Calculating Time To Information

The key metric for any knowledge work – IT deliveries and testing in particular – is more than Mean Time to Repair (MTTR). While fixing fast matters – timing is everything. Timing in getting information to the people who needs it to make decisions. It’s no use if you can turn the ship around on a plate now, if you needed it yesterday. Key elements in calculating time to information is how far away the information is and how evolved the information is.

Strategy is about Making a Map

Strategy is not where you are heading, but how you’re getting somewhere in the long run. That goes for all strategies, and even for test strategies. Though for test strategies we often get caught up in mechanics of selector strategies, testing types and techniques that we lose track of the higher purpose: Moving the business towards a vision.

Trends for the Tester Role

YMWV – this is a model for reflection not to a 1:1 scale of everything in the universe. It might be useful.

The space for the testing professional is under pressure – for my own role and even more for the “traditional” testing professional. At least since 2017 there has been a shift and ongoing disruption. I finally have a form to visualize some of the trends that puts the role of the tester under pressure:

• SIT / UAT debate
• Low-code trend
• Modern Testing
• Quality Engineering and whole team approach

I still see two key areas (stars below) for the classic tester to move into: exploratory testing based on weak signals and supporting the end-users low-code activities (test tool smith). For the more managerial and coordinating role I will have to get back to you in a future blog post.

Imagine That Things Can Be Different

One of the key skills of a knowledge worker – and testing people are knowledge workers – is to imagine that things can be different. I have written previously how to recruit for curiosity – and contributed to the book of “21st-century skills for testers“. But apparently I have missed to highlight the key skill of imagining that things can be different.

Darlings, Pets, Cattle and GUID’s

Kill your darlings and treat your tests more like cattle than pets, are among some of the heuristics currently around for managing your environments and automation test suites. These heuristics tells me that the environments and automation are in a state of product or even commodity, while previously the tests and environments where like darlings and pets – named and nurtured.

Relations – are about half of IT

You can’t have IT projects without relations. Relations matter more than it seem.

Automation is for Other Roles Too

Automation of business tasks is no longer for the software developers only. Similarly test automation is no longer for testers and test engineers only. Both these trends help to create smarter testing performed by non-testers.

Align you Test Strategy to your Business Strategy

Obviously! – But often where we fail to do this as testing professionals. We get caught up in terminology discussions, application of standards and obligations and who gets to do the work – that we forget to align with the business side of things. And thus the beatings continue until morale improves – if you don’t align you test strategy to the business*.

The business side can be hard to read. Also coming from the back story that testers long for objectivity – and “just” want to state the facts for the decision makers. I know, I’ve fallen into that trap many times.

We need to be able to read the business strategy and prepare the test strategy accordingly... and business decisions first.

RPA – Tomorrows Best Practise

Recently I was reviewing the offering of the Microsoft Power automate desktop offering, and I realized: Robot Process Automation is still the rave – every tool vendor and their dog has an offering in this space:

Making a Map of Risks

I’m currently exploring how “Wardley maps” can be applied in strategies for testing. Here is an example of how I used a map to understand and work with risks.