November 9, 2012

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Romney Project Orca

Perhaps the Project Orca team should have tested more?

Described as a "Killer Whale Project", a system designed to help volunteers record who voted, and to identify those who hadn’t for follow-up, apparently failed miserably. copyrightjoestrazzere
  • Designed to digitize and streamline the poll watchers' strike lists
  • Not only did Project Orca not improve the process, it may have actually hindered it. 
  • Checklist in instruction packet listed the same item twice, and missed a critically important step
  • Didn't auto-forward users who didn't know to add an S to the http:// protocol in the app's URL
  • PINs that were required to login and download the voter lists didn't work and couldn't be reset
  • In one area, the head of the Republican Party plus 10 volunteers were all locked out
  • All of Colorado had the wrong PINs
  • In North Carolina every pin was wrong and not fixed until 6PM
  • The system went down for a half hour during peak voting, but for hundreds or more, it never worked all day
  • The system projected every swing state as pink or red
  • As of 4 p.m., Orca still projected a Romney victory of somewhere between 290 and 300 electoral votes
  • An aide said Orca had pretty much crashed in the heat of the action
  • By pushing Orca into the most important swing states they drew 37,000 volunteers away from more battle-tested methods and left local campaign offices flying blind

According to a Romney campaign release from just before the election:
"Project ORCA is a massive undertaking – the Republican Party’s newest, unprecedented and most technologically advanced plan to win the 2012 presidential election.
...
We have tweaked and improved Project ORCA throughout primary, so going into the general, we had several ideas and more time to incorporate those ideas into a system that would work nationally."

Perhaps (with all those ideas and more time), they should have cast a vote or two for more testing?


See also:
This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
1 comments
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November 2, 2012

I'm In Better Software Magazine!


From One Expert To Another


I mentioned a while back that I would be in Better Software Magazine. copyrightjoestrazzere

And here it is - the November/December 2012 issue http://www.stickyminds.com/BetterSoftware/magazine.asp. It's free to download as a PDF.

Right there on page 17, are excerpts from the "From One Expert to Another" interview I had with Alan Page.

You can read the full interview at the StickyMinds site: http://www.stickyminds.com/sitewide.asp?Function=edetail&ObjectType=ART&ObjectId=17707

Enjoy!

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
6 comments

October 24, 2012

Free Release Tracking Template


Release Tracking Template


In my shop, we each have official "Goals" which help form the basis of our annual bonuses.

All of the folks on my QA Team, have one Goal related to successful releases. Here, "successful" basically equates to "Released to Production with no issues requiring an emergency fix". copyrightjoestrazzere

In order to track these release events, I just use a simple spreadsheet. Nothing fancy here, but it allows me to quickly review a year's worth of releases when completing the annual Performance Appraisal forms.

You can access the free template I use here:

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
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October 17, 2012

From One Expert to Another: Joe Strazzere

From One Expert to Another: Joe Strazzere

Stickyminds.com, the online companion to Better Software magazine, runs a series of articles titled "From One Expert to Another".

These articles use an interview format where one QA/Testing expert questions another. copyrightjoestrazzere

Past editions have interviewed such industry notables as Markus Gärtner, Alan Page, Paul Poutane, Dawn and Shannon Code, Meeta Prakash, Simon Baker, Catherine Powell, and James Bach.

When Joey McAllister of Stickyminds and Alan Page approached me about being the subject, I was quite flattered! And here is the interview:

From One Expert to Another: Joe Strazzere 
http://www.stickyminds.com/sitewide.asp?Function=edetail&ObjectType=ART&ObjectId=17707

Excerpts will also appear in the next printed version of Better Software magazine.

Alan Page works at Microsoft, is a true expert, writes a terrific blog at http://angryweasel.com/blog/, and was the lead author for one of my favorite Testing books, How We Test Software at Microsoft.

 This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
3 comments
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October 4, 2012

Software Testing is NOT "Breaking Things" - Part Two


Breaking Things, or is it Monkey Testing?

For some odd reason, I really don't like it when software testers say "I enjoy breaking things". copyrightjoestrazzere

When you test and find a bug, you haven't broken anything - it was already broken!  If anything, the developer who wrote the code broke it.

see:
This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
6 comments
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September 27, 2012

A New Version of WinTask - 3.9


WinTask 3.9

The good folks at TaskWare have released a new version of the favorite tool in my toolbox - WinTask.

