One of the goals of testing is to find as many of the big bugs" as possible while covering as much of the functionality as possible before the implementation date. On many projects the implementation date is not flexible and it is difficult to make a case to management for moving the date or at least considering the risk of implementing before...

This paper describes a software metric Functional Reliability” used since January 1995 by the Food Service Management division of the CBORD. Functional Reliability combines an assessment of reliability with operational analysis. We use Functional Reliability to organize and prioritize faults monitor progress towards targeted reliability...

This brief article by Linda Westfall defines the defect metric of Defect Density and gives two examples of how it could be reported and utilized. ...

In October 1997 the US National Institute of Standards and Technology NIST initiated an effort to increase the visibility of software usability. Cooperating in the IUSR project are prominent suppliers of software and representatives from large consumer organizations. The goals of the initiative are 1. Encourage software suppliers and consumer...

When an error is found in an application during development the automated error prevention method helps you correlate that error to a specific point in the development process and allows you to modify your processes to remove it and more important to prevent it from happening again. Preventing errors rather than chasing them dramatically improves...

How you feel about bugs can affect how productive your work is how you feel about your job and how others feel about you. In this column Bret looks at how we respond to finding bugs and how a neutral professional attitude can make a big difference....

While attending testing seminars I noticed that there was a gap in what was being taught. There’ s a lot of theory presented a lot of why test’ classes and a lot of classes on specific techniques--but nothing on a couple of practices that will go a long way towards improving the testing process in a company specifically setting...