Good Tester
Printed From: One Stop Testing
Category: Software Testing @ OneStopTesting
Forum Name: Versioning & Configuration Management @ OneStopTesting
Forum Discription: One Of The Biggest Problems in Product Developments where multiple Location, multiple Resources, and multiple Versions are very common.
URL: http://forum.onestoptesting.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=573
Printed Date: 25Dec2024 at 11:16am
Topic: Good Tester
Posted By: anushree
Subject: Good Tester
Date Posted: 03Apr2007 at 2:28am
How to be a good tester?
What makes a good software tester?
Many myths abound, such as being creatively sadistic or able to handle dull, repetitive work.
What makes a good software tester? Many myths abound, such as being
creatively sadistic or able to handle dull, repetitive work. As a
one-time test manager and currently as a consultant to software
development and testing organizations, I've formed a picture of the
ideal software tester-they share many of the qualities we look for in
programmers; but there are also some important differences. Here's a
quick summary of the sometimes contradictory lessons that I've learned.
1. Know Programming.
Might as well start out with the most controversial one. There's a
popular myth that testing can be staffed with people who have little or
no programming knowledge. It doesn't work, even though it is an
unfortunately common approach. There are two main reasons why it
doesn't work.
(1) They're testing software.
Without knowing programming, they can't have any real insights into the
kinds of bugs that come into software and the likeliest place to find
them. There's never enough time to test "completely", so all software
testing is a compromise between available resources and thoroughness.
The tester must optimize scarce resources and that means focusing on
where the bugs are likely to be. If you don't know programming, you're
unlikely to have useful intuition about where to look.
(2) All but the simplest (and therefore, ineffectual) testing methods are tool- and technology-intensive. The
tools, both as testing products and as mental disciplines, all presume
programming knowledge. Without programmer training, most test
techniques (and the tools based on those techniques) are unavailable.
The tester who doesn't know programming will always be restricted to
the use of ad-hoc techniques and the most simplistic tools.
Does this mean that testers must have formal programmer training, or
have worked as programmers? Formal training and experience is
usually the easiest way to meet the "know programming" requirement, but
it is not absolutely essential. I met a superb tester whose only
training was as a telephone operator. She was testing a telephony
application and doing a great job. But, despite the lack of formal
training, she had a deep, valid, intuition about programming and had
even tried a little of it herself. Sure she'sgood-good, hell! She was
great. How much better would she have been and how much earlier would
she have achieved her expertise if she had had the benefits of formal
training and working experience? She would have been a lot better a lot
earlier.
I like to see formal training in programming such as a university
degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering, followed by two to
three years of working as a programmer in an industrial setting. A
stint on the customer-service hot line is also good training.
I don't like the idea of taking entry-level programmers and putting them into a test organization because:
(1) Loser Image.
Few universities offer undergraduate training in testing beyond "Be
sure to test thoroughly." Entry-level people expect to get a job as a
programmer and if they're offered a job in a test group, they'll often
look upon it as a failure on their part: they believe that they didn't
have what it takes to be a programmer in that organization. This
unfortunate perception exists even in organizations that values testers
highly.
(2) Credibility With Programmers.
Independent testers often have to deal with programmers far more
senior than themselves. Unless they've been through a coop program as
an undergraduate, all their programming experience is with academic
toys: the novice often has no real idea of what programming in a
professional, cooperative, programming environment is all about. As
such, they have no credibility with their programming counterpart who
can sluff off their concerns with "Look, kid. You just don't understand
how programming is done here, or anywhere else, for that matter." It is
setting up the novice tester for failure.
(3) Just Plain Know-How.
The programmer's right. The kid doesn't know how programming is
really done. If the novice is a "real" programmer (as contrasted to a
"mere tester") then the senior programmer will often take the time to
mentor the junior and set her straight: but for a non-productive
"leech" from the test group? Never! It's easiest for the novice tester
to learn all that nitty-gritty stuff (such as doing a build,
configuration control, procedures, process, etc.) while working as a
programmer than to have to learn it, without actually doing it, as an
entry-level tester.
