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© Morten Hougaard and PrettyGoodTesting®

…by Morten Hougaard

The Ten (FALSE) Commandments of SW Testing

1 TMF Summit 2012 : The Ten (FALSE) Commandments of SW Testing – Morten Hougaard


This is the answer…

…what is your question?

Some MileStones


• 1958: Began Exploratory Testing

• 1976: Began Testing HW, SW and Embedded SW

• 2005: Became ISEB certified SW Testing Practitioner

• 2006: Founded PrettyGoodTesting

• Became PRINCE2 certified Project Manager

• Became ITIL certified Service Manager

• 2007: Founded PrettyGoodTesting ApS

• 2008: Became certified Scrum Master

• 2010: Associated with Specialisterne

• 2012: Founded PGT ApS


This is a DISCUSSION session, so SHARE your thoughts!

The Ten (FALSE) Commandments of SW Testing

You shall…

1. NOT start testing without requirements!

2. Find EVERY bug!

3. Use ”BEST PRACTICE”!

4. Be CERTIFIED!

5. AUTOMATE everything!

6. Use THE Tool!

7. ENSURE (high) Quality!

8. Use THE test technique!

9. Use THE Model (Waterfall, V-Model, Scrum..)!

10. Stay FULLY INDEPENDENT (from developers)!


1-10

This woman is…

• 52 years of age (born September 1959)

• Known as TV health guru Gilian McKeith

• Advocating a holistic approach to nutrition and health…

• Promoting exercises, detox diets, cololonic irrigation…

• Recommending vegetarian living, fruits, vegetables…


Before we start …just a few Words on FALSE Commandments ?!

Before we start …just a few Words on FALSE Commandments ?! This woman is…

• 52 years of age (born January 1960

• Known as TV cook Nigella Lawson

• She eats…

• Meat

• Butter

• Desserts…


I Rest My Case!


We all seem to need those… REQUIREMENTS

You shall NOT start testing without requirements!

Having said that...

• Proper requirements, makes things easier!

• There are many ways of specifing stuff!

• Many projects fails, because testers don’t engage until it is (even FAR) too late!

• Get involved, participate, take ownership & discover new ways of testing in our NON-perfect World!

• You can do a lot of testing without requirements!


1

You shall find EVERY bug

Having said that...

• Software without bugs is an illusion – your job is to find as many (critical) bugs as soon as possible, and to assist in the removal of these!

• Software fails, because it’s made by humans!

• Software works, because it’s made by humans!

...get yourself INVOLVED!


2

You shall use BEST PRACTICE!

We want to go for ”Best Practice”, like everybody else in the Business.

...if everybody does it, then ”Best Practice” is merely MEDIOCRITY! STOP MAKING MY MEDIOCRITY SOUND SO STUPID! ...SORRY.


You shall use BEST PRACTICE!

Having said that, there...

• Is a number of Good Practices

• Is a high number of Bad Practices

• Is a number of Good Practices used wrongly

• Is a (very high) number of people, believing that as long as you are just following in the footsteps of others...you don’t have to think!

• There is NO such thing as ”Best Practice”, ”Silver Bullets” etc. !!


3

You shall be CERTIFIED!

Having said that...

• You can always benefit from a “common language”!

• It’s always good to be challenged, to listen to and to learn new ”tricks” from other test professionals!

• My experience is that ’the less knowledge about testing, the more focus on ”certification”!

• BUT if being certified is the ”Rule of the Game”, being certified (might) ease the initial phases in these ”politically correct” recruitment processes!

• 2½ day, 5 days or 10-15 days or (months), passed exam(s) does NOT aut. make you a good tester!


4

You shall AUTOMATE everything!

Having said that…you CAN benefit from automation

• IF you chose a Tool supporting your process and not try making your process fit the Tool!

• IF you introduce test automation VERY early (at best as part of the building process)!

• A number of people, still believes that as long as the Tool is ”smart enough”, NO manual test is required!

• Test automation is to supplement (NEVER take over) critical and smart thinking as well as manual testing!


5

You shall use THE Tool!

Having said that, there...

• Are many good Tool’s out there!

• Is sometime BIG difference between price and value!

• Is a number of very smart Sales People out there!

• Is a very big amount of Shelfware, frustrations, wasted money and wasted time out there!

• Every Tool comes with a number of Pro’s and Con’s – don’t be Fools, when investing in Tools!

• The best Tool ever is the Tool in between your ears!


6

You shall ENSURE (good) Quality!

Having said that…Quality CAN be improved...

• If testers are INVOLVED at a very early stage!

• AND if test results are being properly used!

• Testing and Quality Assurance (QA) is like family:

• Family consists of individuals, that being UNITED are being able to ’conquor the World’ TOGETHER!

• A (too high) number of good testers, are getting frustrated, burned out or caught by depression, while trying to ”ensure quality”...Don’t be caught by this! ...pay attention and learn to speak risk language!


7

You shall use THE Test Technique!

Having said that, there... • Are many good Test Techniques out there! • Is a (large) amount of ”bugs NOT found” out there,

due to use of a single- or very few Test Techniques!

• Every Test Technique (even the best ones), comes with a number of Pro’s and Con’s.

• If ”religious” about a single- or a very few Test Techniques, chances are that you will get BLINDED!

• Test Techniques are to SUPPLEMENT each other!


8

You shall use Waterfall, V-Model, Scrum…!

Having said that, there... • Are many good Models out there! • Is a (large) amount of wasted work and time, due

to ”trying to align” with a Model not fitting your business or your way of ”doing things”!

• Every Model comes with a number of Pro’s and Con’s. If ”religious” about models, chances are that you will get blinded!

• However, it’s ALWAYS good to use the (Scrum) principle of ”INSPECTING and ADAPTING”!


9

You shall test INDEPENDENTLY!

Having said that...

• Even the best developers makes mistakes (and even the best testers makes mistakes)!

• We all “get blinded” by our own work!

• Independence is often (but not always) a good thing!

• Don’t believe in the ”over the fence” theory!

• Best testing is where testers are independent, involved and taking (professional) OWNERSHIP!


10

Ten (pretty good) lessons learned!

YES we CAN…

• Start testing with bad- or even NO, requirements!

• Find most bugs & test many combinations!

• Benefit from ”Best Practices” (if questioning these)!

• Benefit from certification (but experience is better)!

• Automate a lot of things (but not everything)!

• Benefit from Tools (but don’t become fools)!

• Influence Quality (positively :0)

• Benefit from Test Techniques (but use more than one)!

• Benefit from Models (if not religious about these)!

• Benefit from independence, but more from teaming!


Questions and Comments

Do feel free to contact me

Morten Hougaard

CTO and Senior Test Consultant

Email: [email protected]

Mob: (+45) 31 63 02 01

PGT ApS

Lautruphøj 1

DK-2750 Ballerup - Denmark

www.PrettyGoodTesting.com

© Morten Hougaard and PrettyGoodTesting®


mailto:[email protected]

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