Software Quality Methods, LLC. has been providing experienced engineering services since its inception. Douglas has a unique perspective on quality and testing and shares insights developed over decades of applying a strong multidimensional technical background in hardware and software systems.

Testware Planning

Testing is a critical function performed by software quality groups. If done well, the test group provides confidence that the product satisfies customer needs. If done poorly, software testing consumes all available resources but generates results of little value. Software testing effort is often confused with testing effectiveness. There are an infinite number of possible tests for any software product, so the trick is to select and run the right tests to provide the information management needs. Testers’ time is traded off between planning testing, documenting the plan, running tests, and documenting the results. Proper test planning balances test activities using available resources and the organization's requirements for the information provided.

SQM provides test planning designed to meet clients' needs from full life cycle quality plans through acceptance test design. Coupling understanding products at a technical level with a manager’s understanding of the economics of testing, SQM successfully plans for the optimal investment in testing.

Test Automation Architectures

SQM provides test automation to meet today's business and technical reality. Although automated software testing has been done for decades, software test automation efforts still frequently fail for numerous reasons. (See Cem Kaner's paper "Avoiding Shelfware: A Managers' View of Automated GUI Testing" from the Los Altos Workshop on Software Testing (LAWST).) Often in hindsight it becomes clear that more and better testing would have occurred without test automation. Most failed test automation initiatives would not have started if a realistic return on investment had been known. Usually automated tests require fixing or complete replacement as soon as a release goes out. The key to good return on automation investments is through understanding what test automation can and can't do, planning for test automation, and engineering of the automated tests. (See Hoffman's "Cost Benefits Analysis of Test Automation.".)

A critical component in automated software testing is the architecture of the test environment. The architecture describes the elements involved in automated testing and the relationships between the elements.  (See Hoffman's "Test Automation Architectures.".) Both the test automation mechanisms and the automated test scripts are programs, so successful software test automation needs to apply the same discipline as other development efforts. SQM successfully designs and directs implementation of automation architectures, tools, and automated tests. 

Updated July 1, 2011

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