February 27, 2012

Take The Crappy Path

Take The Crappy Path

Wikipedia defines the Happy Path as "a default scenario that features no exceptional or error conditions, and comprises the sequence of activities that will be executed if everything goes as expected."

Alan Page calls it "Simple inputs that should always work."

Developers take the Happy Path. Their Unit Tests often consist of using their code in the obvious way in order to produce the expected results. They instinctively want to see their new creations succeed so they inevitably focus on success. See how nicely behaved my code is! Happy, happy. copyrightjoestrazzere

Product Managers take the Happy Path. Put nice values in, take a nice marketing-oriented screenshot of the results. Show it to the Sales Team. Happiness all around.

End Users typically take the Happy Path during User Acceptance Testing. A little bit of typical clean input in, typical expected output out. Now let me stop wasting time with this new system and get back to my real work, so I can leave on time and be Happy.

And you use the Happy Path in your testing. After all, if the new build of your system-under-test can't stand up to the Happy Path, why waste any more of your valuable testing time?

But you don't settle for staying on the Happy Path. No, you are a professional tester; you can do better! You know that nobody else will bother, so it's up to you. You step onto the Crappy Path:
  • You see a date field and you think - February is a crappy month, so why don't I just enter February 31st and see what happens...
  • The system asks you to upload a text file? Well, let's just see what it thinks of a picture of my crappy dog, renamed to have a .TXT extension...
  • Hmm. This website says not to use the browser's Back button. Sounds like a crappy challenge to me!
  • Install, uninstall, then install again? That would be a crappy thing to do...
  • The application is asking you for your age. You're feeling crappy, so for today perhaps your age will be "-1"...
  • A registration form?  Perhaps you'll completely fill every character in every field, usually with crappy special characters...
  • Nothing but a crappy system would have only 0.5 GB disk space remaining. Let's just see what happens to this application on a crappy system...
  • Seeing a fork in the road, you say to yourself - What would happen if I replaced that crappy fork with a knife...

So leave the Happy Path to the optimistic, the timid, the weak, and the simple. Join the ranks of professional testers. Venture with me off the beaten path, and onto the Crappy Path!

Leave me a comment if you have a particularly good story about testing on the Crappy Path.

Image: renjith krishnan / 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/.

February 13, 2012

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Russian Space Agency

Not actually the Russian Mars Probe



The Russian Mars probe Phobos-Grunt launched on November 9th, 2011, was working immediately after launch.  But a command to start the engines wasn't successful. Instead, the spacecraft went into "safe mode" and was trapped in orbit until it splashed into the ocean two months later. copyrightjoestrazzere

After investigation, the Russian Federal Space Agency's conclusion was: Programming error.
  • $165 million mission
  • The main cause of the failure was a programming error.
  • Mission was halted by "a programming error which led to a simultaneous reboot of two working channels of an onboard computer,"
  • Reboot put the spacecraft in safe mode
  • Craft stranded in orbit several hundred miles above Earth
  • Phobos-Grunt crashed back to Earth on Jan. 15
  • "Cheap parts, design shortcomings, and lack of pre-flight testing ensured that the spacecraft would never fulfill its goals," - Former Planetary Society executive director Louis Friedman
  • "Might have been caught had they performed adequate component and system testing prior to flight." - Friedman

Perhaps Louis Friedman is right, and they should have tested more.

Also 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/.

February 1, 2012

NFL 2011 Season Predictions Revisited

Patriots preseason rainbow - a pot of gold at the end of the playoffs?

With Super Bowl XLVI fast approaching, I thought it would be interesting to look back on the predictions some sports writers made before the season started.

NFL Network
  • Bucky Brooks - Packers over Chargers
  • Jason La Canfora - Saints over Patriots
  • Elliot Harrison - Jets over Packers
  • Steve Wyche - Saints over Patriots
  • Pat Kirwan - Packers over Patriots
  • Michael Lombardi - Saints over Patriots
  • Albert Breer - Saints over Patriots

ESPN
  • Jeffri Chariha - Packers over Patriots
  • John Clayton - Patriots over Packers
  • Ashley Fox - Steelers over Eagles
  • Dan Graziano - Chargers over Sanits
  • Paul Kuharsy - Saints over Patriots
  • Mike Sando - Patriots over Packers
  • Adam Schefter - Patriots over Cowboys
  • Kevin Seifert - Packers over Patriots
  • James Walker - Patriots over Eagles
  • Bill Williamson - Jets over Falcons
  • Matt Williamson - Patriots over Saints
  • Pat Yasinskas - Patriots over Eagles

FOX
  • Brian Billick - Packers over Chargers
  • Alex Marvez - Saints over Patriots
  • Adam Schein - Packers over Patriots
  • Peter Schrager - Packers over Patriots
  • Nancy Gay - Saints over Patriots
  • Sid Saraf - Patriots over Packers
  • Ross Jones - Cowboys over Jets

Sports Illustrated
  • Peter King - Falcons over Chargers
  • Don Banks - Packers over Ravens
  • Jim Trotter - Patriots over Saints
  • Chris Burke - Saints over Chargers
  • Damon Hack - Patriots over Packers
  • Kerry J. Byrne - Packers over Patriots
  • Andrew Perloff - Saints over Jets
  • Tom Mantzouranis - Saints over Chargers

CBS
  • Will Brinson - Chargers over Cowboys
  • Ryan Wilson - Steelers over Saints
  • Josh Katzowitz - Saints over Patriots

Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/extras/globe_nfl_predictions_2011/
  • Dan Shaughnessy - Jets over Lions
  • Greg A. Bedard - Saints over Patriots
  • Shalize Manza Young - Packers over Patriots
  • Christopher L. Gasper - Cowboys over Jets
  • Monique Walker - Ravens over Lions
  • Jim McBride - Patriots over Giants




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/.