Priya Asks All Things

Ask All Things

Priya asked some great questions:

Hi Joe, 

I have been following your blog for quite some time. Lot of good information. 

I am reaching out to you to get a third person’s perspective in our current situation-
I work for a product based company’s IT team. We are into our 2nd year of agile practice. 

We are a team of 4 QA engineers. We are working very effectively, releasing deliverable with great quality. 

We are 4 + 1 manager to cover vast range of applications supporting the company- Finance, HR, Sales, Distribution, Support, Legal..you get it. 

We  have an automation QA engineer working from India office. At one point we collaborated with him for few apps and came up with regression test scripts. Our apps subsequently were redesigned or upgraded to different versions, which means those scripts were now obsolete. We did not maintained those scripts. 

Right now we are under pressure by management to get our hands in automation. Management wants each one of us to come with automation scripts for app. Honestly I have nothing against automation, but I don’t see how automation will help us. Our apps undergo lot of changes in short span- 2 months and upgrade to different product version every year. We cannot stretch our bandwidth. 

Also we do not have a mature model of SDLC yet. Dev not doing unit tests , release process to QA env and staging env are battle, getting the requirement written to stories and sizing in some department is challenging. But management seem to ignore these problem and focus only on getting automation up to to speed. 

I feel we are fighting a losing battle with them- arguing automation is a full-time job, distracting from what we are focusing on. We are trying to tell them to hire another full-time automation engineer onsite and basically leave us alone. 

Do you think our ideas are out-of ordinary that we do not want to automate and deal with hassles? Do you think we are matured enough to automate ? 

I would appreciate all inputs from you. Looking forward to hear from you. 

Thanks,
Priya

Thanks for reading, Priya! And great questions! But tough to answer without knowing a lot of context about your company and your management. copyrightjoestrazzere

You have a lot going on here - lots of applications being changed frequently, management pushing for automation, prior automation done by a single remote QAer, etc.

Let's tackle some of this, one point at a time.

Automation
I suspect that management doesn't just want "automation". Instead, what they really want is some benefit that they think automation will provide.  That benefit could be reduced costs, improved effectiveness, decreased test time, or something else. Automation is usually just the means to an end.

Knowing what is really required, would help your team determine how to most effectively supply it.

If you are really working very effectively, and releasing with great quality, those are great achievements. Hopefully working toward whatever additional benefits are desired won't interfere with the success you have had so far.

Agile
In talking with many QAers, one thing I have learned is that "Agile" doesn't mean the same thing in any two shops. Everyone does it differently - particularly when it comes to QA.

In some shops, all the details of your Agile SDLC are dictated from above. But many shops have more organically-developed practices. In some shops, the Agile teams themselves decide the level of automation they need to succeed, and dedicate time and resources to accomplish that level.

You seem to indicate that your SDLC doesn't yet have all the attributes that you hope for. Hopefully you can improve these processes while still meeting management's other needs.

Who Automates
You seem to be implying that you can't do automation unless it is a full-time job for someone, presumably someone that isn't one of the four QAers currently on your team.

I disagree that this is the only way to automate. I have been successful in the past with test automation being part of every QAer's role. This approach means that time must be allowed for automation and maintenance within the schedules, and that every QAer must be trained sufficiently. But it is possible.

It's also possible that your automation QA engineer in India could revive and update your automation, perhaps with some help.

Also remember that automation doesn't always mean that QA must be the automators. You are probably assuming that you must do automation at the UI level. But you have likely seen that UI automation is brittle, and quickly becomes obsolete if not constantly maintained in the face of rapidly changing applications. A different approach that some shops use is to automate at lower levels - below the UI. Such automation is often written and maintained by Developers rather than QAers.

What to do
While I understand that you don't feel you have the time to automate, and don't want to "deal with the hassles", I don't get to make that decision, and perhaps you don't get to make that decision, either.

I suggest that you find a time to talk with management. Ask them some great questions, then listen and learn. Try not to jump to conclusions, and try not to be negative.

You want to understand why they are pushing for automation, and what they hope to achieve by doing so. You want to understand how automation fits within your Agile shop, and within your current SDLC. You want to understand what the parameters are for your automation work, if you can actually get more help or even have a different group create and maintain the automation.

While you want to make sure management understands the tasks other than automation that demand your time, you may find out that your options aren't as constrained as think. Then you need to find a way to deliver what your company, and your management, really needs.

I have no way to assess if your team is mature enough for automation or not. But if your assessment tells you that you aren't, you need to think about a process that gets you mature enough as quickly as necessary, and present plan that to management. You might need to start changing parts of your SDLC, your estimates, your scheduling, your workload, etc. Sometimes small steps are the start of a great process.

Great questions, Priya, and good luck! Check back in with us once you've had a chance to discuss this with your management - I'd love to hear how things go.


Do you have questions? Use the new "ASK ALL THINGS" widget over on the right-hand panel. Send me questions about anything:

• about the testing profession
• about test automation
• about bug tracking
• about being a Manager
• about testing and QA jobs
• about quality
• anything!

I'll read through the questions, pick some that not only interest you and me, but questions that I think will interest others. Together we can not only get you the answers you need, but we can provide others with some useful information as well.

