In this article, I introduce the acronym PURIFF as a concept containing all test categories to be conducted during the sprint. The Scrum team can use the PURIFF acronym as a checklist to determine which categories of tests are relevant in the given context.

Distributed systems, both large and small, can be extremely challenging to test and debug, as they are spread over a network, run on computers that can be quite different from each other, and might even be physically located in different continents altogether.

The debate is always active in the software testing community about the usage of manual or automated testing. In this article, Art Trevethan explains that both have their value. He guides you on how to choose the test items to automate and proposes an approach to integrate test automation smoothly in your test plans.

An important part of software testing or coding effort is the ability to measure the progress. One technique for doing this is a technique called Earned Value Management, and we'll show you how easy it is to apply EVM to your own projects.

Software testers like software developers might be generally more introverted than extroverted. However, with Agile software development approaches like Scrum, communication between team members and with external stakeholders become a critical for project success. In this extract from her book “Guide to Advanced Software Testing”, Anne Mette Hass presents some general ideas about the communication issues for software testing teams.

In a perfect software development world, you have all the time and the resources available to test every aspect of your mobile apps. In reality, the time and resources for software testing are limited. In his book “Tap Into Mobile Application Testing“, Jonathan Kohl discusses how to define a strategy for mobile testing projects.

The management of test environments is an area mostly neglected in software development projects. In this article, Niall Crawford discusses the basic requirements of test environment management and explains the benefits this activity provides.

As software testers, it is very important to be able to understand your emotions. They can be a great heuristic which can guide your testing. But it is more than just that; understanding your emotions and the effect that they can have on others who you work with in your team is a key skill for all team members. One’s position within a team is often dictated by how well one can interact with others in the team. People who express extreme emotional reactions to events, particularly in cultures where this is not normal behaviour, risk becoming isolated and ineffective. This can be a particular problem for testers who are typically fewer in number, and frequently perceived to be the bearers of bad news. Paul’s behaviour above is not the best way for anyone to act.

In the days of DevOps supported by approaches like continuous deployment, the concepts of continuous testing and test automation are essential to support the speed needed for delivering quickly solutions (and hopefully value) to the users. Some of the big questions in the software testing community are “How much should we automate our tests?” and “What tests should we run?”. The technique of Test Impact Analysis helps to answer to this question.