QA/Contribute/QA 101
QA 101 will be a series of seminars focusing on topics of general interest in the software QA community. Currently envisioned as a collaboration between Mozilla QA and the Mozilla Community Building Team, the seminars should each be 15 minutes or so, short enough to view at one sitting.
See also: Automation and web scripting is covered in QA 201.
Contents
Topics under consideration
Testing Terminology
This introductory seminar will define terms like black box vs. white box, unit tests vs. functional tests vs. acceptance tests, and other bits of vocabulary used in software QA environments. What do STR, WFM, and LGTM stand for?
Black Box Testing
What is black box testing and how does it differ from other techniques? When is it appropriate, and when is it not enough?
Good Bug Reports
What makes a good bug report? How much detail is needed, and which details? What is the appropriate action when a bug is returned marked INVALID?
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/QA/Bug_writing_guidelines
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/What_to_do_and_what_not_to_do_in_Bugzilla
Communicating with Developers
Beyond good bug reports, what can a tester do to insure that bugs lead to positive outcomes? What other avenues of communication are there besides the bug tracker? Where are the opportunities to collaborate with developers and build a good rapport with them?
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/14/how-to-effectively-communicate-with-developers/
http://www.sitepoint.com/12-tips-for-better-developer-communication/
Steps to Reproduce
Reproduction steps are essential to the developer in diagnosing bugs and verifying fixes. How can the tester ensure that STR are both minimal and sufficient?
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/QA/Bug_writing_guidelines
Pilot programs
Unclear: we have a pretty good use case for QA 201, but for non-automated testing the outlook is a little murkier. More thought needed.
