Attitude of a Tester!

One of the four A’s that define AFour is “Attitude” of a tester. My recent discussion with a Test Manager of a large software product organization further underscores the importance of this attribute. This QA leader, along with many others in similar positions I have met, spend considerable time looking for “good” software testers and coaching their testers on skills that constitute a tester’s mindset. These skills are especially crucial while working in the Agile and Test Driven Development Models.

Communication and Collaboration are key in engineering/IT projects with small sprints and continuous integration, and also in understanding the business requirements which can enable testers in wearing the end-user cap! Another QA Manager I know in a large enterprise is contemplating moving her strongest resource further up in the business work stream and thus help in maturing requirements and customer scenarios. Daily stand-ups are an integral part of various flavors of the agile methodology. It is important for testers to be good listeners and to express themselves clearly in the daily scrums. Another trait is “push-back”, which further enhances the objectivity in testing and in turn contributes to getting high quality products and apps out the door. Last but not the least, the passion for testing enthuses testers in uncovering defects in various deliverables at every milestone of the application life cycle, viz. Requirements, Design Documents, Code Drops, Deployment Docs etc. through creative ways. In summary, that is what “Attitude” is all about!