Ask All Things!

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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/.

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Microsoft Band

Is it 12;45? Or 7:46? Is it Tuesday yet?

Microsoft's entry in the wearable fitness tech category is less than a week old, and already the first bug appears - and it's a Daylight Saving Time bug! copyrightjoestrazzere

• Band did not correctly synchronize with Microsoft Health
• Forgot to keep up as clocks fall back
• Users could find themselves stuck between two times
• Corrected automatically on November 3rd

I'm pretty sure this Standard Time versus Daylight Saving Time wasn't just recently invented, right? It's been "Spring Forward" and "Fall Back" for a while, right?

Perhaps Microsoft doesn't think Daylight Saving is Healthy. Perhaps in their enthusiasm to get the Band on the market, they just skipped this part of their test plans. Perhaps, someday, vendors will consistently remember to check for things like Daylight Saving Time and Leap Years, rather than follow up buggy versions with press releases and patches.

Perhaps Microsoft should have tested more.

See also:

http://www.wareable.com/microsoft/microsoft-band-hit-by-daylight-saving-time-bug-430

http://www.windowscentral.com/daylight-savings-time-change-causes-microsoft-band-syncing-problems-automatic-fix-coming-tomorrow

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2379013/microsoft-band-fails-first-time-keeping-test

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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/.

Where Is Your Quality Bar?

Quality Bar - Champaign, Il

We often speak of raising the quality bar - making things better. So where is your quality bar?

Well this one is in Champaign, Illinois.

If I'm ever in that part of the world, I plan to drop in to Quality.

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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/.

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Audi

Perhaps Audi Should Have Tested More... Earlier

This is another story about faulty airbags - but not the shrapnel-shooting airbag design by Takata. These airbags are faulty due to software bugs.

So if you own an Audi A4, Avant or Allroad vehicle, you might want to contact your dealer. A software problem may prevent your front airbags from deploying in a crash. copyrightjoestrazzere

• Audi is recalling about 850,000 cars
• Worldwide recall
• Defective software could cause airbags to fail to deploy properly
• An improper algorithm/coding within the airbag control module,
• Front-seat occupants may not have the intended protection
• Affects the Audi A4 sedans, Avant and AllRoad versions from 2011 through October 2014.
• The software update takes about 20 minutes
• The problem was discovered during routine quality assurance testing

It's nice that Audi discovered the problem recently. It's nice that the problem was discovered during routine testing.

Perhaps Audi should have tested more - perhaps before releasing the faulty software beginning 3 years ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/24/business/audi-recalls-850000-cars-over-airbag-software-flaw.html

http://www.edmunds.com/car-news/2013-15-audi-a4-s4-and-allroad-recalled-for-airbag-problem.html

http://online.wsj.com/articles/audi-recalls-850-000-a4s-for-air-bag-fix-1414071876

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/23/audi-recall-idUSL6N0SI4CR20141023

http://blog.caranddriver.com/102000-audi-a4s-recalled-in-u-s-for-airbags-that-may-not-deploy/

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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/.

Be A Tester - Because Testers Live Longer!

Live Long and Test!

Six years go, I wrote an article titled "Optimistic Developers, Pessimistic Testers". In it, I explained how developers tended to be naturally optimistic folks, while testers tend to be more pessimistic.

A study I happened to read recently, indicated that "being overly optimistic in predicting a better future was associated with a greater risk of disability and death within the following decade," and that "pessimism about the future may encourage people to live more carefully, taking health and safety precautions."

The conclusion is clear - Testers live longer! copyrightjoestrazzere

Yet another great reason to be a tester.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/28/pessimists-live-longer-lives-study_n_2781598.html

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2013/02/pessimism-future.aspx

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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/.

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Intrado 911

Perhaps Intrado Should Have Tested More

You could think of it as the "40 million call bug".

A newly-released study by the Federal Communications Commission explains how a software glitch caused a massive outage in 911 services last April 9th. At the center of the disruption was a system maintained by a Longmont Colorado-based company - Intrado. copyrightjoestrazzere

Each of the calls to the Intrado system had a counter assigned to it. Unfortunately, once the number of calls reached 40 million, the system ran out of counters and stopped accepting new calls.

Intrado's servers noticed that they had run out of counters. But the "out of counters" log entries were categorized as a "low priority" state, and thus no alerts were sent to any humans.

• When the 40 millionth call was received the 911 system stopped working
• Affected 81 call dispatch centers.
• More than 11 million people across seven states were affected
• Entire state of Washington was denied access to 911 services
• The outage continued for six hours
• More than 6,600 people tried, and failed, to reach help
• The out-of-counters condition was logged as a low-level incident because that was the default level

Perhaps Intrado thought that embedding a magic limit in the sofware was a good idea. Perhaps Intrado figured that the limit of 40 million counters would never be reached. Perhaps they figured that even when they ran out of counters, it wasn't very important. Perhaps all of the 6,600 people who couldn't reach 911 emergency services didn't really need help quickly.

Perhaps Intrado should have tested more.