The big news here is that WinTask has added support for Chrome.  So now you can test Windows applications, and web applications in Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome! copyrightjoestrazzere

Here is the vendor's version history of WinTask: http://www.wintask.com/version-history.php

Check this tool out at http://www.wintask.com/

You can see some of my WinTask utility scripts here, using the WinTask tag.

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
0 comments
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September 26, 2012

Test Automation Is ...


Test Automation Is

According to Google (and Google knows everything), test automation is: copyrightjoestrazzere
  • Test Automation is easy
  • Test Automation is complex
  • Test Automation is now
  • Test Automation is making you crazy
  • Test Automation is a good thing
  • Test Automation is important
  • Test Automation is required
  • Test Automation is bad
  • Test Automation is not the icing on the cake
  • Test Automation is preferred
  • Test Automation is a specialized career
  • Test Automation is sometimes complicated
  • Test Automation is a much talked about topic
  • Test Automation is in itself a software development activity
  • Test Automation is more difficult that people often realize
  • Test Automation is a full-time effort
  • Test Automation is more than a set of tests
  • Test Automation is becoming cross-discipline
  • Test Automation is the next logical step
  • Test Automation is largely a technical exercise
  • Test Automation is an investment
  • Test Automation is an agent of transformation
  • Test Automation is always viewed as the most desired approach for testing
  • Test Automation is obviously the right thing
  • Test Automation is no longer confined to programmers and scripters
Can you add to the list?

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
0 comments
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September 24, 2012

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Apple iOS 6 Maps


Show me the way to go home
I'm tired and I want to go to bed
I had a little drink about one release ago
And it's gone right to my head

Apple's new iOS 6 software update replaces Google Maps with Apple Maps as expected, but so far, unhappy users are panning the change in websites and online forums. copyrightjoestrazzere

Apple is receiving massive backlash from users around the globe, who report that Apple’s replacement maps, “Apple Maps,” are riddled with strange glitches, inaccurate direction and location data, and fall short of Google Maps.
  • Called "an unsightly blemish on what is otherwise a beautiful OS"
  • Train stations have gone missing
  • The Sears Tower in Chicago has been moved to a smaller tower
  • In Ireland, Dublin has been given a new airport where a farm called Airfield currently stands.
  • Searches for London mostly tend to redirect users to the small city of London in Ontario, Canada.
  • Stratford Upon Avon disappeared
Perhaps Apple should have tested more.



An update:

In http://www.apple.com/letter-from-tim-cook-on-maps/ Apple's CEO writes:
At Apple, we strive to make world-class products that deliver the best experience possible to our customers. With the launch of our new Maps last week, we fell short on this commitment. We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better.

I think I know one thing they can do to make Maps better - test more!


A further update:

The former head of Apple's Maps team, a 10-year veteran, was fired.
Some might argue that he should have been tarred and feathered, but Apple has, reportedly, restrained itself and merely fired iOS 6 Maps chief Richard Williamson.

Perhaps his replacement will want to test more.

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
7 comments
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September 19, 2012

It's Time To Vote - For SQAForums!

Vote for SQAForums.com


Once again the Automated Testing Institute is conducting their annual "Automation Honors" voting. From their website: copyrightjoestrazzere

The industry's original set of awards dedicated to software test automation is again looking to crown industry leading tools, resources and practitioners with automation's top honor. That means it's time for all of you to get busy!
The ATI Automation Honors awards rely on industry practitioners to identify which tools, resources and people are the best, which have the most significant upgrades and/or which are setting the trends that will help to take software test automation to the next level in the coming year. The 4th Annual Awards promise to be even bigger and better with more categories, more trend analysis, a live ceremony at the TestKIT 2012 Conference, video presentation ceremony, and much more.

In the category of "Best Automated Testing Forum" my vote again goes to SQAForums.com.

With almost 200,000 registered members and numerous tool-specific and tool-agnostic forums, SQAForums is the best place I've found to ask questions and get answers about all facets of test automation, as well as general Test and QA issues. And, I'm lucky enough to be one of the Moderators!

If you like SQAForums, as much as I do, you can go here to vote:
http://www.automatedtestinginstitute.com/home/index.php?option=com_jforms&view=form&id=22&Itemid=186

And if you haven't visited SQAForums yet, why not come and pay a visit at:
http://www.sqaforums.com

Tell them your friend Joe sent you!



