Ever wondered why choosing a development framework is like shopping for clothes with your wife or girlfriend? “No”? Oh, well I’m going to tell you anyway!

A couple of months back, when the ball started rolling for work on version 7 of QaTraq we started looking at the various development frameworks available for Php. The options were quite simple. Only two real contenders were available; Symfony and Zend. Choosing between the two was, however, somewhat more complicated than just identifying them.

Right at the start, Adrian, our lead developer, suggested a combination between Symfony and Zend. The argument behind this was that we would get the flexibility of the Symfony framework and access to the great range of Zend modules and components. The fact that Symfony could utilize the Zend components meant that this was technically possible and would give us the best of both worlds. These reasons had not been thought through in detail at this point, but were probably based quite legitimately on instinct, intuition and years of experience.

In the name of best practice though, we went through a four week evaluation and prototyping period. We were attempting to select just one of the two options in the belief that choosing just one would simplify things for us. One day we’d be thinking Zend would best suit our needs, the next day we’d be extolling the benefits of having the flexibility of running with the Symfony solution. As our prototyping with both solutions went on for week after week so did our constantly changing opinion on which of the solutions was the best option to go with.

After about four weeks of constantly changing minds we had our final meeting to discuss which framework we were going to use to construct version 7 of QaTraq. We spent an hour changing our minds again as both solutions had very real pros and cons. That was until Adrian pointed out again that perhaps his initial suggestion combining both solutions, the approach suggested at the very start, was the way to go. One final prototype later and more web research, and we had made our decision.

So why did we spend 4 weeks changing our minds only to go back to the original suggestion? And how does this compare with buying clothes for your wife or girlfriend?

After 4 weeks we were back to square one with the original idea that should we go for Symfony and then use the Zend components we need where necessary. This is when it occurred to me that this evaluation is a lot like taking your wife or girlfriend shopping. First you take her in shop number 1, and she finds a really nice pair of trousers. She doesn’t buy them because she needs to see all the other shops before making a decision. So you visit what feels like hundreds more shops, see what feels like thousands more garments but 8 hours later you get taken back to buy the trousers in shop number one. So you’re left wondering why on earth we didn’t buy the trousers in the first shop in the first place.

Well I mentioned this analogy to the guys at which point Adrian spoke up and pointed out that this analogy wasn’t quite accurate. Adrian quickly pointed out that we hadn’t bought the best trousers from shop number one but rather we’d bought ALL the trousers just to be sure we’d got the best pair of trousers. I could see his point!

Regardless of how many pairs of trousers we’d decided to purchase the moral would seem to be that there is a lot to be said for trusting your first instincts. So we settled with a combination of Zend and Syfony, and we haven’t looked back since.

I expect, like most companies marketing their wares on the web we have become slightly obsessed, perhaps even unhealthily obsessed, with the number of visitors turning up at our web site each month. After all, like many companies now, the success of our business depends on the sales we make from people visiting our web site. So this isn’t an insignificant point on which to become obsessed.

So it was with some degree of excitement that we saw this month’s web traffic almost double. The subsequent level of curiosity surrounding this turned up a slightly unexpected reason for this doubling of traffic. As it turns out a company that, some time back now, implemented QaTraq have been awarded the CNET ‘Best Of CES’ award in the Emerging Technology category. The resulting increase in traffic that Bug Labs were seeing was cascading down to us as well.

When test teams contact us about our test tools there is always a certain amount of curiosity around what sort of business the company is involved with. In the UK some would use the term being nosey but we like to think of it as curiosity. With Bug Labs though that curiosity was further aroused when we spent time looking at their web site. You will see what I mean if you take a look at http://www.buglabs.net/.

Anyway, we got them up and running with QaTraq in order to help them manage their test process but the intrigue remained for many months following that as their product continued to develop. I think it would be fair to say now though that we are just as excited, as many others are, about what it is that they have created.

We were even more excited earlier this month to see them win the CNET award for ‘Best Of CES’ in the Emerging Technology category. Not only are we elated to see a company that uses our product win this award but we are genuinely thrilled to see this teams vision come to fruition having followed their progress over the last year. Congratulations Bug Labs!

