微软ATC测试团队揭秘：严谨与创新并重的软件测试实践

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在微软，软件测试被视为至关重要的业务环节，这体现在比尔·盖茨的名言中：“微软不是一家软件开发公司，而是一家软件测试公司。”为了深入了解他们在测试领域的实践和方法，我们关注到了微软亚洲工程院（Advanced Technology Center, ATC）测试组的工作。ATC测试团队负责对微软特定产品进行严格的品质把控，他们的工作既遵循微软通用的软件测试流程，又根据测试对象的独特性质进行了定制化处理。《HowWeTestSoftwareatMicrosoft》这本书，由Microsoft Press出版，深入探讨了微软内部的测试策略和执行细节。作者包括Alan Page、Ken Johnston和Bj Rollison，他们从专业角度分享了微软在测试工作中的经验和技术。书中涉及的主题广泛，涵盖了微软的诸多知名产品，如Windows操作系统（如Windows），办公套件（如Excel和Office Expressions）、图形用户界面（如Aero）、云计算服务（如Hyper-V）以及互联网服务（如Hotmail）等。微软的测试流程注重严谨性和效率，它可能包括功能测试、性能测试、兼容性测试、安全测试等多个方面，确保产品的稳定性、易用性和安全性。他们可能运用自动化测试工具、持续集成/持续部署(CI/CD)流程，以及敏捷开发方法来提高测试覆盖率和响应速度。书中还会提及微软如何利用Active Directory进行企业级网络管理，以及如何通过ActiveX技术实现跨平台交互。此外，书中可能还会探讨微软如何实施质量保证和质量控制，如何处理代码审查，以及如何通过用户反馈和数据分析持续改进产品。测试团队在确保产品质量的同时，还可能关注用户体验和无障碍性，通过Active Accessibility提供无障碍服务。《HowWeTestSoftwareatMicrosoft》不仅提供了微软内部测试的最佳实践，还揭示了如何将行业标准与公司特定需求相结合，以打造出高质量的软件产品。读者可以从这本书中学到关于软件测试的深入见解，无论是对微软的内部运作还是对IT专业人士都具有很高的参考价值。

Then, someone somewhere must have said, "Hey, let's try to package this stuff up and sell it to smaller

ISPs and telephone companies." Thus, ISBU was formed. Many engineers from MSN moved to join

ISBU and a number of smaller companies were acquired to build up what would become Site Server,

Commerce Server, and Microsoft Commercial Internet Server (MCIS). Instead of a Product Unit

Manager (PUM) or a General Manager (GM) acting as the engineering manager in charge of each

product team, we had a small handful of Business Unit Managers. That's how all of us engineers in

ISBU ended up working for a bunch of BUMs.

Microsoft invests in internal incubation projects such as our IPTV, Auto PC, and robotics projects as

well as all the work done by Microsoft Research (http://research.microsoft.com). We also invest in

projects that can help spur change in the software industry as a whole. In April 2007, with more than 10

partners we launched the Microsoft Software as a Service (SaaS) Incubation Center Program.

In Microsoft, there are many models for incubations. Established products often incubate features in the

larger organization. For example, the Office 12 ribbon, a new feature that changed the Office user

interface, and the Windows Vista shuffle feature were incubations. The code coverage tools that ship in

the latest versions of Visual Studio were based on concepts developed first as internal tools projects in

Microsoft Research and Windows.

Another approach we've used to incubate innovations is using an internal venture capital team. Any

employee can submit an idea, and the venture capital team will examine the feasibility of the idea using

a process much like an industry venture capital firm would use. Just like in industry, very few ideas get

funding through this mechanism.

The Bill Gates ThinkWeek is another source of ideas that can become incubations. Microsoft

employees can submit white papers detailing new ideas and innovations, and during ThinkWeek, which

occurs approximately twice each year, Bill reads and comments on scores of papers. At the end of the

week, Bill's notes, once hand-written, are shared with the company. In 2005, the Wall Street Journal

described ThinkWeeks in this way:

It's a twice-yearly ritual that can influence the future of Microsoft and the tech industry. A

Think Week thought can give the green light to a new technology that millions of people

will use or send Microsoft into new markets. One week in 1995 inspired Mr. Gates's paper,

"The Internet Tidal Wave," that led Microsoft to develop its Internet browser and crush

Netscape. Plans to create Microsoft's Tablet PC, build more-secure software and start an

online videogame business were also catalyzed during Think Weeks.

