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Trends in the Marketplace Testers will have to change – but how? Paul Gerrard Gerrard Consulting 1 Old Forge Close Maidenhead Berkshire SL6 2RD UK e: [email protected] w: http://gerrardconsulting.com t: 01628 639173 Slide 1 Assurance with Intelligence
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Trends in the MarketplaceTesters will have to change – but how?Paul GerrardGerrard Consulting1 Old Forge CloseMaidenheadBerkshireSL6 2RD UK

e: [email protected]: http://gerrardconsulting.comt: 01628 639173

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It’s the Benefits, Stupid! Automation frameworks Test Process Improvement is a Waste

of Time Software Success Improvement What Makes a Good Tester? Recommendations

Agenda

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It’s the Benefits, Stupid

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Won’t bore you with yet another survey of IT projects that fail - take it for granted, most do

But why? We can trace most failures to:- Bad decisions- Decisions that were made too late- Decisions that were not made at all

We suggest this happens because stakeholders and project managers lack the right information at the right time

We’ll call this information Project Intelligence

Why projects fail

The frame of reference for making those decisions is often wrong too!

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Four-eyed plans

IncreasinglyInaccurate

IT- focusedInitial

PlansThe plan is a model of the project. The real project consists of people, organisation,

goals and risks.Slide 6 Assurance with Intelligence

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The people like to see the broad range of issues covered by the politicians

Makes politicians feel important But it’s all froth

Team Poster

It’s the economy, stupid!benefits

Ultimately, our customers are only

interested in the benefits of ITSlide 7 Assurance with Intelligence

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Number of people in IT will drop by 15% by 2010

60% percent of technology professionals will move to more business-focused roles, concentrating on the use of IT and processes rather than IT delivery

In 2010, the typical IT department in a large company will be at least one third smaller than it was in 2000

Departments within business will take on the traditional roles of IT.

Gartner predictions

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Increasingly, businesses will focus on benefits and will take control of projects or IT completely

Projects involving IT will no longer be dominated or managed by IT

The disciplines of Benefits Realisation, Goal-Directed Project Management and Project Intelligence will become mainstream

Most testers will work for (or come from?) business

(Some) Test Managers become PI Managers.

Here’s my interpretation…

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Automation FrameworksI am very grateful to Susan

Windsor ([email protected]) for the use of some of her material

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Automation frameworks and more complex business requirements

Agile development methods mean developers undertake more unit and component testing

Growth of outsourced testing to different geographies => greater competition for the roles

Testing is in demand, and solutions reduce the number of functional testers required

Is the role of the functional tester (who is neither technical nor business specialist) dead?

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Focus on technology rather than business needs

80% of functional testing still manual 60% to 70% of automation tools used for non-

functional testing Typically, traditional functional automation

stops at 100 scripts, regardless of test coverage requirement

Critical factors- Cost of implementation and maintenance prohibitive- Insufficient and expensive skills required - Inability to asset share over different technologies

Functional test automation is broken!

Source: Paul Herzlich, OVUM UKSlide 12 Assurance with Intelligence

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Home grown frameworks built within organisations to meet business demands

Niche suppliers provide frameworks - try Google:- 34,400 exact matches for “test automation

framework”

- A few are now mature

- Latest review by Paul Herzlich (OVUM analyst) Market Leaders such as Mercury

developing Business Process Tester (BPT)

Business analysts already using them, and use will grow

This seems to be the tools industry direction now

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Manual Test Execution

& Documentation

UI AutomatedTest Execution

Tools

Test Results

Non UI ComponentTest Execution

Harness

Requirements

Test Management

Governance

Project ManagementAnalysis & Design

Test Case Definition – Automation Framework

Test Case Documentation

Test RequirementsSign Off

Where frameworks fit

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Test Process Improvement is a Waste of Time

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I want to improve my (insert any activity

here) _______ people improvement _______ organisation improvement _______ process improvement

How to improve…

Changing people (like me) and organisation (like my company) is so hard – let’s not even think about it

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There are no “practice” Olympics to determine the best

There is no consensus about which practices are best, unless consensus means “people I respect also say they like it”

There are practices that are more likely to be considered good and useful than others, within a certain community and assuming a certain context

Good practice is not a matter of popularity. It’s a matter of skill and context.

The delusion of ‘best practice’

Derived from “No Best Practices”, James Bach, www.satisfice.comSlide 17 Assurance with Intelligence

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Google search- “CMM” – 12,100,000- “CMM Training” – 12,200- “CMM improves quality” – 4

A recent client…- CMM level 3 and proud of it (chaotic, hero culture)- Hired us to assess their overall s/w process and

make recommendations (quality, time to deliver is slipping)

- 40+ recommendations, only 7 adopted – they couldn’t change

- How on earth did they get through the CMM 3 audit?

The delusion of process models(e.g. CMM)

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People like simple models:- levels of maturity, stepping stones,

checklists, roadmaps and outside support for credibility

But life is much more complicated, unfortunately

“Things should be made as simple as possible,

but no simpler”

Albert Einstein

But process models make improvement simple don’t they?

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A big problem with process is it becomes all encompassing

Process folk sell process and cast all things in terms of it- They ignore that people who are smart- Smart people succeed regardless of process, not because of it

It could be argued, that less smart people need process- (By less smart, we're talking about people who need so much

structure and enforced discipline they can only operate in the military, or in prison probably)

Is our industry really staffed by such people? Do we really want production-line workers? Do YOU really want to be a production-line worker?

