Posted on February 10, 2022
No disk latency
The omniscient corny horn pours out the following words of wisdom:
Chuck Norris doesn’t have disk latency because the hard drive knows to hurry the hell up.
Posted on December 23, 2021
Cheerful debugging messages and its consequences
I don't know what came over me when I used "meow-meow" as the debugging text. Probably, Luna is to blame for it. Luna was our 16 year old cat which died shortly before. She's now eternalized in this (less testing related) cartoon.
We quickly found the cause for the missing signature, we fixed the bug and shipped it to the customer along with an updated template. Unfortunately, I forgot to remove the debugging text in the template. The customer found the problem during their internal BETA test. We fixed the template, shipped it, no big deal, over.
But, about half a year later, the customer reported that he'd seen a letter in the productive document managent system containing the complimentary close "meow-meow" right below the printed signature.
I could feel my face becoming soaked with blood. How the heck could this happen again? Even though we don't execute all regression tests each time we ship a minor release or hotfix, the print-out is part of all smoke tests. Therefore, my thoughts were "this simply can't be true", 'cause we've never seen any such text being printed on any of the letters that ended on our printers.
A little investigation and it became soon clear what happened. Even though we had originally sent the correct template, there was still a copy of the old "meow-meow" template around. When an architect or developer decided to include the template into the git-repository, he took the wrong one. As a result, with the next minor software-version shipped, the old signature-template was deployed again.
While this explains how the bug was re-introduced, it does not explain, why testers did not find the issue while testing the print-out.
Further investigation revealed, even though ALL letters processed the "meow-meow" signature-template, NOT all letters were printing the text below the signature. We found out, it depended on several things such as the size of the signature and the configuration of the target letter being sent out. If there was a fixed size between signature and complimentary close, then the text "meow-meow" simply didn't make it in between and wasn't printed. If instead, the letter was configured to dynamically grow with the size of the signature, then also "meow-meow" made it to the printer.
Without going into too much details, only one particular type of letter was affected and fortunately, it was a letter that customers sent only to internal addresses (like an internal email) and not to stakeholders outside the company. Lucky me!
Well, not really...because...
..one of the customers told me that - despite this letter is sent only internally - it may still be used as an enclosure for other letters going out to lawyers and doctors. The company feared they'd lose credibility when such letters made it to their customers. It was therefore important to remove all identified documents in production before they pay a high price for this slip.
What are the lessons learnt?
First of all, it could have been worse. I mean, if you get a letter that ends with "meow-meow", it's likely to put a smile on your face. In my 20 years career as a tester and developer, I've seen comments and debugging texts that are much worse and sometimes below-the line. My friends told me several stories about similar happenings. Looks like, we are not alone.
But, as we have just learnt, it depends on who is affected and who will read it. I can only suggest to never ever type anything like that in any of your tests because you never know where it's going to show up.
Intead of "meow-meow" a simple DOT or DASH would have done the same trick, and didn't raise the same kind of alarm in case such debugging messages make it to the bottom of a letter.
This was the last cartoon and blog entry for 2021. There are more to come next year. Please excuse, this cartoon here wasn't a pure testing related cartoon, but the story still is.
I wish you all a merry XMAS and a happy new year. I hope you enjoy the blog and continue to regularly visit me here.
Funny btw, although I have hardly any followers, there are thousands of visitors to this blog every month. ThanX a lot.
(Source: Simply the Test)
Posted on December 1, 2021
Snowflakes
The omniscient corny horn pours out the following words of wisdom:
Q: What do snowmen eat for breakfast?
A: Snowflakes
Posted on November 25, 2021
Drum sticks
On Thanksgiving, the omniscient corny horn shares the following words stuffed with wisdom:
Q: Why did they ask the turkey to join the band?
A: He had the drum sticks.
Posted on November 9, 2021
ISTQB® releases Certified Tester Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale – 3rd Increment – v0.6 (CTAL-ATLaS)
ISTQB® has released the 3rd increment of the Advanced Level (CTAL) Agile Test Leadership at Scale (ATLaS) version 0.6. This is the third of the five increments planned in the CTAL-ATLaS certification. CTAL-ATLaS is an “Agile” module within the ISTQB® Certified Tester Scheme and an in-demand next step after the ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) and ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester (CTFL-AT).
