Past Course Offerings

Mobile Applications Testing

Effective Testing for Smartphones and Tablets

Smartphones and tablets are here to stay. Test teams are facing pressure to deliver testing quickly and successfully on mobile devices. When faced with a mobile testing project, many testers find it tempting to apply the same methods and techniques used for desktop applications. Although some of these concepts transfer directly, testing mobile applications presents its own special challenges. Test the way you always have and you will miss critical bugs.

Jonathan giving the opening keynote at STARWEST 2012

This course is specifically designed to empower testers to:

  • Make the paradigm shift from web and PC app testing to mobile testing
  • Understand how mobile technology works, and how to exploit it when testing
  • Quickly discover and identify problems that are important to mobile users
  • Use strategies to choose which device platforms to test
  • Add structure and guidance to better manage mobile testing activities

This course is hands-on.

Note: participants are required to bring their own smartphone or tablet

Course Audiences

Anyone new to testing on mobile devices whether they are new to testing, or experienced testers who are working on mobile projects.

Prerequisites

There are no formal pre-reqs, but it is helpful to have basic knowledge of mobile devices and software testing.

Learning Outcomes

Participants will learn:

  • Important features of mobile devices, and how to test them
  • Test approaches and techniques to quickly find mobile-related problems
  • How to use the complexity of mobile devices to your advantage when testing
  • Tools and approaches to log bugs, diagnose problems and emulate real-world conditions
  • Web application testing on mobile devices
  • Specific hands-on approaches and techniques that can be directly applied to real, live projects

Course Content

Foundational Concepts

  • The mobile market and ecosystem
  • What is important to mobile users
  • Unique challenges for mobile testers

Useful tools

  • Tools for diagnosing problems, logging bugs
  • Emulation tools
  • Services for platform testing

Testing and Technology

  • Moving beyond black-box testing
  • Understanding mobile technology and how to test mobile features and affordances
  • Exploiting combined activities and technologies

Testing in the Real World

  • Test idea generation in real-world conditions
  • Using thinking tools to guide your brain
  • Exploring different testing perspectives for test idea generation and finding bugs quickly

Guidance and Structure on the Move

  • Lightweight guidance documentation
  • Recording coverage and results

Testing Web Applications

  • Understand web technology and mobile devices
  • Similarities and differences from web testing on PCs
  • Mobile-specific challenges and problems to watch for

Structure Your Testing

  • Analysis and modelling tools and approaches
  • Understanding users and environments
  • Modelling the application to make better use of testing time

Project Management Issues

  • Test strategy and planning
  • Choosing which devices and platforms to test
  • Mobile-specific challenges
  • People issues
  • Hardware and environmental issues
  • Application store submission and testing
  • Determining when to ship

 

This is a 2 day, hands-on, interactive workshop. Participants will need to bring a smartphone or tablet to use for the exercises.

What People Are Saying About the Course

“I wanted to let you know how beneficial your class was. It has really sparked my interest in this rapidly growing area of testing. I have told everybody on my team they should attend as well!  Thanks for a great classroom experience!”
Dean Paulson, Senior Software Test Engineer, USA

“I would like to thank you for your great session on mobile testing. It was very informative, clear and fun; I’ve learned a lot! I was so excited, and I’m now looking forward to apply my knowledge at work!”
Elena Rudnitski, Quality Assurance Analyst, Vancouver, BC, Canada

“I consider myself an experienced tester (who will never stop learning!) and I felt there was something I definitely took away from the course. I liked the fact that Jonathan used his own real life experiences as examples and then taught us what we should also look out for. He was an extremely engaging presenter that never lost his momentum throughout the two days. He provided us with very good exercises that we could then take back to our working environments. I was able to ask him many questions not only from a testing perspective but also a business perspective. He was able to answer them in full whilst giving me multiple options depending on my approach – I really liked that!

The course it self was very hands-on. We actively tested the applications on our own mobile devices. He asked us first to test a mobile device as we would normally. All of the people on the course were experienced testers who found a fair number of defects. He then taught us his techniques and approaches – I have to admit I was able to find many more defects!

I recommend the Testing Mobile Apps workshop for anyone who is interested in getting into the mobile industry. Quite frankly, it is the future and a rapidly growing market that you will touch on at some point in your career if you have not done so already.”
Rohit Gogna, Test Lead, London, UK
excerpted from: Course Review: Testing Mobile Apps

Exploratory Testing: Adding Structure

Learn the basic building blocks to help think like a skilled tester, and use exploratory testing techniques to help put you and your wonderful mind in charge of your testing.

Exploratory Testing: Analysis and Modeling

Discover how to apply up-front and real-time analysis techniques to guide your exploratory testing sessions. Exploratory testing does not need to be an ad hoc, in-the-moment bug hunt. It can also be used to create complex, thorough testing at other interfaces than just the user interface. Creative analysis and modeling skills are essential for any tester who wants to move beyond basic black-box testing.

Exploratory Testing: Management and Reporting

Testing managers often wonder how they can manage exploratory testing. It turns out that it isn’t that difficult, provided you learn how to strategize and make the most of your testers and testing resources. Using session-based test management, testers can report on what they have tested. Learn how to plan, strategize and manage exploratory testing groups, and learn how to use session-based tools and techniques to record what has been tested.

Exploratory Testing and Test Automation

Test automation can be blended with exploratory testing in several ways. Learn how to use automation strategically to help your test team do more with less.

Exploratory Testing on Agile projects

Exploratory testing can plug right in on Agile projects, and any other project that values rapid feedback on what has been developed. Learn how to use exploratory testing techniques to provide feedback on emerging designs, to advocate for testability, and to help complement automated unit and user acceptance testing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Thoughts on product development, management, design, mobile and other topics.