To help drive test quality improvements, Dynamics CRM, Dynamics AX, and Dynamics NAV are using a metric that indicates the percentage of all tests that are passing or which fail due to a product issue. This metric is called Automation Accuracy (although...

[This is an updated version of a note that was first published to a Microsoft internal blog in November 2008] There are many opportunities to misuse code coverage (see Marick 1999 or Lamey 2010). Focusing solely on code coverage numbers can lead...

[This note was first published to a Microsoft internal blog in October 2008] It is common to include code coverage goals as key criteria for deciding if is time to exit various milestones in the software development cycle. This suggests that code...

Treating test automation as a product changes the way we design and implement test code and helps to ensure that the tests provide cost-effective feedback for their entire lifespan. The time a test spends being used for the verification of new functionality...

A key attribute of test quality is that the tests must be effective, that is, there must be a high probability that they will detect defects in the product. Conceptually this is simple, but it is more difficult to come up with simple metrics that can...

Efficiency was a recurring sub-theme at the Ørdev software conference in Malmö, appearing explicitly in at least five of the presentation titles. However, most of the speakers were quick to point out that efficiency has little meaning without a focus...

The Agile software development track during the Ørdev conference in Malmö last week included several sessions on Behavior Driven Development (BDD). This development methodology is one of the latest of the "driven development" paradigms and is positioned...

I am finally taking the plunge and starting an external blog on software testing. My views on software testing have been acquired on the job during 13 years of helping to test a number of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems in the Microsoft...