Time and time again I hear that we should be breaking down silos. Developers are testing, product people are testing, testers are developing, users are testing but are all these people 'testers'?
Have we reached the stage where testing is an activity rather than a role?
If so how do we help all these new 'testers' learn the lessons that dedicated testers have been learning for 30 years?
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Replies to This Discussion
STC TEAMPermalink Reply by Craig Earl on December 7, 2012 at 19:45- It is looking more and more like 'multi-roles' are emerging. People seem to be expecting more of people than just to 'be a tester'. It is also working the other way round. We have testers doing business analysis and project management (It seems to be what I am doing at the minute).I think the problem with that is that when you add more and more that is expected from a tester, the roles start to become diluted and people start to lose key skills. A tester doing solely testing will be much better at focusing on testing and finding bugs than someone who is doing multiple other roles alongside their testing.
STC TEAMPermalink Reply by Rosie Sherry on December 11, 2012 at 21:18- Is it multi-roles? Or is it the fact that we can become more specialised in certain areas? Or perhaps we have access to more tools and resources to do better testing? Or teams are formed in different ways to allow us to work differently? Or we can be more effective so have more free time to focus on different things? Or we have discovered what is not effective, so can work on better things?I don't know the answer, just have many questions! :)
TESTBASH SPEAKERPermalink Reply by Amy Phillips on December 12, 2012 at 11:29- I think modern teams are very different from ones we had 5 years ago. Having multi-skilled people allows everyone to be involved in the project right from the beginning. I think (hope) it is more unlikely that you would want a test team sitting alone somewhere just waiting to test a complete product. Nowadays testers should have more technical skills at least so that they can join in conversations with developers if not to drive technical testing and automated tests.The flip side is that you are more likely to spread your time across multiple teams or projects. Developers need some testing skills to assit them with automated tests but I think it is increasingly likely you'll find developers, product managers or other non-tester roles taking on much of the testing.I think testers are going to need to become coaches or trainers and are going to need skills that help them manage the testing on very diverse projects. I don't think it is uncommon to move between technical projects, to mobile, to maybe web and all of these need different approaches to mange the different risks.Hopefully exciting times ahead :)
Permalink Reply by Jeff Lucas on December 8, 2012 at 18:03
- There is a big difference between dilution of roles and dilution of focus. In my current job, I am part of a small team where I split my time between supporting platforms, scheduling test sessions with subject matter experts, running tests, planning tests, recording/tracking defects ... supporting a small team definitely keeps you hopping. In the test environment, I have to be an everything to everyone, because if I don't plan it then it may not get done.
The difference is that I am actively taking on all of those roles and scheduling the various activities, because I work to promote a single focus in the team: deliver a quality product on time. I actively recruit and encourage testing by IT personnel, developers, document writers, content developers, and support personnel. However, the testing is scheduled into focused test sessions where they only have to invest their expertise and time on one particular aspect of the product for a short time (even the developers when running unit tests). I also am ready to provide controlled environments for demos, training, and simple practice sessions on a moment's notice to encourage hands-on activities as early in the cycle as possible.
So, in the end you have a group of smart, dedicated individuals stitching together their individual quality patches. But the tester is one who makes sure there are no holes in the quilt. :)
STC TEAMPermalink Reply by Craig Earl on December 10, 2012 at 18:43- great analogy Jeff!
Permalink Reply by Georgina Villafuerte Everardo on December 11, 2012 at 16:30
- agree with Jeff too.
Permalink Reply by Yhokz on December 14, 2012 at 2:32
- Great one Jeff! :-) I cant agree more with this "But the tester is one who makes sure there are no holes in the quilt." thanks!
Permalink Reply by Kiran Lingappa on December 26, 2012 at 9:51
- Agree with Jeff!!
Permalink Reply by Dean Mackenzie on December 31, 2012 at 12:32
- This about sums it up for me.But it's interesting to consider if software development will ever reach the point where everyone is looking for (and patching up) holes without the need for a specialised "hole-checker". It seems a little utopian and I feel that at least for the foreseeable future, while people are making software, there are always going to be testers (though perhaps not in forms and performing tasks we can predict).
Permalink Reply by Kim Knup on December 27, 2012 at 15:49
- Jeff´s analogy appeals not only to the tester but also the seamstress inside of me "But the tester is one who makes sure there are no holes in the quilt". And I do agree with it and it makes sense to me in terms of my experiences in the industry so far.I am only just entering the world of testing and love how many questions arise around testing. Especially around the future of testing as I am just starting out.I so far have found that I have been encouraged from all sides to also explore other areas of the software development cycle as well as testing, be it knowing some code, look at project management and risk/business analysis and the list goes on.For me I love learning and knowing the development cycle inside out, as this allows me to understand the projects better and have more productive conversations from the start.To me a tester, regardless of their other responsibilities is someone brave who strives for knowledge, is able to think outside of the box and not afraid to speak up.Although I am focusing on becoming a great tester first of all, I do like that you get to dip your feet into other disciplines nowadays.So when is a tester a real tester? I don´t think we ever stop learning or evolving in this industry, so maybe we need to be content with being a tester and not lose sight by striving for the "real"?
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