2. Know the Application.
That's the other side of the knowledge coin. The ideal tester has
deep insights into how the users will exploit the program's features
and the kinds of cockpit errors that users are likely to make. In some
cases, it is virtually impossible, or at least impractical, for a
tester to know both the application and programming. For example, to
test an income tax package properly, you must know tax laws and
accounting practices. Testing a blood analyzer requires knowledge of
blood chemistry; testing an aircraft's flight control system requires
control theory and systems engineering, and being a pilot doesn't hurt;
testing a geological application demands geology. If the application
has a depth of knowledge in it, then it is easier to train the
application specialist into programming than to train the programmer
into the application. Here again, paralleling the programmer's
qualification, I'd like to see a university degree in the relevant
discipline followed by a few years of working practice before coming
into the test group.
3. Intelligence.
Back in the 60's, there were many studies done to try to predict
the ideal qualities for programmers. There was a shortage and we were
dipping into other fields for trainees. The most infamous of these was
IBM's programmers' Aptitude Test (PAT). Strangely enough, despite the
fact the IBM later repudiated this test, it continues to be (ab)used as
a benchmark for predicting programmer aptitude. What IBM learned with
follow-on research is that the single most important quality for
programmers is raw intelligence-good programmers are really smart
people-and so are good testers.
4. Hyper-Sensitivity to Little Things.
Good testers notice little things that others (including
programmers) miss or ignore. Testers see symptoms, not bugs. We know
that a given bug can have many different symptoms, ranging from
innocuous to catastrophic. We know that the symptoms of a bug are
arbitrarily related in severity to the cause. Consequently, there is no
such thing as a minor symptom-because a symptom isn't a bug. It is only
after the symptom is fully explained (i.e., fully debugged) that you
have the right to say if the bug that caused that symptom is minor or
major. Therefore, anything at all out of the ordinary is worth
pursuing. The screen flickered this time, but not last time-a bug. The
keyboard is a little sticky-another bug. The account balance is off by
0.01 cents-great bug. Good testers notice such little things and use
them as an entree to finding a closely-related set of inputs that will
cause a catastrophic failure and therefore get the programmers'
attention. Luckily, this attribute
can be learned through training.
5. Tolerance for Chaos.
People react to chaos and uncertainty in different ways. Some cave
in and give up while others try to create order out of chaos. If the
tester waits for all issues to be fully resolved before starting test
design or testing, she won't get started until after the software has
been shipped. Testers have to be flexible and be able to drop things
when blocked and move on to another thing that's not blocked. Testers
always have many (unfinished) irons in the fire. In this respect, good
testers differ from programmers. A compulsive need to achieve closure
is not a bad attribute in a programmer-certainly serves them well in
debugging-in testing, it means nothing gets finished. The testers'
world is inherently more chaotic than the programmers'.
A good indicator of the kind of skill I'm looking for here is the
ability to do crossword puzzles in ink. This skill, research has shown,
also correlates well with programmer and tester aptitude. This skill is
very similar to the kind of unresolved chaos with which the tester must
daily deal. Here's the theory behind the notion. If you do a crossword
puzzle in ink, you can't put down a word, or even part of a word, until
you have confirmed it by a compatible cross-word. So you keep a dozen
tentative entries unmarked and when by some process or another, you
realize that there is a compatible cross-word, you enter them both. You
keep score by how many corrections you have to make-not by merely
finishing the puzzle, because that's a given. I've done many informal
polls of this aptitude at my seminars and found a much higher
percentage of crossword-puzzles-in-ink afficionados than you'd get in a
normal population.
6. People Skills.
Here's another area in which testers and programmers can differ.
You can be an effective programmer even if you are hostile and
anti-social; that won't work for a tester. Testers can take a lot of
abuse from outraged programmers. A sense of humor and a thick skin will
help the tester survive. Testers may have to be diplomatic when
confronting a senior programmer with a fundamental goof. Diplomacy,
tact, a ready smile-all work to the independent tester's advantage.
This may explain one of the (good) reasons that there are so many women
in testing. Women are generally acknowledged to have more highly
developed people skills than comparable men-whether it is something
innate on the X chromosome as some people contend or whether it is that
without superior people skills women are unlikely to make it through
engineering school and into an engineering career, I don't know and
won't attempt to say. But the fact is there and those sharply-honed
people skills are
important.
