The Human Side to Testing

We’re known for breaking things and testing the limits, and patience, of our team and our systems. We advocate for quality in all things and we advocate for the end user. But, none of us actually think about how our varied backgrounds influence what we do and how we test. In this session we’ll explore how our previous (and current) experiences subconsciously affect our testing and how to bring those experiences to the forefront in order to be better testers all around.

- Given at TestCon Europe 2020 (Virtual)

Transcript

1. How our experiences make us better testers The Human Side to Testing @theqadiva
2. We break things and test limits. We advocate for quality and the end user. But, our previous experiences are what drive our current path. @theqadiva
3. Amanda Perkins Quality Advocate
4. Testing is more than checking to make sure it works @theqadiva
5. Thinking like a user @theqadiva
6. PREVIOUS JOBS No QA grew up wanting to be a QA. We all had different paths we initially were going down. It's these paths that formed the way we test. @theqadiva
7. We learned lessons in our work pre-QA about people and how they act that we can take forward with us to improve our QA practice. WORKING WITH PEOPLE @theqadiva
8. By asking ourselves about our users, we can adapt our testing style to a variety of users and situations. There are things we do without thinking - like taking stock of who we are testing for or how we think they will use our product. ADAPTING TO OUR AUDIENCE @theqadiva
9. IT is starting to become more of a people facing job, whether we want to admit it or not. We have to be able to adapt to our "audience" no matter who they are.
10. People will actually put up with a great deal if in the end they are getting what they need/want. WHAT PEOPLE WILL TAKE @theqadiva
11. Our own personal interactions and how we interact with the world outside ourselves goes into a lot of what we test as well. HOW WE INTERACT WITH THE WORLD AT LARGE @theqadiva
12. We make assumptions based on interactions - whether we had them or whether someone has related them to us. They may or may not be correct, but these are the things that make us human and that we carry with us into our testing. HUMAN ASSUMPTIONS @theqadiva
13. QAs use their lessons to test like a user. Things like edge cases that you didn't think about will be uncovered. QAs don't just look for the requirements to be met; they test those thinks a user might expect. Testing is so much more than just checking. There are so many places where software or an app can bring joy or pain and that's what a QA is looking to test - what will make this the best product for our users? HUMAN SIDE @theqadiva
14. There are times in our lives when someone who knows us, knows better than we do They push us into the place where we should be. They find a way to open our minds and open doors so we can pursue what we are meant to do. SOMETIMES, OTHERS KNOW BETTER @theqadiva
15. QAs usually end up in testing because someone else saw a place where they would fit. QAs typically fall into testing as a career. The road to testing is long and winding. We'll go several different directions until someone sets us on the path to where we are now. What we pick up along the way brings an element of humanity to how we test. HOW DID WE END UP HERE? @theqadiva
16. There are a myriad of differences between testers; each has their own background. Each experience leads QA to test in a different way. NO TWO ARE THE SAME @theqadiva
17. QA Standards @theqadiva
18. QA IS MORE THAN TESTING From varied backgrounds to varied skill sets No two are the same and no two test the same way We are here to advocate for quality and for the end user We found where we are supposed to be A good QA team will be a variety of good and bad experiences and skill levels and that's good Everything we did before influences what and how we test now @theqadiva
19. "Everything really interesting that happens in software projects eventually comes down to people." - James Marcus Bach
20. Thank you!! @theqadiva the.qa.diva.1@gmail.com