This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
0 comments
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September 12, 2012

There's A Bug And It's Been Assigned To Me

To the tune of "There's a hole in the bottom of the sea"


There's a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me copyrightjoestrazzere

There's an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me

There's a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me

There's a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me

There's a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me

There a failing in a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There a failing in a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me

There an error in a failing in a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There an error in a failing in a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me

There a problem in an error in a failing in a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There a problem in an error in a failing in a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me

There a typo in a problem in an error in a failing in a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There a typo in a problem in an error in a failing in a fault in a glitch in a defect in an issue in a bug and it's been assigned to me
There's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me

There's a feature in the code and it's been assigned to me
There's a feature in the code and it's been assigned to me
So there's a bug, there's a bug, there's a bug and it's been assigned to me

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
0 comments
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September 11, 2012

Remembering September 11, 2001


Anna Williams Allison


Eleven years later, I remember September 11, 2001.

I remember being in a morning meeting and one of the staff members was late. When he came in, he asked if we had heard the news about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. We hadn't. We finished our meeting, then went upstairs to the lunch room (with its huge projection television) and saw that the news channels still weren't sure if this was an accident or some sort of attack.

Shortly after that, we watched in horror as another plan crashed into the second tower. Then it was clear that this was no accident.

A very sad, unsettling day.
copyrightjoestrazzere
The next day, I got a phone call from a friend. He told me some more sad news. A former co-worker was on American Airlines flight #11 - the first plane to crash into a tower.

Anna Williams Allison was a colleague at Bachman Information Systems. She and I both worked in the Quality Assurance department.  She was very smart, very energetic, and a terrific QAer.  I learned a lot from her, and I like to think she learned something from me.

When we both left Bachman, we remained friends, and occasionally spoke, emailed, shared ideas about QA and work, and had lunch. She eventually formed her own company - doing QA training and presentations. She was very good for the QA field.

Anna was on flight 11, on her way to a customer engagement.

I miss her, both professionally, and as a friend. Each September 11th, as the country shares remembrances of a sad day in our history, I think of her again. We in the QA community are poorer without her.

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
0 comments
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August 7, 2012

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Knight Capital

Perhaps Knight Capital Should Have Tested More

Last Wednesday, Knight Capital rolled out a change to its trading software. It contained bugs that caused unauthorized offers to buy and sell shares. Knight had to sell stocks that it accidentally bought - causing a $440 million loss. They considered filing for bankruptcy, but eventually settled on a painful rescue plan. copyrightjoestrazzere
  • A technology error that occurred when the firm unveiled new trading software
  • Chaos ensued
  • Unauthorized trades were made
  • Knight was left holding at least $4.5 billion worth of securities it hadn't planned to buy
  • Loss of $440 Million when they were sold
  • Considered filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy
  • Agreed to allow investors to purchase $400 Million of its stock at about $1.50 a piece, after trading over $10 the prior week
  • Rescue deal will hugely dilute existing shareholders
  • Firm's market-making responsibilities have been temporarily reassigned
  • SEC is examining the company for potential legal violations

Perhaps Knight Capital should have tested more.

According to Reuters, "Wall Street banks and brokers are poring over their trading systems and rethinking the way they test software to make sure they don't become the next Knight Capital Group". That sounds good.

And yet, as written in Smart Money, "These kinds of mistakes can happen to anyone," said James Angel, associate professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

An analysis by Nanex Research concludes that a test program was accidentally released into production:
"We believe Knight accidentally released the test software they used to verify that their market making software functioned properly, into NYSE's live system."
http://www.highfrequencytraders.com/article/1330/knight-capital-group-software-glitch-raises-questions-over-technology-markets
http://articles.marketwatch.com/2012-08-02/markets/32990523_1_knight-capital-shares-capital-base-financial-sector
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/glitch-at-knight-capital-mars-trading-in-dozens-of-stocks-the-latest-technical-snafu/2012/08/01/gJQATjs6PX_story.html
http://www.nanex.net/aqck2/3525.html
This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
0 comments
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July 19, 2012

Now We Are Nana And Papa!

Nana, Papa, and Kate

I haven't been blogging much lately. Work, and our vacation home in Maine, have taken up much of my free time.

Oh, and one other small thing has taken up some time - the birth of our first grandchild Katherine Rose! Our oldest son Matt, and his lovely wife Kim are now parents. And that means my wife and I are now Nana and Papa! copyrightjoestrazzere

It's an emotional feeling to watch your first-born son hold, feed, burp, and change diapers for his first-born daughter. And it's a wonderful feeling to hold, feed, burp, and change diapers for your first grandchild.


