thoughts from the test eye

In your current assignment as a tester, test lead or test manager think about how the situation is for the test group right now.

At the stand-up morning meeting with the test group, stop and consider…

• what is that troubles the group?
• what obstacles do they see?
• what is their main concern?
• what is stopping them from performing their work?

At lunch with your co-workers, stop and listen…

• what do they complain about?
• what is making them frustrated?
• what is the work related topic that comes up every so often?

At the meeting with requirement writers, stop and consider…

• do you think the test group has better knowledge of the customer than those writing requirements?
• do the requirement writers ever ask what the test group think about new features?
• do you feel that the cooperation and collaboration is good with the requirement writers?

At the meeting with project management, stop and consider…

• what issues are brought up at almost every meeting but are usually ignored?
• what risks get lower or higher attention than others by the project manager?
• how is the relationship between the project members and the project manager?
• what risk areas are always brought up at every project and always come true?
• have you communicated your belief in the project plan?
• do you feel that cooperation and collaboration is good with the project members and the project manager?

When discussing with developers, stop and consider…

• do you provide what they are asking for?
• is there a conflict growing here? Are you nurturing the conflict?
• do you feel that the cooperation and collaboration is good with the developers?

At the line meeting with the test manager and the rest of the test group stop and consider…

• is the focus different on issues  than that the project[s] think are important?
• is the focus on getting better as a test group or is it clouded by other issues, what are these in that case?
• how many in the test group have been degraded down to a tester and are now stuck there, as they see it?
• do the internal conflict in the test group outgrow the external conflicts?
• do you feel that the cooperation and collaboration is good within the line?

When you are testing, stop and consider…

• are there any bugs you ignore and choose not to report?
• are there any areas that you know bugs won’t get fixed in that you choose to avoid?
• are there any areas that you have to little knowledge about that you choose to avoid?

Before you are about to submit your bug report, stop and consider…

• have you considered how many stake holders will look at this and how much time they will spend reviewing it? Do you ignore that fact?
• do you think the developer will be able to fix the bug with all information that you have provided?
• do you spend minimal amount of time possible on writing the report?
• do you care for and take pride in the bug report?
• do your bug reports usually get fixed or are they returned because of lack of information?

Before you send your status report about testing, stop and consider…

• have you provided truthful information, as you see it, that you think will be valuable to the reader?
• have you emphasized any area that you personally just want to get more focus?
• have you emphasized any risk that is not that risky?
• do you think stakeholders would be able to make good decisions based on the information you have provided?

Now, what is the trend you see? What picture have you painted? The next hard thing is what you intend to do about it. Remember, it is often good to start with yourself.