The release consists of the first (Quality Assistance), second (Improve Quality and Flow in a Value-Driven Organization) and third (Continuous Improvement of Quality and Testing) chapters of the ISTQB® Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale syllabus (v0.6), body of knowledge (v0.6) and sample exam questions and answers (v0.6).
Because of the incremental model the “Release Notes” will not be available until the very end of development of the complete ATLaS product.
This is the first time that ISTQB® has developed and released a certification incrementally. According to Agile principles, iterations ensure better quality through early feedback and continuous improvement.
When will the complete CTAL-ATLaS certification be ready?
We are planning to have it available by Q4 2022 (current estimation).
More information can be found in the CTAL-ATLaS FAQ section.
Product Owner of the CTAL-ATLaS Mette Bruhn-Pedersen said:
“With the modern demand for business agility there is an even greater need for accelerated quality. This is not achievable if all responsibility for quality remains in individual teams or specific roles such as testers. Therefore, test management becomes quality management and organizations need to adopt lean principles across the organization as well as within delivery teams. This changes the role of quality assurance and test professionals to be closer to agile test leadership and to fostering a quality culture and mindset.
The ISTQB® is offering a new certification at Advanced level to complement the existing Test Manager certification and help people build the competencies needed to effectively contribute to such demanding business environments. The certification is called Agile Test Leadership at Scale (ATLaS) and the third increment is now available for download on ISTQB®’s website
As in the previous two increments the focus in ATLaS is on the organizational level. In this third increment you will learn the why and how for the Continuous Improvement of Quality and Testing.
The certification introduces Structured Problem-Solving and certain associated techniques as an approach for supporting Testing and Quality activities across a value stream. It explores System Thinking and the analysis of Root Causes from a quality and testing perspective that improves the value stream as a whole and not just testing. It proposes using Causal Loop Diagrams as a key technique for identifying root causes in a complex environment, leading to the optimization of processes and procedures. This increment further covers conventional stages in causal loop diagramming and how to map the cause and effect of different variables in a system or process flow using basic visualization techniques.
Implementing these techniques in your organization brings value by:
- Efficiently addressing quality problems
- Implanting the mindset of continuous improvement within an enterprise
- Methodically tackling the root causes of system bottlenecks
By releasing the third increment the ISTQB® continues the agile approach to certification adopted in the first increment (see link to increment 1 news). We will continue to release each increment as it is developed so that member boards can disseminate this to their customers to gain interest; for training providers to start building courseware and so that exam providers can build exams. We also want to gain early feedback direct from our customers to help us tailor this certification to market demands.
This is a new way of releasing for the ISTQB®, using an iterative method building assets up until the final full launch when all materials, including exams will be ready. You will also see a new look syllabus format which focuses on the learnings you will gain, supported by a Body of Knowledge giving you rich examples and walking you through each learning objective in detail.
The Agile Test Leadership at Scale qualification is aimed at people who work in an organization which is pursuing agility at scale or business agility and already have a basic understanding of agile and agile testing. The ISTQB® Foundation Level certificate and Foundation Level Agile Tester certificate are prerequisites for taking the Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale certification exam.”
Thank you to all who have supported the update including Michael Pilaeten (Working Group Chair); Mette Bruhn-Pedersen (Product Owner); Jean-Luc Cossi, Richard Green, Michael Heller, Leanne Howard, Ebbe Munk, Francisca Cano Ortiz, Samuel Ouko, Tal Pe’er, Murian Song, Marcelo Chanez, Ilia Kulakov, Peter Jetter and Salinda Wickramasinghe (Authors) and Loyde Mitchell and many other from long reviewer list (incl. into syllabus), Exam & Marketing Work Groups.
(Source: ISTQB)
Posted on November 9, 2021
ISTQB® releases Certified Tester Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale – 3rd Increment – v0.6 (CTAL-ATLaS)
ISTQB® has released the 3rd increment of the Advanced Level (CTAL) Agile Test Leadership at Scale (ATLaS) version 0.6. This is the third of the six increments planned in the CTAL-ATLaS certification. CTAL-ATLaS is an “Agile” module within the ISTQB® Certified Tester Scheme and an in-demand next step after the ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) and ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level Agile Tester (CTFL-AT).
