In part 1 I talked about things such as self study, finding a mentor and taking a realistic approach to your work/job. In part two I want to get more into the mind / thought processes employed when getting into testing. This will talk about the 'inquisitive nature' a tester needs in order to perform the work.
An 'inquisitive nature' is one where a person looks at something and examines it to gain a better understanding of what it is and how it works. Curiosity is another term used for this, and it can be used interchangeably here if you wish. I'll stick with inquisitive for now.
People by nature are inquisitive; children are the best at this. What is that? Why does it do that? How does it do that? When will it do it? Where will it do it? These are basic cognitive questions that a child will ask. These are the questions we as test professionals need to constantly ask, and answer.
What is that piece of functionality? What does it do, and how? Where does it do its function? Where does it come from? Why does it do this part of functionality at this time, a question of when. When does it not do its functionality and why? Who uses this functionality? These are some of the basic questions of the system under test (SUT) for Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. These may be easy, or not, questions to get answers for. It is our job to formulate and get answers to these questions. Because of that we need to also look at the questions and answers for the methods/processes we will use to get the answers of the SUT.
These questions will include; What information about the SUT do I need to learn in order to test it, where is the information at, who is the person that might know about the SUT, when will I need to get the information or perform the test itself, how will I perform the test, what am I trying to prove by doing the test, why should I test that component or not, etc. etc. This is just a sample of the questions to be asked and answered. Testing is about asking questions and getting answers to them.
But this all needs to be done with some sort of organization and plan. And next time I will discuss that aspect of starting out in testing. So come back later and let your 'inquisitive nature' get some answers to those questions.
As you can see from the WebLog title I am a bit sarcastic and cynical about this thing we call Software Testing. Over my years of experience in Software Development and Testing I have seen some very very Dilbert things happen.
Hopefully this Blog will be a good place for you to learn from some of the things I have experienced and allow you to be more effective in your efforts in Software Testing.
• June 6, 2006 - Starting out in Testing, Part 2 - 'Inquisitive Nature'
In part 1 I talked about things such as self study, finding a mentor and taking a realistic approach to your work/job. In part two I want to get more into the mind / thought processes employed when getting into testing. This will talk about the 'inquisitive nature' a tester needs in order to perform the work.
An 'inquisitive nature' is one where a person looks at something and examines it to gain a better understanding of what it is and how it works. Curiosity is another term used for this, and it can be used interchangeably here if you wish. I'll stick with inquisitive for now.
People by nature are inquisitive; children are the best at this. What is that? Why does it do that? How does it do that? When will it do it? Where will it do it? These are basic cognitive questions that a child will ask. These are the questions we as test professionals need to constantly ask, and answer.
What is that piece of functionality? What does it do, and how? Where does it do its function? Where does it come from? Why does it do this part of functionality at this time, a question of when. When does it not do its functionality and why? Who uses this functionality? These are some of the basic questions of the system under test (SUT) for Who, What, Where, When, Why and How. These may be easy, or not, questions to get answers for. It is our job to formulate and get answers to these questions. Because of that we need to also look at the questions and answers for the methods/processes we will use to get the answers of the SUT.
These questions will include; What information about the SUT do I need to learn in order to test it, where is the information at, who is the person that might know about the SUT, when will I need to get the information or perform the test itself, how will I perform the test, what am I trying to prove by doing the test, why should I test that component or not, etc. etc. This is just a sample of the questions to be asked and answered. Testing is about asking questions and getting answers to them.
But this all needs to be done with some sort of organization and plan. And next time I will discuss that aspect of starting out in testing. So come back later and let your 'inquisitive nature' get some answers to those questions.
• June 6, 2006 - can it be taught ?