See Also:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/10/20/how-a-dumb-software-glitch-kept-6600-calls-from-getting-to-911/

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/morning_call/2014/10/massive-911-outage-traced-to-glitch-at-colorados.html

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/04/29/3171950/centurylink-files-state-report.html

http://www.theverge.com/2014/10/20/7014705/coding-error-911-fcc-washington

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2014/04/washington_911_fail_state_want.html

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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/.

Steve Asks All Things

Ask All Things!

Steve asked a great question:

Hi Joe. I love reading your blog I check it daily. I have a question for you. What do you think about Black Box Quality Assurance testing holds in the future? I have 15 years of experience under my belt, but I do not want to shift into Automation testing, I don't like to code. Do you think that I have future just doing Black Box Testing? Thanks.

Regards,
steve

Thanks for reading, Steve!

I've been in Quality Assurance for almost 25 years. During that entire time, manual Black Box Testing has always existed in many (most?) companies, and I don't see that going away for the foreseeable future. copyrightjoestrazzere

That said, there is really no such thing as purely manual software testing - we all use tools, and those tools have changed over time. Some tools require coding, but many do not.

You owe it to yourself to become familiar with the kinds of tools used in your industry. Automation tools, Web Services tools, Database Query tools, Performance Testing tools - many of these are completely accessible without any significant coding.

Performing only Black Box testing almost certainly won't mean that you have no future. But limiting yourself will always narrow your future options.

Great question, Steve! Good luck in your career.

-joe

Do you have questions? Use the new "ASK ALL THINGS" widget over on the right-hand panel. Send me questions about anything:

• about the testing profession
• about test automation
• about bug tracking
• about being a Manager
• about testing and QA jobs
• about quality
• anything!

I'll read through the questions, pick some that not only interest you and me, but questions that I think will interest others. Together we can not only get you the answers you need, but we can provide others with some useful information as well.

Ask All Things!

---

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/.

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Nielsen

Perhaps Nielsen should have tested more

When ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" premiered this season, the show got a big bump in the ratings. Researchers for competing networks were skeptical, since two big television markets didn't even air the show, as it was pre-empted by a broadcast of a NFL Football game. copyrightjoestrazzere

When they contacted Nielsen, the company rechecked its methodology. They found that not only were those particular numbers inflated, but that months worth of ratings were incorrect, due to a software glitch introduced in March.

• Nielsen controls almost all of the television ratings measurement market
• On October 6, Nielsen discovered an error in their TV ratings, which had been present since March 2
• Nielsen misattributed some viewership results
• Errors resulted in incorrect data over a period of seven months
• Advertisers and networks rely on Nielsen to provide the metrics used to conduct their ad sales business
• The error wound up benefiting ABC, while negatively impacting others
• Billions of dollars of advertising are based on Nielsen's ratings
• Some television and advertising executives have called Nielsen's methodology antiquated
• Some have questioned it's ability to measure the ways people currently watch television
• Nielsen says it intends to recalibrate its ratings starting only from August 18
• When the bug was made public, Nielsen's stock dropped, while that of a competitor went up 15 percent

Perhaps this black mark won't cause advertisers to rely more on competitors' products rather than Nielsen. Perhaps the ratings inaccuracies weren't enough to matter much in the long run. Perhaps there will never be another Dancing Star as good as Emmitt Smith. But perhaps Nielsen should have tested more.

See also:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/nielsen-says-glitch-affected-some-tv-ratings-1412981190

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/11/business/media/tv-ratings-by-nielsen-had-errors-for-months.html?_r=0

http://deadline.com/2014/10/nielsen-software-glitch-subtly-skewed-tv-ratings-since-march-849264/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/10/nielsen-technical-error-faulty-ratings-data_n_5966416.html

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/10/8554365/nielsen-says-it-has-issued-faulty-ratings-data-march

http://www.adweek.com/news/television/nielsen-mistake-means-ratings-are-even-lower-we-thought-160719

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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/.

Ask All Things

Ask great questions!

Years ago, I got what I consider a terrific compliment. A coworker said "As usual, Joe asks great questions."

For me, asking questions is an important and natural part of doing my job as a tester. I even wrote an article about it.

And now, I'm inviting you to ask me some great questions.

Use the new "ASK ALL THINGS" widget over on the right-hand panel. Send me questions about anything:

• about the testing profession
• about test automation
• about bug tracking
• about being a Manager
• about testing and QA jobs
• about quality
• anything!

I'll read through the questions, pick some that not only interest you and me, but questions that I think will interest others. Together we can not only get you the answers you need, but we can provide others with some useful information as well.

Unless you tell me not to, I'll share your name so that others will know that you ask great questions!

So, who wants to be first? Ask all things!

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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/.

Kayaking the York River

The York River, Wiggley Bridge, and Barrell Mill Pond

For the past four years, my wife and I have been enjoying a new hobby - kayaking. But when we bought our vacation home in Maine, we temporarily put aside the kayaking and concentrated on long walks and the beach. We promised ourselves that we would find a place in Maine to use the kayaks, but never got around to it.

A few weeks ago, I finally mounted the roof racks on my car, strapped up the kayaks, and brought them north.

On a quiet Sunday morning, near high tide, we brought the kayaks to the York Town Dock #1, put in, and spent a wonderful couple of hours on the York River.

