Hanser-Verlag interviewed me on the topics of creativity, agile projects, the power of the tester and future challenges. The interview originally appeared in the “Hanser-Update” blog.
I am currently aware of two topics in my environment that move the testers:
There are testers who experience the change to an agile environment effortlessly and are enthusiastic about the new possibilities. But just as agile projects are not a panacea, there are testers who have little use for this approach and feel lost in agile projects. Training courses such as the Certified Agile Tester are a recommendable basis for understanding, but cannot address concrete situations and problems in everyday life. I recommend that testers in this situation take a closer look at the values, concepts and motivation behind the agile approach. There is so much more to it than just another process. It can also help to ask the question: How can I best contribute my skills to the project in order to increase the value and quality - perhaps in an unconventional, new way?
If you don’t get anywhere, you still have the option of honestly asking yourself whether this is the right path for you. There are by no means only agile projects, and frustration within the team doesn’t help anyone.
With automation, it is much easier to learn the concept and the technicality and integrate it into everyday life. A major pitfall lies in the complexity of the test object and the automation tool or framework. The devil is in the detail here. I consider a meaningful proof of concept and a decision and implementation in the team to be essential. But above all, I sometimes miss having the courage to leave the chosen path again when there are major obstacles and perhaps pursue other approaches to automation. If an approach is not effective, there is little point in putting more energy into it. Similarly, several tools and frameworks can be used in parallel if one is not sufficient. In my opinion, people often react far too late here. You get bogged down in the existing concept and lose valuable time instead of looking at a more suitable alternative. Instead of test coverage, frustration increases. To stand out, test automation needs a lot of attention - from planning to project maintenance.
In terms of their structure, agile projects offer a stronger focus on quality - under the responsibility of all team members. A lack of quality also becomes apparent much more quickly in an agile environment. The basic prerequisite that testers are listened to in the team is therefore more given than perhaps in traditional project structures. The decisive factor is what is done with it. There are traditionally set up projects that live quality to the full, but there are also agile projects that fail if quality is not supported by everyone in the team.
Definitely! Creativity is becoming increasingly important for testers and that is a very good thing. In my opinion, this shows us that some quality-enhancing measures - pushed by the agile approach in particular - are taking effect: developers are implementing more unit tests and working with TDD, for example. In many cases, this hardens the software and makes it more robust. Code reviews are carried out more conscientiously. Support from development and test frameworks improves. Test automation becomes an integral part of development. All of this makes things easier for the tester and they can focus their attention on more important things: designing good tests and scrutinizing the product from the user’s perspective. Both require more creativity and new skills.
In my opinion, 3 movements will have a stronger influence on the topic of software testing in the coming years:
In order to be prepared for the developments described, I would emphasize the following skills and try to promote them in my teams: