Added by Kerry Lamb, last edited by Kerry Lamb on Jun 27, 2007  (view change)

Labels:

Enter labels to add to this page:
Wait Image 
Looking for a label? Just start typing.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 11/14/2006

Attendees: Mitch DeRidder, Joe Frost, Kerry Lamb, Joseph Lee, Frank Williston

We discussed having an explanatory page associated with the survey which would define us, define the survey, define the purpose of the survey, and point to the survey. The URL for the survey is https://catalysttools.washington.edu/survey/frostj/28207 As part of defining the survey, we talked about writing a one-line description of each of the types of testing we are asking about. For example: The unit test is the lowest level of testing performed during software development, where individual units of software are tested in isolation from other parts of a program. Next Steps:

  • Mitch will look at the questions from a usability perspective when he returns from vacation
  • Kerry will set up another meeting right after Thanksgiving to review the survey (scheduled for 11/28/06, 11-noon)
  • Each person will create a one-liner for the section he/she worked on previously
  • Feedback will be sent to Joe and the team via email so that by the time we meet again the survey is ready to present to Senior AIS management for approval.

Next meeting: Tuesday, November 28, 2006, 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, Location: 4545 Basement

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 10/17/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Kerry Lamb, Joseph Lee, Mary Syre, Frank Williston We reviewed Joe's draft of the survey questions. Next Steps:

  • Joe will send out the URL for the group to review the survey in Catalyst
  • Mitch will look at the questions from a usability perspective when he returns from vacation
  • Kerry will look up industry recommendations for percentage of testing activity for a development project, along with appropriate wording for the 'what percentage of time is testing?' question.
  • Feedback will be sent to Joe and the team via email so that by the time we meet again the survey is ready to present to Senior AIS management for approval.

Next meeting: Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 10:00 am to 11:00 am , Location: 4545 Basement

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 09/19/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Kerry Lamb, Joseph Lee, Gong Li, Mary Syre We discussed possible survey questions for a survey to be sent out to AIS developers. Some example questions (to be wordsmithed later):

  • How familiar are you with (each of the testing areas from the web site)?
  • How much time do you spend testing?
  • Have you visited the web site?
  • Did we leave anything off?
  • Who else knows about testing?

Joe will take his notes from our discussion and draft a survey to be reviewed at the next meeting. We also discussed the development life cycle and where each kind of testing might fit (see Timeline.xls for a draft). Note: The group has decided to reduce the meetings to one per month and do more collaboration via email.

Next meeting: Tuesday, October 17, 2006, 10:00 am to 11:00 am , Location: 4545 Basement

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 08/22/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Mitch DeRidder, Kerry Lamb, Joseph Lee

We discussed preparing a presentation for one of the upcoming forums, with the intent to help programmers improve testing practices. As a starting point for the presentation, we will prepare survey questions to bring to the next meeting. The questions should be focused on how the practices we have documented are being implemented, but also on what practices are working that we don't know about.
The presentation should explain the topics early in the discussion.

The question was asked, "Is there a good way to cluster the types of testing?" One way may be to prepare a timeline of testing on a typical project, starting at the end, and working backwards.

Another question that was raised was, "How do you know when a simple parallel test is enough, and when is an actual test plan needed?"

Note: The 08/08/06 meeting was cancelled.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 07/25/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Mary Syre, Mitch DeRidder, Kerry Lamb, Frank Williston

We reviewed the project plan (see I:\groups\is\is-projects\BestPractices\QA Testing\TestingProject.mpp). We're very close to completing Phase I, and we need to start working on Phase II, which currently has 2 line-items:

  • define pilot project
  • define training approach

We should consider reducing the meetings to monthly.

Actions:

  • All, for next meeting: Bring ideas for a 30-minute presentation which can be used at team or project meetings to encourage participation and feedback.
  • Kerry, asap: send Joseph an email to get the status on the Interoperability testing page.
  • Kerry, asap: get the link to this web site added to the main ASM page.
  • Joe, for August 22 meeting: Draft the Stress testing page (using some of Kurt's material).
  • Open Action for everyone: Find conferences or training on testing to suggest.

Note: The 07/11/06 meeting was canceled.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 06/20/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Mary Syre, Mitch DeRidder, Kerry Lamb, Joseph Lee, Gong Li

We reviewed the Test Results/Defect tracking page, drafted by Kerry. Action for next meeting (All): Find conferences or training on testing to suggest.

Note: The 06/06/06 meeting was cancelled.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 05/23/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Mary Syre, Mitch DeRidder, Kerry Lamb, Joseph Lee, Gong Li, Frank Williston

Rick Ells gave a presentation and led a discussion about Accessibility.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 05/09/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Mary Syre, Mitch DeRidder

The Stress Testing page was developed quite some time ago, focusing on the ACT tool.
Since the ACT tool is a desktop tool, the content is server-agnostic. Kurt's suggestion was that we link to Getting Started and How-Tos on the .net pages, rather than rewriting the content.