The York River is a tidal river running inland from the York Harbor. You can put in on the York Town Dock off of Harris Island Road, right next to the commercial fishermen and lobster boats.

We quickly crossed the York River and paddled under the Wiggley Bridge. The bridge is a famous, 80-year-old miniature suspension bridge (the "smallest suspension bridge in the world?") which is part of a scenic, fun walk into Steedman's Woods. As we paddled under, we said "Hello" to the folks fishing from it, and into Barrel Mill Pond. Barrell Mill is a tidal pond with some beautiful houses lining the shore. A few fish, a few turtles, and a few birds were in the water with us, and a lot of sun.

After making the trip around the pond, we headed back into the river and paddled inland for a while. We got to see more fishing and lobster boats, more beautiful houses and docks, and a lot of seabirds sunning themselves.

We paddled back toward the harbor and past some boats returning from the ocean. They were all courteous and careful with their wake. I nudged out into the open water to see what that was like, but quickly turned around as the current was rather strong.

We spent a few minutes more paddling around the beautiful boats and docks, watching boats being launched from the nearby marina, and then, since the current started to get stronger, we headed back to shore.

It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday morning. I can't wait to get out again!

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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/.

Free Podcasts I like - Jill On Money

Free Podcast - Jill On Money

Often when I'm relaxing on the beach, or taking a walk alone, or doing yard work, I use my iPod.  I have found that, while I enjoy some music, I tend to enjoy talk and good discussion even more.  So I have loaded my iPod with podcasts, and refresh them regularly. copyrightjoestrazzere

As I have mentioned before, I've been doing a lot of reading and listening about financial planning and investing recently.

I found another interesting podcast in this field: Jill on Money by Jill Schlesinger. I really like it.

Jill on Money is unlike most other financial planning and investing podcasts in that it focuses almost entirely on call-in or emailed questions. This allows it to take on a wide variety of topics in a single episode.

From the show's description:

Hosted by CBS Senior Business Analyst Jill Schlesinger, "Jill on Money" is an entertaining call-in radio show that helps listeners take control of their financial lives. Jill communicates complicated and murky financial information in a relatable way to listeners of all ages with varying amounts of money and experience.

You can find the Jill on Money web site at http://www.jillonmoney.com/.

You can find the Jill on Money Podcast on itunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/jill-on-money/id431167790

Check it out if you want to hear some good questions and some really great answers.

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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/.

Eight Years!

What does the future here look like? Reply hazy, try again later.

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

It's hard for me to believe that I've been here eight 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 eight 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 started out small, but has increased, and it continues increasing now.
• We are still in the middle of a massive project to move our production infrastructure into the corporate facility. We have purchased new hardware, new software, database upgrades, etc, etc. We have embraced 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 has been a big task for everyone involved, and a very big testing task. It has been "interesting", and a huge drag on our time for building and testing revenue-producing applications.
• My QA Team was re-orged last year. And my current boss is now reporting to someone in the corporate office, rather than the local General Manager. She also has responsibility for more than just our local division. That means I have even less contact with my boss these days.
• As part of reporting up into corporate, we are now being required to use some of the formal corporate time-reporting, project management and metrics systems. For me, it's a lot of time spent on administrivia, rather than more productive work. I'm trying hard to minimize the impact on my team, but I can't eliminate all the overhead.

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

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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/.

Testing Circus Magazine - With Jean Ann Harrison on the Cover!

Jean Ann Harrison in Testing Circus

Testing Circus is an online magazine for testers. From their website: copyrightjoestrazzere

Testing Circus is a free to download monthly International Software Testing Magazine. Testing Circus is conceptualized, founded and edited by Ajoy Kumar Singha. Testing Circus is subscribed by thousands of software testers worldwide. Well known testers like Pradeep Soundararajan, Vipul Kocher, Vipul Gupta, Lisa Crispin, Narayan Raman, Trish Khoo, Markus Gartner, Santhosh Tuppad, Parimala Shankaraiah, Ajay Balamurugadas, Bernice Niel Ruhland, Rob van Steenbergen, Jaijeet Pandey,  Doron Reuveni, Michael Talks, Marc Rambert have written for Testing Circus magazine in the past. Testing Circus is one of the world’s leading English language magazine for software testers and test enthusiasts. It has established itself as a platform for knowledge transfer in software testing profession.

And this month's magazine features a good friend and former co-worker Jean Ann Harrison!

Jean Ann and I worked together years ago at Softbridge - a company that developed and marketed one of the earlier automated testing tools called ATF. I headed Quality Assurance and later Engineering, but also did some Product Management and Customer Support. Jean Ann was our primary telephone support person, and she did a terrific job helping our client base - software testers from all over the world.

Clearly, Jean Ann has gone on to bigger and better things in the intervening years. She is now a recognized speaker at software testing conferences, and in recent years has found a nice niche in the mobile testing space.

Read more about her in the June 2014 edition of Testing Circus: http://www.testingcircus.com/testing-circus-2014-june-edition/

Congratulations, Jean Ann!

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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/.

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - Nest Labs

Nest Protect - Don't Make Waves!

