May 6
2013
Second of a Two-Part Series
By Donald Firesmith
Senior Member of the Technical Staff
Acquisition Support Program
In the first blog entry
of this two part series on common testing problems, I addressed the
fact that testing is less effective, less efficient, and more expensive
than it should be. This second posting of a two-part series
highlights results of an analysis that documents problems that commonly
occur during testing. Specifically, this series of posts identifies and
describes 77 testing problems organized into 14 categories; lists
potential symptoms by which each can be recognized; potential negative
consequences, and potential causes; and makes recommendations for
preventing them or mitigating their effects.
Read more...
Apr 5
2013
First of a Two-Part Series
By Donald Firesmith
Senior Member of the Technical Staff
Acquisition Support Program
A widely cited study for the National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST)
reports that inadequate testing methods and tools annually cost the
U.S. economy between $22.2 and $59.5 billion, with roughly half of these
costs borne by software developers in the form of extra testing and
half by software users in the form of failure avoidance and mitigation
efforts. The same study notes that between 25 and 90 percent of software
development budgets are often spent on testing. This posting, the first
in a two-part series, highlights results of an analysis that documents
problems that commonly occur during testing. Specifically, this series
of posts identifies and describes 77 testing problems organized into 14
categories, lists potential symptoms by which each can be recognized,
potential negative consequences, potential causes, and makes
recommendations for preventing them or mitigating their effects.
Read more...
Aug 22
2011
By Paul Clements, Senior Member of the Technical Staff
Research, Technology, & System Solutions
Testing
plays a critical role in the development of software-reliant systems.
Even with the most diligent efforts of requirements engineers,
designers, and programmers, faults inevitably occur. These faults are
most commonly discovered and removed by testing the system and comparing
what it does to what it is supposed to do. This blog posting summarizes
a method that improves testing outcomes (including efficacy and cost)
in a software-reliant system by using an architectural design approach,
which describes a coherent set of architectural decisions taken by
architects to help meet the behavioral and quality attribute
requirements of systems being developed.
Read more...
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