Sharon Ideas

Nothing is as good as free, right? In today’s economy, everyone is looking for low cost or free things. Is free better? Or is it truly a case of “what you pay is what you get”? And to complicate this question, let’s throw out the word “open source”.

There is a wealth of free and open source tools and software out there. Look at Open Office. Look at Adobe Air. Look at Google Wave, Google Apps and many of the other Google tools. All of them are free. With all these good free tools out there, what is out there for the person in Quality Assurance and testing?

I started looking and came across a great collection of open source resources for the tester. www.opensourcetesting.com offers a huge collection of open source testing tools. With testing tools (91 of them!), unit testing tools (6 so far), services, news and other resources, it seems to be a great place for any person in QA to stop and take advantage of the tools available. I know I will be checking out and using some of these tools.

So is free better? I don’t think that is an issue anymore. With open source tools, its now all about what tool and service best fits your need. Sometimes it might be something you need to pay for, but with the number of open source tools rapidly growing, I would counter than you can almost always find an open source tool or service to meet your needs.

For the person in Quality Assurance and testing, take a minute to go to www.opensourcetesting.com and see what tools you can find that would make you a better tester!

While reading blogs lately I have been noticing the huge wealth of apps out there. There is an app for just about everything! While we might be laboring away for hours on a project, trying to get a graphic to turn out right or trying to figure out how to manage a project, there is probably an app out there to assist you.

But tonight I came across this blog by Pro Blog Design, 60 Great AIR Apps For Web & Graphic Designers. All I could say was WOW after reading it. While I was familiar with a couple of the tools, there are a lot I had never heard of and will definitely be checking out. If you haven’t read it yet, I encourage you to look it over real quick!

In this fast changing world of technology, reading blogs and keeping up on what other people are saying is a great way to stay on top of some of the new technology out there. Blogs are becoming my school, and at the same time, giving me tools to use in my every day business life as well, such as those mentioned in Pro Blog Design.

Each day I look at software, web applications and websites. I look at it from a quality assurance perspective–does it meet quality standards? Where is it in the testing process? I look at it from a testers standpoint–what needs testing? Where are the bugs? But I also look at it from a customers perspective–if I were to buy this software to use for my business, would it make sense to me? Would I be happy I bought it?

Now therein lies the rock and the hard place. As a tester, I know where the bugs are. I have an eye for detail–that Cancel button that is aligned too far to the right is going to drive me crazy, and if that drives me crazy, you can only imagine what the broken buttons or links to do to me. But I also have to remember that the average Joe Doe is not going to notice these things–he is going to be looking at how he can apply it to his business. He is also going to be looking at it for the first time ever, and trying to learn how to use it quickly so he can then train his staff on how to use it and quickly implement it.

So just what makes a product usable? Is it all just about being intuitive? Is it all about the look and feel? Is it all about simplicity, lots of Help buttons, tool tips, and tricks? Is it about being completely bug free, 100% solid, running as smooth as possible?

It’s up for debate, but I think it has to do with all of these things. The simplicity, the easy of use, the look and feel, the tool tips, the Help buttons, and having a thoroughly solid product so that users can get done what they need to get done.

In the end, it really is all about the end users experience.

While juggling several projects at hand, many of them with time requirements, I found I needed a time management tool. I wanted something easy to use, something that could do what I needed, including the following:

• Handle multiple projects at the same time
• Keep a history of projects and the time spent on them
• Keep track of how much each project cost
• Provide reports
• Allow a way to download the report data
• Allow a daily, weekly and monthly view
• Allow me to enter contact details for each project
• Allow color coding of projects for easy management
• Was free!

I had high expectations and found just the tool to meet them: Klok.

Klok is easy to download, easy to get started with and super easy to use. I have been able to keep track of all my projects, juggle multiple projects at the same time, and manage my time at just a glance of the Week View. I have my projects color coded so each project can be easily seen and managed, and I can keep track of how many hours I have till I need to have a project completed.

It is easy to stop and start working on a project throughout the day by clicking on the “Start working” link at the top of the app, and then minimize it to your Notification Area on your task bar. It runs quietly, leaving you to focus on working on your project without the hassle of wondering what time you started and how much time you have left to meet a deadline.

This is a tool I recommend to anyone trying to manage time sensitive projects. It is definitely something I have had great success using!

So I’ve joined the ranks: I’m a mom and I work from home.

Living in an apartment with two toddlers, how do I make it work? While I can’t say I have the magic solution, I would like to share some tips for other moms or dads who are in a similar position as me.