Katherine Rose Strazzere

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
16 comments
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July 6, 2012

Six Years!


not actually my hand



Today marks my six-year anniversary at my current company.

It's hard for me to believe that I've been here six years already. Yet when I look back at all we've accomplished, it sometimes seems like far more:
  • When I started, there was no real Quality Assurance Team.  Whatever small bit of testing occurred was being performed by Product Management folks in their spare time.  Since then, we've created a terrific team in the US, augmented by some good contractors, and a small team in India as well.
  • Bugs were not being tracked in any central system.  There were a few emails floating around, and an occasional spreadsheet, but no place where people could go to find the status of bugs.  Now, we use Bugzilla, and people have grown tired of me asking "Do we have a bug report for that?"
  • Lots of people have come and gone over the past six years.  Initially, the biggest change was the prior CTO being replaced by my boss.  Since then, many other folks have left. copyrightjoestrazzere
  • We've changed a significant portion of the infrastructure behind most of our applications.  It's far more scalable and sustainable now, although we continue to make changes
  • We've formalized many of our development and testing processes, and created the necessary processes where none existed before.
  • We've gone from fighting fires every day, to a much more stable, dependable set of systems.  Where before many of our systems needed manual, hands-on attention every day, they now run in a much more automated fashion.
  • Our product lines have changed over time.  We have weeded out some products that were single-customer, poorly funded products.  We've created some new products, and retired others.
  • A few years ago, we were purchased by a much larger corporation. It hasn't been all bad, and it hasn't been all good.  The volume of big-company administrivia has increased, but not as much as I had feared. We recently completed a large project in coordination with another division - that was rather interesting! I'm sure we'll be doing more of the same.
  • This past year was devoted almost exclusively to enhancing one product line. It involved individual changes for almost all of our customers using these products - each customer having their own set of enhancement projects. Lots of staffing, scheduling, and coordination issues involving both "Associates" and "Contingent Workers" (big-company talk for "permanent employees" and "contractors" respectively). Lots of less-than-clear requirements, and constant juggling of delivery dates made for a fair bit of stress. We had some key players leave in the middle of projects - that always makes for a fun time. Mostly done now, and that's a relief.
  • We are now embarking on a massive project to move our production infrastructure into the corporate facility. We need to purchase new hardware, new software, database upgrades, etc, etc. We need to understand and embrace new processes for security, administration, installation, and support. And of course we are "improving the applications" as we migrate them. With almost all the variables being changed at the same time, this will be a big task for everyone involved, and a very big testing task. It should be "interesting".

Lots of work, lots of changes, lots more to come.  All in all, a good six years.

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
0 comments
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June 22, 2012

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Bank Of America

Perhaps Bank of America should have tested more



Due to a software bug, a 55 year old man was allowed to withdraw far more than his bank account contained while using Bank of America ATM machines. He subsequently gambled away all of the money. copyrightjoestrazzere


  • Bug occurred while accounts were being transferred from LaSalle Bank to Bank of America after an acquisition
  • Status of account was changed to allow unlimited withdrawals (Is that actually a valid status? If so, where can I get me one of those?)
  • Able to withdraw $1,543,104 over a 15-day period
  • Lost all the money gambling
  • Prosecutors in the case place some of the blame with Bank of America for allowing him to withdraw the funds in the first place, and are recommending only 15 months in jail
  • Some think the offender should be freed, because the bank was negligent


Perhaps the man was a gambling addict with no control over his behavior. Perhaps the bank was negligent, and the man should be freed.

And perhaps Bank of America should have tested more.


See also:


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
1 comments
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May 30, 2012

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Mitt Romney Campaign

Amercia

Mitt Romney is the presumptive Republican nominee for President of The United States of America. His campaign recently released a new iPhone app, which misspelled a rather significant word. copyrightjoestrazzere

  • One of the skins on the app says "A Better Amercia"
  • “We thought this would be a fun, easy way to showcase support,” said Romney's digital director Zac Moffatt
  • The Romney campaign has since submitted a corrected version of the app to Apple
  • Receiving lots of laughs on twitter
  • https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23amercia
  • The New York Times wrote: "The typo is unlikely to become a major issue in Mr. Romney's efforts to unseat President Obama. But it is an unfortunate reminder that even the tiniest mistakes are magnified in an era when political opposition is crowdsourced globally. It's also a reminder to double-check your work."

