Being a Good Tester

Attitudes, Skills, and Growth

Rex Black RBCS, Inc. 31520 Beck Road Bulverde, TX 78163 USA

Phone: +1 (830) 438-4830 Fax: +1 (830) 438-4831 www.rexblackconsulting.com rex_black@rexblackconsulting.com

Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

One development manager once called testers depraved minds..usefully employed So, are we devils or angels? Alternative viewpoints on testers
We find bugs and tactfully point them out. We provide essential insight to manage quality risks We advocate the customers experience of quality Rex Black Consulting Services motto: We help our clients make better software and hardware by breaking it for them. James Bach: We light the way.The testing process focuses light where its needed to help developers and management know where they are, where they ought to go, and when they have arrived.
The "Good" Tester (1H-R1.0) Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Rex Black Page 2

Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

What Distinguishes Good Testers?

The right attitudes
Professional pessimism Balanced curiosity Focus

Appropriate skills
Domain, technology, and testing Rex Black: Good Tester? Fitting the product, project, and process context

Continuous skills growth

Consistent with the testers career path Matching organizational needs
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Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Professional Pessimism
Explore depressing possibilities of failure
Anticipate the worst possibilities in order to achieve best obtainable product quality Not adversarial, but a different outlook than development

Remember: to assume nothing will fail during testing denies the entire history of computing Caveat: not a license to offend = Dont target developers with reports Pierre has the pessimism, but
or take glee in failure
perhaps not professionalism?

Challenge: to be positive, pleasant, and the bearer of bad news, all at once
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Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Balanced Curiosity
Balance need for thoroughness in any one area with need to cover many areas in a short time Effective test engineers have a knack for spending time where the bugs are Effective test engineers can do thorough bug isolation quickly Ineffective test engineers
Write tests for unlikely failure modes Spend hours researching trivial bugs

The best test engineers have this ability

The "Good" Tester (1H-R1.0) Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Rex Black Page 5

Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Focus
Two types of focus problems
Pursuing issues narrow-mindedly, losing sight of more important priorities Getting distracted from key tasks

Balance and re-evaluate priorities every so often Stay focused on the goals of the test project The test manager must assist through clear communication
The "Good" Tester (1H-R1.0) Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Rex Black

A seasoned test engineer can find her way towards project goals with clear signals from her manager
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Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Problem Attitudes
Testing is seldom a glamorous, high-caste role

Dont pick people who want sexy jobs

Hard work is always required during crunch mode

Make sure your testers will put in the extra hours

Slackers reduce overall productivity and damage test team credibility

Testers must advocate quality and represent the customer

Dont pick people who cant, politely but firmly, stand up for what they believe in

These disqualifications dont make these people bad people, just bad choices for the test team
The "Good" Tester (1H-R1.0) Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Rex Black Page 7

Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Balancing the Skills

Good test teams have the right mix of skills based on the test effort Domain expert
Understands intended behavior

Skilled tester
Knows quality risks and test techniques

Technical guru
Aware of technical issues and limitations

What is the right mix for

Internet appliance testing? nuclear medicine testing? your project?
The "Good" Tester (1H-R1.0) Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Rex Black

The appropriate depth and length of each arrow in the figure depends on the project, process, and product
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Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Test Team Critical Skills Spreadsheet

Skill Domain Doc Management Word Processing Technology Unix Servers Java Programming Testing XYZ Automation Bug Reporting
The "Good" Tester (1H-R1.0)

EM LTW JHB Min Avg 0 5 2 4 2 4 2 2 4 4 5 3 1 3 3 3 2 4 1 2 2 3 2 3 1 3 3 3 3 3

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Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Rex Black

Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Basic testing Software life-cycle Basic technical aptitude and awareness Basic/Advanced Internet Manual black box testing MS Windows user skills Communication written/oral Test planning Test documentation Defect reporting Basic programming concepts Basic software engineering Basic system architecture Basic database Basic comm protocol Quality control/quality assurance Process improvement/methodology Software testing phases
The "Good" Tester (1H-R1.0)

Sample Critical Skills List

Software testing concepts Automated test scripting Evaluation of automated test results Record/playback Editing automated scripts Analytical skills UNIX user skills SQL user skills Web testing skills Cross-functional effectiveness Test environment set-up Version control/change mgmt. Industry knowledge TQM/CMM/ISO9---/6 Sigma/IEEE Quality economics Statistics and probability Professional affiliation/certification Efficiency implementation

Metrics and measurement Risk analysis Root cause analysis Incremental test strategies Quality advocacy Macintosh user skills Energetic Sense of humor Persuasive Good judgment Problem solver Detail-oriented/meticulous Enthusiastic Assertive Articulate Inquisitive Organized Thorough Team Player Honesty

List courtesy of and copyright 2001 by Bernie Berger

Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Rex Black Page 10

Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Case Study: LogiGears Skills Matrix

LogiGear's Skills Matrix

Open Skills Spreadsheet
Thanks to Hung Nguyen and LogiGear Corporation (www.LogiGear.com) for sharing their work. Copyright 1995-2001 by LogiGear Corporarion. All Rights Reserved.
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Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Continuous Skills Growth

Institute a quarterly skills assessment and growth plan using the critical skills spreadsheet
E.g., have each tester set and achieve skills growth in three critical areas Use cross-training (mentoring), formal-training (conferences, seminars, etc.), and self-study (books, computer-based-training, etc.)

Adjust the critical skills list as product, process, and project needs change
The "Good" Tester (1H-R1.0) Copyright (c) 1999-2001 Rex Black Page 12

Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Case Study: Skills Growth

SC Test Team Skills Spreadsheet
Open Skills Spreadsheet
Adapted from my forthcoming book, Critical Testing Processes, to be published by AddisonWesley in 2002. Copyright 2001 by Rex Black. All Rights Reserved.
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Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Emmas Quarterly Skills Plan

Organizational needs: Stronger domain expertise and technical skills Emmas goals in terms of career growth: Move into product marketing Plan for her skills growth
Through self-study, learn about and create a test suite for embedded graphics, figures, tables, and equations Attend, then present (internally) a training class on the design and implementation of networked/internetworked application
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Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Tester Pride

License plate provided and proudly displayed by Jonathan Bach, Lab Manager, Satisfice, Inc.
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Rex Black Consulting Services, Inc.

Technical and Project Management Expertise for Quality

Calling All Good Testers

Promote healthy tester attitudes Understand the skills needed to be a good tester Grow the skills to the benefit of the test team and each individual tester %Cultivating the right skills and attitudes leads to continuous improvement of test team abilitiesand results!
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