EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2008 presentation on Make Your Testing Smarter - Know Your Context! by Graham Freeburn. See more at conferences.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/

1. Unissons nos Talents
T O G E T H E RT A L E N T E D
1Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008
Make your testing smarter – know
your context!
Graham Freeburn
Principal Consultant gfreeburn@uk.sopragroup.com
Sopra Group Ltd. Tel: +44(0)1698 574 239

2. 2Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
 Fully paid up testing evangelist and Principal Testing Consultant
 27 years in IT - Regular speaker at Conferences
 (EuroSTAR, SQAM and BCS SIGIST)
 EuroSTAR
 Veteran – I have missed only two!
 Member of 2002 Programme Committee
 Country co-ordinator for Scotland
 Track Chair
 Chairman and co-founder of the Scottish Testing Group (STG)
 Author of the advanced automation case study on Advanced
Approach in Software Test Automation by Mark Fewster and
Dorothy Graham (ISBN: 0-201-33140-3 )
Graham Freeburn

3. 3Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Agenda
This presentation and will be presented using
Mindmapping software – all mindmaps will be
made available to attendees.

4. 4Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Seven Basic Principles
1. The value of any practice depends on its context.
2. There are good practices in context, but there are no best practices.
3. People, working together, are the most important part of any
project's context.
4. Projects unfold over time in ways that are often not predictable.
5. The product is a solution. If the problem isn't solved, the product
doesn't work.
6. Good software testing is a challenging intellectual process.
7. Only through judgment and skill, exercised cooperatively
throughout the entire project, are we able to do the right things at
the right times to effectively test our products
From http://www.context-driven-testing.com/

5. 5Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Satisfice Context Model
Source: James Bach, www.satisfice.com, © Satisfice Inc. 2003
Test Team
Expertise
Loading
Cohesion
Motivation
Leadership
Project Integration
Test Lab
Test Platforms
Test Tools
Test Library
Problem Tracking System
Office Facilities
Product Mission
Stakeholders
Quality Criteria
Reference Material
Requirements
Product
Project Lifecycle
Project Management
Configuration Management
Defect Prevention
Development Team
Development
Test
Process
Strategy
Logistics
Work-products
Mission
Find Important Problems
Assess Quality
Certify to Standard
Fulfill Process Mandates
Satisfy Stakeholders
Assure Accountability
Advise about QA
Advise about Testing
Advise about Quality
Maximize Efficiency
Minimize Cost
Minimize Time
- Where are you and what are your doing there?

6. 6Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
GIVENS GIVENS
GIVENSGIVENS
Mission
CHOICES
Test Project Dynamics
- Givens and Choices

7. 7Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
CHOI
VENS
 Motivation: What testing does the situation require?
 Capability: Can we perform that testing in this situation?
Test Project Dynamics
- Motivation and Capability

8. 8Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Mission
What else? – Brainstorming exercise

9. 9Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Context Analysis

10. 10Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
A View from..
 The Fish Eye Lens
 The ability to see the context, what surrounds
me and others and influences us as we work
together
 The Mirror
 The ability to see myself and to seek and use
feedback
 The Telescope
 The ability to see others and to bring them
closer to my understanding than my naked
eye and brain can manage
Source: (2)

11. 11Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Tailoring the Test Process
 Are GIVENS good enough?
 Do CHOICES about process exploit the GIVENS and address the
MISSION well enough?
 Is MISSION achieved well enough?
 Has the mission CHANGED?
How do you know?

12. 12Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Getting it right
- Choosing good practices for a context

13. 13Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Getting it wrong
- What happens when you ignore context

14. 14Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
How to keep your context radar active

15. 15Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Why Collaboration is difficult

16. 16Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
 Communication gets tangled..
Tangling…
Response
Acceptance
Significance
Intake
Meaning
Biases
Poor
Listening
Failure to check assumptions
Embarrassment
Only standing in your own shoes
Terminology
Effects on current goals, concerns, values
Inappropriate commenting rules





Emotional speed traps
Source - Untangling Communication, Dale H. Emery

17. 17Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
 Ever felt the person you‟re speaking to wasn‟t really
listening….
 Most of us don‟t listen very well
 Some tips for better listening
 Don‟t jump to conclusions
 Don‟t interrupt
 Don‟t judge
 Seek to know more
 Make listening a conscious activity
 Be ACTIVE not passive
 Your have two ears, two eyes and one mouth – use them in
proportion
 If all else fails
 Pretend you‟re a famous anthropologist
Are you Listening ?
Source: Becoming a better listener, Naomi Karten

18. 18Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Why don’t we listen
 Speed of thought
 „Already listening‟.. ‟I‟ve made up my mind‟.. So why should I listen to
you?‟
 Outside distractions
 Switching off when you hear unfamiliar jargon
 Wanting to speak therefore inclined to interrupt
 Hearing what you expect to hear rather than the intended message
 Failure to put ourselves in other people‟s shoes
 Thinking we know what people are talking about
 Listening to the words but missing the music (emotions) behind them
Any of these sound familiar?

19. 19Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Summary
 The value of any practice depends on its context.
 There are good practices in context, but there are no best practices.
 People, working together, are the most important part of any
project's context.
 Projects unfold over time in ways that are often not predictable.
 The product is a solution. If the problem isn't solved, the product
doesn't work.
 Good software testing is a challenging intellectual process.
 Only through judgment and skill, exercised cooperatively
throughout the entire project, are we able to do the right things at
the right times to effectively test our products

20. Unissons nos Talents
T O G E T H E RT A L E N T E D
20Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008
Questions
?

21. 21Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Acknowledgements /Resources
 Acknowledgements
 James Bach – Rapid Testing Materials and various articles
 Alan Richardson – What does it mean to have no past practices?
 http://www.compendiumdev.co.uk/context
 Naomi Karten
 Perceptions & Realities newsletter Vol 5, No2
 Becoming a Better Listener
 Dale H Emery – Untangling Communication, Sticky Minds
 Resources
1. Cem Kaner, James Bach and Bret Pettichord, “Lessons Learned in Software Testing – A
Context-Driven Approach”
 ISBN 0-471-08112-4, 2002
2. Gerald M Weinberg, “More Secrets of Consulting” & Exploring Requirements (with Donald
Gause)
 ISBN 0-932633-52-8, 2002 , ISBN 0-932633-13-7, 1989
3. Joseph O‟Connor & Ian McDermott, “The Art of Systems Thinking”
 ISBN 0-7225-3442-6, 1997

22. 22Make your testing smarter – know your context! - EuroSTAR 2008, 12/11/2008
Who is Sopra Group Ltd. ?
 We are the UK business of Sopra Group, a major European IT Services
Company
 1000+ staff in UK & Ireland, 300+ in India, Total of 11,000 across nine
countries. 26 years consistent and profitable growth, group 2007 Revenue
of 1 Billion €
 Offices throughout the UK and Europe and a fully integrated offshore
Development and Testing Centre in Noida, Delhi
 Services
 Application Outsourcing
 Systems Integration
 Testing
 Specialist - Consulting, Information Security, Business Intelligence
 Long term clients in both public and private sectors
 Key markets
 Finance, government, retail / manufacturing, energy & utilities, health