Book - Improving the Software Process: A Value Based Approach to Building High Quality Software

This is one of the best book I have ever read..

Book - Improving the Software Process: A Value Based Approach to Building High Quality Software
by Rex Black and Judy McKay
 
The quality and effectiveness of the software development organization often determine the level of success of the entire organization.  We have designed this handbook to explain the best practices of a development organization as well as to provide a means to assess those practices as they are performed within an organization.  We have divided the best practices into the following twelve process areas:

  1. Overall Development Process Effectiveness and Efficiency
  2. Development Alignment with Project, Process, Product and Organizational Context
  3. Requirements Elicitation, Specification and Quality Assurance
  4. Elaboration, Specification, and Quality Assurance of Architecture and Design
  5. Estimation of Development Time and Resources
  6. Development Planning
  7. Development, Static Analysis, and Unit Testing of Components
  8. Integration and Integration Testing of Components
  9. Software Configuration Management, Source Code Control and Release Engineering
  10. Defect Resolution
  11. Development Status Reporting and Management
  12. Change Management, Project End-Game and Product Release/Deployment
  
Price:  $12.99 (Amazon Kindle® and ePUB)

Basics of Scrum Methodology | Agile Training Video


Guys, this is a much watch video who want to know about Scrum.

Watch this engaging one on one style video by Sally Elatta, the Agile Expert for PMI's Learning Community of Practice as she introduces the basics of Scrum.


Note - This video is uploaded on youtube by AgileTestingVideos https://www.youtube.com/user/AgileTrainingVideos 

Thanks to the youtube user for uploading this helpful video.

Software Testing in Agile Methodology - TechGig Webinar Video by Sumit Tongya

Agile Testing has been an evolving methodology we've been seeing over the last few years. The popularity of this methodology can be accredited to several reasons such as the product development lifecycles and Go to market cycles (GTM) are shrinking in the light of ever changing business dynamics.

Everyone wants to put the product out in the market as soon as possible capturing the customer share as soon as possible to gain control on the changing business dynamics. Agility, it seems is paying dividends for such short GTMs and providing a quick ROI.

Watch the complete video tutorial of Software Testing in Agile Methodology:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUw0CduyNTs&feature=player_embedded
https://www.techgig.com/webinars/Software-Testing-in-Agile-Methodology-164

Acceptance Test Driven Development | AgileTrek 2012 Webinar Series

The AgileTrek Symposium provides a forum for leading coaches, evangelists, and practitioners to share experiences and proven methods in agile software projects. In the months leading up to the AgileTrek 2012 Symposium on November 9 in Toronto, QAI Global Institute is proud to host a series on complimentary webinars focused on a variety of important topics in agile software development. Registration is now open for the first expert-led webinar in this series:

"Acceptance Test Driven Development" with Tim Korson, PhD, QualSys Solutions

August 29, 2012: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT

(Click Here to Register for the webinar)

As a testing practitioner you have your head down testing company projects, but as a testing professional you need to look up once in a while and consider trends in the testing community. This webinar will consider a trend that, if it hasn't already, is likely to impact you in the near future: Acceptance test driven development (ATDD). ATDD originated in the agile community, but has broad applications even for traditional development organizations with separate test and QA departments. This webinar will teach you how to use the concepts of ATDD to increase your value to your organization no matter what testing methodology they use.

Key learning points
Webinar attendees will learn how ATDD can help:
  • Dramatically increase the efficiency of test organizations
  • Increase product quality
  • Make products more testable

About the speaker
Dr. Timothy Korson is a Scrum trainer and coach. He has had over a decade of experience working on a variety of systems developed using modern software engineering techniques. This includes distributed, real time, embedded systems as well as business information systems in an n-tier, client-server environment.


(Click Here to Register for the webinar)

Penetration testing magazine - This week focus on "Malware"- Aug 2012 - Second Week

Are you sure you know everything about malware?

Check if you know:
• how to find and control flash cookies 
• how to use MsfPayload&MsfEncode 
• how to manually indetify malware 
• how to use malware during a penetration test
That's not all!
Read what do pentesters sell and how they do it.
All in new PenTest Regular. 


This issue focuses on following topics:

Flash Cookie
by Ayan Kumar Pan
If you think you have deleted all the cookies from your computer, then think again. There are certain genres of persistent cookies that do not get terminated by the commonly used 'Clear Your Recent History' option. One of them is a flash cookie.

MsfPayload & MsfEncode
by Pankaj Moolrajani and Hitesh Choudhary
Malicious code or software are not at all new terms in the present era. Antivirus companies are trying hard to make the Internet safe and free from malware, but still the tight bond between flaws and features comes in between.