First off, schedule in time to play with the kids–make time for the family so that you have the personal satisfaction of knowing that your family knows you love them and care about them. Then secondly, schedule in time for that work! Set aside chunks of time where you can get a lot of work done–focus! It’s all about finding activities for the family that keeps them occupied and gives you time to work. I often blog, read blogs and comment at night when the kids are in bed. I grab some time here and there throughout the day to read a blog, then as I’m changing a diaper or squelching a fight, I am thinking about it, and how I can use the knowledge I have just learned.

It’s all about good time management. Schedule schedule schedule! Use those family members how are always whining about being bored to come watch the kids for a bit on a regular basis–this has been my most valuable key to getting work done efficiently. Know what works and what doesn’t work! Have multiple back ups in place so you are never in the panic, “Oh my sister is sick and can’t watch the kids” situation.

And when the frustration sets in, take a step back–take a walk with the family, relax! Then come back to tackle the work at hand once again. While it can be a challenge, it is the most rewarding challenge you will ever tackle. I feel like I am getting a grasp of what works for me and my situation, and I know other moms and dads have done it before me.

Besides, I love working from the comfort of my couch on a rainy Oregon day, doing what I am passionate about!

Since I haven’t written for little bit, let me first off say, Sharon Ideas has been growing in ways that i have not thought possible. I am excited about where this is going and what is in store for it! I have seen once again that there is plenty of room in the world for software quality assurance!

As I have been doing business, and as I have been reading more in my RSS feeds about the way people do business, I have been noticing something that is quite confusing…

A lot of the transactions I do, I do online. I bank online, pay my bills online, pay taxes online, even make my doctor’s appointments online, research online, keep track of finances online… But the corporate world is stuck back 5yrs. They are still writing paper checks, keeping track of paperwork in file cabinets, and using faxes and copy machines. Why is this? Why aren’t businesses saving money by processing checks and payroll online? This would save printing off checks, delivering them, save the employees taking them to the bank and cashing them, which is just the long version of using direct deposit orPayPal? Why are they not scanning their documents for online use and transfer?

Some may argue that paper records are easier to keep long term or easier to find or safer. Paper also ages, tears, rips, is easy to stuff in a pocket and steal, can’t be password protected, and clogs paper shredders and landfills. Keeping transactions online makes it so much more convenient for everyone, keeps with the “green” conservation mentality, and providing endless ways to back up and secure the data. Instead of waiting for a check to come in the mail, it could be in your bank account instantly, saving everyone time. Instead of waiting for a fax, then filing the piece of paper, and walking it down the hall to the appropriate person, it could be in your email or transferred to the correct person within seconds.

So why don’t businesses step up with the rest of the world and do business online?

Your company has just spent many hours creating your dream website. Its well laid out, seems to load in Firefox and Internet Explorer, and you sit back and wait for it to gain you exciting traffic. Along comes your best friend (or your worst enemy) to try your new website. Suppose you sell clothes, and your potential customer opens your site in Safari, find the perfect outfit they want to buy, proceeds to check out, enters their credit card information, clicks next and it goes to a blank page! Now they are worried they will get billed for something they didn’t get to finish buying, and they can’t finish their order. You’ve just lost a potential sale, unless they are persistent enough to find your contact information and call you.

Suppose someone, after a few months, enters a bug that notifies you that your shopping cart breaks in Safari. You look at your developers and wonder what happened? How many sales did you lose? Whats wrong with your Quality Assurance Protocol? You don’t have the budget to hire someone full or part time just to do QA work, so how high should you set your expectations?

This is where on-demand Quality Assurance can come in. It’s on your time table: as soon as you finish developing your website or an update to it, you can contact Sharon Ideas to come assess your website, flush out those bugs that might appear in Safari or Chrome and test every aspect of your website. We use it as a regular customer would, and can give you feedback on whether your new widgets and new user sign-up page are really user friendly. It gives you that peace of mind that you have done everything possible to ensure a high quality website your best friend is going to enjoy using in their Safari browser. With Safari gaining a larger browser market share, and the Mac world growing, these are areas that developers and testers need to look at and assess how their websites behave in browsers other than Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Can you afford Sharon Ideas? Yes! We are low cost and tailor our testing package to your needs, including your budget needs. Even a small one person company can afford us. Our goal is to work with you to help your website exceed your customer’s expectations and take one thing off your “things to worry about” list.