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Within the test scene there is a vivid discussion about the necessity and use of a certification model for the test experts. The population of testers can be roughly divided into two groups: Firstly, a group that states that it will not do a better job when certified, because the current certifications like ISTQB and ISEB focus on methods and terminology, but fail to look at the practical testing skills of the tester [Bolton, 2008]. Secondly, a group who is pro certification and regards the testing industry as a young yet not fully grown profession that lacks certification models that other professions have been using for ages [Windsor 2007]. Meanwhile, voices are heard that the test profession is accepted in the IT industry and that it has actually grown into a mature profession. The website of the last EuroSTAR conference stated that a mature profession has clearly-defined standards, codes of conduct, and a number of levels of professional competence. Having all those, we might conclude that the testing profession has indeed earned its place among the IT-professions.

Your software development and support teams come to you one day and say they need a configuration management person to manage infrastructure configuration and releases. But wait a minute - doesn't the software development team already have a configuration management person? And what was it again that she was hired to do? Oh yeah, software builds. So why are your teams trying to give this position a configuration management title too? What really is configuration management?

In Turbulent economic times such as the recent days, it is reasonable to assume that while some things will be reduced or cut, (e.g. human resources and budgets), others (e.g. documentation) will be maintained or even increased. So, what can we do to create effective and accurate CM Plans?

In this article I'd like to show some essential points for effective CM planning, which can offer a solution of reducing costs, based on the IEEE 828 standards. Basically, the goal is to reduce quantity but not quality.

The step between specifying requirements to working on a system design can be tricky. Fortunately, the basis on which the step is made can be calculated. Paul Reed thoroughly explains how the transition should progress and offers some instructions on how to move properly through this phase.

Who hasn't wondered what exactly Make's log file output means. This article is about Makefile tracing. I cover tracing the execution of Makefile rules.

The testing profession isn't easily mastered, and isn't something that can be perfected by practice alone. Good testers study testing to improve their knowledge of the areas they know about, but great testers strive to find out about areas of software testing they don't yet realize they don't know about.

The foundation of any successful assessment is interviewing a diverse cross section of the staff. But asking the right questions and asking those questions right makes all the difference in the quality of information you can elicit from your interviewees.