Many years ago I was performing a QA test suite on some software. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly well until I started to test “outside the box.” I had completed the standard test fare and had begun what I like to call “adversarial testing.” More accurately it could be described as “what if” testing.

Following this process I found a bug that seemed pretty severe to me. If a user entered a valid username but an invalid password the application would crash and burn. The same held true for valid password and invalid username. But when you entered gibberish in both fields you received a lovely pop up stating that your username and/or password were incorrect and to try again. Huh? What’s that all about?

I reported this as a Severity 1 bug (since it stops a user from using the application, at least temporarily) and went about my business trying to break something else. It wasn’t until our weekly bug review that the humor really started. During our review call the engineering team said they didn’t accept my bug as a valid test case and therefore were closing it as invalid. I protested vehemently. “You can’t close that bug, you need to fix it!” Since this was my first time to this rodeo, I was a bit shocked by the reply.

The lead engineer simply said, “That’s stupid. Just tell the customer not to do that.”  He went one step further asking, “Why would the customer want to enter the right username and wrong password anyway?” Had he never heard of a typo? What about fat-finger syndrome on a keyboard? Was he kidding?

I quickly learned he was not kidding and had no clue where I was coming from. To be completely fair, I had no clue where he was coming from either, but assumed he was ignorant of what happens to his work when it hits the real world. He wasn’t moved by impassioned speech about customer experience and our reputation, but fortunately our engineering VP was and ordered them to fix it (prior to delivery).

What’s the point?

When it comes to your mobile project you need to use your User Acceptance Testing (UAT) process as your opportunity to mitigate your risk once your solution hits your full user community. Start by testing the proper way to use the application. Ensure it does exactly what it needs to do (and you should know these requirements from your detailed requirements sessions that I have pounded on you about in previous blog posts). Once you have validated that the solution works as promised start the adversarial testing.  Test like a user. Find out what happens when somebody enters a typo. If the user is impatient and tries to hit a button 27 times because it doesn’t react fast enough does the app crash? What happens if you remove the device battery in the middle of your test suite? Does the application recover elegantly or is it an ugly scene? Use your imagination. Make mistakes you would never make but real users might, and see what happens.

All of these scenarios will occur with frightening frequency in the field and knowing what happens BEFORE you send the app out to the masses will allow you to either correct the bug and prevent it from happening or prepare your support team for the troubleshooting task. And, remember, “Just don’t do that” is not an acceptable response to any user no matter how silly the issue may appear on the surface.

It’s the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S. this Thursday. It’s a time to reflect on our good fortunes and share a good meal with family and friends. Given the current state of the world economy and social unrest in many parts of the globe, I think there’s a lot to be thankful for if you find yourself in a warm place surrounded by loved ones this Thanksgiving.

On a lighter note, I’d like to share some of the things in the mobile world that we should give thanks for.

1. Steve Jobs for giving us the iPod, iPhone and iPad. It’s amazing how powerful these devices are (and transforming in some ways), yet toddlers can learn to use them without any guidance. His vision in the tech world will be missed.

Thank you for the iPod, iPhone and iPad. Rest in Peace, Steve.

2. WiFi. Make that free WiFi. It’s fast, it works in buildings and it’s better than being at the mercy of wireless carriers for 4G (and yes, I think carriers should offer free WiFi with data plans!). If a presidential candidate simply ran on a platform for free nationwide WiFi, he/she would get my vote.

3. GPS for giving our world context. “When I was a boy, I had to print out directions to take with us in the car.” How far we have come. Almost every app is location aware these days, using GPS (or some form of triangulation–with the help of WiFi!) and that helps to provide better content and service. Despite all the concerns over privacy, GPS makes the world better, and much easier to navigate.

4. Cameras on phones. I remember when I first saw phones with cameras in Japan about 10 years ago. My wife’s cousin is a dancer and during a party for fans, all these fans whipped out their phones (not cameras) to take pictures. This was before they could share on Twitter or Facebook. Now people are using their camera phones to broadcast revolutions, and famed photographers like Annie Liebovitz are espousing their virtues.

5. Apps. Yes, there are too many of them and it’s hard to find good ones. Thankfully there are companies like Crosswalk and Zwapp that are looking to make app recommendations better (think of the Netflix recommendation model for apps). But without mobile apps, just think how bored and unproductive we would all be!