In today's meeting we found that there are a few things missing from the page that would be useful, especially a description of how to run the tests.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 04/25/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Mary Syre, Mitch DeRidder

This meeting was spent preparing for the IS Forum Presentation.

Note: The 04/11/06 meeting was cancelled - too many people out or sick.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 03/28/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Mary Syre, Kerry Lamb, Frank Williston, Mitch DeRidder

We reviewed the External Interface Testing page, drafted by Kerry. The Functional Testing page has a link to this topic.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 03/14/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Mary Syre, Joseph Lee, Kerry Lamb, Frank Williston, Mitch DeRidder

We reviewed the Regression Testing page, drafted by Frank. After some revisions it will be ready to post.

We'll have about 10 minutes at the IS Forum on 5/5 to talk about this focus group; Mary may present if a team member is needed.

Rick Ells has volunteered to give us a presentation regarding Accessibility.

Kerry will prepare an Interface Testing page for the next meeting.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 02/14/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, May Zhang, Mary Syre, Gong Li, Kerry Lamb, Frank Williston, Mitch DeRidder

We discussed how to take the next step in getting the ideas of testing integrated into projects.

Mary recommended that we help ITAC ensure testing is part of the plans.

The DRS project was discussed as an example of how a testing project has been carried on in parallel with a development project. A testing environment and methodology is being developed which should be helpful for other mainframe projects.

Discussion of how to get the web pages read and used included noting that the Staff Forum is not well suited to a training situation. The DAWG and MDC are likely good places to present in more depth than the regular status updates. Other promising ways to inform the developers include email to videv and inclusion in the cactools mailings.

It was suggested that our most promising chance is to work one-on-one with projects.

To help communicate implementation of the types of testing we have researched, we will build some sample test plans and a sample project plan. The sample project plan will include the various types of testing that we have been documenting in order to show how they fit in to a typical project. Mary has put the Microsoft Project plan for the upcoming CacTrack revision into the working directory I:\groups\is\is-projects\BestPractices\QA Testing so we can mark it up with suggested inclusions of testing tasks. Each participant is urged to include the tasks for the type of testing that he or she has researched.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 01/31/2006

Attendees: Joe Frost, Joseph Lee, Mary Syre, Mitch DeRidder, Frank Williston

The project schedule is at I:\groups\is\is-projects\BestPractices\QA Testing\TestingProject.mpp

Joe updated the schedule to show Frank Williston writing the pages for Regression Testing for review on March 14th.

We reviewed the draft pages on Usability Testing, with good results. It was suggested that, for at least this case, the Expected Benefits section should be moved to the spot right after the Definitions section.

Mitch will make the changes to the page noted in the dicussion.
Alexis will show him how to move them to the production server, so they will be accessible from the Usability testing link on:

This was Frank Williston's first meeting of the group. Welcome, Frank!

Joseph has a conflicting meeting on Feb 14th, so his presentation will be set back to the 28th.
Joe will prepare the Accessibility testing pages for the 14th, instead.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 01/03/2006

Attendees: May Zhang, Joseph Lee, Mary Syre, Kerry Lamb, Joe Frost, Mitch DeRidder

The project schedule is at I:\groups\is\is-projects\BestPractices\QA Testing\TestingProject.mpp

It was decided that we need to do more than simply link to the ucsdocs page on
stress testing
(https://ucsdocs.admin.washington.edu/docs/uwnetid/howtos/LoadTest/LoadTest.aspx) because
the page doesn't present enough context, including the definition and timing.
Also, the page does not contain any references or support for the mainframe testing.
May and Joseph will work with Jim Suruda and Patricia Greer to expand the page in ucsdocs.
Joseph will write the introductory page in the standards/testing directory.

The meetings are on the same day as the DAWG meeting, which is causing problems with over-scheduling. Kerry will try to reschedule the coming meetings

Next meeting: 1/17 at 3:00 in the 4545 basement conference room.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 11/08/2005

Attendees: Kurt Warner, May Zhang, Joseph Lee, Mary Syre, Kerry Lamb, Joe Frost, Gong Li, Mitch DeRidder

Time for the tasks associated with this committee should be reported in CacTrack in the ADM-37 Testing Best Practices project.

The project schedule was discussed and updated. The updated copy is I:\groups\is\is-projects\BestPractices\QA Testing\TestingProject.mpp

We did not have a computer available, so review of the Security Testing pages did not occur. Please read them and make notes before the 12/6 meeting.

