Software Testing Blog

In case you missed today’s news, uTest announced an exciting new partnership with Acquia, the enterprise guide to Drupal. As part of the deal – which provides their customers with unique access to uTest’s full suite of testing services – Acquia was legally obligated to write a guest post for our blog. Actually, that wasn’t part of the deal, but we were able to get a great guest post from them anyway.

Meet Stellina McKinney – Acquia’s Director of Engineering Services – who is here to discuss how Acquia leverages the uTest community. That’s right, not only is Acquia a uTest partner, they’re also a very active uTest customer. Enjoy the post!

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I started at Acquia 6 months ago, having previously worked for larger, process-heavy corporations that sold packaged proprietary, software with long release cycles. Our QA teams consisted of over 50 people (sometimes a lot more), and were always the long pole in the process, whether it was Agile or Waterfall.

Not so at Acquia.

At Acquia, I manage a lean QA team of 4 people (we have another team that tests usability), and we support 5 products. We work in an Agile environment, release every 3 weeks, and meet our quality goals for each sprint.

Our QA testing strategy at Acquia is to perform tests on agile user stories (akin to use-case tests or acceptance tests in Behavior Driven Development). Our goals are to:

• Define the behavior of the system, and not have a previously-coded system define the behavior for us
• Test failure cases so that they won’t affect production
• Stress systems through performance and load automation
• Mix automated and manual testing methods, as they’re complementary (machines are fast and consistent, but people have brains and are unpredictable)

We do this by:

• Listing the scenarios that must succeed for a product to be complete
• Writing automated tests to perform basic success and failure operations
• Engaging a crowd-sourced manual testing platform to examine our product in more depth

How can we do this with only a team of 4?  uTest’s crowdsourced testing platform lets us leverage over 45 testers a month, without exceeding my start-up budget.

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In the second installment of our Usability Testing series, Inge De Bleecker offers some valuable advice for getting to know your users. Enjoy! 

There are many aspects involved in making a user-facing product successful; one of them is to know your user.

Companies developing a new user-facing product often aren’t sure who their target user is, or they attempt to target ‘everybody’. Companies think that by thinking of ‘everybody’ as their audience, the product will sell better, since there are more bodies to sell the product to.

When it comes to designing a solid product user experience however, ‘everybody’ is not a good target user. It is not feasible to design a product so that it is user-friendly, appealing, and easy to use for everyone. The result of such effort may very be a product that doesn’t appeal to anybody in particular; and this in turn may make the product unsuccessful.

Sometimes companies have a vague idea of their target user based on customer input, assumptions, or theoretical data. User research can be used to validate these vague ideas, and further define the details.

It’s always fun and engaging to do user research for a completely new product. Startups often have novel product ideas, yet knowledge about the end user is often based entirely on assumptions. The goal of user research is to identify any and all target users groups and learn about their behaviors and expectations so that the product functionality and design will be appealing to those users. On a number of occasions, I have found that user research has brought very interesting insights to the table. I’ll describe one example below.

A couple of years ago, a few smart people had an idea for an intelligent application that could help users with shopping. The application was thought to primarily be a voice-driven mobile client with a secondary web-based client.

We defined a number of assumed target user groups, and set out to do a round of interviews with people who fit those groups, as well as people who specifically didn’t fit those groups. We wanted to learn about their current behavior related to shopping, and wanted to see if they might be interested in using an application such as the one that was going to be developed.

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Yet another incredible contest with our favorite little green man – Hopper! This past week, uTesters had to think long and hard and try guess who was under Hopper’s magnifying glass. Once again our uTesters did not cease to amaze us with their originality and creativity. One uTester even guessed that it was uTest’s very own Erica Smith! Other guesses included  Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg. Overall we had 450 entries to this contest, so I think it’s fair to say that we had people intrigued!

We were most impressed with the speed it took Kenx Leong to guess the correct answer, which of course was none other than Prince William. Clearly, Kenx was watching the royal wedding through Hopper’s magnifying glass. Congrats Kenx, a brand new iPad 2 is on its way to you!

