fear: psychology in the pursuit of quality' by rik marselis
DESCRIPTION
The test profession has grown quite mature and most test professionals know about test methods and techniques. Still the stakeholders often don’t see the results they expected. Project after project I discovered that this problem in the pursuit of quality has to do with psychology. Testers and developers often do things for which there seems to be no rational explanation. They act out of FEAR, which stands for Fantasy Experienced As Reality. That is to say: for various reasons they cannot (or will not) understand the actual situation and thus act differently than would be good for the project. Instead of extending their technical skills, effort should be put in upgrading their communication skills. Interaction between testers, developers and clients is a sensitive area, all should understand that instead of blaming each other a good cooperation is beneficial to the overall quality of the software product, their organization(s) and even their personal well-being. I will show how to effectively increase the mutual understanding. Test Process Improvement consultants often seem to forget that badly motivated people will jeopardize even the best process. You will learn how to pay attention to people issues when doing TPI and I will guide you how to prevent encountering the point of disillusionment. And of course, I will show and explain the “graph of testers happiness”!TRANSCRIPT
FEAR: Psychology in the pursuit of quality
22 November 2011
Manchester UK
Rik Marselis
© Sogeti 2011
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Who are you?
•Any psychologists in the audience?
•Any testers in the audience?
•Have you ever been afraid?
• If so, why / of what?
• If not, are you sure?
•Who thinks software testing is a “technological business”?
•Who thinks software testing is a “people business”?
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• Senior Test consultant (& test strategist)
• > 30 years in IT
• > 15 years in Testing & Quality Assurance
• Trainer & coach on testing
• Author & Project leader ofvarious books on Testing
• Boardmember of BNTQB
• Boardmember of TestNet
• Prince2 Practitioner
• CISA
Introducing: Rik Marselis
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Agenda
• Test process
• Emotions
• Problems caused by psychological factors
• Solutions for these problems
• Conclusion: how to cope with FEAR
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A good process guarantees …
Not necessarily
a good product
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• lazy
• scared / afraid
• impatient
• emotional (not rational)
• unsure / uncertain
Common sentiments of people
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Thomas Crum; F.E.A.R.
•We are consumed with anxious thoughts about a future possibility, based on something from the past (real or imagined).
•F.E.A.R.: "Fantasy Experienced As Reality".
Source: Gerald M. Weinberg: “Perfect Software and other illusions about testing”
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Scared / afraid
“I don’t report those bugs so the developer won’t be angry at me”
Talk about the mutual expectations and how you can help each other.
(important lesson for scared IT-people ;-)
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Emotion: Graph of testers happiness
o
Based on: Erik van Veenendaal
Bugs Coverage
Think ahead of what information the people involved really need to become happy.(important lesson for emotional IT-people ;-)
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Emotional: Bug report example
Compare these test summary reports:
There are 100
defect reports
We have executed 10.000 test cases9.900 test cases were successful
There were 100 defect reports
Thereof 50 defects have been solved27 defects are low-priority and
deferred to the next releaseFor 16 defects a work-around is in placeThe remaining 7 defects can be solved
in the remaining project time
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Lazyness: Postponing
Requirements stage Design stage Construction stage Testing stage Live stage
why do things n
ow when you can also do th
em later??
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Balance the efforts
(wrong) (right)
Early reviews are a much better way to save time and effort than postponing activities to the end of the project! (important lesson for lazy IT-people ;-)
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Impatient: Point of disillusionment
o
o
x
Total effort for testing including test process improvement
Current costs
Expected costs
Observed costs
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Examples of TPI NEXT® preventing this
•Actively gather relevant information
• Identify information that needs to be shared with stakeholders
•Communication is a means of team building
•Metrics provide objectivityby quantifying observations
Source: TPI NEXT®, Business Driven Test Process Improvement, 2009
Setting attainable targets and consistenly gathering and presenting information about status and progress prevent stakeholders from reaching the point of disillusionment! (important lesson for impatient IT-people ;-)
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Seven habits of highly effective testers
1. Be proactive
2. Begin with the end in mind
3. Put first things first
4. Think Win/Win
5. First understand then be understood
6. Synergize
7. Sharpen the saw
Source: Stephen R. Covey: Seven habits of highly effective people
Dependence (You)
Independence (I)
Interdependence (We)
Private victory
Public victory
“Great things in business are never done by one person,
they are done by a team of people” Steve Jobs
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Example: Begin with the end in mind
•What is the most important result of testing?
•The report for the stakeholder (that he uses for the go/nogo decision)
•So…− You don’t start by making a plan…− You start by making the report-template, this defines
what information the testing process should deliver,− And that’s the basis for the plan.
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Did you know there’s more?
• The 8th habit:From effectiveness to greatness
• Find your own voice, use it, and inspire others to find theirs …
•… and get the most creativeness, power and results
• So it’s all about being unique and using this to your, and your organizations, advantage!
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Conclusion: how to cope with FEAR
Tomorrow back at work you:
•Discuss what others expect of you and relate your work to this
•Report in a way that gives a complete picture, instead of giving unnecessary bad feelings
•Act as soon as possible
•Set clear and attainable goals and report based on measurements
•Begin with the end in mind…
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Local touch - Global reach
+31 6 55 69 72 39
www.Sogeti.com
www.TMap.net
www.TPINEXT.com
© Sogeti 2011