from the notions of “test cases” and “test scripts,” we can think of automation as a judicious use of technology to help humans do their jobs. This broadens our world to include different tools that can help testers increase coverage, test faster, and detect trends. By Paul Grizzaffi
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4. What Software Testers Need to Know about Automation
Even if you're currently only using manual testing, it's still important to know about what's going on in the world of automation. Whatever your role is, your day-to-day job will probably be enhanced by using at least some of the approaches in this article. Here, learn what some common terms mean and some examples of how they might be used in a software development shop. By Josh Grant
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3. Why Is Estimating Software Testing Time So Difficult?
Management loves to ask testers to estimate how long their efforts will take. But so many important aspects elude measurement that testing time is difficult to predict. Here are some of the major factors that significantly influence our ability to estimate testing time well, along with some advice on how you can tighten up your efforts. By Lee Copeland, Matthew Heusser
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2. Kanban for Software Testing Teams
Kanban, a highly effective agile framework, is based on the philosophy that everything can be improved. And it's not just for development teams. The QA team also can use kanban to organize tasks, identify bottlenecks, and make their processes clearer and more consistent. By Sofía Palamarchuk
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1. 5 Ways Agile Testing Is Different from Traditional Testing
It’s the distinctions between agile and traditional software development approaches, as well as the adaptability of testers in these very different environments, that makes agile testing different from traditional testing. Agile demands more from its testers, and, in turn, it values them more, too. Let’s look at five main things that make an agile tester’s life different from that of a traditional tester. By Nishi Grover Garg
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2016 Top StickyMinds Interviews
All About API Testing: An Interview with Jonathan Cooper
How to Create a Successful Test Automation Strategy: An Interview with Kalyan Konda
How Testers Can Become Better Leaders: An Interview with Selena Delesie
The Future of the Software Testing Profession: An Interview with Mike Sowers
Things That Really Matter in Testing—Today and Tomorrow: An Interview with Bj Rollison
