Quality Matters

Sympathetic Testing

Recently, I came across this interesting term in James Bach and Ajay Balamurugadas' blog. Instead of testing for bugs, Sympathetic Testing's goal is to focus on "learning" the product and its features. In fact, I'm sure that all of us already apply sympathetic testing to some degree without knowing it.

I flip through one of my favourite software testing book "Lessons learned in software Testing" and found this term. Let me summarize it: It stated "Early in the project, test sympathetically". Since early in the project, we don't know much about the product, we want to learn more about the product and confirmed that the product features are operational.

Also, I found these two quotes define what are the benefits and purpose of Sympathetic Testing: Quotes from James Bach's blog:
"... my main purpose is learning; building a rich model in my mind."
"...Sympathetic testing made me better at unsympathetic testing. Searching happily prepares me to search aggressively."

Having a good understanding of the product(By using Sympathetic testing), will later prepare us to be able to test more effectively in the future/at later stage of the product. This is indeed a crucial testing method that all of us should apply in our projects.

If you would like to see a practical example, you can visit Ajay's blog, he demonstrates a very good example of how he applies sympathetic testing.
I look forward to apply this method of testing for my next project.

Differences between Quality Assurance and Quality Control

This is one of the most frequently asked question by students and professionals around the software QA industry as well as during the interview. You can find many version of the definition between these two on the internet. Similar to my very first post, I'll give you the definition that I found the most appropriate:

"Product" and "Process" are the keywords that distinguish the differences between QA and QC. Quality Control is "Product-oriented", it focus on the "product" itself, whether it meet its quality goals and user requirements. E.g: Testing, Review and Inspection fall into this category. On the other hand, Quality Assurance is "Process-oriented"; focus on whether the process element of a project is conforming to standards and methodologies. Since QA focus more on the whole project, hence it can have a supervision on quality control.

Tips for passing the ISTQB Foundation Level exam - Do's and Don't's

Last week, I passed my ISTQB-Foundation level exam with an excellent grade.  I would like to share the methods I used and some helpful self studying tips.  Keep in mind that the more you know the Syllabus the better you do on the exam.

Rule #1:

DO NOT take the words of those who claimed anyone can pass by cramming for two days right before the exam. Even an experience tester may be caught off guard by this exam because they may have different opinions or views on some materials.  You are strongly encouraged to study the Syllabus thoroughly before even attempting the exam.

Rule #2:

DO NOT practice sample exam papers from online sources!   There are many sample exam questions online and I suggest NOT to do any of them as there are many INCORRECT solutions. Moreover, some questions are misleading since they do not even follow the ISTQB Syllabus.

Rule #3:

DO buy a textbook.  I recommend Foundations Software Testing by Graham, Veenendaal, Evans, Black

Not only it covers all the materials from the foundation level syllabus but also includes sample exam questions at the end of each chapter.  In addition, it also includes a mock exam at the end of the book.

The latest version of this textbook is 2007, but it still covers the 2011 syllabus very well.

Rule #4:

I would suggest this textbook if you need additional sample exam questions,:

Sample Exam Questions: ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level by Estrella, Estrella.

They are more difficult than the actual exam but it further enhances your overall knowledge on the subject.

Rule #5.  

DO REMEMBER, you WILL NOT be able to find the actual exam questions online or even from the sample exam questions above.  Actual exam questions are highly confidential and ISTQB does not disclose to the public.  Therefore, you need to STUDY THOROUGHLY the materials by going through the syllabus, textbooks and online tutorials .  The sample questions are used to measure your level of understanding and your progress.  DO NOT Blindly memorize multiple choices questions and answers.

What is Quality?