Perhaps someone (anyone) in the Romney campaign should have tested more? It's the Amercian way!

See also:
http://gizmodo.com/5914154/mitt-romneys-new-app-misspells-america-twitter-goes-wild
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-amercia-mitt-romney-20120530,0,651937.story

An update..
From the iPhone app store, this app now sports a new version:


    What's New in Version 1.0.1

        bug fixes

Indeed.

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
4 comments
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May 24, 2012

I See A Casual Summer In My Future

That used to be me, on the bottom-left, except on Fridays, and with less hair.
Then one week on the top-middle.
Now top-middle for the whole summer!
If I pay even more can I be the top-left?

Yet another Dress Code innovation at my company was announced this week. copyrightjoestrazzere

  • First we had Casual Fridays.
  • Then we had Dress Down for Charity Weeks.
  • Now we have "Casual Summer". 

If I fork over 30 bucks for local charities, H.R. tells me that I'll be permitted to wear sneakers and jeans for the summer. (Unless someone "important" makes an appearance in the office, in which case I'll need to revert to Smart temporarily.)

Can I just give them $500 to go away and never bother me with this foolish dress code thing again?

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
1 comments
Labels: ,

May 23, 2012

If You Don't Really Want A Career In Software Testing - Stay Out!

Stay out!


Over the years, I've heard from a lot of folks that would "like to get into software testing". Usually, I encourage people, tell them what a great profession this is, and help them any way I can.

But sometimes, I sense either directly or indirectly that this is just an interim thing - that it's a stepping stone "because it's easier than being a developer" or "because there are a lot of easy-to-land jobs" or such. For some reason, I've been seeing a lot of that lately. And when it comes to my chosen profession, I'm tired of hearing that! copyrightjoestrazzere

  • If you don't want to work hard - stay out.
  • If you don't want to learn continuously for your entire career - stay out.
  • If you are looking for something simple and easy - stay out.

We don't need you!

  • We need people who want to be professional testers. 
  • We need people who want to work hard at something they care about.
  • We need people who are willing (and hopefully excited) to be a learner for their entire career.
  • We need people who aren't looking for the easy way out.

There was a time back in the late 1990s and early 2000s when software testing was indeed an easy entry job. The world was in the midst of the poorly named "Year 2000 Bug crisis" and lots of software needed fixing and testing. Lots of entry-level testing jobs were available, and people with little or no experience were being hired rapidly.

Those days are over.

For the most part these days, there are fewer and fewer entry-level jobs for software testers. I know that I haven't actually hired an entry-level tester for many years. And those beginner jobs which are available are harder to get, and for the most part are being offered to people who want to be professional software testers.

Here's an excerpt of a commencement address by Dom Capers (the defensive coordinator of the NFL Green Bay Packers):
What I'd like to share with you today is ... what I think are critical to success in any profession. Number one, and maybe the most important: Find something you love. Passion creates fuel. It creates the burning desire to do what we love 'til we go to bed at night. A passionate person with a little bit of talent will almost always outperform a passive person with great talent. The second thing is the law of compensation. The more you give, the more you get in return. It's a simple principle, but it's amazing how many people never figure it out ...
If you really want to be a Software Testing Professional - welcome!  How can I help?

If you are just looking for something quick and easy - Stay Out!

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
19 comments
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May 22, 2012

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Nasdaq

How do you "Like" me now?

Perhaps you heard about the little company called Facebook that went public last week? I hear that they made a lot of money (at least for early investors and option holders) in the process.

But things didn't go smoothly at Nasdaq during the IPO: copyrightjoestrazzere
  • Nasdaq is under scrutiny after shares of Facebook Inc were plagued by delays and mishandled orders on its first day of trading
  • The CEO of NASDAQ, Robert Greifeld, said that the stock exchange is “humbly embarrassed”
  • The IPO software “didn’t work” even after thousands of hours of testing for “a hundred scenarios” aimed at anticipating problems, Greifeld said.
  • The Nasdaq computer system that delayed trade notices of the Facebook IPO on Friday was plagued by race conditions
  • A number of trading firms lost money due to mismatched Facebook share prices
  • About 30 million shares' worth of trading were affected
  • For about 20 minutes, the exchange stopped confirming trades placed by brokers
  • Nasdaq may need to pay back affected investors up to $13 million from an "accomodation pool"
  • Nasdaq’s software for IPOs allows investors to cancel or update details of orders until the auction runs. Trade requests received during the 5 milliseconds it took to operate the auction disturbed the process, leading to an imbalance of buys and sells and sending the program into a loop.

