Software Quality Links

 

Quality Certifications

Quality Assurance Institute
http://www.qaiusa.com/

American Society for Quality
http://www.asq.org

Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals
http://www.iccp.org

The Dark Underbelly of Certifications...
Danny Faught takes a critical look at certifications, with links to more anti-certification opinions from Bret Pettichord and James Bach.
http://www.tejasconsulting.com/newsletter/2002August-September.html#feature

More on the certification debate...
There's been a debate about certifications for software testers, and the IEEE SWEBOK (software engineering book of knowledge) that certifications are based on. One side of the debate says certifications are a good way to define and establish core values and general guidelines for testers; another side says the certification approach is narrow, oversimplified, and encourages false confidence since it's based on book-learning rather than actual performance.

You could have the same debate about a college degree, too - getting a piece of paper means you know the basics but it doesn't mean you've actually done anything outside the classroom. Bottom line: Common sense, solid logic and creativity will get you farther than any certificate or any other piece of paper. Still, a certification does show you know the basics and have addressed that with some rigor and structure. Achieving a certification is one of many valuable ways to deepen your knowledge, and one of the very few ways to demonstrate that knowledge on paper.
I do think certification organizations have made a mistake in certifying testers as 'engineers' rather than testers. The IEEE SWEBOK is heavily oriented toward software engineering, and toward the documentation-heavy structures and metrics used by companies that need to satisfy government contract requirements. Most companies will never use -- and do not need -- that level of complexity and measurement.
Quibbles aside, the process of studying for a certification will ensure you have a standard core of knowledge and familiarity with the uses of metrics, methodologies and key principles (always useful, and always practical if you really do understand them) from the major quality thinkers such as Deming, Juran and Crosby. Certifications are one way of demonstrating to the world that you are serious about your profession.
In my experience, certifications have opened doors and started conversations that would not otherwise have been possible. Many companies remain mystified by the whole idea of quality, and haven't really figured out what they want - or what is possible -- from a software tester or quality analyst; if you find yourself in such a company, you will need all the Wizard-of-Oz gold-edged pieces of paper you can get to draw attention to testing as a professional activity that adds real value to the company, and to begin conversations about adding quantifiable benefit to the company.
Judge for yourself. Here is the IEEE's SWEBOK, which includes sections on Software Testing and on Software Quality.
http:www.swebok.org/
The University of Calgary has a discussion on approaches to testing and the validity of the SWEBOK, carried out as part of a software engineering course. http://sern.ucalgary.ca/~lawa/SENG621/SWtesting/webdoc.htm
One of the better counter-points against the SWEBOK is by Cem Kaner, who is - as always --thoughtful and thought-provoking. http://blackbox.cs.fit.edu/blog/kaner/archives/000056.html
And here is the ACM's reasoning on the SWEBOK and licensing of software engineers. Be sure to check the 'Assessment of Software Engineering Body of Knowledge Efforts' document on this site. Also note that the ACM wisely distinguishes the licensing of software engineers from the possible 'board certification' that could be used for testers or others with an area of specialty. To my mind, this is the core of the matter - broad licensing is inappropriate for many reasons at present (including that pesky "engineer" moniker), but specialties such as software testing are a different matter. http://www.acm.org/serving/se_policy/
David Parnas weighs in on the certification debate, from ACM's Ubiquity online magazine.  
http://campus.acm.org/crc/cri/articleview-cri27-crc.cfm?art_id=601
And, now for a sanity check. Whether you are certified or not, or support the SWEBOK or not, you will want an overview of context-driven testing, which basically amounts to having good common sense about what you're doing. Processes and standards are good core knowledge and will provide tools and ideas and structure, but context-driven testing is a reminder that relying rigidly on any process or set of standards is too narrow an approach for testing and quality management. Quality requires creativity, discipline, and expansive thinking.
http://www.context-driven-testing.com/

Back to top

General Technical Topics

ACM - Association for Computing Machinery
Excellent organization -- involved in public policy of computing issues, including debate over quality and process of e-voting technology in public elections
http://www.acm.org/

IEEE Software
http://www.computer.org/software/

SEI's Software Technology Review
Descriptions on various technologies (encyclopedic!!!)
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/str/descriptions/

Performance testing links
Take special note of the article "The Science of Web site Load Testing" by Albert Savoia.
http://www.keynote.com/resources/resource_library.html

"What Is"
An amazing glossary of technical terms that also provides great links to expand your knowledge.
http://whatis.techtarget.com/

Client-Server architectures: an overview (SEI at Carnegie-Mellon)
http://www.sei.cmu.edu/str/descriptions/clientserver_body.html

PC Weboepedia
http://webopedia.internet.com/

WEB Technology
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~wwwbtb/book/

Back to top

 

Publications (On-Line Magazines, Newsletters and Articles)

Software Quality Advisor On-Line (Randy Rice's weekly column)
Includes a glossary of testing terms, citing the source (e.g., IEEE) of each definition
www.riceconsulting.com

Quality Digest
http://www.qualitydigest.com/

Software Development On-Line
http://www.sdmagazine.com/

Crosstalk
http://www.stsc.hill.af.mil/crosstalk/

SEI interactive
http://interactive.sei.cmu.edu/Announcements/Announcements.htm

 InfoWorld
http://www.infoworld.com

Back to top

 

Technical Books

Quality Technical Books (associated with Quality Online magazine)
Focus on books specific to quality assurance and testing
http://qtb.com

Bookpool Discount Technical Books
http://www.bookpool.com/.x/nmgpmevxb8/ho

DealPilot (formerly ACSES)
Excellent resource for shopping for technical books, but it has a very annoying popup.
http://www.dealpilot.com

O'Reilly
http://www.oreilly.com/

Back to top

Changes or suggestions?   Send to: bjellis@hepatica4u.com