Keynote: Surviving or Thriving: Top Ten Lessons for the Professional Tester

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KW2 Keynote 5/1/2013 10:00:00 AM Surviving or Thriving: Top Ten Lessons for the Professional Tester Presented by: Lloyd Roden Lloyd Roden Consultancy Brought to you by: 340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073 888-268-8770 ∙ 904-278-0524 ∙ [email protected] www.sqe.com

description

As testers and test managers we often find ourselves struggling just to survive within our organization—sometimes with the possibility of job loss due to outsourcing looming. Often, we are told to become more “effective,” “efficient,” and do “more with less.” However, most testers and test managers are unsure of what those mandates actually mean. Today, it is not sufficient to just survive; we must take initiatives to thrive. Lloyd Roden shares ten valuable lessons on how you can become better at testing and thrive in your career. Lloyd's lessons include the importance of using modern technology in testing, using test design techniques when reviewing documentation, testing the testers with techniques such as bug seeding, reporting project waste, providing management with feedback on decisions that they made, becoming a pioneer or explorer rather than a settler or outlaw in your organization, and more. Lloyd’s advice is practical—and challenging—for all testers, test leads, and test managers.

Transcript of Keynote: Surviving or Thriving: Top Ten Lessons for the Professional Tester

Page 1: Keynote: Surviving or Thriving: Top Ten Lessons for the Professional Tester

KW2 Keynote

5/1/2013 10:00:00 AM

Surviving or Thriving: Top Ten Lessons

for the Professional Tester

Presented by:

Lloyd Roden

Lloyd Roden Consultancy

Brought to you by:

340 Corporate Way, Suite 300, Orange Park, FL 32073

888-268-8770 ∙ 904-278-0524 ∙ [email protected] ∙ www.sqe.com

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Lloyd Roden

With more than twenty-eight years in the software industry, Lloyd Roden has worked as a developer, test analyst, and test manager for many different organizations. Lloyd was a consultant/partner with Grove Consultants for twelve years. In 2011 he created Lloyd Roden Consultancy, an independent UK-based training and consultancy company specializing in software testing. Lloyd’s passion is to enthuse, excite, and inspire people in the area of software testing. He has spoken at conferences worldwide including STAREAST, STARWEST, Better Software, EuroSTAR, AsiaSTAR, and Special Interest Groups in software testing in several countries. In 2004, he won the European Testing Excellence award.

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Surviving or thriving: Top 10 lessons for a professional tester Keynote Presentation

Written by Lloyd Roden www.lloydrodenconsultancy.com Version 1_0 © Lloyd Roden

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Surviving or Thriving: Top 10 lessons for a professional tester

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Contents

Survive or Thrive? Top 10 lessons to thrive

Which one do you want to be?

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Surviving: what comes to mind?

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Surviving is mostly negative

!   companies surviving the recession !  old people surviving the winter !  protect animals to enable them to survive

definition: to remain alive or in existence, to carry on despite

hardship or trauma…to persevere

is this what we are doing in testing today…to remain alive, carrying on despite hardships or trauma…to persevere?

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Thriving: what comes to mind?

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Thriving is positive

!   in Greece�s sour economy some shops are thriving

!   thriving companies in this economic climate !   thriving wildlife triggers hope for marine life

definition: to make good progress, to prosper, to grow vigorously…to

flourish, to succeed

shouldn’t we be like this in testing…to make good progress, to prosper, to grow vigorously…to flourish, to succeed

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Contents

Survive or Thrive? Top 10 lessons to thrive

Which one do you want to be?

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Thriving lesson #1: tailor your test documentation…. and use modern technology

don’t be boring make it exclusive

challenge quality and quantity of what is produced exploit modern

technology

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Thriving lesson #2: use test design techniques as a review technique

!   example requirement:

by reading this requirement we may have a few questions, or we might think we understand what is required. However…

A thermostat displays the temperature of a greenhouse from 15oC to 35oC. If the temperature falls below 20oC then “too cold”

appears on the display and a blue light flashes. It the temperature exceeds 30oC then “too hot” appears and a red light

flashes.

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Review using test case design techniques

!   sharpens our understanding !   generates tests !   finds more defects with requirements Tests for our example: Temperature Expected result

17oC, 15oC, Too Cold, blue light flash

20oC, 25oC, 30oC No display, no light?

32oC, 35oC Too hot: red light flash

10oC, 40oC ??? 2 lights or 1 light?

whole degrees?

up to and including…

where is the temperature taken…isolated or whole room? 10

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Thriving lesson #3: provide management with feedback on decisions that the make

!   example: 4 weeks of testing:

!   new data obtained:

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Number of bugs

Actual

Management want to implement the software, but you suggest a

further week of exploratory testing and a final week of regression

testing due to the high number of bugs that have been found

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Number of bugs

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25 new bugs found and fixed…full regression pack run

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Using data to report back

!  cost of bugs to find and fix in test = 1000€ !  cost of bugs to find and fix in live = 3000€ !  1st month of live operation customers find 10 bugs !   if the old date (4 weeks) was used

!   assume 35 bugs found by customer !   DDP = 100/135 = 74% !   cost of fixing = 35 * 3000€ = 105,000€

!   if the new date (6 weeks) was used !   DDP = 125/135 = 93% !   cost of fixing = 10 * 3000€ = 30,000€

+ 25 * 1000€ = 25,000€ = 55,000€

cost saving 50,000€

DDP increase 19% Therefore a good

decision by management "

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Thriving lesson #4: learn to be a weather person

weather people… !   predict what is likely to happen using

trends and forecasting !   understand statistics and probability !   use historical data to substantiate

their synopsis !   understand correlation between

systems !   are becoming more accurate !   don’t always get it right

!   not always liked…but it is not their fault!

