In this chapter from his book on software quality engineering Stephen H. Kan discusses several metrics in each of three groups of software quality metrics product quality in-process quality and maintenance quality. He also describes the key metrics used by several major software developers and discusses software metrics data collection. n...

Although there are numerous metrics for software testing and new ones being proposed frequently relatively few are supported by sufficient experiences of industry implementation to demonstrate their usefulness. In this chapter from his book Stephen Kan provides a detailed discussion of some tried and true in-process metrics from the testing perspective....

Learn the components of a quality use case when and why to use cases and how to write a use case using Patterns.nn...

We all have to face the fact that some software stinks; it doesn t work right or it just plain feels wrong. Fixing these problems is simple but may not be easy. We have to understand the nature of software development and make sure that we allow ourselves enough time to do a good job....

Instilling a software review program into an organization requires an understanding of that organization s culture and the values its members hold. Karl Wiegers shows you how to understand your team culture and gives you some guiding principles for doing ......

All successful software organizations use measurement as part of their day-to-day management and technical activities. This chapter from Practical Software Measurement explains the importance of measurement practices....

Testing object-oriented software is different from testing procedural software. This introduction to the book The Practical Guide to Testing Object-Oriented Software explains the authors philosophies behind object-oriented software testing....

Does your test team implement new tools without developing a testing strategy first Bad idea says automated testing expert Elfriede Dustin....

Automated testing expert Elfriede Dustin explains how a good automated testing plan can help you save time effort and money....

After many years of helping businesses automate their testing Elfriede Dustin has some useful lessons to share....

Michael Kelly reports on handy security uses for four open source tools WebGoat Firefox Web Developer WebScarab and Ethereal. By combining the tools in easy ways testers can track down and close the gaping security holes that are often left in applications....

The Scrum methodology can pose a challenge for software testers who are used to more traditional waterfall-inspired development processes. Jonathan Kohl relates his experiences working on Scrum teams who found some clear advantages in changing their methods....

Choosing effective tests for complex logical expressions can be difficult. This paper describes a black box strategy for choosing such tests. The strategy is shown to be a natural generalization of current methods for choosing tests for simpler expressions. The strategy chooses combinations that are not only effective at revealing implementation defects...

The paper describes how an organization plans and executes training to ensure the best possible use of resources to meet organizational objectives. There is a discussion of common problems and measures to avoid or correct those problems. While the focus of the paper is achieving compliance with the CMM Training KPA its content is relevant to any organization...

A user manual forms the first point of reference for a software customer. Here are some pointers on gauging the effectiveness and usability of a digital manual....