Software testing advice for people whose app, test team, supplier or entire programme is behaving suspiciously.
No textbook definitions. No ceremonial test strategy because somebody thinks projects are legally required to own one. Just practical answers to the problems people actually have.
Got something specific going wrong? Tell us what’s happening.
BUILDING OR LAUNCHING SOMETHING?
For solo developers, founders and smaller teams trying to work out how much testing they actually need without accidentally creating a Quality Centre of Excellence for an app with twelve users.
OUR TESTING ISN’T WORKING
You already have testing. There are testers, reports, automation and possibly an alarming number of spreadsheets. Production remains unimpressed.
- Our Testing Takes Too Long. What Should We Change?
- Our Test Environment Is Always Broken. Is That Really a Testing Problem?
- How Do I Know If Our Test Strategy Is Any Good?
- How Much Testing Documentation Do We Actually Need?
- Do Software Testing Qualifications Actually Matter?
- We Keep Fixing Production Problems That Testing Never Finds
WE NEED TO RELEASE THIS THING
For the point in the project where the launch date is very real, the evidence is less real, and somebody has started describing serious defects as ‘known behaviours’.
If the release date is already looming and nobody can give you a straight answer, get onto us. We can look at what has actually been tested, what hasn’t and what we would worry about before launch.
IS THE TEST TEAM THE PROBLEM?
Despite the name of the site, sometimes you absolutely should blame the tester. The trick is working out whether the team is finding useful problems or simply generating testing-shaped activity.
SUPPLIERS & CONSULTANCIES
For when somebody else is being paid to tell you everything is under control and you would quite like a second opinion before accepting the 71st slide.
If you want somebody independent to look at the supplier, strategy or test approach rather than admire the deck, we can do that.
LARGE PROGRAMMES & ASSURANCE
Multiple teams, multiple suppliers, multiple test phases and somehow still nobody who can answer the basic question. This is where testing stops being just test execution and starts becoming assurance.
- We Have Multiple Teams and Everyone Tests Differently. Is That a Problem?
- Should Testing Report Into Engineering, Delivery or Somewhere Else?
- How Do I Independently Review Testing Before a Major Release?
- We Have 100 Testers and Nobody Owns Testing End to End
- Every Delivery Team Has Its Own Testing Approach and Nobody Knows What's Missing
MORE TESTING ADVICE BY PROBLEM
These guides cover buying testing, assessing the evidence and fixing larger testing problems. Pick the problem rather than starting with a consultancy brochure.
CHOOSING EXTERNAL TESTING OR CONSULTANCY
What should you buy, when is outside advice worth it, and how do you compare the options?
- Software Testing Consultant or More Testers: What Do We Actually Need?
- When Do You Need an Independent Software Testing Consultant?
- Software Testing Consultancy Costs: What Actually Drives the Price?
- Software Testing Services: What Are You Actually Buying?
- Should We Hire Testers or Use a Software Testing Consultancy?
- Software Testing Audit: What Should an Independent Review Actually Check?
INDEPENDENT ASSURANCE, GOVERNANCE AND RELEASE DECISIONS
Find out whether the evidence is credible, which risks remain and who must make the call.
- Nobody Trusts Our Testing. Do We Need an Independent Test Review?
- Testing Governance Is Taking Longer Than Testing. What Should We Remove?
- Our Testing Review Produced 40 Recommendations. Which Ones Actually Matter?
- We Paid for a Testing Health Check and Got a Maturity Score. Now What?
- Independent Test Assurance Before Go-Live: What Should It Actually Tell You?
- We’re About to Go Live and Nobody Trusts the Test Status. What Now?
- We Have Five Sign-Offs and Still Don’t Know Who Owns the Release Decision
- What Should Senior Management Ask Before Approving a Software Release?
- The Board Wants a Go/No-Go Answer. What Evidence Should Testing Actually Provide?
GETTING VALUE FROM TESTING SUPPLIERS
When the contract is green but the outcomes are not, start with evidence and incentives.
- Our Testing Supplier Is Meeting Every SLA and the Service Is Still Bad
- Our Testing Supplier Bills by Headcount. How Do We Stop Buying Bodies?
- How Do You Challenge a Software Testing Supplier Without Replacing Them?
- Our Testing Supplier Knows the Contract Better Than the Product. What Do We Do?
- Our Testing Consultancy Keeps Producing Reports but Nothing Improves
REPAIRING A STRUGGLING TESTING FUNCTION
Practical ways to identify the immediate risks, constraints and long-term recovery work.
- We’ve Inherited a Failing Software Testing Programme. Where Do We Start?
- Testing Is Delaying the Programme. How Do We Find the Real Bottleneck?
- We Have Hundreds of Testers and Still Don’t Know the Real Risk
- Our Testing Function Is a Mess. What Should We Fix First?
- How Do You Turn Around a Failing Software Testing Function?
NOT SURE WHICH PROBLEM YOU HAVE?
Sometimes the testing is bad.
Sometimes the testing is fine and the delivery is bad.
Sometimes the supplier is the problem.
Sometimes management has spent six months asking for a green report and is then genuinely surprised to receive one.
And sometimes everybody is doing a perfectly competent job in their own little box while the overall programme is still a mess.
That is what an independent view is useful for.
Tell us what’s going on. We’ll look at the testing, assurance or delivery problem and tell you what we think you should do next.
No maturity-model wallpaper required.