In April, Nest Labs determined that their Nest Protect smoke alarm system's "Wave" feature could cause problems if people were "waving" when a fire occurs. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is now calling this a "recall", even though the devices could be updated over the internet to disable this feature.

copyrightjoestrazzere

• About 440,000 units will be recalled
• Nest can fix the problem with a software update.
• Not a physical recall so much as a software update alert
• Glitch that can stop the alarm from sounding.
• The Nest Protect could misinterpret people waving their hands and turn off if there was a real fire
• Activity near the product during a fire can prevent the alarm from immediately sounding when the Nest Wave feature is enabled
• If your device is not connected to a Nest account, or you’ve taken it offline, you should “immediately” reconnect it so the company can remotely disable the feature.
• If you can’t connect to Wi-Fi, you should stop using the device altogether

On April 3rd, Tony Fadell, the CEO of Nest Labs wrote:

At Nest, we conduct regular, rigorous tests to ensure that our products are the highest quality. During recent laboratory testing of the Nest Protect smoke alarm, we observed a unique combination of circumstances that caused us to question whether the Nest Wave (a feature that enables you to turn off your alarm with a wave of the hand) could be unintentionally activated. This could delay an alarm going off if there was a real fire. 

We identified this problem ourselves and are not aware of any customers who have experienced this, but the fact that it could even potentially happen is extremely important to me and I want to address it immediately. 

We feel that the best and safest thing to do is to immediately disable the Nest Wave feature to resolve the issue and remove any safety concerns. While we fix Nest Wave, we have also halted sales of all new Nest Protect alarms to ensure no one buys an alarm that needs an immediate update.
...
Once we have a solution that ensures Nest Wave works as intended, we will update our software to turn this feature back on. This will only happen after extensive testing and once we have received approval from safety agencies in the US, Canada and UK. We expect this to take at least two or three months and we’ll continue to update you as we have more information.

So if you own a Nest Protect, you can nod, wink, or say "Hi". But don't wave at it, whatever you do! (Just kidding. Seriously though, disable the Nest Wave feature immediately!)

Next time Nest Labs releases a product, I assume they'll check the ramifications of waving at it before they begin sales. Perhaps this time, they should have wave tested more?

[Full Disclosure: I own a Nest Learning Thermostat (see: http://www.allthingsquality.com/2014/02/our-nest-in-maine.html). So if you are in Maine, and you see me waving furiously at my thermostat, you'll know that I'm not crazy - I'm just conducting my own testing. So far, no bugs found.]

See Also:

https://nest.com/letter-from-the-ceo/

http://www.businessinsider.com/nest-recalls-smoke-detectors-2014-5

http://techcrunch.com/2014/05/21/nest-recalls-all-440k-protect-smoke-alarms-but-will-have-them-back-on-the-market-in-weeks/

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2458384,00.asp

http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/21/5739326/440000-nest-protect-smoke-detectors-recalled

https://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/2014/Nest-Labs-Recalls-to-Repair-Nest-Protect-Smoke-CO-Alarms/

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home/nest-halts-sales-of-nest-protect-smoke-alarm/#!PRbM7

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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/.

Free Podcasts I Like - Dough Roller

Free Podcast - The Dough Roller Podcast with Rob Berger

Often when I'm relaxing on the beach, or taking a walk alone, or doing yard work, I use my iPod.  I have found that, while I enjoy some music, I tend to enjoy talk and good discussion even more.  So I have loaded my iPod with podcasts, and refresh them regularly. copyrightjoestrazzere

Recently, I've been doing a lot of reading and listening about financial planning. This is in preparation for the next stage of my life, which should take me into my retirement years.

One podcast I have started listening to during the past few months and that I like a lot is The Dough Roller Podcast by Rob Berger. 

In addition to possessing in-depth knowledge of such personal finance areas as retirement, banking, credit, debt, insurance, investing, and social security, Rob is very easy to listen to. He has a great way of explaining how these aspects of financial planning work. Rob doesn't try to sell anything, or to convince you that his way is the only way; instead he just explains how things work (or in some cases don't work), how he has made his own financial decisions, and how you can come to your own conclusions.

From the show's description:

The Dough Roller Podcast helps people make the most of their money. Through interviews, news, tips, and resources, the show helps you take your finances to the next level. Whether you are just starting out, under a mountain of debt, or nearing retirement, the Dough Roller Podcast can help you achieve your financial goals. And remember, the best thing money can buy is financial freedom.

You can find the Dough Roller web site at http://www.doughroller.net. There you can also sign up for a weekly newsletter. 

You can find the Dough Roller Podcast at http://www.doughroller.net/category/podcast/ or on itunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-dough-roller-podcast/id743822914

Why don't you give it a try and see if you agree that Rob is someone worth listening to?

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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/.

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - CTB/McGraw Hill

Perhaps CTB/McGraw Hill Should Have Tested More

For the second year in a row, students taking online high-stakes standardized tests in Oklahoma had to stop because of  problems in the software. copyrightjoestrazzere

• About 8,100 Oklahoma students experienced problems
• Many could never make it past the sign-in screen
• Many were unexpectedly kicked out in the middle of the test
• In spite of problems last year, the state renewed its contract with the company for more than $13 million this year in large part because there was not enough time to solicit bids and select another vendor
• The Education Department is considering switching to pencil and paper testing
• This appears to be 100 percent a failing of CTB

Like last year, CTB/McGraw Hill gets an "F" on their report card.

