Instructor: Robert Clawson

Software Tester Certification Boot Camp

Posted on October 17, 2020 by -

Part 1: Course and Exam Overview

  1. ISTQB and ASTQB overview
  2. Exam format
  3. Study and exam-taking tips
  4. Course flow and agenda topics
  5. Outline of the daily schedule (varies on day 3)
  6. Explanation of supplementary material

Part 2: Fundamentals of Testing

  1. Testing overview and key terminology
  2. Common testing principles
  3. Basic test process
  4. Psychology of testing
  5. Code of ethics
  • Interactive Session: Testing missions and test objectives
  • Pop Quiz: Seven testing principles
  • Interactive Session: Context drivers for testing

Part 3: Testing throughout the Software Life Cycle

  1. Software development models
  2. Test levels and test types
  3. Maintenance testing
  • Interactive Session: Understanding test impacts of software development models
  • Interactive Session: Illustrating verification and validation for better understanding
  • Interactive Session: Linking test levels with entry and exit criteria
  • Interactive Session: Compare and contrast black box and white box testing
  • Interactive Session: Understanding goals, targets, and issues within test levels
  • Interactive Session: Compare and contrast test types using examples

Part 4: Test Management

  1. Test organization
  2. Planning and estimation
  3. Progress monitoring and control
  4. Configuration management
  5. Risk and testing
  • Incident management
  • Pop Quiz: Understanding project constraints
  • Pop Quiz: Test team organizational structures
  • Pop Quiz: Driving more accurate test estimates
  • Pop Quiz: Choosing a test approach
  • Interactive Session and Pop Quiz: Performing risk assessment
  • Pop Quiz: Identifying incidents
  • Hands-on Exercise: Write an incident report
  • Hands-on Exercise: Perform a review session
  • Interactive Session: Developing oracles

Part 5: Test Design Techniques

  1. The test development process
  2. Specification-based techniques
  3. Structure-based techniques
  4. Experience-based techniques
  5. Selecting test techniques
  • Pop Quiz: Using specification-based techniques
  • Interactive Session: Review tests designed with equivalence partitioning
  • Hands-on Exercise: Use equivalence partitioning as a test design method
  • Hands-on Exercise: Use boundary value analysis to create tests
  • Interactive Session: Analyze and map out complex logic in requirements
  • Hands-on Exercise: Use a decision table to develop tests
  • Interactive Session: Walk through a state model
  • Hands-on Exercise: Use a state model to build tests
  • Pop Quiz: Use case basics
  • Interactive Session: Generate tests from use cases
  • Interactive Session: Analyze code flow with control flow diagrams
  • Hands-on Exercise: Develop structural tests for code and analyze coverage
  • Pop Quiz: Differentiate experience-based techniques
  • Pop Quiz: Choose a test technique

Part 6: Static Techniques

  1. Static testing techniques
  2. The review process
  3. Static analysis by tools
  • Review test sets to evaluate test design*
  • Perform a peer review and feedback session (these practice sessions are embedded elsewhere to perform reviews on real targets)

Part 7: Tool Support for Testing

  1. Types of tools
  2. Effective use of tools
  3. Introducing tools into an organization
  • Pop Quiz: Test frameworks
  • Pop Quiz: Understanding probe effect
  • Pop Quiz: Pros and cons of tools
  • Pop Quiz: Piloting a tool

Part 8: Course Wrap-up

  1. Exam tips, procedures, and guidelines
  2. Exam cram
  • Open review session
  • Practice exam review

At the conclusion of the software testing training course, you will have the opportunity to take the ISTQB™ Certified Tester —Foundation Level exam. The exam is held at 3:30 p.m. on the third day of the course. The ISTQB™ Certified Tester —Foundation Level certification exam is independently administered by the American Software Testing Qualifications Board, Inc. (ASTQB).

Agile Testing (ICP-TST)

Posted on October 17, 2020 by -

Part 1: Agile Testing Mindset

Much like Agile itself, many of the Agile testing techniques where espoused well before the Agile Manifesto was created. But Agile testing is much different from testing performed during traditional software development approaches. This topic anchors the ideas of Agile testing in earlier work, while also providing insight into the major differences between Agile testing and testing performed as part of traditional (phased-based) software development.

The 12 Principles of the Agile Manifesto establish guiding principles for not only the Agile movement but Agile testing as a discipline. The Agile mindset includes: Quality is not “owned” by a particular role in Agile; Testers become facilitators of the team’s quality efforts; Agile testing provides critical insights and feedback into the software process. This topic helps learners understand how the Agile Manifesto is realized within an Agile testing process and approach, and to adopt the requisite Agile mindset.

