Monday, May 23, 2016

A Tester's Code

"When devising a strategy, she needs to take into account how well the developers test their code so she can concentrate on covering the less tested parts. She consistently checks the feedback cycle to see where it can be reduced. She looks at the length of the automated test runs and thinks of ways to reduce it; where to invest in integration tests, which give better confidence but are more costly to set up and debug; and how much manual testing is needed based on the number of automated tests."
-Gil Zilberfeld, Testing Economics, Stickyminds
Basically, be awesome.  Quick and stealthy like a ninja.  Anticipate needs and risk. Always know what your top priorities are and proactively ask the next person above you in the food chain if it's not clear. Make the product better.  Make the lives of everyone around you easier.  Be honest.  Be brave.  Be kind. 

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Active Thread on the "The Abysmal State of Testing"

The abysmal state of ‘testing’ in 2016 - and what can we do about it? published by Rosie Sherry of the Software Testing Club. 

This thread has gotten a number of responses - Generally my takeaway is that we need to match our discussion with action and figure out a way to evangelize the benefits of a strong testing team.  I know there is a lot of activity in this area, but each of us testers needs a succinct, inspiring summary about what we do and why development and customers should care.

Reminds me of the excellent talk "Telling our Testing Stories" by Isabel Evans that I had the pleasure of watching on the STAREAST 2016 live stream.

It's up to us to prove our value. And to be our best (alert, curious, educated, assertive, team-player) selves so that we actually *are* of value.