Our fourth and final campaign gets under way this week. For this one, you will really have to go all out. We have asked our uTesters to submit photographs of themselves magnified and the 5 entries with the most likes will go through as finalists with the winner to be picked by our wonderful judges. The winner will be based on originality and creativity so if ever the term ‘Go wild’ was appropriate, it is now!

Ready to join in the fun? Visit our Facebook page to get started.

(This post was written by the blogging team over at Blonde2.0)

Another week, another great Hopper contest on Facebook! In our second installment, we asked people to tell us what they would like to see under Hopper’s famous magnifying glass. Did we expect a big response? Yes! Did we expect the variations of entries that we received? Definitely not!

If this contest has taught us one thing, it’s that uTester’s are amongst the most creative people in the world! We had entries ranging from the source code of Facebook (not sure Mark Zuckerberg will be happy about that one) to Charlie Sheen’s blood (at least someone wants him) to suggestions for a hairy mole (not sure what to make of that one)! As for the incredible amount of votes cast in this contest already…well, let’s just say they would make a politician green with envy.

So who took home the second iPad 2? That would be Fernando André. Congratulations to another deserving winner!

As one contest ends, another begins! This week you need to think hard and guess which celebrity is hiding under Hopper’s magnifying glass? Simple you say? Not so fast! Hopper has made it his lifelong ambition to look beyond what the human eye can see, so you really going to have to put your thinking caps on for this one!

So head on over to our Facebook page for your chance to win one of the two remaining iPad 2′s! Good luck, you’re going to need it!!

(This post was written by the blog team at Blonde2.0)

We’re happy to announce another new series to the uTest blog (in case you missed it, we introduced the Tester Challenge last week). This series will be devoted entirely to usability testing, and will be hosted by uTest’s very own UX expert, Inge De Bleecker. We’re still working on a series title, but for now, you can find it under the category of Usability Testing.

There are a number of different ways to run a usability test, but all usability tests should consist of the following 3 steps:

1. Test participant recruitment: a usability test is a test of the product or application using people that are representative of the target population for the application or product. For instance, an application that helps runners keep track of their progress should be tested by runners, and an application that allows mothers of young babies to log information about their babies should be tested by new mothers.
2. Task plan creation: a usability professional identifies the most important actions that users are expected to perform when using the application, and creates tasks that reflect these actions. For instance, on a web site that allows users to create photo collages, some of the actions include uploading pictures, choosing a collage template, organizing the pictures and saving the collage. Those actions are turned into tasks that are aggregated in a task plan. Each test participant is asked to complete all tasks in the task plan. After each task, the participants are asked some questions about the task. The questions are carefully crafted in order to gather as much relevant information from the participants as possible.
3. Data analysis: once all participants have completed the usability test, a usability professional draws on his or her background in interface and interaction design, cognitive science, and statistics to analyze and aggregate the data. The result is a usability report that includes a summary of the data as well as design recommendations.

As a tester, you may be asked to do usability testing. Unless you have a group of target users hanging around, and you yourself are a usability professional or you know one sitting around the corner, you’ll be hard pressed to run a true usability test.

It’s always a good idea to explain to those who ask you to do usability testing what usability testing entails. Chances are that a true usability test does not fit within the project parameters. Even so, you can still provide value and contribute to improving the usability of the application or product by doing some ‘exploratory usability testing’. This type of testing can bring to light at least some of the more prominent usability issues.

And now, some tips for exploratory usability testing:

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Our featured uTest guest blogger this month is Elena Houser. Originally from Russia, Elena got her start in IT with UUNet Technologies. Eventually, she caught the testing bug and has been testing for the last 7 years.

She studied software testing under the guidance of James Bach (Satisfice) and Matt Heusser (Miagi-Do School of Testing). Shortly thereafter, she was named a winner of the 2010 uTest Bug Battle and achieved “Gold” status in the uTest community.

You can learn more about Elena by reading her blog, following her on Twitter or by checking out her uTest public profile.