Perhaps next year they will do their homework and test more.

See also:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/21/oklahoma-standardized-testing-glitches_n_5187823.html

http://www.kten.com/story/25302643/software-glitch-stops-standardized-testing-in-oklahoma-schools

http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-04-21/glitches-prompt-suspension-oklahoma-standardized-tests-again#.U1cI7PldVas

http://www.news9.com/story/25298249/technical-issue-disrupts-thousands-of-tests-for-oklahoma-students

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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/.

Happy Pi Day!

π=

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286208998628034825342117067982148086513282306647093844609550582231725359408128481117450284102701938521105559644622948954930381964428810975665933446128475648233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724587006606315588174881520920962829254091715364367892590360011330530548820466521384146951941511609433057270365759591953092186117381932611793105118548074462379962749567351885752724891227938183011949129833673362440656643086021394946395224737190702179860943702770539217176293176752384674818467669405132000568127145263560827785771342757789609173637178721468440901224953430146549585371050792279689258923542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960518707211349999998372978049951059731732816096318595024459455346908302642522308253344685035261931188171010003137838752886587533208381420617177669147303598253490428755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195909216420198...

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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/.

Our Nest in Maine

The Nest Learning Thermostat

We recently had a narrow escape in our house in Maine. copyrightjoestrazzere

In a normal week, we spend at least a few days there - more in the warm weather, a bit less in the cold weather - but we're there almost every week. But a few weeks ago, we weren't able to get there, for one reason or another, for over two weeks. When we finally arrived, it was freezing. The furnace wasn't working.

We have radiant heat which uses warm water in tubes under the slab. If that freezes it can be a major expense. It might have even required adding a new heat source. Fortunately, we were able to get the furnace repaired, and nothing had frozen. It was a very cold night, but otherwise we escaped unharmed.

So I needed a solution. I could have purchased a freeze alarm, so that I would know when the temperature dropped unexpectedly. But I was hoping I could do better by purchasing a new thermostat. In my mind, I had the following requirements:

• I wanted to be able to monitor the current temperature remotely
• I also wanted to be able to set the thermostat's temperature remotely, so that I could keep it low most of the time, but have the house warm (which takes a long time with radiant heat) when we arrived.
• I wanted it to be easy to install. I can do a bit of electrical work, but I didn't want to do any in this instance. Install, setup, and no more worries - that's what I was after.

After a bit of research, I also learned an additional requirement:

• Work with just two wires servicing the thermostat

I'm glad I did my research. I hadn't even considered that the wiring might not support a new thermostat. It turns out that most newer thermostats need power for their display and for driving their remote capabilities. Most thermostats draw that power using a "common" wire. But not all older wiring has this common wire. My wiring had only two wires - neither of them was a common.

While I checked out many, the only thermostat I felt had a chance to meet all these requirements was the Nest Learning Thermostat. The Nest has a lot of capabilities for learning your heating/cooling needs and automatically adjusting your thermostat settings accordingly. The newest version claimed to support 2-wire connections, and be easy to install. It's more expensive than most others, and the reviews questioned the 2-wire support in some circumstances, but I gave it a shot anyway.

It was indeed as simple to install an set up as claimed. The engineering is excellent - they clearly put a lot of thought into installation, and made it as simple as pretty much anything I've ever installed.

I've had the Nest running for over a week now, and it's been doing everything I needed. I can see the current temperature or change the settings from anywhere, using my computer or smartphone.

The Pros:

• Very, very easy to install and set up
• Easy to read the temperature remotely
• Easy to set the desired temperature remotely
• It does indeed seem to work fine with my 2-wire setup (at least so far)

The Cons:

• Expensive
• No emailed or texted alerts if the temperature drops unexpectedly. Many other remote thermostat systems can do this. I'm hoping Nest adds this feature as a software upgrade soon.
• The Nest is a bit aggressive about "learning" my schedule. It seems to want to slip into "Away Mode" more often than I'd like. It was easy to override this feature for now.

Overall, I'm very pleased. If the Nest continues to work as it does now, and doesn't experience problems with the 2-wire installation that some others have experienced, I'll be very satisfied.

And on a professional note, how much fun would it be to test this device and the accompanying infrastructure?

If you are interested in a Nest, click 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/.

What's The State Of Testing? The Results Are In!

What is the state of Testing today?

Back in early December I asked you to help out my friend Joel Montvelisky conduct a survey about the state of testing in the world today.

Many of you responded - thank you!

And now the results are in!

Check it out here: http://qablog.practitest.com/state-of-testing/

What do you think? Does any of it surprise you? (I have to say the answers to the question "How do you report your testing?" surprised me a bit.

---

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/.

Have You Ever Faked It? I Have.

One of our web applications is designed to present one User Interface when viewed from a desktop system, and a different User Interface when viewed from a mobile device or tablet. That way, the UI can be more tailored to the capabilities of the device being used. copyrightjoestrazzere

In order to accomplish that trick, we use WURFL to detect the device type from the User Agent String, and tell the web application about the device being used. When WURFL tells us that it's a mobile device or tablet, a redirect occurs - into the mobile-optimized UI.

