Testing Principle 5 — Visibility
Continuing on with my Testing Principle write up (see the bottom of the article for the series).
This principle is all about making your work visible to others. The problem that I have observed is that other people in your team or stakeholders in your company have misunderstandings of what testing is about. They ask for us to automate ALL the testing or ask for all the scripting test cases with steps to follow. Sometimes maybe we follow what is being asked for, however for me, I say, let’s disrupt their thinking and tell them what you’re going to do instead.
I’m not going to give you scripted test cases, but what I will do is debrief you on the testing that I have done (or not done).
You can get creative with this principle and brainstorm lots of ideas to this. What I would encourage is simply talking to people about the testing you do, your approaches and challenges. How is anyone meant to understand what we do as test professionals if you do not create a dialogue and share? Long gone are the days where a test team is isolated in a dark building and a delivery parcel is sent over by the developers. The rise of agile has given us an opportunity. To work *with* developers in real time, rather than a delivery box being sent over to our dark building.
You could do a talk at your company explaining what testing is and also sharing your testing insights, successes and challenges. I’ve seen other team members come up with a creative news article that they’ve sent to stakeholders on their project. Get creative with it. There’s not a single solution to this.
A big part for me at the moment as a Quality Engineering manager is relationship building. Creating relationships, so I can have the conversations about testing. I’ve got to a stage where I have proven my worth and now other people pull me into conversations, rather than having to dig my way in. The simple thing I have done is — made myself visible.
Anyone whether a test manager or test engineer can achieve great things if they think about this question.
How do I make my work visible?
The last Testing Principle in my series will be on the theme of Learning.
Series:
Principle 1 — Risk https://fishouthebox.medium.com/principle-1-looking-at-the-bigger-picture-with-risk-46feddd8f827
Principle 2 —Purpose https://fishouthebox.medium.com/principle-2-purpose-why-are-we-building-this-product-and-who-are-we-building-it-for-cd765f020e91
Principle 3- Empathy https://fishouthebox.medium.com/testing-principle-3-empathy-fc63b0680793
Principle 4 — Role https://fishouthebox.medium.com/testing-principle-4-role-e8f98ceded02