How to Manually Identify Malware
by Adam Kujawa
During the course of Penetration Testing, you may find yourself faced with a suspicious file or series of files which are not detected by any antivirus solution, in which case being able to manually determine whether a file is malicious or not is very important.

Using Malware During a Penetration Test
by Trajce Dimkov and Henri Hambartsumyan
Malware is frequently used by cyber criminals to send spam, obtain account information, show unwanted advertisements, steal credit card numbers and obtain remote access to the internal network.

The Physical Aspects of Cybersecurity and Their Importance
by Marc Gartenberg
NISPOM as a whole is designed to "prescribe the requirements, restrictions, and other safeguards to prevent unauthorized disclosure of classified information." That's it. Plain and simple.

Exploitation Techniques: How You Should Start
by Fabian "@samuirai" Faessler
Have you ever dreamed about writing your own 0day exploit? I really want to do it, and I work hard to learn everything I can about it. This article is about the experiences I have had so far in learning about exploit techniques, and I want to share some of the noteworthy sources I stumbled upon in order to support other beginners.

Practical Malware Analysis: The Hands-On Guide to Dissecting Malicious Software
by Jeff Weaver
Have you ever wanted to reverse engineer malware to see exactly what it does when it infects its host? To understand how malware propagates, or even understand the malware enough to write custom signatures for your IDS/IPS to save your network?

Damballa Failsafe: More Than a Malware Protection System
by Rishi Narang
Advanced malware, persistent threats (APTs), and zeroday targeted attacks are the buzz of today's security industry. Big and small corporates to vast infrastructuresor SMEs are all victims to these stealthy targeted attacks.

Some might call me a security expert: Interview with Marcin Kleczynski, CEO of Malwarebytes
by Aby Rao
He started as a computer technician. Frustrated with criminal software he worked on a simple tool. This tool has been downloaded 200 millions times and he is a CEO of a company that stops advanced malware hands down.

It Is All About the Content: SecTor Conference
by M.A. Hervieux
SecTor, the brainchild of founders of TASK, led by an impressive advisory committee composed of leading industry experts, is preparing for its 6th annual event coming this October.

Selling Services of Penetration Testing
by Dean Bushmiller
As you are doing your test, you ARE doing the sales activity. Your task is difficult because you sell intangible – you are selling TRUST. You are saying, "Please trust us enough to attack your network."

Save the Database, Save the World – Chapter 6
by John B. Ottman

Benefits of Requirements Management Tools

Too often projects fail due to issues with requirements. There are more than a dozen tools on the market today, and they range from simple Web-based structures for storing requirements information to powerful multiuser, Web-enabled products with rich feature sets that can handle extremely large projects. This paper offers some suggestions about how to sensibly integrate a tool into your business and get the maximum benefit from your investment in an RM tool, preventing it from becoming expensive shelfware. With this whitepaper, you'll learn:

  • 6 benefits of using a requirements management tool
  • Top limitations to a document based approach
  • 8 recommended selection criteria
  • Tips on how to measure the tool's success



Video - Challenges faced by Software Testers

Video by James Bach- Challenges faced by Software Testers

Becoming a Software Testing Expert - A must watch


by James Bach

I work with project teams and individual engineers to help them plan SQA, change control, and testing processes that allow them to understand and control the risks of product failure. Most of my experience is with market-driven Silicon Valley software companies like Apple Computer and Borland, so the techniques I've gathered and developed are designed for use under conditions of compressed schedules, high rates of change, component-based technology, and poor specification. ABSTRACT
You're already an experienced tester. You know how to design tests and report bugs. Now what? Do you feel like an expert? Unfortunately, if you want to become very good at...

Webinar - Quality Engineering: The Shift from Performance to Quality-based Measurement

Market dynamics and intense competition constantly demand businesses do more for less. In such an economy, there is increasing need to achieve faster time-to-market with improved quality at a lower total cost of ownership. Implicit in all of this is the drive to seek more innovative and collaborative ways of working to deliver business assurance to the end-users, besides merely providing verification and validation services.

Quality Engineering (QE) is a key operating paradigm in the overall quality ecosystem with a structured and accountable end-to-end quality governance. QE can help businesses address these challenges more effectively. The shift-left strategy to influence quality upstream captured in QE catalyzes the extra mile mindset to build it right the first time rather than testing it later.

Join Prabakaran Karuppiah and Anutthara Bharadwaj in this web seminar as they share key insights to deliver the transformational impact from requirement validation to experience validation, optimize techniques for a lean delivery, and enable continuous automated integration with a zero-deviation lifecycle.

You'll also learn:
  • Key business drivers for shifting left from Quality Assurance to QE
  • Which tools and accelerators enable QE for a diverse set of applications
  • The transformational aspects that drive predictability for testing services


ISTQB Advanced Test Manager September 10-14, 2012‏ by Rex Black

The Advanced Test Manager course, created by Rex Black, past President of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), past President of the American Software Testing Qualifications Board (ASTQB) and co-author of the International Software Testing Qualifications Board Advanced Syllabus, provides test managers with advanced skills in test estimation, test planning, test monitoring, and test control. 

This hands-on course provides test managers with the ability to define the overall testing goals and strategy for the systems being tested and is ideal for test managers preparing for certification. The objectives of the course are as follows:
  • Define the overall testing goals and strategy for the systems being tested
  • Gain hands-on experience in planning, scheduling, and tracking testing tasks
  • Describe and organize the necessary testing activities
  • Select, acquire and assign adequate resources for testing tasks
  • Form, organize, and lead testing teams
  • Organize communication, both between the members of the testing teams and between the testing teams and all the other stakeholders
  • Justify decisions and provide actionable test reports
Purchase of the course tuition includes:
  • Complimentary access to the RBCS e-learning course
  • Instructor-led five-day course
  • A set of approximately 600 PowerPoint slides covering the topics to be addressed
  • Foundation Sample Exam Questions and Foundation Level mock exam to provide a review of the Foundation Level exam
  • ISTQB Advanced Syllabus
  • The latest glossary of terms used in Software Testing produced by members of the ISTQB
  • Standards for Software Testing
  • Advanced Test Manager Sample Exam Questions embedded throughout course. A complete set of questions for every learning objective in the Test Manager module of the ISTQB Advanced Syllabus.
  • Exercise solutions
  • Advanced Test Manager Mock Exam
  • Project Source Documents for Course Exercises
  • Copy of the textbook "Advanced Software Testing-Vol.2: Guide to the ISTQB Advanced Certification as an Advanced Test Manager"
  • The $200 certification exam fee. Exams are held on the afternoon of the final course day and are administered by a representative from the American Software Testing Qualifications Board. All attendees of the Advanced Level courses must have successfully completed Foundation Level training and sufficient practical experience. Proof of eligibility is available from the American Software Testing Qualifications Board and is required to take an Advanced exam.  Effective March 1, 2012, there is no longer a fee associated with prequalification.
  • Course completion certificate (often used for employer reimbursement)
Accredited by ASTQB June 2008. This course follows the ISTQB Advanced Level Syllabus 2007.

 

10% Off
10% off tuition for ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Test Manager

Regular price: $2,650
With promo code: $2,385
 

Use Code: SEPT12ATM

 

Offer expires August 10, 2012*


*Enter code SEPT12ATM in promo code field in cart.  Offer expires August 10, 2012.

Automated Software Testing (AST) Magazine - Download Latest Issue

The latest issue of the Automated Software Testing (AST) Magazine is now available and ready for download today!

Monitoring a Cloud-based Ajax Web Application Using Seleniumm and Nagios by Viktor Doulepov

This article reveals the importance of ensuring application availability and correctness. Read as the author describes experiences with integrating Selenium tests that mimic user activity into a Cloud-based production monitoring framework based on Nagios.

Addressing Flaws in Test Automation by Clinton Sprauve

If repeating the same action while expecting different results is the definition of insanity, then automators are often insane! Read this article for help escaping the "crazy cycle" by avoiding common automation flaws.

Planning a Mobile Test Automation Strategy That Works by Yoram Mizrachi

Mobile offers an array of unique challenges for testing, and in addition, changes test automation from a "nice-to-have" to a "must-have." Read this article to learn how to implement a winning mobile test automation strategy.

Click here to download your free copy of this issue today. Learn more about this magazine issue by clicking here.

Agile Testing with Telerik Test Studio

Riding the agile testing wave with Test Studio

Telerik Test Studio has Agile Testing capabilities as well. Following the agile testing or not, testers nowadays have to adapt to rapid deployment cycles and disruptive changes in testing patterns. When on the lookout for an automated agile testing tool, testers need to consider the below features that will help him/her be more productive:
• The solution needs to serve multiple roles (QAs AND Developers) in order to facilitate communication among
team members
• It  should integrate within source control environment
• The agile testing tool needs to offer effortless test case maintenance
• It should support a test-first approach
• The solution has to allow writing test automation code using real languages, with real IDEs

This tool helps even further speed up team productivity and accelerates agile testing processes by introducing 
the below functionality:

