thoughts from the test eye

On November 2nd 1998 I did my first working day as a tester, 25 years ago.
The first thing I tested was the Swedish version of Internet Explorer 4 Service Pack 2.
We had detailed step-by-step instructions to follow, so it seemed straightforward.
Long-time tester Anders Olsson helped me with my first tests, and on the second test he said:
“And now you perform the same thing as they want, but you do it another way than what is written in the test case.”
“But it says here that I should do it in the same way as in the last test?”
“Yeah yeah, that’s what they write, but if we do it like that we will never find the interesting bugs.”
I said OK, and followed his expertise to vary the way I navigated through the system.
I didn’t understand that this little tip held so many truths about testing:

• testing is a sampling activity
• variation of tests give better test coverage
• unexpected things happen with software
• purpose is more important than something written long ago
• testers have freedom under responsibility

Thank you, Anders!