Begin With the Vend in Mind

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Testers
Part 2 of 7

This is the second post in a series based loosely on Stephen R. Covey's book but focused on what you can do to be more effective as a software tester.

A long time ago in another life I was listening to an audio tape of motivational marketing guru Zig Zeigler. In this tape, Zig said "Nothing happens until somebody sells something." Though I don't totally agree with Zig on this, he does have a point. He also has a really cool name, but I digress.

If you are going to get paid to test software, somewhere along the line, someone has to pony up some money. Traditionally, this has been the customer. For the customer to make the decision that your software is worth their money, there are at least two things that she needs to believe:

1) The software should work
2) The software should solve some problem for her or fulfil some need

As testers, we tend to focus on #1. We get specs (when we're lucky) then we design and execute tests to determine if the software does what the specs say it should. The origins of these specs will be different for different companies, but usually they are written by some combination of marketing, sales, and development. But whos to say if the specs are right and if the resulting software will be what the customer really needs?

You are.

Before your first test case is even a twinkle in your eye, you should be reviewing the specs, and making some noise if you don't think they are right. Sales and marketing might know the customer best, and development might know the inner workings of the code the best, but it is the test team that is the expert at the intersection of the two. Testers know how to use the software better than anyone, so we have insights into the the design, the features, and the UI that are crucial.

Your company can produce solid software with nary a bug, but if it is not what the customer needs, it will not be sold, and as Zig reminds us, that is when everything starts to fall apart. This is a BAD THING that you can help prevent with carefully and critically reviewing any and all specs, and always asking yourself "Is this something the customer will want to buy?"

Previous Posts:
1 - Be protractive

Next Up:
3- Put Worst Things First