• Rich Highlighting Surface
• DOM Explorer for HTML & Silverlight (Visual Tree)
• Element Menu for rich on-the-spot recordings
• Automatic Synchronization Steps
• Command line execution support
• Build Server Integration (CruiseControl, TeamBuildServer, TeamCity)
• Results Management using a results calendar
• Test List Management that supports ordering

Improving the Test Process | Free Webinar by Rex Black | Arranged by STP

In 2003, Rex's book, Critical Testing Processes, came out. In it, Rex introduced a test process framework based on criticality, and focused on business value.  With the 2012 publication of Rex's new e-book, Improving the Testing Process, Rex provides a clear set of guidelines on how to use the Critical Testing Processes framework to assess and improve your testing processes.  It includes questions to ask and metrics to evaluate.  
In this webinar, Rex will explain the evaluation guidelines and how to apply them to your organization.  You'll come away ready to get started on bottom-line focused, data-driven improvements to your testing processes.

Click Here to join the Webinar: https://www.softwaretestpro.com/Event/1167/


Automated Functional Testing with Test Studio

Test Studio is a Automation Testing tool by Telerik. This tool supports the following:
  • Functional Testing
  • Load Testing
  • Mobile Testing
  • Performance Testing.

In this post we will give you a brief introduction to Functional Testing with Test Studio.

Many automated testing tools claim to be easy to use. This one really is. The intuitive UI emulates the familiar look and feel of handheld consumer devices. Tasks can be quickly and easily completed with the product's point-and-click interface. Additionally, Testcase maintenance is brought to a new level thanks to a number of built-in features – reuse of elements, browser abstraction, on-the-spot validation, and built-in DOM explorer.

Test Studio Builds automated tests for your apps regardless of their underlying technology, complexity or interactivity. Test Studio Telerik are the first to support all the latest technologies - HTML5, AJAX, Silverlight and WPF! Test Studio is the one stop shop for testing JavaScript calls, Telerik controls, dynamic page synchronization, client-side behaviors, complex UI virtualizations and XAML animations.

Benefits:
Simplified manual test creation, execution and management

Forget about spreadsheets! Put all your automated and manual tests in one place. Test Studio's Manual Test Type makes manual test creation and execution more organized, productive and faster than before. Speed up the execution time of your manual tests by automating time-consuming repetitive tasks.


Robust test recording and playback

Test Studio introduces a next-gen approach to test recording with its built-in recording surface. Not only are you able to create your tests with point-and-clicks, you can easily add conditional logic without writing a single line of code, or extract a value from a page element to be used later in the test.


Record once, run against all major browsers

Test Studio is a functional testing tool that offers an easy and quick way to test your web application in all the major browsers. No need to tweak and duplicate your tests for different browsers any more – have a test recorded once and execute against: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Chrome.

Visual Studio plug-in for coding pros

Test Studio also ships with a developer-focused solution that gives you maximum control over your code and tests. It's where you need it most - tightly integrated in Visual Studio. The powerful built-in test recorder can convert your tests to .NET code which can be further customized or extended in Visual Studio if needed.

Test scheduling, execution and reporting

Leverage multiple machines to execute test runs in parallel saving vast amounts of execution time. Test Studio allows you to schedule and execute tests across the entire testing environment. Automatically collect results into a centralized repository and then analyze them on your local machine! Get email notifications upon run completion.

Much more efficient regression testing

Test maintenance is smoother with Test Studio. We don't use absolute coordinates which guarantees your tests will not break if the application layout changes. Better yet, all elements are stored in the "Elements repository". If there are multiple tests that use the same element, it will be referenced from the "Elements Explorer" instead of being duplicated in the test.

Exploratory Testing

Test Studio Explore is an in-browser extension that helps you report bugs directly from your application. Attach screenshots, ideas, and annotations, while browsing. Share your feedback via email, or export it to Word and PDF. All this with a simple click of a button – no additional installations are needed.

Making Risk-Based Testing a Success - Webinar


Broadcast Date and Time: April 24, 2012, 2 p.m. EDT

The primary role of risk-based testing is to optimize available resources and time without affecting the quality of your product. Risk-based testing helps address the rise in business and technological complexity and the growing size of applications by prioritizing test cases based on the defined criticality of a function, encouraging impact assessment of an application functionality failure and increasing testing effectiveness. Despite these benefits, risk-based testing is still used or deployed in a limited manner across organizations. 

In this web seminar, speakers Russ Queen and Vasudeva Naidu discuss the two most common reasons that limit the adoption of risk-based testing: the lack of well-defined methodology to measure the success of risk-based testing and lack of stakeholder involvement in planning risk-based testing. Russ will also talk about Nordstrom's quest into the risk-based testing (RBT) space, the successes that they have achieved, the challenges they've faced, and the future state that they would like to attain as part of their RBT strategy. 