I wonder if Facebook investors "Like" Nasdaq now?

Perhaps they should have tested more.

See also:


This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
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May 3, 2012

We Are Maniacs!

Our new vacation home in Cape Neddick, Maine

I haven't written much recently. Pretty much all of my free time has been taken up completing the selection and purchase of a vacation home in Cape Neddick, Maine.

My wife and I have been vacationing in York, Maine on and off for around 20 years. We had always imagined what it would be like to own a place near the beach, but with our busy lives, the time was never right. This year, it was finally right. We have been very busy the past few months searching, finding, funding, purchasing, and moving. copyrightjoestrazzere

We're thrilled to have found a place in the Cape Neddick section of York that has just a short stroll to the beach we love, in a wonderful neighborhood. We'll be spending most weekends there, and most of our vacation time as well. As we approach retirement, we'll decide if this is where we want to live full-time.

The process has been frustrating at times, but always interesting. Obtaining a mortgage these days is far more complex and involved than the previous times I had done so, with far more steps required.

The entire process felt like many software projects I've run before. I'll write more about that experience soon.

And the home inspection process felt exactly like a test project. I'll write about that too.

Meanwhile my wife and I are now Maniacs! (I know, the proper term is Mainers, but lately "Maniac" seems closer to the truth).

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
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April 16, 2012

Happy Birthday Bill Belichick


Coach Bill Belichick


Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots turns 60 today, and coincidentally it's Patriots Day in Massachusetts. copyrightjoestrazzere

Happy Birthday, coach! Here's hoping you'll hang around the Patriots for a few more.

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
1 comments
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April 9, 2012

Nursery Rhymes For Testers

Nursery Rhymes for Testers



Inspired by Anne-Marie Charrett at  http://mavericktester.com/archive/mary-mary-quite-contrary , here are some updated Nursery Rhymes for Testers.


London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
London Bridge is falling down,
But it works on my machine. copyrightjoestrazzere


All around the cobbler's bench
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought it was all in fun,
Smart Monkey Tester.


Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe and he called for his bowl,
And he called for a UAT.


Diddle, diddle, dumpling, my son John,
Went to bed with his stockings on;
One shoe off, and one shoe on,
But that matches the expected results.


As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives, 
Each wife had seven sacks, each sack had seven cats, 
Each cat had seven kits: kits, cats, sacks, wives, 
Why is a manhole cover round?


Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum
And said "Is this a feature or a bug?"


Georgie Porgie pudding and pie,
Kissed the girls and made them cry
When the boys came out to play,
Georgie Porgie ran his regression tests.


Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full!
One for my master, one for my dame,
And one for the final round of testing.


Ladybug ladybug fly away home,
Your house in on fire and your children are gone,
All except one and that's little Ann,
But I can't reproduce that one quite on demand.


This little piggy went to market,
This little piggy stayed home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none.
And this little piggy went to the Triage Meeting.

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
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March 22, 2012

Failure Is ...

pollice verso


According to Google (and Google knows everything), failure is: copyrightjoestrazzere
  • Failure is a stepping stone to success
  • Failure is not an option
  • Failure is the mother of success
  • Failure is impossible
  • Failure is a pillar to success
  • Failure is not an option - it's a requirement
  • Failure is always an option
  • Failure is not an option - it's a necessity
  • Failure is the key to success
  • Failure is not fatal
  • Failure is absolutely crucial
  • Failure is part of learning
  • Failure is in not trying
  • Failure is an option
  • Failure is a gateway to success
  • Failure is a four-letter word
  • Failure is only the opportunity to begin again
  • Failure is inevitable
  • Failure is success if we learn from it
  • Failure is not final
  • Failure is not a factory-installed option

Can you add more to the list?


Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
1 comments
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March 15, 2012

March Madness - My Brackets

Folks in the office here are posting their March Madness Brackets.

Here are mine:





I think I've got some real winners in this bunch!

This article originally appeared in my blog: All Things Quality
My name is Joe Strazzere and I'm currently a Director of Quality Assurance.
I like to lead, to test, and occasionally to write about leading and testing.
Find me at http://AllThingsQuality.com/.
2 comments
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