6 Myths of Software Testingwww.osmanit.com

Whom am I?

Tester Software testing trainer See…

www.osmanit.com Conference speaker – StarWest 2012 Mostly, its been about helping others …

Myth One: Test leadership is dead

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Leadership

Leadership has been described as “a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task".

Chemers M. (1997) An integrative theory of leadership. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8058-2679-1

A true leader has the confidence to

stand alone,

the courage to make tough decisions

and the compassion to listen to the needs of others.

They do not set out to be a leader, but becomes

one by the equality of his

actions and the integrity of his intent.

General Douglas MacArthur

Myth One

The force is strong

Myth Two: Being certified = skilled

Here is an example…

From one of the originators…“Foundation level is based more on

learning facts than on practicing the craft. Why is that? Because the current scheme was designed to meet a different need, a basic ignorance about testing in general; it was not designed to assess testing skill.”

Dorothy Graham – One of the original *creators* of the ISEB Software Testing certification 1997

Compared to…Barclays GTC

Attract They raised the hiring (and existing employee) bar and transferred

quality ownership to the team. They made sure that GTC was viewed as a “Top Project”, very hard to get in (in analogy with Google).

Develop Keith invited James Bach to come and teach his Rapid Software

Testing course and regularly provide consulting as well. On top of that, they improved business and testing skills. After a while, people started developing their own training courses, around ten in total. These were staff-led without any steering from management. They also started a new test management mentoring programme.

Retain They flattened out the career framework, until it contained only four

levels. They developed Induction Programmes, in which they told people what was expected from them. In addition, Keith told them what was to be expected from him.

Myth Two

It is your skill that determines your worth

Myth Three: Testing approaches are mutually

exclusive

Reply from an agent…

"I know that you prefer exploratory testing but we do risk based testing and exploratory won't work here“

What is wrong with this statement?

Reply from an expert

“That sentence about risk-based testing doesn't even make sense.

Brian, you need to raise your profile. If they don't see you as an expert, they yatter idiotic things at you.”

James Bach – May 2012

Myth Three

Recognising that different approaches can work well together

Myth Four: Testing is…

Experience Report…

PM to Me (TM): “We need to get more resources or we may struggle.”

Me(TM) to PM: “Bringing more testers on at this late stage may not help make the project finish on time. For a start…”

PM to Me (TM): “That’s all right, I’ll get some students from Student Job Search for $10 an hour.”

TEST this…

Myth Four

Good testing is a sapient, technical, empirical set of skills

Myth Five: No Spec means No test

Testers have told me…

“No spec means no testing!”

What is WRONG with this?

If you have no spec how do you test?

Heuristics e.g. SFDPOT

Myth Five

Good testing can be done even without a spec

Myth Six: Test cases should be written before testing

begins

Why?

7 Propositions

1) At the beginning of a project we know least about the project2) Good testing requires sapience3) Skilled exploratory testers perform hundreds of what could be considered discrete tests in a session. Few are worth repeating.4) Most tests performed are informed by the results of the previous test.5) The usefulness of a test is often not known until it has been performed. You don’t know if a rock is worth lifting until you’ve lifted it to see what’s underneath.6) Testers, when following a script, will deviate from the script.7) Different testers interpret scripted instructions differently resulting in differences between testers even when following the same script.

Aaron Hodder – www.helloTestworld.com

Quote…

“Good auditors don’t need to see documented test cases. They need to see evidence of testing that was appropriate in the circumstances.”

James Christie – Software Test Consultant and Auditor

http://clarotesting.wordpress.com/2011/04/12/when-documentation-is-a-waste-of-time/

Myth Six

Test Cases do not always need to be written in advance

Summary

Myth One: Test leadership is dead Myth Two: Being certified = skilled! Myth Three: Testing approaches are

mutually exclusive Myth Four: Testing is easy Myth Five: No spec means no testing Myth Six: Test cases should be written in

advance