There is always a buzz when it gets close to a new release, and this imminent release is no different. It is a strange mixture of nervousness and excitement. Nervousness because the credibility of the project depends on a quality release. Excitement because after months of hard work from the team you are eager to show people exactly what you’ve been doing in that time, and what new functionality it is that you’ve been working so hard to deliver.

Whilst this release will only be formally categorized as a minor release, due to the fact that no database changes are being incorporated (the database back end has been stable and reliable for some time now), there is no denying that we’ve added some major improvements to the user interface. Namely the inclusion of four new one-stop summary pages for the testing aspect covering; test-management, test-coordination, test-development and test-execution. Each of these four new summary pages providing users with a single point of focus delivering the critical information required for four crucial aspects of testing projects.

So as the nervousness becomes more acute over the next two weeks, and the excitement even more palatable, that new release really isn’t far off being available from our download page.

Regards

QaTraq Team

QaTraq On Demand went live well over a month ago now. With just under 100 sign ups in this time we have been so pleased with the take up. A lot of effort went in to the setup of our On Demand service and I have no doubt that this effort shows though with quality of the end product.

So in this initial post about our On Demand service I would like to thank one of our most dedicated team members, Francois, for all the effort he has put in over the last few months to deliver a truly fantastic service to our customers. Thank you Francois!!

You can find out more  about our On Demand offering, including a free 30 day trial, here.

This is the beginning of a long over due blog related to software testing, test management and the progress of the commercial open source application QaTraq. QaTraq, one of the leading software testing tools, has been around for well over 4 years now. The QaTraq project has grown from a very small idea, to an open source success and then on to become the basis of a growing commercial enterprise which is focused solely on providing accessible and affordable software testing solutions.

With well over one thousand test teams down-loading or subscribing every month, QaTraq is now one of the world’s most popular software testing tools. Designed by testers for testers, this is a piece of test management technology that really is accessible to everyone. For that success we all have to say a massive thank you to all the people who have worked on the project over the last 4 years. The developers and testers who have been so committed to the project probably come top of that list. Let us not forget though the numerous number of users who have provided us with feedback, and ultimately, shaped this project and the direction it has taken over the years. To all of you a massive thank you for your support over the past 4 years.

So that might give you an idea of where we have been and where we are now. What can we expect over the course of the next four or five years though? Well from this blog I plan to concentrate on just five distinct areas…….

Firstly, and foremost, we’ll look at the direction the QaTraq project is heading in. We’ll discuss the contents of up and coming releases and some of the requests from our expanding user base for new functionality. The aim of which is to keep all of you informed about where we are heading and what we plan to achieve in the future with QaTraq.

Secondly, I’d like to talk about what we have achieved following the successful launch of our on-demand service. Many companies now offer on-demand test management and software testing solutions. However, with our goal of engaging and supporting the software testing community out there we hope to give you a feel for the progress we are making with supplying an on-demand service to the software testing community.

Thirdly, and probably of most interest to many of you, are the concepts and practicalities of implementing software testing and test management solutions. It doesn’t matter if you have the best solution on the planet. What matters most is how you help users and test teams implement that solution. Every company or test team is different and coming up with ideas and frameworks to help teams implement best practices is key to the success of both our QaTraq project and your testing efforts.

Fourthly, and more than likely, the crux of all of this, are my thoughts about the software testing industry as it stands. With over 15 years in the industry now I hope that I can at least bring the odd insightful comment on the industry as a whole to your attention. I find the software testing arena a fascinating sub component of the whole design and development process. So different from other disciplines in the development life cycle yet so crucial to the success of any project!

Lastly, and possibly of most interest for me personally, are the concepts and principals of managing a distributed team. With the QaTraq project engaging designers, developers and testers from all over the planet the ideas and practice of bringing a distributed team together have long fascinated me. Whilst I know I still have a lot to learn in this area I hope that my experience to date, of managing a successful distributed project team, will be of interest to many of you who have embarked on a similar distributed projects.

So with a lot to say over the coming years I leave you with this beginning blog post and promise you, that whilst you may not agree with everything I have to say, I hope you at least find some of what I have to say of interest.