Tuesday, August 31, 2010

What a developer wants?

After so many years of driving testing and QA processes I have some possibilities to realize and rights to publish here some of ideas on how things are working from the inside. One of such things is what developers ask of a QA manager.

My top 5 are following:

1. Change defect tracking system

2. Stop reporting duplicates and non-defects

3. Do no find defects too late

4. Stop reporting minor/cosmetic defects in such a number

5. Test design is not review-able

Now back to the details =)

Change the defects tracking system I am always happy when people come to me with their ideas which they think will help them doing their work better. However, I don't like when it stems from the "I don't know what is wrong but I feel that something needs to be changed" intention.

In the past, developers came to me complaining that it takes too much time to work with defects. The only solution they saw was to change the tracking system. I asked in respond what exactly does take time when they work with it. As it turned out the reason of their complaints is not in the system per se but in the time they had to spend understanding the defect and trying to reproduce it. No defect tracking system can change that, so they went out in peace with the idea to leave the old system. Others developers came after... period =)

Stop reporting duplicates and non-defects Yes, this is a problem. But let's see how big it is. On my memory we reported not more than 1% of bad defects. Is that so huge to be whining about at each managers meeting? Nope. Then what was it?... I'll tell you. This is an excuse for not doing own job right. Kind of "hey! they also have problems". It makes them look better in they eyes. What a shame! =)

Do no find defects too late Another problem for testers. We have to find serious problems as soon as they appear in the code. There is no excuse... Wait a minute! What issue are speaking about? That one that developers introduced in the same build? How do you think testers could find it earlier?... We hear such acquisitions too many times. Make sure you take the blame for your own mistakes.

Stop reporting minor/cosmetic defects in such a number The answer is "stop reading them". It's easy =)

Test design is not review-able In majority of cases they just don't care to put some efforts in this. This is merely a laziness that cannot be an excuse :) However, providing a summary of your tests design is always helpful. Remember, those who read your design help you making it better, so it's in your interest to make it easier to them.

No comments:

Post a Comment