!   but we still use them to plan and implement our activities

however…

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Learn to predict the “projects” weather

!   to predict what is likely to happen at an early stage

!   to use basic statistics and probability

!   to gather and analyse historical data

!   understand the correlation between graphs

!   to become more accurate

BUT: you wont always get it right, you wont always be liked, but it’s not your fault

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Thriving lesson #5: Test the testers/tests

testing is quality control on development

BUT…how good are your tester/tests? Who is performing quality control on the testers?

developers bug seed, plant 100 bugs and see how many are found

provide an application for new testers with known bugs and see how good they are at finding them

we deserve the best…mediocracy is not an option 15

Areas where this idea can be used

!   testing your regression tests !   manual or automated !   discover how effective they are

!   testing the outsourced teams !   let’s wake up! !   discover whether they are cost effective

!   testing new testers wanting to join the team !   aim to recruit the best !   quality gate into testing

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Thriving lesson #6: make your test environment the strongest link !   often the test environment becomes

the weakest link !   concentrate too much on test cases and

test scripts !   we believe the environment will happen !   often difficult to set up well !   reliant on other people

!   make it the strongest link !   constantly think about your environment !   make it a priority prior to test execution !   learn to recognise environmental issues

and raise these with your managers

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Bad environments

if your environment is wrong, out-of-date, volatile, not representative, or messy then testing cannot succeed

ignore your test environment and the bugs will breed

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Be environmentally friendly

without a good testing environment testing will not succeed

!   recycle your tests !   need to re-use tests as much as possible

!   improve efficiency !   to conserve human energy

!   do not neglect the “data-layer” !   data is an integral part of the environment

!   offset your manual footprint !   automate as much as possible

!   grow your own experts !   become independent and autonomous

manual

experts

investing in the testing environment will be an investment for the testing’s future 19

Thriving lesson #7: stand out and be different

what have these stores got in common?

what have these stores got in common?

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Create a unique selling point…

!   what makes you/your team different from others… !   that are cheaper? !   that are faster?

!   your USP is so that you thrive…not just survive !   example USPs

! recognising and eliminating waste !   being able to find those “nasty” bugs quickly !   measuring and reporting the value of testing !   having a positive attitude at work !   collaborating always !   constantly improving efficiency

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Thriving lesson #8: become a pioneer (or explorer)…not a settler or outlaw

!   four permanent attitudes to consider

Pioneers Explorers Settlers Outlaws 22

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Pioneers and Explorers

Pioneering Attitude !   ideas !   creative !   breaking new ground !   “early adopters” !   R & D - mostly “R” !   often seen as “crazy”

Exploring Attitude !   explore/test ideas

produced by pioneers !   highly analytical !   R & D - mostly “D” !   enjoy challenges !   often “finish” and

implement ideas

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Settlers and Outlaws

Settling Attitude !   majority !   will follow the status

quo rather than lead !   allow others to develop

infrastructure !   reliant on Pioneers and

Explorers !   difficult to motivate

Outlaw Attitude !   critical !   pessimistic & negative !   can be destructive !   often ‘historical’ !   management overhead !   often failed pioneers

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Thriving lesson #9: believe in yourself …and your abilities

!   low self-esteem is one of the main

contributors to lacking drive and enthusiasm: !   reignite your passion

!   fan the flame before it goes out !   see change as an opportunity rather than a threat !   create good habits

!   66 days to create a good habit !   set yourself daily goals and achieve them

!   John, Susan, Nora and George

practice looking in the mirror each morning and saying…

“I am great!”

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Thriving lesson #10: take time to sharpen your axe

!   don’t procrastinate !   create tools and utilities to make testing more efficient !   share your ideas with others !   understand new methodologies and technologies and how

they will affect you (keeping one step ahead) !   measure your own effectiveness and improve !   try something new !   create ‘me’ time

complacency is only one step ahead of

apathy make it your mission to become the

best at what you do

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Contents

Survive or Thrive? Top 10 lessons to thrive

Which one do you want to be?

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Are you just a �survivor� … or a �thriver�

!   #1: Tailor test documentation

!   #2: use test case design techniques as a review technique

!   #3: provide management with feedback

!   #4: learn to predict !   #5: test the testers/tests

!   #6: make your environment the strongest link

!   #7: stand out and create a USP

!   #8: become a pioneer or explorer

!   #9: believe in yourself and your abilities

!   #10: sharpen your axe

Mediocracy is not an option if you want to thrive

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Summary

!   surviving has many negative associations

!   to thrive in the society we find ourselves in today we must be different and better than others

!   adopting some/all of these �thriving� lessons will help us stand out from the crowd

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