test IO Blog
The latest on software testing, QA, and DevOps.
September 14, 2016
Crowdsourcing vs. Outsourcing: A Testing SmackdownWhen I first started working for test IO, I spent most of my time simply trying to explain what crowdsourced testing is. I was immediately met with remarks like, “Oh, so you’re like tech support in India or China!” I struggled to explain that there is indeed a difference between crowdsourced testing and outsourced testing.
Read More September 9, 2016
Crowdsource QA Testing: Insight as a Service?As the new CEO of test IO, I spend a lot of time thinking about testers, so I might as well think out loud. A tester’s point of view on crowdtesting depends a lot on what you mean by “crowdtesting.” Speaking broadly of functional testing, there are two types of crowdtests: one where testers follow a script and are paid for completing the script and checking off whether it worked; and another where they’re given a charter and set of things to test, but not told precisely how to test them. At test IO, we call the first type of testing “test cases” and the second type “exploratory tests.” (We’re being sloppy here with the second definition, but I’ll cover that in a later post).
Read More September 8, 2016
Bugs People Find, Part 3: Testing Facebook LoginWelcome to part 3 of our occasional series on weird software bugs that people find even when automated tests don’t.
Read More September 7, 2016
How Crowdtesting Works: Testing for Anti-patternsI wrote an article for CMSWire with the self-consciously clickbaity concept that crowdtesting is like sex, for product quality. Rather than summarizing the sex analogy here on our blog, I’ll let you read it in its original glory. To atone for the clickbaity-ness of that article, let me summarize it in engineer-friendly terms here. Software […]
Read More August 10, 2016
Bugs People Find, Part 2: Mobile KeyboardsWelcome to part 2 of our occasional series on weird software bugs that people find even when automated tests don’t.
Read More August 9, 2016
When Testing Discovers the SpecThere’s a nice post from yesterday by Michael Feathers (author of the classic Working Effectively with Legacy Code) about characterization testing - the process of writing code that characterizes the actual behavior of that code. He makes the important point that, “When a system goes into production ... it becomes its own specification.” In crowd testing, […]
Read More August 8, 2016
The Future of Crowdsourced Testing and Why Berlin is a Great Startup Hub - More from test IO CEO Philip SofferJan: Why do you think every company isn’t doing crowdsourced testing already? Phil: One reason is that I think people do have this perception that it’s a lot of people with no skills, clicking through predefined test plans with no skill or human insight -- basically automation with people, or Turk-work. That’s clearly not true […]
Read More August 3, 2016
Automated Tests and Human QA: A Love StoryPeople sometimes ask us, “What kind of bugs do your testers find even when there’s a lot of test automation already?” Today we inaugurate an occasional series that highlights interesting bugs (and types of bugs) that our testers find. Don’t worry, customers, we won’t share your data. The truth is, a lot of the things we find before release are out there in production software every day! We can use those.
Read More August 2, 2016
Crowdsourced Testing: How to Succeed, Insights from Martin ReinbachMartin Reinbach has been with test IO for over two years and works with our customers in the DACH region. He’s worked with dozens of customers, sharing his expertise on crowdsourced testing, agile development, and software projects generally. I asked Martin to give new customers some insight into what to expect from crowdsourced testing.
Read More July 28, 2016
Crowdsourced Testing and Your QA TeamWe talk a lot to QA managers about crowdtesting. We talk to some of them (our customers) who’ve embraced it, and others (sales prospects, people in the street) who may be new to the whole thing. I sometimes wish we could get those groups together to share notes. Since this is our blog, we can! Here’s what test IO customers tell us about why combining in-house QA with crowdsourced testing works for them.
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