[1]

For the Fall 2008 ThinkWeek, 375 papers were submitted and Bill was able to comment on 125 of

them. This program was established to encourage employees to submit innovative and forward-

thinking ideas. Many of the more promising ideas receive funding for initial development. Bill also

publishes his recommended reading list to the company. Recently, a white paper I wrote on how to

improve our software services testing made Bill's recommended reading list, and for me it was like

receiving a stamp of approval on what until then was just theories.

From the Minds of Employees…

The concept for the Microsoft Surface (http://www.microsoft.com/surface/) was once a white paper

written by a few folks in Microsoft Research. After Bill read that paper, a Product Unit Manager joined

the team and began to drive the process of turning the idea into a viable product. The result is a

computer built into a table where the computer screen is the table surface. I think they look a lot like

the tabletop video games that showed up briefly in bars during the 1990s. Users can interact with

Surface by using hand gestures as well as placing physical objects such as a business card or a Zune

MP3 music player on the table.

Microsoft recently began using a process called Quests to innovate new ideas. The dictionary defines

the verb quest as "to search and seek." At Microsoft, a Quest is about mapping our long-term

aspirations and goals. The Quest process brings together senior technical thought leaders from across

Microsoft to create a 5- to 10-year vision for technology innovation. Through the Quest process,

Microsoft's top technologists work collaboratively across organizations and product groups and with

the business leadership to architect technology advances that will offer the greatest potential to

transform people's lives at work and at home, and create new business opportunities for Microsoft, our

customers, and our partners.

Quests do not raise simple problems with simple answers. Typically, a Quest takes many years to

complete and likely requires new research, generates many prototypes, and discovers unique insight

that often precedes the creation of a new market. A successful Quest must be customer-centered,

visionary, directional, and rigorous. This last point is the part where our values of Integrity and Honesty

and Open and Respectful intersect. Rigorous for Microsoft Quests means extensive peer review

combined with oversight from the company's Senior Leadership Team, which includes all three

presidents, Steve Ballmer, and a few other executives.

Quests are not about producing another version of a product but are more about managing a portfolio of

long-range technology problems that by design require us to work across groups to find and use

synergies. The number and areas of focus for Quests continue to change every year as some Quests end

and others merge. Currently, more than 50 Quests spanning the entire range of Microsoft businesses

and all customer segments, from consumer and information worker to IT pros and developers, are in

progress.

[1]

Robert A. Guth, "In Secret Hideaway, Bill Gates Ponders Microsoft's Future," Wall Street Journal,

March 28, 2005, http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB111196625830690477-

IZjgYNklaB4o52sbHmIa62Im4.html.

Employing Many Types of Engineers

Because Microsoft is both a product and a platforms company, it has a vast array of partners who have

their own software engineers working to innovate on top of what Microsoft has shipped. Vendors and

partners who work with Microsoft make the engineering force of Microsoft well more than 100,000

software engineers worldwide. Compared with the full ecosystem made up of millions of software

engineers around the world working on Apple, IBM, Sun, Oracle, and open source software such as

Linux, the Microsoft engineering force is a small percentage. Still, it is perhaps the most powerful and

influential engineering force in the market today.

Note There are more than 35,000 software engineers working full time for Microsoft in more than 40

countries around the world. Each year Microsoft hires more than 5,000 new software engineers

and more than 1,000 new software design engineers in Test.

Compared with most other companies, Microsoft is unique in both its engineering processes and its

management of software engineers. Some might look at the company's success in the software industry

and point to these unique differences as key competitive advantages. Others point to some of our

products and their major slips and wonder if these differences are a weakness.

So, what are the software engineering factors that make Microsoft unique and different from any other

company in the world?

The Engineering Disciplines

When you break down the roles of the more than 80,000 employees worldwide that work directly for

Microsoft, of the total employee base, you find that more than 35,000 are in sales, marketing, and IT.

Product Engineering is the part of the company that develops and supports the software products, and

as of early 2008, Microsoft employs nearly 35,000 engineers worldwide. The other 10,000 employees

span a number of other disciplines ranging from business administration to legal. Although Microsoft

continues to grow at a rapid rate, the balance of sales, marketing, and IT with Product Engineering has

been a relative constant for many years.