App finders like Crosswalk make an easier, 'appier life possible.

Are there mobile marvels I missed that you’re thankful for?

Technology is great because it’s constantly moving. By the time most of us have our arms around some “new” technology, those that are imagining the future gadgets are well on their way to the next frontier. It seems that technologies which are imagined are often a mixed bag in user engagement, utility and practical application. Some of these never see any widespread adoption and often this is because users are either not ready for it, don’t see value in itor the price is well beyond that of the most budgets for the category of product.

The Kohler Numi does things no other toilet does, but it'll cost you a pretty penny.

Not to mix enterprise mobility with, well an activity which by it’s nature is usually very sedentary – but the best example I’ve seen lately of adding technology where it’s not really needed is the Kohler Numi. The Numi is a high tech toilet, complete with a touch-screen remote advanced flush technology. The Numi boasts a personalized “experience” for users, including features such as a motion activated lid and seat, feet and seat warming, advanced bidet functionality and music via either a programmable FM radio or MP3 connection. All with a price tag of $6,300.  Let’s just say, I’m not expecting to see this in my home anytime soon.

On the other end of the consumer experience is the Kindle Fire. This combination tablet/e-reader was officially available on November 15th, and some are already claiming the Fire to be the #2 tablet in the market behind of course, the iPad. I’ve purchased two for my kids (sshhhh, they are Christmas presents) and another colleague has bought four. I had predicted in this column a few weeks ago the success of the Fire, but I didn’t think it would be this far ahead of the holiday season.

Of course one of the reasons for this surge is the price point. With a price point of $199, you can buy two Kindle Fires for less than the entry level iPad 2 ($499). I think all will agree that the Fire may not match up point by point to the iPad, but for 40% of the cost, many seem to be considering that it’s close enough.

As more and more companies are moving to a policy which allows employees to bring their own technology into the workplace, known to many as the BYOD movement, the evolving consumer technology market will continue to put pressure on these corporate policies. Are you prepared for dozens or hundreds of employees showing up at the office after the holiday season with shiny new devices asking for access to corporate email and CRM systems? When consumers hit your website from the Kindle Fire they get for Christmas, what will be the quality of their experience – is your mobile website optimized across 9,000 devices to ensure a positive user interaction?

While I think custom flushing options and a heated toilet seat might be nice, my predication is that following this year’s holiday season your enterprise will see many more Kindle Fires entering the enterprise than $6k high-tech toilets.

The question, as always, is will you and your mobile infrastructure be ready?

Several years ago I had the distinct pleasure of sitting in a conference room in Redmond, Wash. watching engineers attempt to find something that didn’t exist.  We had received a few samples of the first Microsoft Pocket PC Phone Edition devices (I know, I’m showing my age again) and had been asked to come and share our thoughts – I couldn’t help thinking that they obviously didn’t know me.  It was the first Pocket PC that boasted a cellular radio (prior to that device, it was Active Sync over USB or using Wi-Fi as your connectivity method.  Can you imagine?). This was a huge leap forward and had the potential to revolutionize the mobile market since it was now allowing users to jump out of their offices or Wi-fi hotspots and do real work in the real world.

Having spent an eternity in the cellular business, our CTO asked me to take a look at the device.  It looked nice, but I remarked that I would have failed it if I was still running a QA lab.  The Microsoft folks were incensed.  How dare this guy come onto our campus and insult our visionary product? Who does he think he is? I could see I had made another one of my infamous statements, and had yet to provide sufficient backup so I proceeded to do the sandwich technique, starting with what I liked about it, then highlighting the major issue I saw – there was no way to mute the phone – and finishing by stating that the rest of the package looks really good. That was as far as I could go before being shot down.

“This phone has a mute button,” demanded one Microsoft individual.  He ripped the device from my hands and fiddled with it for a few seconds.  Frustrated and out of patience, he dialed another person and summoned them to the room. The challenge was laid down again and this person fiddled as well.  Again, no  joy.  He dialed another person and the process continued with a few more people before one engineer actually stated the obvious, “Wow.  How the heck did we miss that one?” Great question.

