Recently I joined in on a tutorial by B.J. Rollins on combinatorial testing. As you might know combinatory testing, or pair testing, is claimed to be an excellent test design technique that helps to limit the number of test cases and still have very good coverage. During the tutorial, I once more realized that in order to have really good test scripts, one must understand the choices that are being made by the developers. This is an item that, as a junior tester, I sometimes neglected. I just made assumptions while defining my tests and trusted that if my assumption was wrong the test would most probably fail.
Nowadays, I focus more on the position of testing within the organization. Many who have heard me speak at conferences such as Expo:QA and QA & Testing know that I am keen to bridge the gap between IT and business. I believe we need to align with the needs of our managers and stakeholders. Testing aims to answer the questions and concerns they have with the IT solution. Good understanding of the business and communication with our stakeholder is therefore key for success.
But as said, good understanding of the implementation and design choices is a must for adequate test scripts. Bridging the gap between IT and business ensures that test results are understood, used and valued. Bridging the other gap, towards development ensures that we know what we are testing, and that our results are accurate and therefore meaningful. It should therefore not be neglected.
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Derk-Jan de Grood is thought leader at Valori. He is known as a passionate speaker at many international conferences and published several books on software testing.
© Derk-Jan de Grood