The release consists of the first (Quality Assistance), second (Improve Quality and Flow in a Value-Driven Organization) and third (Continuous Improvement of Quality and Testing) chapters of the ISTQB® Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale syllabus (v0.6), body of knowledge (v0.6) and sample exam questions and answers (v0.6).
Because of the incremental model the “Release Notes” will not be available until the very end of development of the complete ATLaS product.
This is the first time that ISTQB® has developed and released a certification incrementally. According to Agile principles, iterations ensure better quality through early feedback and continuous improvement.
When will the complete CTAL-ATLaS certification be ready?
We are planning to have it available by Q4 2022 (current estimation).
More information can be found in the CTAL-ATLaS FAQ section.
Product Owner of the CTAL-ATLaS Mette Bruhn-Pedersen said:
“With the modern demand for business agility there is an even greater need for accelerated quality. This is not achievable if all responsibility for quality remains in individual teams or specific roles such as testers. Therefore, test management becomes quality management and organizations need to adopt lean principles across the organization as well as within delivery teams. This changes the role of quality assurance and test professionals to be closer to agile test leadership and to fostering a quality culture and mindset.
The ISTQB® is offering a new certification at Advanced level to complement the existing Test Manager certification and help people build the competencies needed to effectively contribute to such demanding business environments. The certification is called Agile Test Leadership at Scale (ATLaS) and the third increment is now available for download on ISTQB®’s website
As in the previous two increments the focus in ATLaS is on the organizational level. In this third increment you will learn the why and how for the Continuous Improvement of Quality and Testing.
The certification introduces Structured Problem-Solving and certain associated techniques as an approach for supporting Testing and Quality activities across a value stream. It explores System Thinking and the analysis of Root Causes from a quality and testing perspective that improves the value stream as a whole and not just testing. It proposes using Causal Loop Diagrams as a key technique for identifying root causes in a complex environment, leading to the optimization of processes and procedures. This increment further covers conventional stages in causal loop diagramming and how to map the cause and effect of different variables in a system or process flow using basic visualization techniques.
Implementing these techniques in your organization brings value by:
- Efficiently addressing quality problems
- Implanting the mindset of continuous improvement within an enterprise
- Methodically tackling the root causes of system bottlenecks
By releasing the third increment the ISTQB® continues the agile approach to certification adopted in the first increment (see link to increment 1 news). We will continue to release each increment as it is developed so that member boards can disseminate this to their customers to gain interest; for training providers to start building courseware and so that exam providers can build exams. We also want to gain early feedback direct from our customers to help us tailor this certification to market demands.
This is a new way of releasing for the ISTQB®, using an iterative method building assets up until the final full launch when all materials, including exams will be ready. You will also see a new look syllabus format which focuses on the learnings you will gain, supported by a Body of Knowledge giving you rich examples and walking you through each learning objective in detail.
The Agile Test Leadership at Scale qualification is aimed at people who work in an organization which is pursuing agility at scale or business agility and already have a basic understanding of agile and agile testing. The ISTQB® Foundation Level certificate and Foundation Level Agile Tester certificate are prerequisites for taking the Advanced Level Agile Test Leadership at Scale certification exam.”
Thank you to all who have supported the update including Michael Pilaeten (Working Group Chair); Mette Bruhn-Pedersen (Product Owner); Jean-Luc Cossi, Richard Green, Michael Heller, Leanne Howard, Ebbe Munk, Francisca Cano Ortiz, Samuel Ouko, Tal Pe’er, Murian Song, Marcelo Chanez, Ilia Kulakov, Peter Jetter and Salinda Wickramasinghe (Authors) and Loyde Mitchell and many other from long reviewer list (incl. into syllabus), Exam & Marketing Work Groups.
(Source: ISTQB)
Posted on November 1, 2021
Book about Anti-Gravity
The omniscient corny horn pours out the following words of wisdom:
I’m reading a book about Anti-Gravity. It’s impossible to put down.
Posted on October 31, 2021
No guts
On Hallows’ Eve, the mystic corny horn discloses the following words of wisdom:
Q: Why wouldn’t the skeleton go in the haunted house?
A: It had no guts.
