Engineer Sayings

Things that QA Engineers may hear when they discover a bug - usually late in the test cycle.

QA Meme Library

Here are various QA Meme that was created in June 2022. SEe all the files in the QA Image Library.

https://www.cryan.com/qa/graphics/2022/WooHooReleaseDay.jpg

https://www.cryan.com/qa/graphics/2022/BuildReadyMeme.jpg

https://www.cryan.com/qa/graphics/2022/FoundBug.jpg

https://www.cryan.com/qa/graphics/2022/DevQACode.jpg

https://www.cryan.com/qa/graphics/2022/NoFridayRelease.jpg

Software Quality Matters

As a professional, it's important to you that the software you use is of the highest quality. But what does that mean, exactly? And how can you be sure your software is up to snuff?

There are a few key things to look for when assessing the quality of software: first, how well does it meet your needs and expectations? Second, how reliable and stable is it? And finally, how well does it perform under pressure?

If a piece of software doesn't meet your needs or expectations, then it's not worth using no matter how high its quality may be. You need something that's going to work for you, not against you. So always test out any new software before committing yourself fully.

Reliability and stability are also key factors in determining quality. Software that crashes or freezes all the time isn't going to do you much good - in fact, it might even end up costing you more in lost productivity than if you'd just gone with a lower-quality option. Make sure to check out reviews online before making your decision; they can be helpful in gauging overall reliability.

The Inquiry Method for Test Planning

The Inquiry Method for Test Planning is a process that helps you plan your tests by identifying and investigating the test objectives. This method can be used to develop both formative and automated assessments.

To use the Inquiry Method for Test Planning, you first need to identify the test objectives. These are specific goals that you want test cases to achieve as a result of running your test. Next, you need to investigate how best to assess each objective. This involves thinking about what type of question or activity will best measure the test cases - understanding of the objective. Finally, you need to create a plan for running the tests and scoring the final responses.

The Inquiry Method for Test Planning is an important tool for creating effective release risk assessments. By beginning with clear objectives and then investigating how best to measure the release success, this process ensures that tests reflect what developers have implemented in the release. Additionally, using an inquiry-based approach allows QA the flexibility in developing assessment items customized to their own test case goals and needs."

Sprint Velocity

Velocity is one of the most important measures of success in agile development. The higher the velocity, the more software functionality a team can deliver, and the more value is created for customers. However, there are many factors that can affect velocity, so it's important to track it carefully and adjust as needed.

There are several ways to measure velocity: in story points, hours, or ideal days. Some teams prefer to use story points because they're relative and don't depend on how long something takes to complete. Other teams prefer to use hours or ideal days because they're more specific and easier to track.

No matter which method you choose, it's important to keep track of your team's velocity over time so you can identify any trends or changes that might be affecting your ability to deliver value for your customers

Things I Learned

Velocity is a measure of how much the team can complete in an iteration. It is generally measured in terms of the number of user story points completed in a sprint.

The higher the velocity, the more work the team can complete. This allows for shorter iterations and faster feedback cycles, which leads to better products.

While velocity should not be used as the only metric for determining whether or not a team is successful, it is an important indicator that should be tracked over time.

Velocity is not useful as a team measure until you have completed at least three sprints with a fixed team of people.

Sprint retrospective meetings should always focus on ways to improve the team's velocity.

Things to Consider at a Retrospective Meeting

Three good questions to ask:

• Is the team delivering at maximum velocity?
• What is slowing down the team to deliver more quality code?
• What can the team do differently to improve velocity?

BugWalk

If your looking for a fun way to learn JavaScript, try BugWalk. This simple JavaScript will add bugs to any website.

Developers can make all sorts of adjustments such as; the amount of time the bugs appear, the speed of the bugs, mouseover effects, and more.

How Can You Learn from This?

QA Developers can manipulate the JavaScript file and learn various parts of JavaScript. This is also useful to learn how to use JavaScript with sprite.

To get started, download the project from GitHub and start playing around with it. The nice thing is that you don't need to be connected to the internet to play around with the project.

XPath Validation

Selenium automation requires getting the XPath to find elements on the page. There are all sorts of third-party tools that can help make the process easy. Did you know that Chrome and Firefox have a built-in tool that can show you the value of a given XPath?

Discovering the Value of a Given XPath

There is a hidden variable: $x while echos the content of given XPath. Example Use:

Four Things I Learned

In Chrome, If you just type in "$" in the console, you'll see all the available commands. However, Google doesn't show $x in that list. Firefox does show that $x is a valid variable.

The $x XPath Validation is very useful to discover the value of an object. Especially useful when automation is trying to click on something and it's not working. This is also useful when running automation against different browsers - you can see the different XPATH values each browser takes.

I have used this after an automation failure, with the browser still open, I would open the console and then use the $x to see the value of that location.

In Chrome, When you mouse over the 'i" the selected area is highlighted. In Firefox it's the cog icon.

Canned Responses in Jira

Canned Responses in Jira is a powerful feature that can save you time and improve your productivity. It allows you to create and store reusable responses for common tasks, such as creating issues, assigning them to someone, or commenting on them. This can be a huge time-saver if you need to respond to the same types of issues frequently.

To create a canned response:

• In the issue's Quick Actions menu, select Create Canned Response...
• Enter your response text in the editor window and click Save .
• The canned response will now appear in the list below. You can edit it at any time by clicking its name. To use it in an issue, just type $ followed by its name (e.g., @$yCannedResponse).

This is useful for QA to create custom responses to testing results. This helps maintain some stability in the testing results.

Sample of where the Canned Reponse is in the comment text dialog box.

Some Example Canned Responses

Release Engineer Queue Boss

Back in 2011, I wrote up the need for an Engineer Queue Boss. This is a short follow-up to that post. (Things have changed in the 11 years since I posted it.)

An Engineer Queue Boss is someone that handles any issues that Quality Assurance or Customer Support finds. The purpose of this position is to take the load off other engineers so they can focus on their tasks and not be distracted by current issues.

The Engineer Queue Boss needs to have a strong understanding of how the product works, as well as the ability to communicate with both customers and engineers. They need to be able to prioritize tasks and work with other teams in order to get things done quickly and efficiently.

The Engineer Queue Boss will work with the rest of the team to triage and prioritize production release issues, then work to resolve them as quickly as possible. They must have excellent communication skills, be able to effectively manage their time, and have a strong understanding of how the software works.

This position is essential for keeping engineers focused on their tasks and ensuring that customer support and quality assurance are able to do their jobs without being overwhelmed by current issues.

Dev Tools Screen-shot

People use different browsers for various reasons. Some people like the privacy feature of Firefox, while others like the way things are bookmarked in Chrome. Still, others prefer Safari because it is a MacOS default browser. Finally, some people use Edge because it is the newest browser and Microsoft is pushing it as their flagship product.

Occasionally I'll get a screenshot of the Developer Tools in a ticket and I can't figure out what browser they are using. Is it Chrome? Firefox?

Should I ask? Maybe I should know based on the screenshot?

Here's a visual reference of Chrome, FireFox, Edge and Safari. This should help figure out which Developer Tool is being used.

Chrome (MacOS)

Apple Safari

Microsoft Edge

FireFox