When testing this application, we used a wide variety of mobile devices. We used desktops, phones, and tablets. But the vast majority of functional testing was performed using just a desktop system and a few tricks. Those tricks allowed us to "fake out" the web application, and make it think that the requests were actually coming from a phone or a tablet.

WURFL (Wireless Universal Resource FiLe) is an API and database that uses the User Agent String sent with every web request to determine characteristics about the requesting environment. Properly used by the web application, the API can divide the requests into desktop requests versus phone/tablet requests.

Normally, your browser presents the web application with a User Agent String that reflects the characteristics of your actual device, operating systems, browser, etc.

For example Chrome on Windows 8 might present this for a User Agent String:

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.2; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/32.0.1667.0 Safari/537.36

While Safari on an iPad might present this:

Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko ) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B176 Safari/7534.48.3

Thus if you could tell your browser to use a "Safari-in-iPad" User Agent String, the web application would think you were actually coming from an iPad, and redirect you to the Mobile UI. This is exactly what we did.

We used two different ways to fake the User Agent String. Primarily, we used Firefox and the User Agent Switcher from Chris Pendrick. We also used Chrome and the command line switch --user-agent.

By faking the application out, we tested both the desktop and the mobile UI from the same browser on the same desktop machine. This saved us a lot of time, and made it far simpler to automate as well.

Sometimes faking it is easier, and more efficient as well.


User Agent String:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_agent

WURFL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WURFL

For Firefox:

User Agent Switcher

Chris Pederick

http://chrispederick.com/work/user-agent-switcher/

For Chrome:

Override User Agent

http://peter.sh/experiments/chromium-command-line-switches/#user-agent

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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/.

Perhaps They Should Have Tested More - GM

Not a GM Product

Recently General Motors recalled over 370,000 full-size pickup trucks due to a software problem that appears to have already caused 11 fires: copyrightjoestrazzere

• Affects 2014 Chevrolet Silverados and GMC Sierras
• Could lead to overheating, potentially leading to engine compartment fire
• GM has reports of 11 fires related to this bug
• Until it is fixed, owners are advised not to let the truck idle
• Problem uncovered in part because the recent extreme cold led to more idling
• The 2014 Silverado is one of three finalists for North American Truck of the Year

Perhaps GM was idling too much, when they could have tested more.

See also:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/riskfactor/computing/it/gm-recalls-370-000-pickup-trucks-for-software-update-to-reduce-fire-risk

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140123/AUTO0103/301230115/GM-repairs-39-recalled-trucks

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140110/AUTO0103/301100108

http://www.autonews.com/article/20140110/RETAIL05/140119956/gm-recalls-303000-new-chevy-silverado-gmc-sierra-pickups-for-engine#axzz2rLeOXUPu

http://www.edmunds.com/car-news/2014-chevrolet-silverado-and-gmc-sierra-recalled-for-fire-risk.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/01/10/chevrolet-silverado-gmc-sierra-fire-recall/4424529/

Image courtesy of zirconicusso / 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/.

Free Podcasts I Like

I like good podcasts and I cannot lie

Often when I'm relaxing on the beach, or taking a walk alone, or doing yard work, I use my iPod.  I have found that, while I enjoy some music, I tend to enjoy talk and good discussion even more.  So I have loaded my iPod with podcasts, and refresh them regularly. copyrightjoestrazzere

Here are some podcasts that I particularly like these days:

APM: Marketplace Money

By American Public Media

Description
Marketplace Money from American Public Media is a weekly hour-long program on the topics of personal finance, money, retirement, and health care.

APM: Marketplace Tech Report

By American Public Media

Description
The Marketplace Tech Report is a daily radio segment and Podcast produced by Marketplace from American Public Media exploring the world of technology and the Internet.

CNBC's "The Suze Orman Show"

By CNBC

Description
Suze Orman is America's most recognized personal finance expert. "The Suze Orman Show," which airs 9pm E.T. Saturdays on CNBC, covers today's hottest financial topics, helping people make the connection between self worth and net worth. In a format that's fast-paced, down-to-earth and entertaining, Suze candidly tells her audience the truth about money so viewers can change the course of their financial destiny -- to have more and be more.

Freakonomics Radio

By Stephen J. Dubner

Description
In their books "Freakonomics" and "SuperFreakonomics," Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner explore "the hidden side of everything," with stories about cheating schoolteachers, self-dealing real-estate agents, and crack-selling mama’s boys. The Freakonomics Radio podcast, hosted by Dubner, carries on that tradition with weekly episodes. Prepare to be enlightened, engaged, perhaps enraged, and definitely surprised.

FRONTLINE: Audiocast | PBS

By FRONTLINE

Description
You asked; we listened. FRONTLINE presents audio versions of select full-length episodes for listening on the go. Want more full-length FRONTLINE Audiocasts? Please leave a review and let us know what you think. (For behind-the-scenes interviews with FRONTLINE producers, please see the FRONTLINE Extras podcast with host Arun Rath.)

New England Patriots: PFW In Progress

By New England Patriots

Description
Take a break with PFW's Fred Kirsch, Paul Perillo, Andy Hart and Erik Scalavino as they bring you behind the pages of Patriots Football Weekly. Get the latest scoop from Gillette Stadium and answers to your Patriots questions. For more information about New England Patriots official podcasts, visit Patriots.com.