People need process?

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“I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy”

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with

experiment, it's wrong”

Richard P. Feynman

Physics quotes…

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“I believe that a process consultant looking at non-process problems is just as dumb as the next guy”

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your process model is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree

with reality, it's wrong”

“Test process improvement is tinkering”

Paul Gerrard ;-)

You can quote me if you want…

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Software Success Improvement

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From this…

CurrentMaturity

FutureMaturity

ProcessChange

CurrentCapability

FutureCapability

Acts ofFaith

Better Capability = better, faster, cheaper

Perceived Results Chain

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To this…

CurrentConstraints/

Problems

ChangedAspirations

CurrentCapability

FutureCapability

Acts ofChange

Better Capability = better, faster, cheaper

Actual Results Chain

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Constraints are fixed headcount, budget, timescales, quality of requirements, contracts etc.

Problems are “testing takes too long; too expensive; can’t hire testers; bugs get through” etc. etc.…

Aspirations:- Personal: personal development, fulfilment, motivation

- Organisational: hero culture to team culture, outsourced, higher consistency, predictability

Acts of change are…

Constraints, problems and aspirations

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Changes in behaviour to address specific problems (time, cost, quality etc.)

Targeted personal and team development

Infrastructure change (process, techniques, tools, environments) to support the changes

Managed Transition…

Acts of change – focused on constraints, problems and aspirations

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Current behaviour assessed in the context of current problems, goals and constraints

Aspirations drive the definition of goals People in the job define and consent to the

required changes in behaviour People supported by- Personal/team development plans- Infrastructure investment (process, technology,

tools, environment) specific to the change Transitions are managed, not assumed.

Principles of change

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Establish a sense of urgency Create a guiding coalition Develop a vision and strategy Communicate the change vision Empower broad-based action Generate short term wins Consolidate gains, produce more

change Anchor new approaches in the culture.

Eight stage change process (Kotter)

Derived from “Leading Change”, John Kotter, www.johnkotter.comSlide 30 Assurance with Intelligence

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Mission Coalition Vision Communication Action Wins Consolidation Anchoring

Eight stage change process (after Kotter)

Changes identified here

This is where your ‘process model’ comes into play

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What Makes a Good Tester?

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PedanticSceptic

Nitpicker

A perfect tester?

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Attributes of a good tester?

intelligent

persistent

systematic

pedantic

thoroughsceptical

logical

curious

articulate

conscientious

imaginative

accurateobservant

thick-skinned

assertive

redoubtablestubborn

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Attributes of a good tester?

intelligent

persistent

systematic

pedantic

thoroughsceptical

logical

curious

articulate

conscientious

imaginative

accurateobservant

thick-skinned

assertive

redoubtablestubborn

Personal intelligence and skill

Personality to cope with your

environment

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Intelligence - are they smart enough? Thinking skills- Approach to problem solving; ability to reason

Interpersonal skills- Communication, assertiveness, conflict handling,

survival, team skills etc. etc. Testing skills- Theory (ISEB/ISTQB Etc.)- Practical (hands on testing)- Technical (technology, business domain etc.)

Plus… Personality- Many well-known attributes are usually required.

Tester selection criteria

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Tester skills (and training budget?)

Testing theory (ISEB/ISTQB etc.)- see www.bcs.org.uk/iseb

- www.istqb.org Thinking skills- verbal reasoning, numerical/abstract

reasoning, fault diagnosis, accuracy Testing Practice (Testing Case Studies)- hands-on practical test activity

Interpersonal skills- communication, assertiveness,

conflict handling, survival, team skills

20%

40%

20%

20%

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Summary and Discussion

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Take a closer look at benefits realization, results-based management, performance management, project intelligence

Become more business-oriented- Be ready to talk their language – benefits and

risk

- Align your test activities with the need to provide information on benefits and risk to them

- Be prepared to be managed by your customer!

It’s the benefits, Stupid!

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Take a close look at frameworks What is your organisation doing about it? Understand how Frameworks support

testing so you have a view, because you will be asked

If you are functional tester – evolve or… Look to enhance your skills…- Become an automation/framework specialist- Move towards management- Take on non-functional skills- Get closer to your business/customers

Automation frameworks

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Don’t take on Test Process Improvement projects- Too many problems in test are caused elsewhere- Testers shouldn’t compensate for other people’s failures- Whole-process is in scope for change - or nothing!

Ask why things are the way they are Focus on people, culture and organisation “The art of the possible” – get your suggestions

from your practitioners, not a book Follow the 8 step change process (or another

transition management method – there are many) Be realistic about benefits, and be prepared to

measure them

Software Success Improvement

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Functional testing skills are a commodity – so move on

Have a vision of where you want to be… manager, specialist, consultant, business expert…

Following technology changes can be lucrative, but is a never-ending journey

Broaden your horizon – thinking, interpersonal, business, management, project management skills

Create a development plan – training yes, but look out for practical hands-on, not theory

Most learning takes place on the job so choose jobs wisely

Find a good coach.

Developing, as a tester

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gerrardconsulting.com

uktmf.comriskbasedtesting.co

m

Good luck in your career!

Trends in the MarketplaceTesters will have to change – but how?

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