We brainstormed issues relating to Interoperability testing. We decided that a definition of it is still not clear to us, but that it is, in general, the sort of testing that ensures that the parts of an application
work with other applications and services. Specifically, we looked at testing applications with respect to:

  • Astra
  • Weblogin (pubcookie)
  • Whatami
  • Web Services
  • Arriba
  • FTPs
  • File IO
  • Email
  • Remote Command
  • DFDS com
  • and other COM and COM+ applications

Joseph Lee was strong-armed into leading that research.

Next meeting: 11/22 at 3:00 in the 4545 basement conference room.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 10/20/2005

Attendees: Joe Frost, Jim Suruda, May Zhang, Gong Li, Kerry Lamb, Joseph Lee

Reviewed the Unit testing and Functional testing page drafts. Kerry suggested we change the Acceptance Testing bullet item to User Acceptance testing, to better focus on what we intend to describe.

Gong had volunteered to write the draft page on Security Testing, but the topic is too big for one person. May volunteered to take the topic of Malicious Data attacks, including SQL injection.

Functional testing needs a link to Regression Testing, and an explanation of the difference, if there is one.

Joe will add the HTML capture technique he uses to speed up testing of the conference pages to the description of techniques in Functional Testing.

Jim Suruda showed a tool he and others have developed, called IEDriver.cs, which uses SHDocVW to control an instance of Internet Explorer. The application is a low-level driver for IE that looks for links, named fields, and buttons to drive scripted interaction with IE. The tool can't handle javascript pop-ups because it can't find those windows. The tool takes over the machine as it runs, so it is the sort of testing tool that needs to be started and left. Jim volunteered to write the draft page on regression testing.

We discussed Microsoft's ACT, which we believe can't parse view state or cookies, as well as the problem of not being able to capture tests against https pages.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: 9/15/2005

Attendees: Joe Frost, Alexis Raphael, Kerry Lamb, Mary Syre, Erin Tidwell

Activity: Review Unit Testing draft page

  • Unit testing section needs more COBOL and other environment commentary.
  • Have Sub-headings for Java, SQL, COBOL, etc
  • Have a fuller definition of types of tests
  • Build a checklist of test types, to show that there is more than just data tests in the unit tests.
  • There is nothing about code coverage. Is this something that needs to be in this page?
  • We need more explicit commentary on why we need to do unit testing.
  • There should be more emphasis on action than the tool. More emphasis on thinking out the tests ahead of time.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: June 27, 2005

Attendees: Joe Frost, Mary Syre, Kurt Warner, Kerry Lamb, Alexis Raphael

Joe volunteered to be meeting facilitator, scheduler, and note-taker for the meetings.

We looked at the current draft of the Web page and made a few suggestions. Alexis will update the web page to remove the TDD section, since that probably belongs in a sub page, like Unit Testing.

I will draft the Unit testing draft page. Kerry will do Functional Testing and Acceptance testing. Kurt will do a single page on load testing and stress testing, since we couldn't think of an obvious reason to keep them separate. Alexis will build the Usability testing page. I've asked Rick Ells to help on the Accessibility testing pages.

Volunteers for the other pages?

We need to present materials to both DAWG and to the mainframe group, MDC. Testing is a subject that covers both worlds, even if some of the tools will be specific to an environment.

Kurt showed a demonstration of how they used the ACT tools to do load testing for the Facility Services MyUW portal. He showed the vb-like scripting language that was used to hit the server 1000 times using a list of users containged in an XML file. The URL for ACT installation is available from ITI. He found that the product works well for load testing of a web service.

Software Testing Focus Group Meeting Notes: June 28, 2005 DAWG

Attendees from this group: Joe Frost, Mary Syre, Kerry Lamb

Attendees from the DAWG group: 12-15 others

Q- Who should be the sponsoring group?

A- MDC and DAWG, both. This kind of activity should fit in with the 10% Non-Project Effort. HModern is a separate group, and any overlap is collaboration.

Q- Have we looked at how much of the Team package in Visual Studio 2005 is applicable to our effort?

A- No, we understand that it is a package that is priced separately. Others have heard that the initial release isn't all that stable, so we might be wise to wait for the first few service packs before doing evaluation.

Comment- When we have recommendations to share, we will want to work with the Nebula group to set up packaging for a build. Some products may not work for us if the install process doesn't meet Nebula requirements.

Comment- in addition to the topics identified for each area of testing, it was suggested that we add role and responsibility information, such as when to involve AP and be clear about who should do what.

May Zhang asked to be included in the testing focus group, as she has an interest in the subject.

The destination of the web pages was discussed, and the general concensus is that meeting notes and discussion about the groups belongs in a site about the group, but the final product should be submitted for inclusion in sites like the Developer Connection, so all the developers have easy access to the pages.

It was suggested we look at NTDocs for help on format and content. https://ucsdocs.admin.washington.edu/docs/uwnetid/default.aspx