7. Tenacity.
An ability to reach compromises and consensus can be at the expense
of tenacity. That's the other side of the people skills. Being
socially smart and diplomatic doesn't mean being indecisive or a limp
rag that anyone can walk all over. The best testers are both-socially
adept and tenacious where it matters. The best testers are so skillful
at it that the programmer never realizes that they've been had.
Tenacious-my picture is that of an angry pitbull fastened on a
burglar's rear-end. Good testers don You can't intimidate them-even by
pulling rank. They'll need high-level backing, of course, if they're to
get you the quality your product and market demands.
8. Organized.
I can't imagine a scatter-brained tester. There's just too much to
keep track of to trust to memory. Good testers use files, data bases,
and all the other accouterments of an organized mind. They make up
checklists to keep themselves on track. They recognize that they too
can make mistakes, so they double-check their findings. They have the
facts and figures to support their position. When they claim that
there's a bug-believe it, because if the developers don't, the tester
will flood them with well-organized, overwhelming,
evidence.
A consequence of a well-organized mind is a facility for good
written and oral communications. As a writer and editor, I've learned
that the inability to express oneself clearly in writing is often
symptomatic of a disorganized mind. I don't mean that we expect
everyone to write deathless prose like a Hemingway or Melville. Good
technical writing is well-organized, clear, and straightforward: and it
doesn't depend on a 500,000 word vocabulary. True, there are some
unfortunate individuals who express themselves superbly in writing but
fall apart in an oral presentation- but they are typically a
pathological exception. Usually, a well-organized mind results in clear
(even if not inspired) writing and clear writing can usually be
transformed through training into good oral presentation skills.
9. Skeptical.
That doesn't mean hostile, though. I mean skepticism in the sense
that nothing is taken for granted and that all is fit to be questioned.
Only tangible evidence in documents, specifications, code, and test
results matter. While they may patiently listen to the reassuring,
comfortable words from the programmers ("Trust me. I know where the
bugs are.")-and do it with a smile-they ignore all such in-substantive
assurances.
10. Self-Sufficient and Tough.
If they need love, they don't expect to get it on the job. They
can't be looking for the interaction between them and programmers as a
source of ego-gratification and/or nurturing. Their ego is gratified by
finding bugs, with few misgivings about the pain (in the programmers)
that such finding might engender. In this respect, they must practice
very tough love.
11. Cunning.
Or as Gruenberger put it, "low cunning." "Street wise" is another
good descriptor, as are insidious, devious, diabolical, fiendish,
contriving, treacherous, wily, canny, and underhanded. Systematic test
techniques such as syntax testing and automatic test generators have
reduced the need for such cunning, but the need is still with us and
undoubtedly always will be because it will never be possible to
systematize all aspects of testing. There will always be room for that
offbeat kind of thinking that will lead to a test case that exposes a
really bad bug. But this can be taken to extremes and is certainly not
a substitute for the use of systematic test techniques. The cunning
comes into play after all the automatically generated "sadistic" tests
have been executed.
12. Technology Hungry.
They hate dull, repetitive, work-they'll do it for a while if they
have to, but not for long. The silliest thing for a human to do, in
their mind, is to pound on a keyboard when they're surrounded by
computers. They have a clear notion of how error-prone manual testing
is, and in order to improve the quality of their own work, they'll f
ind ways to eliminate all such error-prone procedures. I've seen
excellent testers re-invent the capture/playback tool many times. I've
seen dozens of home-brew test data generators. I've seen excellent test
design automation done with nothing more than a word processor, or
earlier, with a copy machine and lots of bottles of white-out. I've yet
to meet a tester who wasn't hungry for applicable technology. When
asked why didn't they automate such and such-the answer was never "I
like to do it by hand." It was always one of the following: (1) "I
didn't know that it could be automated", (2) "I didn't know that such
tools existed", or worst of all, (3) "Management wouldn't give me the
time to learn how to use the tool."
13. Honest.
Testers are fundamentally honest and incorruptible. They'll
compromise if they have to, but they'll righteously agonize over it.
This fundamental honesty extends to a brutally realistic understanding
of their own limitations as a human being. They accept the idea that
they are no better and no worse, and therefore no less error-prone than
their programming counterparts. So they apply the same kind of
self-assessment procedures that good programmers will. They'll do test
inspections just like programmers do code inspections. The greatest
possible crime in a tester's eye is to fake test results.
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