Product engineers are the employees who actually work to create and ship the products— hardware,

software, and services—that Microsoft sells to customers. Microsoft engineering roles break down into

the following 10 product-engineering disciplines:

• Test Software Development Engineers in Test (SDETs) are usually just called Test and

sometimes Software Testing. SDETs are responsible for maintaining high testing and quality-

assurance standards for all Microsoft products.

• Development Software Development Engineers (SDEs) are often referred to as Software

Development. SDEs write the code that drives Microsoft products and upgrades.

• Program Management (PM) PM is a rather unique role in Microsoft that combines elements

of project management, product planning, and design into one discipline. The PM's job is to

define a new product's technical aspects and oversee its hands-on development.

• Operations (Ops) Ops is part of Microsoft Information technology (IT). The Ops discipline

manages and maintains Microsoft online services as well as internal corporate IT infrastructure,

from networks to servers. Ops works closely with the product teams on service architecture to

lower production costs and make our services more reliable.

• Usability and Design Usability Experience and Design (UX) combines the roles we advertise

as product design and usability. Design focuses on the visual and functional front-end user

experience for Microsoft products. Usability also focuses on the end user experience but

conducts new research to see how the user works with existing products and new prototypes,

and then analyzes the results to help improve products during development.

• Content Content is still called User Assistance and Education on our external sites. This

discipline plans and delivers assistance—including UI text, Web articles, training, templates,

columns, books, quizzes, and Help files—to help customers get the most from Microsoft

products. The shift to the title Content emphasizes Microsoft's need to focus on content that can

be used across multiple delivery vehicles.

• Creative Creative positions exist most often in the Games group. Engineers in this discipline

develop and improve Microsoft's cutting-edge games software for the PC and for the Xbox

game console. The Creative discipline includes game designers as well as artists.

• Research Research includes subroles for developers and testers. The difference between a

research developer and a product developer is the emphasis upon research, publishing papers,

and incubating new technologies as opposed to shipping a product on a schedule.

• Localization International Project Engineering (IPE) used to be known as Localization. The

localization component of the discipline focuses on translation of Microsoft software into

multiple languages and adaptation of software for different cultures. The IPE discipline is also

responsible for adapting Microsoft software for specific market needs.

• Engineering Management Engineering Management is made up of the managers who run

teams that include multiple engineering disciplines. They often go by titles such as Product Unit

Manager, General Manager, or Group Manager.

Note Hardware is considered a specialty area and includes disciplines such as Hardware Developer,

Hardware Tester, and even Hardware Program Manager. These disciplines are similar to their

cousins in the software and services spaces but are different enough to warrant their own career

path and training support.

Product engineers are aligned by disciplines. The number of engineers in each discipline varies from

more than 10,000 in the largest discipline down to hundreds in the smallest discipline. The three largest

disciplines are Development (SDE), Program Management (PM), and Test (SDET). The fourth largest

and rapidly growing discipline with the corporation's shift to services is IT Operations (Ops).

Microsoft didn't always have this separation of disciplines. In the early years, everyone's title was

"technician." Specialization into roles started in 1979, and the use of different standard titles to identify

career paths for engineers started in the early 1980s.

The triad is the name we use for the Test, Development, and Program Management disciplines, as

shown in Figure 1-5. These are the three largest engineering disciplines in Microsoft, and significant

numbers of engineers in each triad discipline are involved on a product team. With the shift in focus to

software and services, IT Operations is growing quickly.

Figure 1-5: The Test, Dev, and PM triad.

Most of these engineering disciplines are common to any large software company. Each has its industry

events such as the Software Testing Analysis and Review (STAR) conferences for Test or DEFCON

(http://www.defcon.org) for security developers. Conferences are designed to develop skills and

promote the overall profession.

Software testing is one of the larger disciplines both in Microsoft and in the whole software industry. In

this book, we hope to share with you the stories of Microsoft testers to help illustrate points and to

share what makes Microsoft testers both similar to and sometimes different from their industry

counterparts.

Testers Break the 128-KB RAM Barrier

In 1985, money for equipment for testers was very tight. Excel for Mac could run on 128 KB, so that

was the best test computer anyone had. As the team started working on the next version of Excel, the

memory requirements grew to 512 KB. For quite a while, the testers didn't get new equipment. Finally,

though, when it became clear that the testers just couldn't do our jobs, we were given memory

upgrades.

—Carole Cancler, former Microsoft Tester

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Mauney

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