Keep High Standards High

 

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I disappointed myself today.  After finishing up with what should have been the final test build before release, I made the decision to keep a small bug in the release build to avoid my colleague having to do another (manual) build to revert the changes that caused it.  Yup, this was a new bug that we’d knowingly be releasing to production.

 

What was I thinking?

 

I was thinking about all those times I’ve been told, “your standards are too high,” or, “that can be fixed next week,” or, “that won’t have much of an impact, will it?”  And I was concentrating on how much work my team has done in recent months to keep the build and release schedule tight – vastly reducing the number of rushed builds at the last minute, and surprise urgent bugs – I didn’t want to instruct an unscheduled build for something that wasn’t urgent, creating more work for my busy colleague.

 

Luckily, I work with great people.

 

Another dev colleague approached me: “I was surprised by your decision… Are you sure?”

 

The truth was no, I wasn’t sure.  If I’d been in the same position a few months earlier, there’s no way I would have let that go out, but I’ve been feeling worn down and not up for causing a fuss – absolutely no excuse for a poor decision!  We had a quick chat about the version in production and how that would change after the release – which would we rather have?  The one we have now, of course!  But I was feeling weak, and had a momentary lapse of judgement and standards.

 

I’m a tester.  I live quality.  This is what I’m passionate about.

 

In the grand scheme of things, the small bug probably wouldn’t have caused a massive issue within a week, but that’s really not the point.  I’m so grateful to my colleague for bringing me back to the right path, reminding me that I have the right to pull things out whenever I see fit, and call for another build.  A lapse like that probably wouldn’t have been a big deal for someone else, but this is one of my main responsibilities and when the ball was falling through the air, I watched and didn’t put out my hands to catch it, and that disappoints me.

 

So, testers, keep your high standards high.  It’s why we do this job, and people rely on us doing it well.  It can be hard feeling like you’ve caused extra work and hassle for other people, but you can either do that quick and early, or lose sight of the users you’re doing this for and cause more problems later.  And for the weak moments you probably will have, hopefully you’ll have a good team by your side to help you catch the ball too.

 

Thanks, William =]