I started this blog about 3 1/2 years ago to share some ideas, observations, and lessons I’ve learned during my software testing career at Microsoft. I have also learned a lot about blogging, and also about communicating more effectively. It is great...

The past series of posts have focused on one of localization testing which describes the largest category of localization class issues reported by testers performing localization testing, and what we categorize as usability/behavioral type issues because...

Part 1 provided an overview of localization class issues, and Part II discussed issues with non-translated strings in a localized product and gave some helpful hints to manage that problem during the software development lifecycle. In Part III I will...

I should be of no surprise to anyone that localization testing generally focuses on changes in the user interface, although as mentioned in the previous post these are not the only changes necessary to adapt a product to a specific target market. But...

When I first joined Microsoft 15 years ago I was on the Windows 95 International team. Our team was responsible for reducing the delta between the release of the English version and the Japanese version to 90 days, and I am very proud to say that we achieved...

I love autumn! Yes, I am definitely a boy of summer and very much prefer warmer weather; however, there is something special about autumn. This past weekend my daughter, and my 2 friends Dongyi and her husband Yuning and I participated in the Rum Run...

A significant percentage of static test data is stored in tabular comma delimited or tab-delimited formats and saved in Excel spreadsheets. Reading in comma or tab-delimited static test data into an automated test is pretty straight forward and there...

Software is knowledge. Software is the intangible product crafted by a team of people who have pooled their intellectual knowledge to help solve a complex problem and add value to those who use that software. So how does a tester contribute to the intellectual...

The past 2 weeks have been a bit rough. While in Israel I began to feel a bit congested. By the time I hit Nürmberg, Germany for 12th International Conference on Quality Engineering in Software Technology I was injecting nose-juice (nasal decongestant...

I have spent the last week in Israel teaching our new SDET course in Herzillya and our Senior SDET course in Haifa. I also did a lot of listening and discussing various issues relating to software testing and the maturation of our discipline; not just...

I am really happy to announce that our book has been released in China and available on the Chinese Amazon site! This was really a monumental effort driven by my friend and colleague Kelly Zhang. We look forward to the feedback from the Chinese testing...

Last week I talked about the silliness of wasting time calculating the return on investment (ROI) of an automation effort on any non-trivial software project; especially if it has an extended shelf-life. As my friend Joe Strazzre commented, “If you need...

I just finished reading Implementing Automated Software Testing by E.Dustin, T. Garrett, and B. Gauf and overall this is a good read providing some well thought out arguments for beginning an automation project, and provides strategic perspectives to...

My daughter made me laugh today when she offered a bit of her philosophy. She told me that her favorite candy is gummy bears “because gummy bears get stuck between your teeth, and then you can dig out a second helping with your tongue.” I never really...

I remember as a young lad working construction for my uncle one summer. The hours were long, it was hot, and I would much rather have been somewhere else. But, I was saving up for my first motorcycle, so I did whatever jobs I could find. Perhaps it was...

When many people think of test automation they envision rudimentary scripts with hard-coded events and data that manipulate user interface objects much the same way a customer might interact with the software to accomplish a pre-defined, robot-like task...

This week, I will keep this post quite short and redirect you to my answers to an interview by the great folks at What Is Testing. The questions covered various topics from the book How We Test Software At Microsoft , to my current role at Microsoft,...

It seems it is about this time of year that I need to detach a bit from the world to reflect back on the past year and reevaluate my personal and professional goals moving forward. Perhaps I am just getting older or perhaps just a bit wiser (that is synonymous...

When we report a bug our hope is that bug is fixed. But, of course we know that isn’t always the case which is why there are usually several alternative resolutions developers, project managers, or managers may choose for resolving a bug such as postponed...

Regardless of the personal opinions of a few people, the simple fact is that the demand for software testers who can design and develop effective test automation is increasing. Perhaps one reason for the distain by some folks in the industry is due to...

Using context-free software product measures as personal performance indicators (KPI) is about as silly as pet rocks ! Periodically a discussion of assessing tester performance surfaces on various discussion groups. Some people offer advice such as...

This week I came across a discussion [regarding test design] in which a tester wrote, "… the main goal is having something that is 'good enough' ." Every time I hear a tester utter the phrase " good enough " my head wants to explode! Wrapping duct...

Last month I wrote about simplistic views of UI test automation in which some people want to pretend that recording for playback or scripting hard-coded actions and data to mimic some human’s interactions at the keyboard is an automated test. Balderdash...

I often find discussions about quality to be hypothetical, and in fact unless you define your specific context the word itself is nebulous, vague, or simply meaningless philosophical psycho-babble. For a while now, I previously posted my opposition to...

Much of the information about exploratory testing focuses on testing from an end-user perspective. Pundits of exploratory testing claim the approach is also useful from a white box test design approach, but I have yet to see any practical discussion or...