NOVA | PBS

By WGBH Science Unit

Description
NOVA brings you short audio stories from the world of science -- anything from hurricanes to mummies to neutrinos. For more science programming online and on air, visit NOVA's Web site at pbs.org/nova, or watch NOVA broadcasts Wednesday nights on PBS.

NPR: Planet Money Podcast

By NPR

Description
Money makes the world go around, faster and faster every day. On NPR's Planet Money, you'll meet high rollers, brainy economists and regular folks -- all trying to make sense of our rapidly changing global economy.

The Truth About Money with Ric Edelman Radio Show

By Ric Edelman

Description
Listen every week to The Truth About Money with Ric Edelman. Ric gives you comprehensive, educational advice that is both entertaining and useful -- on investments, IRAs, retirement planning, mortgages, insurance, college planning, and much more!

I've looked at and listened to a few podcasts about Testing and QA, but haven't found any I've really liked.

How about you - any good recommendations for podcasts?

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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/.

The Top 25 Most Commonly-Used Passwords on the Internet

Shh. The password is "PASSWORD"...

SplashData, a leading provider of password management applications, recently published their "Top 25" list of most commonly used password on the internet.  copyrightjoestrazzere

1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345678
4. qwerty
5. abc123
6. 123456789
7. 111111
8. 1234567
9. iloveyou
10. adobe123
11. 123123
12. admin
13. 1234567890
14. letmein
15. photoshop
16. 1234
17. monkey
18. shadow
19. sunshine
20. 12345
21. password1
22. princess
23. azerty
24. trustno1
25. 000000

SplashData's top 25 list was compiled from files containing millions of stolen passwords posted online during the previous year. The company advises consumers or businesses using any of the passwords on the list to change them immediately.

SplashData suggests making passwords more secure with these tips:

Use passwords of eight characters or more with mixed types of characters. But even passwords with common substitutions like "dr4mat1c" can be vulnerable to attackers' increasingly sophisticated technology, and random combinations like "j%7K&yPx$" can be difficult to remember. One way to create more secure passwords that are easy to recall is to use passphrases -- short words with spaces or other characters separating them. It's best to use random words rather than common phrases. For example, "cakes years birthday" or "smiles_light_skip?" 

Avoid using the same username/password combination for multiple websites.  Especially risky is using the same password for entertainment sites that you do for online email, social networking, or financial service sites. Use different passwords for each new website or service you sign up for.

So "iloveyou" isn't a good password? That's a shame. How about "iloveyou2"? Fortunately, nothing I use resembles anything on this list.

My biggest gripe about passwords is that each website has their own rules for password construction, and many of them are far too constrictive. I know of many sites that don't permit certain special characters. I even know of one very prominent financial institution which limits passwords to just 12 characters! In my opinion, that's simply not enough for constructing a strong password/passphrase.

Is it too much to ask for at least 64 characters, and permitting alphanumeric characters and all special characters?

How about you? Are you comfortable with the passwords you use? Any of the passwords in the above list look familiar?


Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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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/.

Does Agile Really Lead to "Amateur, Untrained, Unmotivated" Testers?

Amateur, Untrained, Unmotivated - and Agile?

Recently, I was reading an article on James Bach's blog titled "Test Jumpers: One Vision of Agile Testing". It's an interesting article and like most of James' writing, it was thought-provoking. The notion of a "Test Jumper" (he compares it to the elite firefighters known as Smoke Jumpers), is intriguing, and seems like a lot of fun. copyrightjoestrazzere

There was one point that really caught me eye though. In this article, James wrote:

"The value of a role like this arises because in a typical dedicated Agile situation, everyone is expected to help with testing, and yet having staff dedicated solely to testing may be unwarranted. In practice, that means everyone remains chronically an amateur tester, untrained and unmotivated."

When I asked him to write a bit more about this point, he replied:

"This has been a longstanding philosophical difference between the programmer-dominated culture of Agile and the culture of skilled testers. Attitudes vary from place to place, of course. But what I'm saying is that to do any technical activity well you must study and strive to improve. If you are focused on programming, you study that. If you are focused on testing, you study that. It is possible to study both, but programming is so interesting and all-consuming that it is VERY rare for a programmer to study testing to any great degree. 

Some of them seem to be offended when I say that. I think that's because they honestly don't realize how deep I am speaking when I speak of studying. Many of them seem to see little worth learning in the testing sphere."

At my company, we are about to embark on several projects that for the first time will be Agile. I'm worried about the quality bar and the tester role in these projects, so I'll be on the lookout for the problems that James warns about.

I will be assigning professional Testers to the projects, but for at least one of them this is only a part-time assignment. I'm hoping that this will provide sufficient testing, but the Agile Team themselves will be deciding how the testing tasks are divided up, and how much professional and amateur time is devoted to testing versus all the other activities that must take place.

For those of you with Agile Testing experience:

• Do you agree with James' assessment? 
• Are you doing anything to counter that trend?
• Any other suggestions?

I hope to write a follow-up a few months down the road as these projects progress.

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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/.