Sharpening your test skills in the age of collaboration and automation
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This document discusses how to sharpen skills in an age of collaboration and automation. It recommends adopting a quality mindset, better understanding users, focusing on test-oriented architecture, learning test frameworks/automation tools, practicing collaboration, empathizing, coaching others, and keeping an eye on new technologies. Mastering these mindset shifts and technical skills will help differentiate professionals in the new age.
Sharpening your test skills in the age of collaboration and automation
- 1. Sharpening your skills in the age of collaboration and automation Alan Kan @alankannet http://www.linkedin.com/in/zenmaster/
- 2. 20.8% http://www.researchnz.com/pdf/Special%20Reports/ResearchNZ%20Special%20Report%20-%20NZrs_Device_Use_09-04-14.pdf Mobile is Growing Quickly in NZ 34.5%
- 4. A/NZ Businesses have Embraced Cloud http://www.zdnet.com/iaas-paas-to-drive-cloud-adoption-in-anz-zdnet-survey-7000026064/
- 5. What do they mean to you? more tests, shorter test cycle, more interconnected systems
- 6. 1000+ Agile Auckland meetup members
- 8. Are you ready for... More tests, shorter test cycle, more interconnected systems, more interactions?
- 9. Adopt a Quality mindset
- 10. Better understand your users
- 11. Focus on Test Oriented Architecture
- 12. Learn a test framework and/or an automation tool
- 13. Stub and service virtualisation
- 14. Keep an eye on new technologies
- 16. Empathise
- 17. Coach others and be coachable
- 18. These will differentiate you in the new age• Mindset – Quality – Better understand your user – Embrace new technologies to help testing – Seek opportunity to collaborate with your team – Empathise – Willingness to coach others and be coached • Technical Skills – Test oriented architecture and data analysis – Test framework or automation tool – Stub and/or service virtualisation
- 19. The secret of making new skills stick...
Editor's Notes
- #7: Agile seems to be a good way of delivering these systems with short cycles. Big impact to the way we test - not just deliver in shorter cycles, but also collaborative, even do developer’s job!
- #10: In the world of developing products (mobile or service) using agile methdologies, Quality is the responsibility of the entire team – not just tester, test lead, or test manager You already have the skills drive the quality conversation – clear, valuable requirements and acceptance tests. Ask developers - how do we test it? It’s a matter of making sure that we adopt a quality mindset rather than a testing mindset.
- #11: Quality is – what the customer wants, not just whether code works This requires you to understand what the business is doing (hence what the customer wants) Talk to users
- #12: Testers now need to focus on a Test Oriented Architecture that enables us to collect and identify the right data signal. Testers need to create tools to run the tests in production, monitor the data signal, and analyse this signal. Whether scanning the production data signal or firing synthetic transactions, the tests we write now look a lot like monitors. Something Ops has been doing all along. The value test brings is in moving these monitors from heartbeats and simple scenarios to high context user affecting scenarios.
- #13: TDD approach – once you have acceptance criteria, you need to help the team to write tests before writing code. There are plenty of tools – google it. See what you have in your company – may be under-used licenses? To code or not to code – it depends on your team dynamic. But if you work in an oiled agile team, you are expected to function just like any developer (and they are just like any tester). My view is knowing how code will be better for your career.
- #14: One of the key issues with cloud and mobile is connectedness. You can’t test integration or end-to-end until you have systems developed. Stubbing is more important than ever. Again, plenty of tools on the market - IBM, CA, Parasoft, etc.
- #15: Keep an eye on new technologies and understand the implications of them e.g. NoSQL database (not so new, but hey it was not popularised until recently), wearable technology Subscribe to news feeds
- #16: Avoid handing off work Spend time with developers – talk about defects instead of just bug report (even if it’s just 2 minutes) Spend time with analysts/product owners to clarify functionality Work with/manage your boss - they want to know status.
- #17: As testing professionals, we’re trained to look for flaws. Hold back criticism when people tell you their ideas. Sometimes it’s how you said it, not just what you say Make your peers feel important even if they made a mistake in something (or may not be the most lovable person)
- #18: Be mentor for others around the quality area Learn from others to expand your knowledge Seek out feedbacks, even from team mates and more junior people.
- #20: Practice practice practice