In this post, Elena covers her recent fascination with mobile app testing. Enjoy!

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When I was growing up in Siberia I dreamed of becoming either a ballerina or a painter. I have always loved ballet and dancing and I also enjoyed painting Siberian landscapes in watercolors. For the longest time I thought that I was more of an artistic or right-brain type person. I am still not sure how I ended up working in the Information Technology field.  At some point, I found that I loved breaking websites (aka testing) and haven’t stopped since.  I catch myself testing my son’s electronic toys, neighbor’s coffee machine as well as countless smartphones…which brings me to my latest passion: mobile app testing. In fact, I’m writing this post on a break from a very intense work week, during which I tackled 7 uTest projects – with 5 of them being mobile projects!

Testing mobile apps is interesting, fascinating, challenging and frustrating. It has been an amazing and eye-opening experience for me. I am still very new to it and have more to learn. I tested my first mobile application during the uTest Bug Battle last November. Since then, I have participated in over 30 mobile test cycles through uTest and reviewed a variety of applications from games to browsers to enterprise resource planning (ERP) apps.

I want to know what kind of devices, applications and providers my friends and neighbors are using. I bombard them with questions on what they do and don’t like about their smartphones and providers, what kind of apps rock their world or make them want to throw their phones against the wall. Do they use mobile vs. native apps? How do they figure out navigation and flow, what do they think about a particular page layout, colors, sounds, portrait vs. landscape view, web-surfing and social media experience? Many of them check their bank statements and pay their bills, write memos, take snapshots, watch movies, use it as FiOS remote control, listen to the radio, play Angry Birds, Stupid Zombies and other games. I take notes. I try those apps myself. I install some of them on my Motorola Xoom even though many are still not optimized for it. It’s fun to launch an app and try to figure out how it works, what buttons to tap, and also picture the data moving behind it.

Just as with a web site the following three things matter the most for mobile apps – presentation and page layout, organization (flow and structure) and interaction (what happens in response to user actions). The difference is that a phone screen is very small and the capacity of a mobile device is not the same of a web site, which makes functional testing pretty challenging. Not to mention that some mobile applications may work on iPhones but then fail on either installation or launch on Android phones.

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When you’ve been testing for a while, you often latch on to a single client who is your main source of employment. They know that you do a good job, and you might have become somewhat of a ‘specialist’ in the areas that concern the client. In some months, 100% of your paycheck might be from hours spent working for this client.

But what happens when your primary client is on hiatus? Let’s say that they might be having a light month, or the work that the client generates comes in cycles, due to the nature of their industry. What do you do at that point, when your cash cow isn’t in the barn?

Well the simple answer is ‘find other work’, but it isn’t that simple in reality, now is it? The reason that certain testers gravitate towards special clients is because those clients pay well, and the tester has a very specialized set of skills. If you find other work, it’s most likely going to be less reliable hours and for less money.

My first piece of advice is: Think like a bear. A bear gathers resources and fattens up during the plentiful months, and is prepared for those lean winters. In your case, don’t spend your contracting money just because you have it. Instead, start pinching pennies and saving money a couple of months before any expected ‘lean’ period. Make sure that you always have a couple months worth of income in a savings account, just in case the well runs dry.

Secondly, when looking at replacement work, err on the side of having too much work rather than too little. For example, if you have the option of picking up a 6 week project to fill your 4 week downtime, take it. Yes, it might mean that you’re working double time for 2 weeks, dropping all social and recreational activities for that period. But take the contract, grit your teeth, and get it done. You need to cover the gap in your income, and you can’t afford to turn a project down because of a short overlap.

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Readers of the uTest Blog should know that ecommerce software (retail apps in particular) are a familiar topic of discussion. We also recently published a whitepaper on the subject, see Optimized E-Commerce. Today, guest blogger Michael Koploy of SoftwareAdvice.com offers up a list of the most useful retails apps for the iPhone and Android operating systems. So without further delay, here is this month’s guest post. Enjoy!

