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The following article is a guest post by Scott Moore.

Performance is important to me – I think most of you know that about me and it would be an understatement. I am also one of those people who are never satisfied with just doing things half way. I feel that way about the work that I do for myself and the partners I work with.

In an effort to ensure that we follow the same advice that we give to clients, I decided to go through an exercise with one of our partner’s webmaster to look into performance of the en Read Entire Entry

World Quality Report 2013 – 2014
CapGemini has released the 5th edition of their World Quality Report. Northway obtained a copy at the StarEast conference in Orlando. There are some interesting trends seen from the data gathered in this document.

The first observation is that the QA function continues to centralize. However, the actual number of companies that have a functional Testing Center of Excellence (TCoE) is a little over 25%. Although this number is up from previous years, it’s not really something to brag about. In our ow Read Entire Entry

James Pulley Interview
Many people in the IT world know James Pulley as a thought leader regarding performance testing. We recently had a chance to catch up with James and ask him some questions about his views on the performance testing industry, as well as his involvement in the online show Perfbytes.

Northway: How did you get involved with performance testing?

James: On April 1, 1996 I joined Mercury Interactive as  pre-sales system’s engineer.   Prior to that, I had worked for several other vendors, including Microsoft a Read Entire Entry

Being based in Nashville, Tennessee, I am familiar with many singers, songwriters, musicians, producers, and recording engineers that make up the music industry here. Unless you don’t listen to popular music, you probably know that this industry has been under constant change for the past fifteen years. I have friends who make their living in the music industry, and Spencer Johnson’s book, “Who Moved My Cheese” has been a popular read by them as they try to adapt. Many have seen lucrative revenue streams from the 80’s and Read Entire Entry

Every few days I get a general report from our web site analytics showing basic information about who is on our site and how the information is being used. I generally look at this to see if we are actually helping people. If there are pages on are site that are not providing value, then why are they out there? We constantly try to improve any pages that are rarely viewed, and sometimes we remove the page altogether. We recently started the Northway Navigators Club so that technical users can access our growing knowledge base.

I Read Entire Entry

QuickTest Pro training material isn’t hard to come by. A quick Google search will yield thousands of results to help you learn the tool. We even have a wide array of articles on our blog that provides tips and tricks on the topic of test automation and HP QuickTest Pro. The problem is, learning the tool and a couple of tricks is only half of the battle.

What you will not get by watching a couple dozen Youtube videos and reading how-to articles:

On the job experience and knowledge relayed by HP Certified Instructo Read Entire Entry

On 8/22/13, we hosted a webinar on “Preparing Applications for Heavy Load”. HP’s Performance Evangelist, Wilson Mar, and Scott Moore, CEO of Northway Solutions Group, reviewed the importance of Performance Test planning and strategies to reduce the risk of your application failing under “point load” – expected or unexpected. We discussed:

What’s needed to be sure your online application crash is not in the news
Resources required to effectively test your applications
What tool provides the most robust testing platform Read Entire Entry

This is the seventh and final installment in a multi-part series to address the basics of performance testing applications. It’s for the beginner, but it is also for the experienced engineer to share with project team members when educating them on the basics as well. Project Managers, Server Team members, Business Analysts, and other roles can utilize this information as a guide to understanding performance testing process, the typical considerations, and how to get started when you have never embarked on such a journey.
It’s a Read Entire Entry

Part 17 in a series of 17. To start at the beginning, first read Agile vs Fragile: A Disciplined Approach or an Excuse for Chaos.
Undoubtedly, some of you have made the determination that your team is not Agile, but is indeed Fragile.  Some of you knew it before you even read any of the blog, but now are even more convinced.  But what are you willing to do about it?  Are you ready to break down that façade and begin the journey to changing from Fragile to Agile?  If your answer to this question is yes, then I recommend the Read Entire Entry

Part 16 in a series of 17. To start at the beginning, first read Agile vs Fragile: A Disciplined Approach or an Excuse for Chaos.
In the traditional development space we are all very familiar with the testing tools that are available. We know about industry leaders such as HP Quality Center, QuickTest Professional and Performance Center.  We understand the value they add to large projects and how they are essential to ensuring that the testing process is well managed and delivered.  But what about Agile?  Do these same tool Read Entire Entry