TL; DR: Words matter. By casually asserting that testers prevent issues, we are contributing to the continued misconception of what testers do, and damaging the “tester brand” by setting ourselves up for failure. Stop telling testers to prevent issues In the last two days, I’ve seen two separate pieces suggesting […]
Category: Communication
Translating “Don’t Test Thoroughly”
While trying to construct a test strategy for a difficult project, I was recently given this advice: “Don’t test thoroughly”. The droning siren already in the back of my mind loudened to a shrill alarm bell that it made it hard to concentrate. Don’t test thoroughly? Why do you hate me? […]
The Lonely Tester: Whats My Team Again?
What’s in a team? We’ve all heard about testers and developers being placed in different teams (or silos), as opposed to having both roles and skillsets in the same team. But what about testers placed in the client-facing team? Being part of the team that deals with client onboarding, training and support, whilst […]
Why I Don’t Report Bugs
Be still, your beating heart. I’m a tester, of course I report bugs. But what about when I’m not being a tester, and I’m just a normal user? I can only remember four occasions when I’ve reported bugs to the people that could actually do anything about it, but I actually find […]
Communicative Illusions – The Testing Community’s Affliction
TL;DR: Why do testers keep falling out with one another? Perhaps because of communicate illusions. A communicative illusion is like an optical illusion – a fixed thing that appears to change, be multiple things, or be something completely different. They are influenced by the actual words we use and how we use them, […]