Whether you own a small retail chain or sell items out of your brother’s apartment, there’s an app for that. Developers are beginning to produce mobile tools to help retailers operate their businesses. These apps help with everything from clocking in to checking out a customer to creating sales reports.

But sorting through hundreds of apps and finding those true gems that can help run your business is difficult. iTunes doesn’t have a retail category — in addition to being far from search friendly. Meanwhile, the new web-based Android Marketplace is a little more search friendly, but the lack of a retail category again stands as a roadblock.

So, we put together a list of the best mobile apps for retailers. This list was the product of multiple keyword searches across various app categories, from productivity to business. Data of how many reviews, star-ratings, and approximate number of installs are provided, as available.

Be sure to let us know if you’ve found a helpful retail app that we’ve left off the list.

iPhone / iPad Apps

Cash Register (MyAppIdea) – 3.5 stars with 33 ratings | $1.99
Developed for iPhone. Keeps track of your inventory and acts as a virtual checkout. Simple interface tracks all transactions so you can easily total your sales and e-mail them to customers. Sales can also be exported to Excel. Can supports multiple businesses.

LightSpeed Mobile – 3 stars with 6 ratings | $4.99
Developed for iPhone. Mobile retail extension of the LightSpeed Point of Sale system for Mac. Connects with LightSpeed database to act as a mobile checkout. Works jointly with Linea Pro hardware to scan barcodes and swipe credit cards. Can support multiple businesses.

Ring it Up – 4 stars with over 300 ratings | $29.99
Developed for iPhone and iPad. Point-of-sale application that interfaces with numerous popular credit card applications and the RedLaser barcode app to act as a complete checkout terminal. Can send HTML & .PDF receipts/invoices to customers, import/export .CSV files, and backup/restore data. Can support multiple businsses.

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Today is Valentine’s Day. You haven’t forgotten, have you? Last minute plans for Valentine’s Day can be difficult to arrange, but don’t fret, uTest has you covered.

So if you’re worried that you’ll only get to the store in time to get a bunch of wilted roses, melted chocolate or crumbled cookies, here are some iPhone applications to make you look more like Clark Gable, and less like Clark Griswold.

1. Cookie Doodle ($0.99) – This app allows you to prepare virtual heart shaped chocolate chip cookies covered in sprinkles. There’s even a text tool that allows you to write a special message for that special someone. This app is ten times better than burning the house down trying to bake… and a hundred times better than accidentally poisoning your girlfriend.

2. Instant Poetry ($1.99) – Do you find yourself tongue tied every time you see the girl of your dreams? Instant Poetry helps you out – tap a button and rearrange the words that pop up on the screen until you’re happy with your poetic masterpiece, and then send it straight to your Valentine. They’ll be blown away by your romantic words. Just don’t panic when they expect you to be romantic in person as well…

3. Star Walk ($2.99) – What could be more romantic than gazing at the stars? But how much better would it be if you knew which constellation was which? Star Walk allows you to point your iPhone at the sky, and see which constellations and stars you are looking at. Now you can be romantic and smart at the same time!

4. Send eFlowers ($0.99) – What girl doesn’t love to get flowers? Using this app, you can send her flowers virtually. They may not be quite as good as the real thing, but they’ll keep you out of trouble until you pick up real roses for her later!

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How much is that source code in the window? You can find out with Binpress, a new marketplace that allows software developers to buy and sell source code packages from each other. It acts as a distribution platform for web frameworks (such as CakePHP and Django), content management platforms (like WordPress and Joomla), as well as quality standalone components.

In order to keep quality high, Binpress only accepts code from professional web developers. Amateur developers cannot register. They can only be invited. More on their business model in a second, but first, some details about a cool contest they are now running.

Programming Contest

As part of their launch – and to kick-start their inventory – Binpress is running an amazing programming contest, with a prize-pool exceeding $40,000. The competition is sponsored by over 30 top companies, including Google, Microsoft, PayPal, Amazon Web Services, Conduit, O’Reilly, Tropo, Media Temple and yours truly, uTest.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of the prizes:

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