  1. Overview of Agile Testing
    • Origins of Agile Testing
    • Agile Testing vs. Traditional Approaches
  2. Mindset & Culture
    • Agile Testing Principles
    • Whole Team Approach
    • Building Quality In
    • Continuous Improvement and Feedback
    • Ingraining The Agile Testing Mindset (Hands-on Exercise)

Part 2: Testing Techniques

Testing activities can be broken into various categories (or Quadrants) of testing based on their purpose and value. Automated testing can be performed at various levels (the automation pyramid) within a software application, and appropriate testing techniques must be applied to each. This topic provides the learner with a sound understanding of the purpose of various categories of testing, opportunities for automation, and testing techniques so they can be applied appropriately and at the right time within an Agile environment.

Developer testing of individual software units and associated components is critical to detecting implementation defects within the software. Unit and component tests are leveraged within TDD as well. This topic helps the learner to thoroughly understand the purpose and approach to successfully implementing unit and component testing on Agile projects and how testers support developer testing during development cycles.

Test-Driven Development (TDD) and its derivatives, Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD), Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) and Spec by Example are techniques for assuring that Stories are implemented in a manner that satisfies the customers’ needs. This topic helps the learner to thoroughly understand the purpose and approach to successfully implementing these techniques on Agile projects.

Testing of User Stories is critical to successful development of software within an Agile project. This testing is often performed using the techniques above but can be done in other ways as is appropriate or necessary. This topic enables the learner to thoroughly understand the various options for testing User Stories during software development; this is an extension to ATDD to include boundary conditions and other types of testing such as exploratory testing.

  1. Categories of Testing
    • Agile Testing Quadrants of Categories
    • Automation Pyramid – Introduction
    • Testing Techniques
  2. Collaborating with Developers
    • Unit and Component Testing
    • Pairing Between Developer and Tester
  3. Example Driven Development
    • Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)
    • Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)
    • Spec by Example
  4. Feature and Story Testing
    • User Story Testing
    • Feature Testing
    • Exploratory Testing
    • Non-Functional Testing

Part 3: Agile Testing Process

Testing during an Agile project is team-oriented, so it is common for every member of the team to provide some level of testing support. This includes the Product Owner and other Business Representatives and the programmers in addition to the testers. This topic provides the learner with an understanding that within an Agile project, the entire project team is responsible for testing activities, with a specific focus on how this affects specific roles.

Lightweight planning and documentation are typical of Agile projects. The best Agile projects do just enough planning and documenting to support project activities and the needs of the end users. This topic provides the learner with an understanding of how lightweight test strategy and planning is performed on Agile projects, and how decisions are made regarding what type of test documentation, records, metrics, and reports are needed and how much is enough.

Agile projects employ a variety of techniques around the delivery of the product, including Time-boxed Iterations and Continuous Delivery, that all have a very strong focus on testing. This topic helps the learner to appreciate all of the various ways that testing is used in the “End-Game” activities (which don’t just happen at the end of the Agile project!)

Multiple environments are often necessary to support testing activities during iterations and the release process. This topic provides the learner with an understanding of the typical test environments that must be set up and maintained to support testing activities during iterations and releases and how the product must be managed as it progresses through those environments.

Distributed teams are a fact of life in most organizations and must be dealt with to make Agile testing initiatives successful. This topic provides the learner with an understanding of how communication and coordination of testing activities can be most effective on distributed teams.

  1. Roles and Responsibilities
    • Team-Based Testing Approach
    • Typical Business Representative Role in Testing
    • Typical Programmer Role in Testing
    • Typical Tester Role in Testing
    • Role of Test Managers in Agile
  2. Test Strategy and Planning
    • Different Strategies Based on Levels of Precision
    • During Iteration Planning/Kickoff
    • Lightweight Test Plan Documentation
    • Defect Tracking and Management
    • Results Reporting
    • Test Metrics
    • Regression Tests
  3. Successful Delivery
    • Time-Boxed Delivery
    • Continuous Delivery
    • Post-Development Test Cycles
    • Iteration Wrap-Up
    • Definition of a Release/End Game
    • User Acceptance Test (UAT)
    • System-Wide and Cross-Team Testing
    • Post-Release Testing
    • Documentation for Regulatory Requirements
  4. Test Environments and Infrastructure
    • Typical Environments for Test
    • Build Pipeline
    • Automated Builds
    • Testing the Proper Build
    • Test Data Management
  5. Working on Distributed Teams
    • Distributed Team Communication
    • Distributed Team Coordination