Vasudeva Naidu will present Infosys' RBT framework that will help you extract maximum value from your RBT program. Infosys' framework is comprised of four crucial elements:
  • The ideal approach
  • Use of right tools
  • Right metrics for measurement and
  • Creating an effective assessment model for your RBT framework
This framework is geared toward helping you improve quality, time to market, and reduce testing costs. Register and attend this event if you want to increase your business value by implementing an effective risk-based testing strategy.

Agile Testing Webinar


There is hardly a development team around that is not either using agile or thinking of implementing some agile practices.


If you are interested to hear experienced people explain the QA and testing issues they encountered and the measures they took to solve them please join our Agile Testing webinar at 26 April 11 AM EST:


Keywords: Agile Testing, Distributed Agile Testing, Testing Tools

Reference - xbosoft.com

Improving the Testing Process - Free Webinar by Rex Black

In 2003, Rex's book, Critical Testing Processes, came out.  In it, Rex introduced a test process framework based on criticality, and focused on business value.  With the 2012 publication of Rex's new e-book, Improving the Testing Process, Rex provides a clear set of guidelines on how to use the Critical Testing Processes framework to assess and improve your testing processes.  It includes questions to ask and metrics to evaluate.  In this webinar, Rex will explain the evaluation guidelines and how to apply them to your organization.  You'll come away ready to get started on bottom-line focused, data-driven improvements to your testing processes.
 
 
To support our international clientele, we will present this webinar at two times:
 
For the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East: 1:00 PM Central US Time (May 22) and 8:00 PM Central Europe Time (May 22).  To register, click here:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/725201506
 
For the Americas, Australasia, and Asia: 8:30 PM Central US Time (May 22), 9:30 AM Beijing Time (May 23), 10:30 AM Seoul/Tokyo Time (May 23), and 11:30 AM Sydney Time (May 23). To register, click here:  https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/316516666
 
Each live webinar session consists of one hour of presentation and a 30 minute post-webinar question-and-answer opportunity.  These webinars are free.  Webinar attendance registers you to win a free e-learning course from RBCS.  Congratulations to Atul Patil, the winner in April!

Webinar | Simplifying Test Scripting in Coded UI Tests

Coded UI Tests in Visual Studio 2010 is a very powerful tool for creating automated tests, but the feature-rich capabilities of Visual Studio 2010 may be overwhelming when trying to find the best approach to writing tests that are easy to read and maintain. Attend this event and:
  • Learn new ways to simplify test scripting by implementing test classes that use a different pattern than Visual Studio's default pattern.
  • Gain the basics of constructing a UI Map and how to modify it to make it easier to navigate.
  • Explore practices that simplify the code used for testing, which will lead to better reliability and usability of the test assets.
  • Discuss techniques for logging to enable more freedom for long term data gathering and sharing.
If you are responsible for implementing a framework automated testing solution or a tester/manager interested in solutions for making automated testing easier and more maintainable, then be sure to join this web seminar!

Tuesday, February 14, at 2 p.m. ET.

Presenter

Byron Goodman, National Director of Quality Assurance, Neudesic


Byron has over 20 years of experience in the Information Technology field including more than 5 years of senior management. He has been instrumental in successfully implementing Quality Assurance and Testing process and procedures, as well as creating and growing teams with companies such as First American, Auto Club of Southern California, AmeriQuest, Kelley Blue Book and Twentieth Century Fox. Byron has been invited to speak at professional QA events to discuss the proper implementation of automated testing tools. He has developed full-scale training courses to introduce the concepts of frameworks as the basis of maintainable, long term automated testing. He works very closely with Microsoft and has given demonstrations and presentations to several Microsoft Enterprise clients.

Book Review - Testing Computer Software

This book will teach you how to test computer software under real-world conditions. The authors have all been test managers and software development managers at well-known Silicon Valley software companies. Successful consumer software companies have learned how to produce high-quality products under tight time and budget constraints. The book explains the testing side of that success.
Who this book is for:

* Testers and Test Managers
* Project Managers-Understand the timeline, depth of investigation, and quality of communication to hold testers accountable for.
* Programmers-Gain insight into the sources of errors in your code, understand what tests your work will have to pass, and why testers do the things they do.
* Students-Train for an entry-level position in software development.

What you will learn:
* How to find important bugs quickly
* How to describe software errors clearly
* How to create a testing plan with a minimum of paperwork
* How to design and use a bug-tracking system
* Where testing fits in the product development process
* How to test products that will be translated into other languages
* How to test for compatibility with devices, such as printers
* What laws apply to software quality