experts

What About Expected Results?

jo2sn Family and fun, Softwaretesting , , , , , ,

TL;DR: We should know better than to require expected results in test case steps.

Welcome to 2022 – where old wisdom surfaces yet again. Recently I considered expected results in test cases. It seems the topic is still relevant – I wrote about it in “The Expected” back in 2015.

As always we have to backup a bit and consider: What purpose does the detailed steps have to our stakeholders. How visible is the value provided? We have to start from their viewpoint – not build a chain of reasoning up from our own wishful thinking.

Currently I’m working on a project for payments of benefits. We have daily CI/CD and loads of classic manual testing. The key message from the stakeholders is that they expect things to be tested and evaluated. They generally trust us and collaborate with us on the work, so there is not so much discussion on the details as in other projects. Yet the discussion of expected results did come up in our internal dialog: What is the reasoning behind expected results on the test case steps – besides coming from an old book.

Testing is a performance

One of the usual arguments is that it enables hard-over from person to another. While handover can be relevant to consider if the team members changes often. It seems to me just to create redundant information based on requirements and other oracles. I mean where does it it end, why should we add every project information into the test cases and into the test plan. Stop it already.

Let the test cases be evaluated by the person performing the test – to see the whole picture. And not get biased by expected results. I want the persons performing the tests to use their brain and based on the oracles available evaluate the system under test. Also if everything can be planned – why would there be a need for retakes of movie scenes? It turns out even simple instructions are not possible:

Exact Instructions Challenge – THIS is why my kids hate me. | Josh Darnit

Let people do what they are best at

Let’s have testing being a balanced approach, where people evaluate and scripts confirm.

When the confirmation can be determined by an algorithm or by assertions towards an oracle we can code a test for it – and test it continuously. Adding as much automation as (practically) possible, aids the delivery in multiple ways. It aids to build regression testing and help us test that things not only worked once somewhere, but that it works again and again.

On the other hand when there’s no algorithm or explicit oracle in the form of specifications, acceptance criteria or similar authority we can only do a subjective evaluation: at that point in time – given the information available. do not neglect the wisdom of subject matter experts testing.

And in the later situation expected results hinder the exploration of whether the system under test fulfills not on the explicit requirements but also the implicit. We really should know better.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

Further reading for Contest NYC 2019

jo2sn Softwaretesting, Wardley's theories , , , , , , ,

Materials used for the talk and workshop at Contest NYC 2019:

One page test plan

Wardley Maps

Research:

Test management / Test Coach

Subject Matter Experts

Practical tips:

The subject matter expert in LEGO knows the bigger pieces left goes into the model.
The subject matter expert in LEGO knows the bigger pieces left goes into the model.

When Subject Matter Experts test

jo2sn Softwaretesting , , ,

Teaser for [Test Bash Brighton 2020] : How to Coach Subject Matter Experts to Do Testing

In the recent years I have been working on projects with no dedicated testers but plenty of testing. The testing has primarily been performed by subject matter experts. This is where it gets interesting, as my role on these projects has been to lead the testing being performed by people that have limited experience in testing. They also have no desire to be testing specialists, after all they are already specialists in their own subjects, however, everyone agrees and insist that the testing needs doing. So how do we ensure that the testing being done is done well? 
 After having worked on several very different projects, yet still with subject matter experts doing the testing, I have been able to get both the public process clerks and the technology specialists to perform excellent testing. This talk is about the approaches that I have found work well: 

  • One of the approaches is for me to prepare the test cases and prepare them only as headlines. Sometimes preparing the tests as open questions helps too. 
  • Another approach is to lead them as if they are doing the project participation voluntarily. They probably are, but still it helps to respect where they are coming from.

 The lessons though (good and bad) is relevant to many testers in other situations, especially being the only “tester” on the team. The story applies equally to developers and business end users doing most of the testing and you will have them contributing with great testing in no time!

What you will know after the talk:

  • An understanding of how testing looks when done by subject matter experts
  • How to lead a testing activity with an appreciative and motivating style
  • Examples of how teams can do great testing without dedicated testers
Test Bash Brighton, March 2020

In Charge of Testing

jo2sn Enterprise IT, Softwaretesting , , , , ,

As a Test Manager I oversee the testing in a project or program – I am usually the only testing specialist in the project, so, I need the right leadership skills and the right tools to succeed. I have to own the data about the testing and quality activities.

As the test manager I need to facilitate a quite a range of testing activities:

I need to balance that I need to know what’s going on (with regards to testing) but without micromanaging the people being involved in testing and quality activities. My role is to facilitate that testing things happen – like the project manager making project things happen. I cannot own the activities without owning the data about it. I need to cover the full spectrum of tests – from engineered (RDA and CI/CD) to people-based (scripts and exploration).

The most practical tool for a test manager with this scope is PractiTest, as there is more to testing than just the test cases [2]. The old term “ALM” [3] comes to mind – it is still relevant when I look for a full test management tool. I need to cover both the “inputs” to testing (requirements, tickets and user stories) and the “outputs” (bugs) in one location. I need the requirements and user stories in my tool, as I need to base my test analysis and planning on the delivery model (that may not always be agile). I need the bugs in the testing tool too, as bugs can happen in any work product of the project: documents, code base and even the tests. PractiTest acknowledge that there is more to IT projects than code.

I appreciate the key driver of PractiTest – that all activities happen in-flow. You don’t have to change window, stack pop-ups or go to another tool in order to run the tests or create bugs. Creating bugs happens in context of the test case and seamlessly moves all data about the run to the bug. Everything you need to do is context-based, and available to you on screen. And it has some cool features of read-only links to graphs for management reporting, and a smart built-in “rapid reporter” for exploratory testing notes.

It can be a challenge to switch to PractiTest if you are in a compliance setting, if you need on-Premise or if your team generally uses Azure DevOps (the tool formerly known as TFS). To get the full potential of Azure DevOps, though, you need the full Microsoft Test Pro licenses, so it’s not a free tool either – nor is DevOps intuitive for testing things doesn’t have the code available. As with Azure DevOps PractiTest is also SaaS only, with multiple data centers for regional data compliance. As there is always inertia towards a commodity it won’t be long before there is no good arguments to have test management tools on-Premise and for the tool vendors to provide the compliance certificates (ISO/SOC really should be sufficient, IMO).

Out of the box PractiTest supports the categories of testing above (engineered, scripted, exploratory) and has the necessary integrations too: Surefire for unit testing, Maven for CI/CD, Jira, ServiceNow or any other ITSM for requirement input. There is even a two way integration to Azue DevOps. As the web design is “responsive” it could probably run off a tablet. That would enable easier test documentation for field tests. It would be even better to have a small version of it on a phone and be able to use the camera for “screen shots”.

At work I am currently running a large project regarding customizing and implementing a standard commercial software system, PractiTest would fit right in, as we have the following test activities:

  • Unit test by the developers
  • Automation by test engineers
  • Exploratory test by Subject matter experts
  • Formal scripted testing with end users

And I need to own the data around all of this, if I want to in in charge of the testing (and not only the testers). We are very few software testing specialists on the project team, but as the manager of testing I need to cover many other people performing the testing. This transforms my role from test management to one about leadership, coaching, and facilitation of testing being performed by the SMEs – and anyone else really.

I will be talking about Leading When the Subject Matter Experts Test at ConTEST NYC 2019 until then read more about leadership:

  1. Anthropologists and similar humanities educations can be great BA’s
  2. looking at you Test Rail 😉
  3. ALM = Application Life Cycle, like Micro Focus Quality Center etc.

Disclaimer: This is an influencer review sponsored by PractiTest.