Issue 59

COMMENT

Welcome to the 59th issue!

The one great thing I discovered this week is the Technology Radar by ThoughtWorks.

It's an overview of the current trends in software development techniques, tools, platforms and languages.

Another cool part is the recommendation level, telling you whether you're good to adapt, trial, assess or hold on with a particular technology.

And since they've been doing it for some time now, you can also search for your favourite technology to check what recommendation they give.

While I wouldn't advise to only rely on a single opinion, I found this radar a great way to either help me reevaluate the technology I already know or spot new trends.

So I'm sure you'll find something interesting there, too.

Happy testing!

NEWS

9 techniques for fixing bugs in production

No matter how hard you try, bugs will always slip through to production. Here's a decent guide by George Lawton about what you can do once they get there.

Also related, Lynda Gaines wrote an interesting comparison of quantifying the cost of fixing vs. preventing bugs.

Free Resources to Get Your Testing Practice On

Just two weeks ago I featured an article on the best websites for practising web automation and now Dennis Martinez lists out even more free places to practice testing of API, mobile, desktop and other areas.

How to Make 100 Releases Per Day with Only 6 Quality Engineers

I'm a big fan of releasing frequently while keeping everyone accountable for quality. So I can relate to the good practices that Evgeny Tkachenko listed here.

As an additional read, I can also recommend Quality as a Team Responsibility (Part 2) by Kelly Chin.

In Search of a Test Automation Strategy

Maaret Pyhäjärvi shows that you don't always need to have a written-down test automation strategy when you have principles that you can follow. And, in my opinion, she has some good ones!

Quality Lessons from Toyota

There's an interesting story behind the quality process that contributed to Toyota's success and I liked a summary of lessons learned from their approach that Team Merlin brought up here.

The growing role of QAOps

This is a solid read if you want to learn about QAOps from different perspectives provided by several experienced software testers.

Another interesting take on this matter is Nate Ballantyne's article What is QAOps?.

AUTOMATION

3 Ways to Achieve In-Sprint Test Automation

Angie Jones talks about the importance of developing and testing a feature within the same sprint and gives good tips on how to achieve it.

6 JavaScript UI Testing Anti-Patterns You Need to Avoid

Jonathan Thompson did a great job providing many examples of the things you should not do in JavaScript UI testing.

Note: If you can't access the full article, simply open it in a private tab.

The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Functional Test Automation

This is massive! Federico Toledo and Matias Fornara paired on defining all about functional test automation and they put together this enormous guide that many can learn something valuable from.

Did you break your code today?

Kevin Hicks wonderfully describes how "breaking" your own code can help you deliver quality features. I wish every developer had a mindset like this!

Is The Test Automation Pyramid Dead?

The "Is dead/still alive" debates are never easy to settle unequivocally but maybe they're not supposed to be. Instead, they can be good "hey, wait a second" moments to reflect and adjust some of the current beliefs. And that's how I see this controversially-titled but reasonably-explained opinion on the test automation pyramid by Josh Grant.

The Code, the Test, and the Responsibility

If you’re a tester, I challenge you to help the developers you work with write better (and more) test automation. Similarly, if you’re a developer, work with someone experienced in test automation and improve your testing (and design) skills. I think you (and your customers) will be happy with where this challenge takes you.

I'm very much in line with Alan Page's view on helping developers take over test automation tasks.

AND...

Maybe he has a good QA friend... 😁

Thanks for reading!

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Issue 59 February 19th 2021