Being a professional software tester

Anton Keks@antonkeks

Being a professional software tester

(in XXI century)

Nordic Testing Days, 7.06.2013

Anton KeksAnton KeksCo-founder of Co-founder of

Lecturer at Lecturer at Tallinn Technical UniversityTallinn Technical University

Agile EstoniaAgile Estonia board member board member●

Author of Author of Angry IP ScannerAngry IP Scanner

Strong believer inStrong believer inAgileAgile and and Open-sourceOpen-source

Professionalism in medicine

● Surgeon 1 does the same operation over and over and makes a lot of money

● Surgeon 2 knows all the standard operations and has developed an innovative procedure, but makes less money than Surgeon 1

● Surgeon 3 practices own procedure regularly, but also travels abroad to teach other doctors how to practice the innovation

Credit http://tinyplanet.ca/projects/professionalism.html

1. There are 2 kinds of tests...

Regression testsand

Everything else

● Unit tests● Integration tests● Automated UI tests

● Acceptance tests● Usability (corridor) tests● Performance tests● Penetration (security) tests● Exploratory tests

REGRESSION

OTHERSTUFF

2. Human life is very short

DDD = Deadline Driven Development

Let machines do the repeatable stuff

(we keep only fun stuff for ourselves)

Test AutomationTest Automation

TDD

DDT(Development Driven Testing)

Can't imagine developers not doing testing

Can't imagine testers not doing development

A professional in IT

=Agile

Agile is all Agile is all about...about...testing!testing!

Code smellvs

Test smell

when releases take timeor 100s of unimportant test cases

slow us down

Iterative &Iterative &IncrementalIncrementalNOT Big-BangNOT Big-Bang

AdaptableAdaptableNOT PredictableNOT Predictable

SimplicitySimplicityMaximizing the amount of work not doneMaximizing the amount of work not done

TeamworkTeamworkNOT Lone RangerNOT Lone Ranger

a week

The good stuff

Co-locationVerbal communication

Continuous improvementWorking increment of the

software!

But can But can code cowboyscode cowboysactually do this?actually do this?

Or even worse, Or even worse, bureaucratsbureaucrats??

How to be a true professional?

Avoid hopeless meetings

Focus on what's

UNPROFESSIONAL

UNPROFESSIONAL

Responsibility of all

Pair programmingPair programming

Peer review – Concentration – Quality Peer review – Concentration – Quality Knowledge SharingKnowledge Sharing

Technical Technical excellenceexcellence

Software Software CraftsmanshipCraftsmanship

http://manifesto .softw

a recraft smansh ip.org

Software Software Craftsmanship...Craftsmanship...

...the ...the CodeborneCodeborne way way

Automate everything(and more)

DRYDon't Repeat Yourself

DDT checklist

✔Test code in the same repo

✔All tests are part of (continuous) builds

✔Tests should be FAST

✔Track coverage, don't let it fall

✔Pair with the developers

✔Help us with the corner cases

Testers

Developers

BDDBug Driven Development

(You get what you measure)

Overspecialization“Plain specialists”– Too narrow-minded– Ineffective– Poor at communication and collaboration

“Generalizing specialists” – Understand all required activities – Are best in one or few areas– Have a better chance of keeping their jobs

o16n

Developer Tester

BA

RR

IERCommunicationCollaborationUnderstanding

Knowledge-exchangeNew skills

Software Building Team

Let's stop all the fight!

The final product is what matters!

(and happy users)

At Codeborne

● We don't have strict roles● No testers, no analysts, no managers● Just craftsmen, who create software● We pair● And do everything what it takes● To create software from 0 to 100%

In more conservative organizations

● Let developers write the tests● (learn also to do that)● Do not waste time on regression testing● Do other stuff that matters● Trust, remember the common goal● Never accept the idea of that's the way its

done here

Let's do it!

Anton Keks@antonkeks