Better Software Magazine Archive: Nov/Dec 1999

IN THIS ISSUE

A Test Manager's Resource Bank
By Brian Marick

Despite the importance of general management topics, I'm going to stay away from them. There's too much out there, and I know too little about it. Instead, I'll concentrate on what's special about the job of managing testers and the test process.

 

A Look at TeamTrack 3.0, a Web-Based Defect Tracking Tool
By George Hamblen
Steve Bailey

George Hamblen and Stephen Bailey look at TeamShare's TeamTrack 3.0, a Web-based defect tracking tool. TeamTrack offers a fully functional defect tracking system over a company intranet. Since all of the functionality is offered from the server, this means each desktop needs only a browser to access the system.

How to Control Software Changes
By Ronald Starbuck

A Configuration Control Board is a group of subject matter experts who help ensure planned and disciplined changes. Ronald Starbuck explains how important it is to use a Configuration Control Board and tells you how it works.

One Size Does Not Fit All
By Robert L. Glass

For all of the effort we've made in the software field to find the best methodology, the best programming language, the best operating system, the best set of tools, even the best process maturity model—the search for the "best" is often futile. Robert L. Glass urges you to not be confined by a software approach that doesn't match your specific needs.

A Race with Only Losers
By Dave Cline

Collectively, problems related to resource sharing in multi-threaded, multi-processor, and distributed systems are termed "concurrency problems." Concurrency problems are further divided into several major subcategories such as deadlock, livelock, priority inversion, starvation, and race conditions. This article will focus on race conditions.

What Are You Worth?
By Jerry W. Evans, CSTE

Jerry Evans reports on Software Testing and QA compensation issues. He also provides a list of some of the best job sites on the Web for testers.

My Next Mission (And How You Might Benefit from It)
By Brian Marick

Technical Editor Brian Marick proposes organizing a public effort to test a real software product.

Getting Automated Testing Under Control
By Maartje Kasdorp
Hans Buwalda

The authors have overcome a lot of the roadblocks to systems testing, especially automated testing. In this article they present their ideas and techniques that are easy to implement (for example, test clusters, templates, and navigation methods).

Estimating Time, Effort, and Cost
By David Garmus

Correctly judging project needs and scope is a challenging task. Here are some techniques and tools for accurately predicting project deliverables.

Modeling Organizational Change
By Esther Derby

When you approach a process problem in the way your workgroup functions, you're implementing an organizational change. Organizations are systems of complex interrelationships. Explicit models can help you make strategic changes.

Outsourcing: What to Consider When Supplementing Your Test and QA Capabilities
By Jim Bampos

Companies outsource for a variety of reasons, with a variety of expectations. This article describes ways outsourcing can be successful, and reasons outsourcing may fail. This is an in-depth article that sets the stage and discusses numerous scenarios.

Risk-Based Testing: How to Conduct Heuristic Risk Analysis
By James Bach

Software testing is often motivated by risk. If you accept this premise, you might well wonder how the term "risk-based testing" is not merely redundant. However, conducting a heuristic risk analysis by employing a checklist of open-ended questions, suggestions, or guidewords is a proven approach to help you find the most important risks for developing your testing plans. 

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