It's time for another project. This time I'll be focusing on scratching a work itch. Juran is test management tool named after Dr Joseph Juran who was "The Architect of Quality" Read more about him at https://www.juran.com/about-us/dr-jurans-history/.
My experience with Test Management tools
I needed to find a test management tool for my day job. We are a small team so we don't need anything extravagant.
I've used TestLink in the past, but it was out of date enough that peforming the installation was difficult and ultimately I gave up.
Other options were too expensive and did not allow self-hosting.
We settled on PractiTest which is a cloud subscription model. It's good enough for the moment but I've noticed several issues:
- Data model is overly complicated.
- A test requirement contains the definition of a function that must be tested.
- A test requirement has N number of test cases which exercise said function.
- A test set is the execution of a certain number of test cases.
- There is no explicit connection between a test set and test requirement
- Web UX is inconsistent. Editing test case definitions is clumsy.
- Report graphs are useless in some cases because of poor filter/sort features.
My experience writing other hobby projects
I'm also reflecting on my experience writing Tape Deck. It was a fun project to write and it's still running today but there are several problems with it:
- SSL must be included from Day 1 - either native in the framework or using ngix with certbot.
- Maintaining AWS infrastructure is complicated. I ran out of time before defining CloudFormation or TerraForm definitions. I doubt I would be able to replicate the setup easily.
- The dev environment requires constant upkeep. When returning to app development after a year, npm modules and node itself need updates.
Stay tuned for the next series of posts covering the research and goals for this project, which are mostly driven by the gripes listed above.