Stochastic testing occurs when we allow a reasonably well-seasoned test engineer to go with their “gut” and feel their way about the product’s performance. During the development of numerous embedded automotive products, we have seen stochastic testing elicit roughly the same amount of test failures as combinatorial testing. We are not recommending that stochastic testing […]
We know that a very simple product or system can generate a vast number of potential test cases. With more complex systems, this number becomes astronomical. This is the result of a factorial calculation! One technique we use to get around this problem originates with designed experiments. Many designed experiments are based on orthogonal […]
We have discussed compliance testing earlier. This is known as testing to requirement. These requirements can be taken directly from a customer specification (when we have one) or derived internally from a requirements review or even both. Compliance testing is the primary method we use to ensure that we are meeting all specifications and […]
We have briefly discussed why verification is important to the product quality. Verification does not just address the product quality. Our project work requires verification as well. When we take on a project, we should have the scope articulated in a way that we can confirm that the project did indeed fulfill the objective. As […]
Requirements management and configuration management are required for anything that even closely resembles effective testing. Experience suggests failing in these two areas unnecessarily complicates the product verification activities, and we will show some of those traumas in the next few posts. An iterative and incremental product development process calls for reviews throughout the development process. […]
I know this is way off topic; however I thought we should post this. Below is a letter my brother and I sent to the Veterans Administration. Our father was in the Special Forces and served multiple tours in Vietnam. The US has been in wars for decades now, and we do not know the […]
We have our requirements, our iterative packages and content defined, and now the developers are producing the iterations. During this time, the verification and test folks have been creating the test cases or details on how we intend to confirm the product performance. Our requirements provide the fodder for our testing. For each requirement there […]
Once we have our captured our requirements. We identify the substance of the content for the iterations from the development. In fact, recall from the requirements prioritization blog post. That work has given us some insight into how the iterative packages could be developed and what content or capabilities are to be delivered. In the […]
You need not been so technically skilled to be able to see how many project fail due to requirements. We provide a brief list of the failings below: Requirements control Insufficient time Did not include the sponsor or customer Late delivery of requirements Requirements traceability We will not write any more on requirements control that […]
We submit that a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) review is a form of design review. After all, one of the purposes of a design review is to try and remove defects before they appear in the product and that is the entire rationale for the FMEA in the first place. Yet, most of […]