Taking Testing Seriously

CHAPTER 15Deliberate Practice of Testing Skills

—By Joris Meerts, Huib Schoots, and Ruud Cox

One of the cornerstones of context-driven testing is that the way of working when testing software is determined by the situation in which the tester finds themselves. A good approach is not driven by a prescribed process or by a collection of steps that one habitually executes. Instead, it arises from the use of knowledge and skill to ensure that testing fits the project. Context-driven testing requires critical thinking, modeling, visualization, note-taking, and the use of heuristics. It is not easy to learn these skills, but one way to sharpen them is to do realistic testing exercises and discuss the results. In methodology, this is known as deliberate practice¹.

This was the purpose of a meeting of four testers at Improve Quality Services in 2017. In the following report, we will elaborate on the exercises we did during that meeting and on the results.

The meeting was held on February 14, 2017, at the office of Improve Quality Services in Eindhoven. The participating testers, Jos Duisings, Ruud Cox, Joris Meerts, and Huib Schoots, were all employees of Improve Quality Services.

The Assignment

The assignment of the meeting was to test a certain software application. It was carried out by two teams of two testers each. This made it possible to take different approaches and provide feedback from one team to the other.

The meeting was divided into the following segments:

• Welcome ...