Want to know the answer?

Because software people and hardware people rarely ever occupy the same physical space in any organization. They are geographically dispersed, either on different floors, in different buildings or perhaps even different cities, states or countries. Cell phones have had mute capabilities since the IS-19B standard was developed by AT&T (prior to divestiture).  How could anybody have missed this? They didn’t communicate properly, simple as that.

This brings me to the aforementioned note to folks at Apple:  Apple’s philosophy by way of Steve Jobs has always been about deep integration between the hardware with the software to create a reliable, intuitive exceptionally friendly user experience. So as I read more stories about battery issues and whether they are software or hardware related in the ever-developing saga that is the Apple iPhone 4S, it takes me back to that amusing day in Redmond.  And still cranky after all these years, I ask, this time to Cupertino, “How did you miss that?”

“Drinking the Kool-Aid.” The origin of this phrase is quite interesting. According to Wikipedia:

“The basis of the term is a reference to the November 1978 Jonestown Massacre, where members of the Peoples Temple were said to have committed suicide by drinking a “Kool-Aid”-like drink laced with cyanide.”

Definitely NOT gourmet!

At Antenna, we drink our own Kool-Aid — and it IS gourmet, meaning that we believe in our products and use them ourselves. Back in September we launched our own mobile website (m.antennasoftware.com) built using our very own mobile web technology. You may say, “What’s the big deal?”  First, we like to practice what we preach.  On top of that, you may be surprised to know that more than 70% of businesses still don’t have a mobile-optimized website – this includes many of the mobile software vendors out there! Take a look around at some of them, and you may be shocked by what you see.

So if any of you are interested in reaching the mobile masses with your very own mobile site, give our Kool-Aid a try. Check out our video case study of mobilizing AntennaSoftware.com!

We think the Antenna Software mobile site is pretty snazzy...

You know the saying, when one door closes, another one opens?  In this case, the door for HTML5 was just kicked open a little wider.  Last week Adobe announced it would be abandoning mobile Flash, a move that the late-Steve Jobs would certainly endorse.  This also signals a trend we’ve been following and advocating for a while – HTML5 is making great headway over the competition.  And in my opinion, HTML5 is making great progress.  HTML5 is getting richer and richer, and as mobile web standards evolve and the UI for mobile web apps gets better, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate between web-based HTML5 apps and native apps.  On top of that, it’s less expensive to build a mobile HTML5 app instead of several native apps, and the web development model saves time for developers who don’t need to write in several languages.  There is also more to come with the future of mobile web apps, including inter-app messaging, better UI animations and background script processing provided by web workers.

Further, HTML 5 video (webM or H.264) will provide a better than sufficient mobile user experience  and as hardware and devices continuing to be ship with faster CPUs and  high performance memory, the experience will improve even more.

Google’s announcement of their new device management – Google Apps Control, is not an unexpected entry to the market.  Why does Google’s entree into the mobile market make sense?  Just as Apple early on dealt with security blockades in Enterprise adoption due to security concerns, Enterprises continue to voice concerns over Android security.   So does Apps Control address the concern?  While there are several solutions on the market that can manage Android devices today, Google’s solution includes the coupling with their own device Google Apps Policy application allowing for tighter policy management.  While this does not extend to other device types, it does support management of iOS and Windows Phone though available policies vary based on device.  In going through the enrollment there were a few surprises.

First, registration is at the domain level.  The problem with this is that it creates a “first in” situation.  If some department in a company registers for Apps Control they now own the account for the company. If another team, like IT, then goes to sign up, they are locked out.  Obviously in a hosted solution this is something that does not work, which also shows somewhat of a blind spot to non-enterprise level adoption.  Looking at the policies that Google has enabled, it’s really the basics – Enforce Password, Remote Wipe and Device Lock with the added management of Google’s app suite: Google Mail, Google Contacts, etc.  Many large enterprises still have lots of BlackBerries which this solution does not cover.  With the price point of $50 per device, per year, it’s not an inexpensive solution but it may provide a “good enough” level of management for some companies.  Overall this seems like an attempt to get to market quickly and it will be interesting to see how Google evolves the feature set of Apps Control.  While this starts addressing some of the security concerns around Android security, it does not go the distance.